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82nd out of 147 books
—
202 voters
Happily Ever After
by
John Klima ,
Holly Black (Goodreads Author), Neil Gaiman (Goodreads Author), Patricia Briggs, Charles de Lint, Susanna Clarke, Garth Nix (Goodreads Author), Karen Joy Fowler
,
more…
Happily Ever After is a star-studded book of fairy tales, featuring an introduction by Bill Willingham (Fables) and stories by Gregory Maguire, Susanna Clarke, Karen Joy Fowler, Charles de Lint, Holly Black, Garth Nix, Kelly Link, Peter Straub, Neil Gaiman, Patricia Briggs, and many other fantasy luminaries.
Paperback, 473 pages
Published
June 1st 2011
by Night Shade Books
(first published May 24th 2011)
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The stories are better than those collected in the similarly themed My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales , it has more edge and overall there's this grey and dark tone surrounding it. which leads me to say that the title doesn't fit it at all. Nor the cover. Probably better with imagery of dark forest and all those creeping menacing creature waiting for you.
Still I have the same problem with this book as with other themed short stories collection. How far should yo...more
Still I have the same problem with this book as with other themed short stories collection. How far should yo...more
Artwork was beautiful.
Read:
Introduction, Bill Willingham. I'm a big fan of his Fable series, and was really looking forward to what he had to say about fairy tales and such, but his introduction I have to say is one of the worst that I've ever read. It consists of four short paragraphs, where he even admits that his is no good with writing introductions; then why was he picked? His story that he had after his irritatingly short introduction was pretty good, but I would have liked it a lot better...more
Read:
Introduction, Bill Willingham. I'm a big fan of his Fable series, and was really looking forward to what he had to say about fairy tales and such, but his introduction I have to say is one of the worst that I've ever read. It consists of four short paragraphs, where he even admits that his is no good with writing introductions; then why was he picked? His story that he had after his irritatingly short introduction was pretty good, but I would have liked it a lot better...more
a collection of mostly re-printed short stories which rethink classic fairy tales. Some are excellent. some are less so. I guess that's to be expected in a collection of this sort. I will confess that although I enjoyed reading almost all of the stories (and only gave up on two), it is a very long volume, and I grew somewhat tired of its conceit before I reached the end. It might be better read in spurts, separated by other reading ventures.
I don't have the volume in front of me, so my memory of...more
I don't have the volume in front of me, so my memory of...more
Jun 21, 2011
Beth Anne
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
beth, amy, brent, mom
Recommended to Beth Anne by:
dave
ebook.
thanks dave, for the book recommend. i loved this anthology, it was amazing...better than amazing.
perhaps because i love fantasy and fairy tales so much, i approached this book with more gusto than most...but i'm so glad i did. i couldn't put it down. i loooved it.
a few of my favorite stories i'd like to comment on:
Susanna Clarke - "Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower" -- i am a huge fan of Clarke’s writing. I think she has an amazing way of writing a magical story with intensity and intrigu...more
thanks dave, for the book recommend. i loved this anthology, it was amazing...better than amazing.
perhaps because i love fantasy and fairy tales so much, i approached this book with more gusto than most...but i'm so glad i did. i couldn't put it down. i loooved it.
a few of my favorite stories i'd like to comment on:
Susanna Clarke - "Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower" -- i am a huge fan of Clarke’s writing. I think she has an amazing way of writing a magical story with intensity and intrigu...more
“The Seven Stage a Comeback” by Gregory Maguire is a funny play about the dwarves looking for Snow White who’s left them behind, was performed during an evening of short plays that are also Grimm fairy tale retellings in Boston. Like several stories in this collection, I’d already read “My Life as a Bird” by Charles de Lint. It’s about Mona, who writes three comic strips, and lives with a grumpy short faery. “Pinocchio’s Diary," which is published for the first time in this volume, by Robert J....more
A great collection of re-told fairy tales by all the greats and even some of the not-as-well-knowns but just-as-greats.
I have read a few of the stories collected herein in other anthologies, especially some of the darker ones, but the overarching theme of this anthology holds true the whole way through.
The authors who retell the stories here put the teeth and the blood, the sex and the gore, the death and the despair back into the old stories that have been washed clean with morality and Disney...more
I have read a few of the stories collected herein in other anthologies, especially some of the darker ones, but the overarching theme of this anthology holds true the whole way through.
The authors who retell the stories here put the teeth and the blood, the sex and the gore, the death and the despair back into the old stories that have been washed clean with morality and Disney...more
As with any anthology, there's good parts and bad parts, but I like the idea of it. I just don't have the patience to sort through it right now so I cherry-picked some authors and stories that I really wanted to read. Unfortunately, two of the stories by authors I enjoy (Susanna Clarke and Neil Gaiman) were previously published, which means I'd already read them.
But I did read a really cool re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood set in the 1920s ("And In Their Glad Rags" by Genevieve Valentine), a...more
But I did read a really cool re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood set in the 1920s ("And In Their Glad Rags" by Genevieve Valentine), a...more
For the most part I really enjoyed this collection. My Favorites were
The Price- Patricia Briggs
Blood and Waster- Alethea Knotis
The Rose in 12 Petals- Theodora Goss
Like a Red Red Rose - Susan Wade
The Rose Garden - Michelle West
The rest of the Stories that I liked were
The Troll Bridge- Neil Gaiman
The Night Market- Holly Black
The Return of the Dark Children- Rober Coover
The Root of the Matter- Gregory Frost
My Life as a Bird - Charles De Lint
The Little Magic Shop - Bruce Sterling
The Red Path - Jim C...more
The Price- Patricia Briggs
Blood and Waster- Alethea Knotis
The Rose in 12 Petals- Theodora Goss
Like a Red Red Rose - Susan Wade
The Rose Garden - Michelle West
The rest of the Stories that I liked were
The Troll Bridge- Neil Gaiman
The Night Market- Holly Black
The Return of the Dark Children- Rober Coover
The Root of the Matter- Gregory Frost
My Life as a Bird - Charles De Lint
The Little Magic Shop - Bruce Sterling
The Red Path - Jim C...more
Just like all short story books, some stories stand out more than others.
The one I was happiest about was Charles de Lint's. It made me miss his Newford novels (it feels like it's been entirely too long since a new one has come out), and the character's writings on religion were so spot on.
Michelle West's 'The Rose Garden' was a nice play on the 'Beauty and the Beast' tale. I liked the Harry Potter references. :)
There were a number of stories that I had read before and a few that just really did...more
The one I was happiest about was Charles de Lint's. It made me miss his Newford novels (it feels like it's been entirely too long since a new one has come out), and the character's writings on religion were so spot on.
Michelle West's 'The Rose Garden' was a nice play on the 'Beauty and the Beast' tale. I liked the Harry Potter references. :)
There were a number of stories that I had read before and a few that just really did...more
Jan 18, 2012
Sally
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Shelves:
adventure,
contemporary,
coming-of-age,
classics,
european,
dark-comedy,
dragons,
disappointing,
familiar,
fantasy,
fairy-tale,
horror,
retelling,
unfinished,
mythological
Most of these stories are very heavy on adult themes and graphic details of sexual encounters, violence, child abuse, vampirism, and bodily functions. The title of the anthology is off, to say the least. And while some might argue that the Grimm stories and Hans Christian Anderson tales didn't all end with warm fuzzies, at least they had morals and lacked the details of these black-moods and horror bits.
Not all the stories are like that, but the majority are. And the good stories aren't good en...more
Not all the stories are like that, but the majority are. And the good stories aren't good en...more
As with any anthology, there are good parts and bad parts, but I like the idea of a collection like this. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to read the whole thing so I cherry-picked some authors and stories that I really wanted to read. Unfortunately, two of the stories by authors I enjoy (Susanna Clarke and Neil Gaiman) were previously published, which means I'd already read them.
But I did read a really interesting re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood set in the 1920s ("And In Their Glad R...more
But I did read a really interesting re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood set in the 1920s ("And In Their Glad R...more
Well that took freakin' forever. There are some really wonderful stories in here but a lot of surprisingly pedestrian ones. Not bad necessarily but kinda...unmemorable. I really liked the one sci-fi spin on Puss in Boots, which really created a whole living breathing world in just a few pages and also managed to still stay recognizably Puss in Boots. It wasn't horrible but it was effortful to get through and that is a really bad sign. I guess I was spoiled after Datlow's Tails of Wonder and Imag...more
Eeeeeuuuuggghh. This is an anthology consisting of 34 short retellings of fairy tales. One of which, I was actually quite fond of (the first one), and the rest were all somewhere between awful, awfully boring, less than okay, and there were a few, very few, that were really not that bad, but not great.
The one that I did quite like was "The Seven Stage a Comeback" by Gregory Maguire. Obviously a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The story starts out after Snow White has left the dwa...more
The one that I did quite like was "The Seven Stage a Comeback" by Gregory Maguire. Obviously a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The story starts out after Snow White has left the dwa...more
Enjoyed this anthology of darkish retellings of fairy tales. A nice variety of styles and themes, quality authors, and good mixture of dark to light and happy to sad endings. Some humorous, some disturbing.
I've read about half of these before in other anthologies, but on the whole, this is one of the better compilations I've come across lately. Recommended.
If you are a fan of the various Datlow/Windling collections, this should be right down your alley (although a lot of these may be familiar to...more
I've read about half of these before in other anthologies, but on the whole, this is one of the better compilations I've come across lately. Recommended.
If you are a fan of the various Datlow/Windling collections, this should be right down your alley (although a lot of these may be familiar to...more
I'm a sucker for fairy tale retellings and this book definitely provides that. Most of the stories are short and on the dark side. The very best ones atmospheric and a little challenging. Many of my favorites were ones I had already read (Susanna Clarke - "Mr Simonelli or the Fairy Widower," Neil Gaiman – "The Troll Bridge," and Kelly Link - "The Faery Handbag"). The ones I read for the first time that stuck with me were Holly Black's “The Night Market,” (wonderful Philippino setting with some g...more
Happily Ever After is a pretty hefty tome. It's a short story anthology edited by John Klima and featuring authors such as Gregory Maguire, Susanna Clarke, Patricia Briggs, and Charles de Lint. The short stories are retellings, interpretations and variations on classic fairy and folk tales.
On to the stars,
Selection: The vast majority of these stories are well told and well picked. Unfortunately, a couple of them fall extraordinarily flat. The great thing about anthologies, though, is that it's o...more
On to the stars,
Selection: The vast majority of these stories are well told and well picked. Unfortunately, a couple of them fall extraordinarily flat. The great thing about anthologies, though, is that it's o...more
What an uneven collection. It's not even just the wide variation of quality (although there IS a wide variation in quality), but it seems like the stories chosen have only a glancing association with the ostensible theme. This is particularly notable given the hubris expressed in the introduction that this will be the ur-collection of modern faery tales (Klima goes as far as to imply that it is the ONLY collection of this sort, which is laughable, given that not only are almost all of these stor...more
33 Fairy Tale retellings with introduction by Bill Willingham.
A Night in the Lonesome November
by Bill Willingham
Bill's true account of his encounter with a fairy.
-This very short story is interesting. I think it sets the mood for the whole book. I have started reading Willingham's Fables series and enjoy it so far.
The Seven Stage a Comeback
by Gregory Maguire
A one-act play in six scenes about the seven dwarves.
-I never was attached to stories of Snow White, and I don't like to read plays.
An...more
A Night in the Lonesome November
by Bill Willingham
Bill's true account of his encounter with a fairy.
-This very short story is interesting. I think it sets the mood for the whole book. I have started reading Willingham's Fables series and enjoy it so far.
The Seven Stage a Comeback
by Gregory Maguire
A one-act play in six scenes about the seven dwarves.
-I never was attached to stories of Snow White, and I don't like to read plays.
An...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I really wanted to give this more stars. Several of the stories were fabulous. But some were bleagh because of theme. Don't get me wrong, those stories were still well written, but I didn't care for them. Individually rated, the stories range from 1-5. Anthologies are usually in a smaller range so that the overall rating is closer to where most of the stories are. Sigh. I'm still glad I'd bought the volume for the ones I do like and want to read again. Wish the percentage I'd liked had been high...more
Feb 10, 2012
Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Only recommend a few stories in here
Overall, I found this anthology disappointing. The ratio of stories I didn't like or was indifferent about was higher than the ones I liked or loved. I really, really hated the Peter Straub story. I don't usually have that severe a negative reaction to stories/books, but this is one of them. On the other hand, I loved the Patricia Briggs and Michelle West stories. In between were some clever and enjoyable stories mixed in with the ones I disliked. I could probably come up with a very exact ratin...more
Great anthology... The stories are all very creative, some sticking closely to the original versions and others completely diverging. There were only 2 stories in here that bored me so much I could not finish them. Despite the fact that a lot of these authors write for children, this IS NOT a kids book and the tales are not Disney-fied versions. There is some very dark material here. Not just the scary stuff of the original Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andreson stories (death, evil scheming...more
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 fant...more
"Fairy Tales Retold" is the subtitle, and the only thing truly negative I can say about this collection is that I would have liked to see a broader selection in source material. Why do so many authors want to rework Little Red Riding Hood?
Although some of the books are told in a style that's not my favorite, there's not a bad tale in this book. My favorites, in the order they appear in the book:
Michelle West's heartbreaking version of Beauty and the Beast, "The Rose Garden"
Kelly Link's very orig...more
Although some of the books are told in a style that's not my favorite, there's not a bad tale in this book. My favorites, in the order they appear in the book:
Michelle West's heartbreaking version of Beauty and the Beast, "The Rose Garden"
Kelly Link's very orig...more
Like many anthologies there is good and bad - or rather stories I enjoyed and those that I really didn't.
Its other downside is that it contains largely reprints that I had read elsewhere. That can be a plus when they are old tales that you have not seen for a long while, but not so appealing when they are little more than a year or two past original copyright. Had I known this before buying it on Amazon I may have thought twice, and for this reason alone I give it 3 stars rather than 4 or even...more
Its other downside is that it contains largely reprints that I had read elsewhere. That can be a plus when they are old tales that you have not seen for a long while, but not so appealing when they are little more than a year or two past original copyright. Had I known this before buying it on Amazon I may have thought twice, and for this reason alone I give it 3 stars rather than 4 or even...more
As with every collection of short stories there were some which I did not enjoy, but there were fewer disappointing tales in this collection than normal. I've never liked Gregory Magiure's narrative style, so I wasn't surprised when I found his retelling of the Snow White story quite dull. Of course I loved the Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, and Garth Nix stories, but the surprising best of collection award goes to the surprisingly wondergul "Like a red, red rose" by Susan Wade. "Pinnochio's Diar...more
All of your favorite fairy tail writers in one place. This is a stunning collection of stories that just happens to featured some of my favorite authors. How was I supposed to resist? The introduction alone is worth the money. Why you ask? Because the intro itself is a fairy tale detailing the reason for this anthology's existence. Besides, where else can you find Neil Gaimen, Holly Black, and Charles De Lint all in one place.
I wish I had a shelf that said "didn't finish reading." I love fairy tales, but the more I read in this anthology, the darker and more disturbing it got. The Cinderella retelling with the pschyo teacher who kills a kindergarten student finished it off for me.
Pretty decent collection. The only thing that annoyed me was the editor's comment about there not being any "good" modern fairy tale collections-- and over half the stories have been printed in earlier anthologies. Ah, well. I still enjoyed it.
Overall a great collection of short stories that rethink the tried and true fairy tales; however, I found some of the stories repetitive. The variety of fairy tales is not as great as one would expect in an anthology of it's size.
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Sep 14, 2012 06:45am