4.0

Daniel Mallory Ortberg brings all of his former feminist website The Toast's wit and cleverness to The Merry Spinster, his collection of dark fairytale, folklore and biblical retellings. His stories range from the weird and uncomfortable (Little Mermaid retelling The Daughter Cells, The Frog Princess), to the downright terrifying (The Rabbit, Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Mr Toad) with all sorts of genderfuckery and feminist revenges along the way. These stories feel like natural successors to the horror of the Grimms' original fairytales and I loved that about them.