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A review by nuevecuervos
Beyond the Woods: Fairy Tales Retold by Paula Guran
4.0
As you may know by now, I'm a huge fan of fairy tales, a sucker for retellings, and a fan of urban fantasy, fantasy and sci fi, so I feel like I'm the target audience for this book many times over. It's also not news that I'm always on the fence about short story collections (unless it's my boy Gaiman, in which case I'm not a reliable source anyway because I'm sort of an obsessive fangirl), and it took me long enough to read this book that I started this review with a knee-jerk three-stars, "it's uneven but those highs" sort of review. Then I went back and revisted the story list to recap my favorites and found that at least 80% were stories that I really enjoyed (even if at least one
disturbed me more than I want to admit). I am SO glad to have read this collection because among these stories live some of the best work in this genre that I have ever seen.
My absolute favorite? Kelly Link's take on the Snow Queen. fucking brilliant, honestly. I loved it so much, I immediately reread it. Next in line are Cat Valente, Elizabeth Bear, and Peter Beagle; no surprise there, but Octavia Cade caught me by surprise because I'd never heard of her and now I have and I'm so pleased! And Ken Liu! Friends, I am not a huge fan of his work just because it tends to be very dude-heavy (see my thoughts on the grace of kings), but his story here! The transhumanism and the kitsune, omg. I was kind of floored.
My least favorite? The three bears. There's a warning in the introduction to this story that the bears face prejudice trying to integrate into 1958 white suburban culture, and our protagonists are, well. Actual bears. But the resolution of this story shouts resoundingly, "If you don't belong, then you should stop trying to fit in and go home where you'll be comfortable," to the point that if someone had told me that it had been written as anti-integration propaganda in the 50's or 60's, I would have totally believed it possible, and I'm deeply uncomfortable with that.
I also understand that The Juniper Tree is named after a fairy tale, but it's a long stretch to call it one as well when it's actually a prequel to many of Stroud's works, detailing his protagonist's molestation one summer. It's really well put together and (depressingly) believable, certainly, but I can't see my way clear to why it's in this collection outside of the title and a vague, vaaaague parallel.
Still this is a book I'm extremely happy to have, and I'm going to shove the snow queen at anyone who will sit still long enough for me to do so.
disturbed me more than I want to admit). I am SO glad to have read this collection because among these stories live some of the best work in this genre that I have ever seen.
My absolute favorite? Kelly Link's take on the Snow Queen. fucking brilliant, honestly. I loved it so much, I immediately reread it. Next in line are Cat Valente, Elizabeth Bear, and Peter Beagle; no surprise there, but Octavia Cade caught me by surprise because I'd never heard of her and now I have and I'm so pleased! And Ken Liu! Friends, I am not a huge fan of his work just because it tends to be very dude-heavy (see my thoughts on the grace of kings), but his story here! The transhumanism and the kitsune, omg. I was kind of floored.
My least favorite? The three bears. There's a warning in the introduction to this story that the bears face prejudice trying to integrate into 1958 white suburban culture, and our protagonists are, well. Actual bears. But the resolution of this story shouts resoundingly, "If you don't belong, then you should stop trying to fit in and go home where you'll be comfortable," to the point that if someone had told me that it had been written as anti-integration propaganda in the 50's or 60's, I would have totally believed it possible, and I'm deeply uncomfortable with that.
I also understand that The Juniper Tree is named after a fairy tale, but it's a long stretch to call it one as well when it's actually a prequel to many of Stroud's works, detailing his protagonist's molestation one summer. It's really well put together and (depressingly) believable, certainly, but I can't see my way clear to why it's in this collection outside of the title and a vague, vaaaague parallel.
Still this is a book I'm extremely happy to have, and I'm going to shove the snow queen at anyone who will sit still long enough for me to do so.