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rosemaryandrue's review
3.0
An anthology of fairytale retellings that span settings and genres. As with any anthology, some stories were better than others. The theme of the collection seems to be frogs - three retellings of The Frog Prince, and two of Pearls and Hop-toads. I liked The Price, The Frog Chauffeur and The Wild Heart especially.
asryne's review
4.0
I'm not even sure how to rate this one. I enjoyed this one more than I thought. I only checked it out of the library because of the story by Patricia Briggs, and sometimes I don't bother reading the remainder of the anthology when I do that. I was glad I read this one. I liked the various retellings of fairy tales with modern twists. I liked some of them more than others. The Little Mermaid one was perhaps my favorite. A couple of them were more weird than good, and at least one of them was so much so that it seemed unfinished. Most of them were good though!
taarna's review against another edition
I always get to some point in this short story collection where I lose interest and I need to just skip that story and move on instead of trying to get myself to power through. Le sigh. Another time.
sarrie's review
4.0
Normally when I pick up one of these anthologies of fairy tale retellings I expect the 'dark, and gritty modern' take. Keep in mind I dislike these, but I keep throwing myself at that wall anyway. This one though, this one was wonderful. The stories weren't dark and gritty for the sake of it, they were unique and interesting, and if anything I'd describe them as light (though they had darkness to them).
It was refreshing, there was only one story I skipped within the anthology and that was by an author I know I don't get on with so no harm no foul there.
It was refreshing, there was only one story I skipped within the anthology and that was by an author I know I don't get on with so no harm no foul there.
taarna's review
4.0
Lots of great stories - all fantasy retellings with unique voices.
Personal favorite was The Shell Box by Karawynn Long but also greatly enjoyed You Wandered Off Like a Foolish Child to Break Your Heart and Mine by Pat York and The Price by Patricia Briggs.
Personal favorite was The Shell Box by Karawynn Long but also greatly enjoyed You Wandered Off Like a Foolish Child to Break Your Heart and Mine by Pat York and The Price by Patricia Briggs.
jmshirtz's review
4.0
This review is only for Patricia Briggs' story, "The Price". I really enjoyed this retelling of Rumpelstiltskin because it re-evaluates each character's motivations for their actions. I like these reasonings better than the ones I've always heard in the story. The only issue I had was that I didn't really buy the love story...fairy tales don't usually give you enough time to get to know characters enough to "ship" them, but this one just seemed a bit of a stretch. However, as usual, this is fantastically written and will forever change my view of this particular fairy tale!
d_mitra's review
4.0
As always with an anthology a bit hit or miss on the stories. I generally enjoy them and didn’t feel that any were particularly poor, however only a few stood out. This might be because a lot of the narratives seemed to choose Rumplestilskin as their inspiration, which made them blend a bit... There *were* two standouts that I quite enjoyed, both on the darker side:
"You Wandered Off Like a Foolish Child to Break Your Heart and Mine" by Pat York
"The Willful Child, the Black Dog and the Beanstalk" by Melanie Tem
"You Wandered Off Like a Foolish Child to Break Your Heart and Mine" by Pat York
"The Willful Child, the Black Dog and the Beanstalk" by Melanie Tem
serar's review
5.0
This is one of the few short story collections that I have read that I wish would never end. It is a brilliant collection of fairy tale retellings. Thankfully, I have not yet read the other books in this ongoing series and have many more stories to look forward to.
schenior's review
3.0
3.5 stars
Loved a lot of the stories - lots of fun and creative stuff. For the stories I enjoy less, they may have been better outside of this collection: lots of the themes and motifs repeated themselves across the collection and so the stories I liked less seemed a bit repetitive. But I enjoyed almost all of them a lot!
Loved a lot of the stories - lots of fun and creative stuff. For the stories I enjoy less, they may have been better outside of this collection: lots of the themes and motifs repeated themselves across the collection and so the stories I liked less seemed a bit repetitive. But I enjoyed almost all of them a lot!