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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
The Door in the Hedge was really enjoyable of the four stories.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
The first and last tale are longer than the others. My favorite is the retelling of The Princess and the Frog.
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Stolen Princess : 2 stars. Slow-going.
The Princess and the Frog: 2.5. Wish it had been longer. More Lian-as-frog scenes, and a more dramatic magical showdown.
The Hunting of the Hind: 2.5 stars. I like how the quiet, cast aside sister saves her Prince brother.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses: 3 stars. Decent retelling of a familiar tale. Not too clear though how exactly the spell was broken.
The Princess and the Frog: 2.5. Wish it had been longer. More Lian-as-frog scenes, and a more dramatic magical showdown.
The Hunting of the Hind: 2.5 stars. I like how the quiet, cast aside sister saves her Prince brother.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses: 3 stars. Decent retelling of a familiar tale. Not too clear though how exactly the spell was broken.
2.5 stars
This book included four stories.
Two new fairy-tales: The Stolen Princess and The Hunting of the Hind
One classic retelling with a twist: The Princes and the Frog
And one classic retelling: The Twelve Dancing Princesses
These retellings had a dream-like quality to them. Very short, a lot of summarized facts, and everything worked out perfectly at the end. There were also plenty of princes, princesses, curses, and underdeveloped love stories.
A few were weird. Most ended too perfectly to feel real. And, they all could’ve used some more development. Though, they were too short for that.
I didn't like the writing style.
If you’re looking for very short, clean retellings where everything ends perfectly, you might enjoy this book.
Content: clean
Romance: falling in love, and kisses. And “a woman whose beauty could send a man mad, or blind, but grateful in his blindness, or even comfortable in his madness.”
Violence: sickness and near death, babies are stolen by fearie, there’s an evil wizard who hurts or kills men or leaves them mad.
This book included four stories.
Two new fairy-tales: The Stolen Princess and The Hunting of the Hind
One classic retelling with a twist: The Princes and the Frog
And one classic retelling: The Twelve Dancing Princesses
These retellings had a dream-like quality to them. Very short, a lot of summarized facts, and everything worked out perfectly at the end. There were also plenty of princes, princesses, curses, and underdeveloped love stories.
A few were weird. Most ended too perfectly to feel real. And, they all could’ve used some more development. Though, they were too short for that.
I didn't like the writing style.
If you’re looking for very short, clean retellings where everything ends perfectly, you might enjoy this book.
Content: clean
Romance: falling in love, and kisses. And “a woman whose beauty could send a man mad, or blind, but grateful in his blindness, or even comfortable in his madness.”
Violence: sickness and near death, babies are stolen by fearie, there’s an evil wizard who hurts or kills men or leaves them mad.
I was so disappointed with this book. I normally love Robin McKinley's retelling of fairy tails, but the first three stories in this book were not worth the time I spent reading. Only her good track record had me read the last which bumped the rating up to 3. I love the 12 dancing princesses story and this is a lovely retelling. If you get this book (feel free to borrow from me) just read the last.
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
“The Stolen Princess” - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“The Princess and the Frog” - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“The Hunting of the Hind” - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
“The Twelve Dancing Princesses” - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
“The Princess and the Frog” - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
“The Hunting of the Hind” - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
“The Twelve Dancing Princesses” - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
More entertaining than i was expecting - at least in the first story - but still, not excellent, per se. I haven't read any of McKinley's other works yet (although I just started The Blue Sword today), so I can't make a comparison there. Still, I found "The Stolen Princess" to be fairly riveting, actually, for the twenty minutes it took me to read it; and "The Hunting of the Hind" was pretty good as well. "The Princess and the Frog" was rather flat, on the other hand, not to mention sparse - consisting of less than ten pages. Both that story and "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" just seemed like another thin retelling of the same fairy tales with a few of the details rearranged. All in all, this was all right for an hour or so, but not brilliant. The first story was by far the best one.
This book is not one of Robin McKinley's best. I opened with high expectations because I've read Sunshine and Beauty by the same author. This book, however, was sourly disappointing. The first story wasn't that good, but I thought it would get better.
It didn't.
Like the other two books I've read by McKinley(and like someone mentioned below), it needs more dialogue. There are so many pages that I got bored and stopped paying attention without even realizing it- then I read the page again and the same thing happened.
Another thing that irks me about this book is how the people fall in love. They don't know know each other but they someone know that they love each other. What? This is pretty typical of fairy tales, but I was hoping McKinley would be better.
So, in the end, it looked like a good book... but wasn't at all.
It didn't.
Like the other two books I've read by McKinley(and like someone mentioned below), it needs more dialogue. There are so many pages that I got bored and stopped paying attention without even realizing it- then I read the page again and the same thing happened.
Another thing that irks me about this book is how the people fall in love. They don't know know each other but they someone know that they love each other. What? This is pretty typical of fairy tales, but I was hoping McKinley would be better.
So, in the end, it looked like a good book... but wasn't at all.