A review by hollyon
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

5.0

This book is my introduction to fairy tale twist stories, and I have to say, I am now very interested in exploring this sub-genre. Jane Yolen did a fantastic job with crafting this story and blending it with historical events from the past century in Europe and the US. Her research for this book paid off very well; her inclusion of the tidbit with the blue jeans as well as her ability to write bilingual characters really impressed me. I also really enjoyed how she structured the book. Reading bits of the tale that Gemma told her granddaughters throughout their lives in between chapters describing Becca's journey set the whole thing up well. I was able to more or less predict the origin behind the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale roughly halfway through the book, but that didn't take away from it in my opinion. I actually don't really think that Yolen intended the reader to truly believe in the fairy tale as it was told. I also think that Yolen did a great job at writing characters as people, and I especially think she did a great job at portraying the experience of dealing with grief and loss.
Overall I really enjoyed this book for a lot of reasons, but mostly because of how surprisingly unique and refreshing it all was. It told a familiar story from an entirely new perspective, and I liked that very much.