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A review by wealhtheow
Grim by Ellen Hopkins, Julie Kagawa, Amanda Hocking
3.0
A collection of retold fairy tales from the Brothers Grim. Some are very faithful retellings, while others are much less obvious and more inspired and imaginative.
"The Key," Rachel Hawkins. Lana is upset when two teens who go to her school come to her mother for a psychic reading. But when she does a little psychic poking herself, she realizes matters are much more dire than being embarrassed in front of a crush. This was short but I felt like I got a really good feel for the main character. I wish I knew what happened next!
"Figment," Jeri Smith-Ready. A would-be musician inherits his father's good luck charm. I like the opacity about what exactly the charm does, and whether keeping it or giving it away was the right move.
"The Twelfth Girl," Malindo Lo. The fairy tale of the twelve dancing princesses, set in a modern girls' boarding school and told by one of the dancers. By turns disquieting, sensual, and magical. I loved the descriptions of the fae club, and Liv's complicated feelings toward Harley felt totally realistic. A very good retelling indeed!
"The Raven Princess," Jon Skovron. A young huntsman with a kind heart tries to break a princess's curse. I like the way his kindness both aids and hinders him throughout the story--it felt like a real component of his nature, not just there to teach the reader a morality lesson. And I liked the way the curse was resolved. One quibble I had was that some of the writing didn't fit the feudal fantasy world, for me. (eg: "A generous gift," said the white-haired giant. "And one which might help us stick to our nonhuman diet.")
"Thinner Than Water," Saundra Mitchell. A retelling of Deerskin. I hate hate hate Deerskin. If I never had to read it again, I would be thrilled. But this is a very good rendition of it, I must admit.
"Before the Rose Bloomed: A retelling of the Snow Queen," Ellen Hopkins. Prose for some reason styled like a poem. There's no rhyme or rhythm to it, so I don't see why it wasn't just kept in paragraph form. But even less impressively, I don't see anything special, interesting, or novel about this version. It seems like a very straightforward rendition to me.
"Beast/Beast," Tessa Gratton. Very cool description of the Beast and his castle trap, I really liked the personalities and choices of Beauty and Beast, and I liked the writing. But then I didn't understand the last few lines, so I don't get what happened.
"The Brothers Pigget," Julie Kagawa. The Three Little Pigs, told through the eyes of one of the "pigs" (really just fat guys who run a bakery). He's in love with a witch's granddaughter, but then she breaks his heart. I didn't like this: it's not written with any real style or feeling, and the twistthat Percival's brothers have been killing his tormentors, and that Percival's crush Maya is the wolf that kills them in revenge was obvious from a few pages in, so that the ending has no power to it.
"Untethered," Sonia Gensler. Every night, Claire sees the ghost of her twin, Julia. Her boyfriend wants her to accept that she and Julia are separated forever, but Claire can't, not until her mother accepts it too. I like the spookiness in this.
"Better," Shaun David Hutchinson. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, in space. This is fantastic. The children of a colony ship are dying of a wasting syndrome. The lead doctor of the ship creates an artificial intelligence to help him find a cure, but when the AI finds a solution the doctor doesn't like,they are all face with a choice: kill the AI and let the children continue dying, or put the children in artificial bodies. The humans choose the former; the AI chooses the latter. There's a dark awareness in this story (and a non-detailed gangrape), but also a sense of transhumanist hope.
"Light It Up," Kimberly Derting. Hansen and Greta are lost in the woods and nearly eaten by a cannibal park ranger. I liked Greta's personality and chutzpah, and this story does a good job updating Hansel and Gretel to the modern day.
"Sharper than a Serpent's Tongue," Christine Johnson. Sweet and submissive, Claire promises not to tell anyone that old Mrs. Swanson's grandson tried to molest her. In thanks, Mrs. Swanson casts a spell so that flowers and gems come out of her mouth whenever she speaks. When Claire tells her family what happened, her avaricious mother is thrilled, but her sister is horrified that Nick is going to get away with hurting her sister. But of course, Mrs. Swanson isn't happy that Dina won't keep quiet. I love how tough and no-nonsense Dina is.
"A Real Boy," Claudia Gray. Blue helps create a super advanced robot...but Rowan turns out to be too advanced, too close to independent intelligence. When someone realizes Rowan can violate his own core protocols (like not lying to humans), he'll be shut down. Blue has to decide whether to downgrade his intelligence, so that he's just a slightly advanced robot, or upgrade it, in hopes that this will give him legal rights. Blue wants to keep him safe, but fears that if she gives him full intelligence his personality will change and he'll fall out of love with her.Annoying, the writer chose to tell us which she chose, and worse yet, shows us that Rowan's personality and feelings don't change after the upgrade. Too much of a happy ending where I was hoping for something more ambiguous.
"Skin Trade," Myra McEntire. Britt has a crush on a boy in a band, but then it turns out the bandmembers are killing and eating people. I didn't like this much--I wasn't sure what was going on with the wine and the focus on skin, and the set up didn't feel solid. They're a band with piercings and tattoos who frequent night clubs, but there are no worries about law enforcement even though they kill multiple people a day, every day, in the town? They've got a huge old mansion that Britt, who supposedly has an intense interest in the band, doesn't know about? And whatever the relationship between Locke and Britt was supposed to be, I didn't buy it.
"Beauty and the Chad," Sarah Rees Brennan. A witch curses a frat boy to be a Beast, but he's just not into that, you know? In a lesser author's hands this would've been interminable but as it is Chad is a funny character and his modern bro-pov works well as a counterpoint to Beauty's fantasy land pov. I read a lot of Beauty and the Beast stories, and this is one of my favorite types, where they each have identifiable personalities beyond their roles in the story, they each have lessons to teach the other, and we see them interact enough that I believe their affection for each other.
"The Pink," Amanda Hocking. A little prince has the power of wishes, and an evil peasant steals him away from his royal parents. Brenn's only friend is one he wished into being. I didn't find anything interesting about this story. There's no question about whether Dianthus really likes Brenn or is just forced to because he created her, there's no actual feeling of sorrow or danger from Fyren, and even Brenn himself doesn't have a sustained or identifiable personality. This is just a normal fairy tale with nothing memorable about it, to me.
"Sell Out," Jackson Pearce. Emmett can bring people back from the dead with a kiss. It's a rare but not unique talent, one that makes him just enough to keep him and his dad paying the interests on their medical debt. So when his next client's stepmother promises him wealth for life if he botches bringing her back to life, he agrees. Not least because his next client, Elise Snow, bullied him in elementary school.But when he's confronted with the beautiful paintings and warm artistic lifestyle has created since then, he realizes he can't let her stay dead just so he can be rich.
"The Key," Rachel Hawkins. Lana is upset when two teens who go to her school come to her mother for a psychic reading. But when she does a little psychic poking herself, she realizes matters are much more dire than being embarrassed in front of a crush. This was short but I felt like I got a really good feel for the main character. I wish I knew what happened next!
"Figment," Jeri Smith-Ready. A would-be musician inherits his father's good luck charm. I like the opacity about what exactly the charm does, and whether keeping it or giving it away was the right move.
"The Twelfth Girl," Malindo Lo. The fairy tale of the twelve dancing princesses, set in a modern girls' boarding school and told by one of the dancers. By turns disquieting, sensual, and magical. I loved the descriptions of the fae club, and Liv's complicated feelings toward Harley felt totally realistic. A very good retelling indeed!
"The Raven Princess," Jon Skovron. A young huntsman with a kind heart tries to break a princess's curse. I like the way his kindness both aids and hinders him throughout the story--it felt like a real component of his nature, not just there to teach the reader a morality lesson. And I liked the way the curse was resolved. One quibble I had was that some of the writing didn't fit the feudal fantasy world, for me. (eg: "A generous gift," said the white-haired giant. "And one which might help us stick to our nonhuman diet.")
"Thinner Than Water," Saundra Mitchell. A retelling of Deerskin. I hate hate hate Deerskin. If I never had to read it again, I would be thrilled. But this is a very good rendition of it, I must admit.
"Before the Rose Bloomed: A retelling of the Snow Queen," Ellen Hopkins. Prose for some reason styled like a poem. There's no rhyme or rhythm to it, so I don't see why it wasn't just kept in paragraph form. But even less impressively, I don't see anything special, interesting, or novel about this version. It seems like a very straightforward rendition to me.
"Beast/Beast," Tessa Gratton. Very cool description of the Beast and his castle trap, I really liked the personalities and choices of Beauty and Beast, and I liked the writing. But then I didn't understand the last few lines, so I don't get what happened.
"The Brothers Pigget," Julie Kagawa. The Three Little Pigs, told through the eyes of one of the "pigs" (really just fat guys who run a bakery). He's in love with a witch's granddaughter, but then she breaks his heart. I didn't like this: it's not written with any real style or feeling, and the twist
"Untethered," Sonia Gensler. Every night, Claire sees the ghost of her twin, Julia. Her boyfriend wants her to accept that she and Julia are separated forever, but Claire can't, not until her mother accepts it too. I like the spookiness in this.
"Better," Shaun David Hutchinson. The Pied Piper of Hamelin, in space. This is fantastic. The children of a colony ship are dying of a wasting syndrome. The lead doctor of the ship creates an artificial intelligence to help him find a cure, but when the AI finds a solution the doctor doesn't like,
"Light It Up," Kimberly Derting. Hansen and Greta are lost in the woods and nearly eaten by a cannibal park ranger. I liked Greta's personality and chutzpah, and this story does a good job updating Hansel and Gretel to the modern day.
"Sharper than a Serpent's Tongue," Christine Johnson. Sweet and submissive, Claire promises not to tell anyone that old Mrs. Swanson's grandson tried to molest her. In thanks, Mrs. Swanson casts a spell so that flowers and gems come out of her mouth whenever she speaks. When Claire tells her family what happened, her avaricious mother is thrilled, but her sister is horrified that Nick is going to get away with hurting her sister. But of course, Mrs. Swanson isn't happy that Dina won't keep quiet. I love how tough and no-nonsense Dina is.
"A Real Boy," Claudia Gray. Blue helps create a super advanced robot...but Rowan turns out to be too advanced, too close to independent intelligence. When someone realizes Rowan can violate his own core protocols (like not lying to humans), he'll be shut down. Blue has to decide whether to downgrade his intelligence, so that he's just a slightly advanced robot, or upgrade it, in hopes that this will give him legal rights. Blue wants to keep him safe, but fears that if she gives him full intelligence his personality will change and he'll fall out of love with her.
"Skin Trade," Myra McEntire. Britt has a crush on a boy in a band, but then it turns out the bandmembers are killing and eating people. I didn't like this much--I wasn't sure what was going on with the wine and the focus on skin, and the set up didn't feel solid. They're a band with piercings and tattoos who frequent night clubs, but there are no worries about law enforcement even though they kill multiple people a day, every day, in the town? They've got a huge old mansion that Britt, who supposedly has an intense interest in the band, doesn't know about? And whatever the relationship between Locke and Britt was supposed to be, I didn't buy it.
"Beauty and the Chad," Sarah Rees Brennan. A witch curses a frat boy to be a Beast, but he's just not into that, you know? In a lesser author's hands this would've been interminable but as it is Chad is a funny character and his modern bro-pov works well as a counterpoint to Beauty's fantasy land pov. I read a lot of Beauty and the Beast stories, and this is one of my favorite types, where they each have identifiable personalities beyond their roles in the story, they each have lessons to teach the other, and we see them interact enough that I believe their affection for each other.
"The Pink," Amanda Hocking. A little prince has the power of wishes, and an evil peasant steals him away from his royal parents. Brenn's only friend is one he wished into being. I didn't find anything interesting about this story. There's no question about whether Dianthus really likes Brenn or is just forced to because he created her, there's no actual feeling of sorrow or danger from Fyren, and even Brenn himself doesn't have a sustained or identifiable personality. This is just a normal fairy tale with nothing memorable about it, to me.
"Sell Out," Jackson Pearce. Emmett can bring people back from the dead with a kiss. It's a rare but not unique talent, one that makes him just enough to keep him and his dad paying the interests on their medical debt. So when his next client's stepmother promises him wealth for life if he botches bringing her back to life, he agrees. Not least because his next client, Elise Snow, bullied him in elementary school.