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Oct 30, 2008

Jon rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2007

hypothermya rated it:

It has been a long time since I sat down and read this book, and so I can barely remember a lot of my impressions and thoughts about it. However, it retains a place in my book case for several reasons.

The first reason why it will never leave my bookcase is because it contains a story called A Sound, Like Angels Singing. This story, written by an author who I had not heard of at the time (Leonard Rysdyk), is pure genius. It is visceral, haunting, and touching -- and outshines every More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 23, 2008

Amanda rated it:

This collection of short stories are re-tellings of fairy tales. Some are very recognizable, told from varying view points or told in a different time. Others are more subtle but still maintain the fairy tale theme. Most of the stories are good, though there are a few that are a bit hard to get through. Some are funny, most are sensual, and all have been re-done to appeal to adults.

There are several books in this collection, this one being the first. Fairy tale fans should enjoy thi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 13, 2011

Renee rated it:

The original, or older, or simply "non-Disney" versions of most fairy tales are highly disturbing. It seems that half the authors in this collection took that as a challenge to make modern fairy tales five times as disturbing as the disturbing originals.

This does not mean the tales are bad. These are very good authors, with a highly developed sense of writing, of the magical, of imparting ideas without spelling out every minute detail, of leaving the audience with a goo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 15, 2009

Rachel rated it:

As a fan of fairy tales, I had great hopes for this collection of reinvented classics. Sadly, most of the stories in the collection were fairly lackluster, neither inspiring new depth to old stories, nor faithfully recreating them. There are some stunning exceptions, however, most notably the stories by Neil Gaiman, Leonard Rysdyk, and Patricia McKillip, offering their takes on the Billy Goats Gruff, the Pied Piper, and the Snow Queen, respectively.

"Troll Bridge" has a bo More...

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Aug 09, 2010

Angela rated it:

My Favorites:

Like a Red, Red Rose -- not a retelling of any particular tale, but it feels so very familiar.

The Root of the Matter and The Princess in the Tower - perhaps I just have a soft spot for the Rapunzel tale.

Troll Bridge -- one of my favorite tales as a child, and one I remember making my Grandmother read over and over to me again...Three Billy Goats Gruff

A Sound Like Angels Singing -- I won't ruin it, but a beautiful tale, from a different More...

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May 30, 2011

Lacey rated it:

This came very close to being a five-star book, and it was easy for me to see why it's garnered so much admiration amongst fans of retold fairy tales. The only thing that kept it from getting five-stars is that there were two or three stories that fell short. But the rest of the stories more than made up for it.

Most of the stories in this collection felt just the right "length" to give fairy tales a deeper exploration without dragging them out more than necessary. As I work More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Tony rated it:

Highly recommended for fans of erotica, horror and dark fantasy, this collection of original short stories revises well-known fairy tales for the adult reader. Many take place in contemporary settings and feature strong sexual and/or horror themes. More than a few are quite disturbing (much to my delight). While Snow White and Red Riding Hood seem to get the most treatment here (at least 2 versions of each), my personal favorite is a vivid and harrowing spin on Rapunzel titled " At The R More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 12, 2007

Kelly rated it:

I was tantalized and amazed by these tales in early high school. I even felt deliciously dirty reading some of them. (I had a sheltered childhood, okay? Anyway... ) Basically these are retellings of classic Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales that we're all familiar with with adult twists and turns put on them, some of them reworked in a modern setting, some not. Some of them are horror stories, some of them are suspense thrillers, all of them are at least mildly creepy. I enj More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2009

Rhain rated it:

Sigh...

Aside from a few surprising gems, like Neil Gaiman's thing about a troll, and something else that I forget... this book is disappointing. The trouble with "modern fairy tales" is people think that the only way to make a fairy tale "adult" or "dark" is by involving lots and lots of rape and molestation of little girls, and while I suppose that sort of thing works for a while, there's a point at which I have to say, "I'm sorry, your deep inne More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

Kolleen rated it:

As I was browsing through Barnes and Nobles, I came across suggested Halloween reads and picked this one up at a bargain price. And once again, sorely disappointed.

I'm a huge lover or fairy tales and fairy tales reinvented, but this was neither interesting nor scary. Just bizarre, and not in a good way. I'm a firm believer that short stories generally suck, and this was absolutely true here. It took forever to read, wasn't good in the least, and was remarkably close to a one star More...

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Oct 27, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

I loved a few of the stories but I also didn't like or couldn't get into some of them (like Puss, I just couldn't get into that one and a few others that I can't remember). For friends I'd recommend reading certain ones and letting them borrow it but as a whole I wouldn't waste your time. I'm glad this book was cheap or I'd be very disappointed.

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Dec 06, 2010

Katy rated it:

While I enjoyed the stories they all started feeling the same. They are a retelling of fairy tales like Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Hansel and Gretel, etc. These take the brothers Grimm route. Very dark, very adult, very erotic. While it was interesting having such a spin put on them it felt like it was only one spin, sex. While that's not all bad they just started blending together after a while.

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Jul 28, 2009

Marcia rated it:

I've learned that a creative, novelist mind can turn out a cruel, twisted story which can fascinate a person into reading in spite of their inclination and perhaps horrific need to slam the book shut and never open it again! This book has been shut on my shelf for over 2 years. I might read more ....

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Jun 26, 2008

Jessie added it

This book is a modern version of the classic Snow White. Here, the maiden princess, Snow, travels to London to escape her evil step-mother and finds herself befriending animas, humans with animal-like characteristics, outcasts of society who pickpocket for a living.
Truthfully, I really didn’t like this version of Snow White because of all the science involved. I personally thing that science and fairy tales doesn’t mix but that’s just my ideals of what a fairy tale should be. In this sto More...

1 comment like

Jan 21, 2008

Summer rated it:

A fine collection of dark fairy tales. Some of them are original stories in the fairy tale tradition (Suzan Wade's heartbreaking "Like a red, red rose). Many are modern retellings of popular fairy tales - some plausible (in Wendy Wheeler's "Little Red," the 'wolf' has an affair with a woman in her grandmother's inherited cottage, then develops an appetite for her teenage daughter) and others fantastic (the mechanical house in Tanith Lee's "Snow Drop," in which the magic More...

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Aug 17, 2011

Samaire rated it:

An interesting re-telling of the classic fairy tales - full of the wonderful darkness that Disneyification has removed from our literary history. My favorite story was the retelling of 'Puss in Boots' with 'Puss' as a good-hearted changeling in the service of a very bad (and stupid) man. I plan to read the next collection in the series.
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Feb 02, 2012

Melissa rated it:

This book is an anthology featuring different authors putting a spin on classic fairytales. A few are dark, but there are some with a bit of humor too. I liked the different versions of these fairytales, but some of them were a tad bit boring. I guess you just have to like this kind of thing.

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Jan 30, 2008

Bill rated it:

This was something I had been looking for all of my adult life: darker re-telling of classic fairy tales. It's probably the reason this was a disappointment. These aren't so much as re-tellings as they are alternate tellings to the point where where they where for the most part unrecognizable.
There are a few standouts, such as Neil Gaiman's re-telling of The Billy Goats Gruff (which reminds me I must return
to Gaiman's Sandman comics soon) and Gahan Wilson's take on The Frog Prince, More...

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Mar 30, 2009

Ramarie rated it:

This was a fascinating collection of re-told fairy tales. Definitely geared towards adults. I enjoyed reading a story here and there, and reading the various authors. It certainly made me want to go back and read some of the original Grimm's and Perrault fairy tales...and to follow up on some of the authors. Really good read!

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Mar 02, 2009

Barbara rated it:

Was okay, there were some good ones, but many were super dysfunctional. For re-telling of fairy tales, I'd go with The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, which is super dysfunctional (but good) or Sexton's Transformation.

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Jan 05, 2010

Amy rated it:

Updated versions of classic and obscure fairy tales. Most were good and a few managed to become modern fairy tales. One or two squicked me out, but that is to be expected from the fairy tale genre, I suppose.

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Jul 16, 2009

Ashley rated it:

This was a very good book. There was only one story that I did not enjoy (Puss). My favorite story out of the book was "The Moon Is Drowning While I Sleep". I wasn't familiar with the fairy tale they were referring to, but it was still a great story. I hope to find other books like this!

1 comment like

Jan 07, 2011

Heather rated it:

There were some very, very nice stories in this book, and I loved how they weren't just 'fairytales,' they were the dark kind of fairytales. A fun read!

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Feb 25, 2011

Sonja rated it:

Read maybe half of the stories. There were some I started and couldn't get into and some I wasn't interested in reading.

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Oct 11, 2011

Shelley is currently reading it

My second time through this one, but it has been 10 years or more. I'm just on the first introduction this time around.

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May 11, 2010

Soozy rated it:

I loved this book, but some of the stories were a bit hard to take. The poor cat from the Puss in Boots story. ; ;

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Jun 07, 2010

Kate rated it:

This book was kind of slow going in the reading process, because I was reading it in between other books. Most of the stories really struck a chord with me. It's not surprising that my two favourites were Snow-Drop and Troll Bridge, since I love both Tanith Lee and Neil Gaiman respectively. I also was very, very fond of Little Red, and I actually maybe liked that one more than the Lee and Gaiman stories, as well as the haunting Breadcrumbs and Stones. A couple of the stories were forgettable More...

1 comment like

May 31, 2011

Liz rated it:

Incredibly dark and disturbing stories, but the introduction and "recommended reading" section were really interesting for someone interested in fairy tales and folk lore.

0 comments like

Nov 16, 2010

Amanda rated it:

3 stars, because some of the stories were awesome and some were awful. As a whole though, would not recommend.

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