The Grimm Diaries Prequels #1-6 by Cameron Jace --> Restarting October 5th 2015

[Christina]

What if all you knew about fairy tales was wrong?

Warning: these Grimm Prequels are like snap shots of a magical land you're about to visit soon. I like to think of them as poisoned apples. Once you taste them, you will never see fairy tales in the same light again.

The Grimm Diaries Prequels are short books in the form of epistolary diary entries. They are teasers for The Grimm Diaries. The 6 diaries are told by The Evil Queen, Peter Pan, Little Red Riding Hood, the Devil, Prince Charming, and Alice Grimm.

Grimm Diaries Prequels:

1 Snow White Blood Red (narrated by The Snow White Queen)
2 Ashes to Ashes and Cinder to Cinder (narrated by Alice Grimm)
3 Beauty Never Dies (narrated by Peter Pan)
4 Ladle Rotten Rat Hut (narrated by Little Red Riding Hood)
5 Mary Mary Quite Contrary
6 Blood Apples (narrated by Prince Charming)
7 Jawigi (narrated by sandman Grimm)

Join Amy and I in reading these prequels :)

[Christina]

Snow White Blood Red -(view spoiler)[This was an chilling take on Snow White from a letter written by the "evil stepmother" who feels wronged at being labelled bad when Snow White is. SW was born with a curse that eventually spread into vampirism!

I liked this twisted version. It seems to intertwine with the other "fairy tales" as well with the mention of Peter Pan.

Who's the person in the mirror with the name starting with M? Maleficent? I was a little confused

(hide spoiler)]

[Amy]

I'll be starting this in about two hours. I'll be aiming to read one story a day. :)

[Amy]

I just finished the first prequel (view spoiler)[ I'm a little confused because at first she says that she killed her aughter but she also says that she is immortal. Maybe i just didn't read it corectly... I liked the twist too Christina! I almost wish this story was longer, that flasback of the princess bitting the 'yummy' prince was interesting. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Amy wrote: "I just finished the first prequel [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yes, I'm confused with the dreamhunters and the immortals. I can't get my head around the prologue. (hide spoiler)]

[Amy]

Christina wrote: "Amy wrote: "I just finished the first prequel [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

It's explained a little in the next story but it still doesn't make logical sense.

[Amy]

Ashes to ashes and cinder to cinder (view spoiler)[ this one was okay but it's a little confusing that all the stories are linked but follow totally different characters. The white queen has supposedly turned up in this story but we don't really get an answer on whether she definitely put the coins in the slipper. I don't see why Alice would want Loki to remember the dream either, she only just met the boy. Also, Alice trying to play dumb and asking what a immortal was made me cringe. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

I agree. It's all very confusing. I can't make sense of it

(view spoiler)[maybe the author is not very good at explaining what he means or its just intentionally vague hoping you can make sense of it...

Alice and Loki were interesting characters. How Cinderella got her name was quite creative. I like the ties to glass-blowing and symbols of witches. It was an interesting way to look at things. It's not making much sense when the different stories are being connected. What does the snow white evil queen have to do with it?

There was quite a lot of references to other works of fiction - oz, Carrie, hp (hide spoiler)]

[Lesley]

Yay! I ahve had this on my Kindle for months and always seem to pass it over. I'll start reading in a few hours.

[Christina]

Started the peter pan prequel
It's quite scatter brained. It's train g to make any reference to popular fiction and history. Just feels like fanfiction

[Lesley]

Ok, So I just finished Snow White Blood Red, and all I can say is WOW. I am really glad that the prelude explains that these are just pieces of the stories and that at times, it won't make sense.
(view spoiler)[ THis story is told in the POV of the "Evil" Queen as she is writing a letter to Wilhelm Grimm. In the letter she questions why he made Snow White out to be so innocent and she the evil one, making everyone hate her. She goes on to tell how she found out when Snow White was very young, that she was a monster. A vampire to be exact. After meeting the prince from a neighboring kingdom, Snow White bites him and he almost dies, the only thing saving him being the King using his dark magic to save him. Snow White being so young doesn't understand that biting people is different from kissing them, and when the pronce almost dies, she takes it as an act of rejection. The Queen explains to her that its just because they didn't know each other well enough.
THroughout the story the Queen talks of the Lost Seven, or the seven dwarves, and how she needs to find them in order to kill Snow White. In her quest for them, she finds Jacob Grimm at the cottage where Snow White lived with them. When he fails to give her any answers, she poisons him, but as she is leaving she notices the seven place settings at a table. She then pulls her mirror out of her pocket and asks who the fairest is in Dreamland, and then asks "Who else knows about the Lost Seven?" A face appears in the mirror that terrifies even the Queen as she says "tasting her name on one's tongue is deadly ever after". The Image tells her that Peter Pan. The only clue as to who is in the mirror is that her name starts with an "M". (hide spoiler)]

Can't wait to read the rest of these and now I am really eager to read The Grimm Diaries.

[Lesley]

Ashes to Ashes Cinder to Cinder
So this story is told in the POV of Alice Grimm, a decendant of the Grimm brothers. We start with Alice traveling to investigate a burned corpse of what is believed to be a witch, where she meets Loki, a dreamhunter, who is there to help her get into the dreams of the immortal witch and fufill a mission.
(view spoiler)[ Once Alice and Loki are in the dreamworld, Alice has to find Bianca, the "witch" and save her. She explains that Bianca is not actually a witch, but has the ability to create fire with her hands making her one of the best glassblowers. She also explains that the day they are in is the same day that the police round up all the glassblowers and banosh them to an island called Murano, in fear that they will burn down the city of venice blowing glass. They plan to banish all but Bianca, who they plan on publically killing for being a witch. When Alice and Loki find her, she is being dragged to a carriage to be taken and killed. Alice and Loki fight off her captors and take her to the boat to the island instead. On the ride to the boat, Alice notices that Bianca is pregnant, making saving her so important. Once at the boat Bianca gives Alice a glass slipper. Alice asks what she plans on naming the baby and Bianva answers "Cinder". Alice suggests that she name her Cinderella instead and Bianca happily accepts the suggestion. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Beauty Never Dies

(view spoiler)[Peter Pan was an annoying brat and he's in love with Sleeping Beauty! What a twist. But while he is not bound by the 100 years set by the Brothers Grimm, Sleeping Beauty is. Who would've thought Sleeping Beauty was Wendy Darling! And a vampire too

I didn't like how this story referred to 10000 other different books/movies. It was kind of annoying when Peter Pan would drop references (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Ladle rat rotten hut
I really liked this one! It's the best so far

(view spoiler)[I like how the names of the characters are a mystery and it usually turns out to be very twisted. So the tree of life actually drank blood not red wine. That makes a lot of sense. I liked the anguish language. It's quite funny.
It was pretty mental how little red riding hood aka death chopped her grandma's head off. Chop chop chop! Hansel and Gretel fit in the story quite well. Snow white makes an appearance which is unsettling (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Mary Mary quite contrary

(view spoiler)[the first story makes sense now. Mary is trapped in that mirror. It was creative how the mirror the devil dropped broke into shards and made Elizabeth evil. It's so creepy how she likes to torture young girls and she ended up torturing Mary, the child she had with a peasant. And what's more twisted is mary tortures her mother! Yikes

I keep using the word twisted for lack of a better word to describe it!

Now it's obvious why the Queen of sorrow wants to kill snow white. It's a life and death situation! (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Blood apples
(view spoiler)[ it was interesting to see Pomona the goddess of fruits and keeper of forest meddling with the affairs of Snow White and the prince. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. They would both die than not live without each other. But of course Snow White isn't dead. I'm intrigued enough to want to pick up the first full length novel in the series to find out more (hide spoiler)]

[Amy]

Beauty Never Dies (view spoiler)[ This story was all over the place. Dracula talked like he was from our time even though he's been staked for one hundred years. Sleeping Beauty being a vampire and Wendy felt overdone, why are all the princesses vampires? Peter Pan wasn't a very strong character, i didn't really get why he had the hunchback as a assistant and he was a little weird with the queen (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Amy wrote: "Beauty Never Dies [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[It seems like Peter pan had a huge crush on the Queen. It was very odd! (hide spoiler)]

[Markus]

First one:(view spoiler)[I loved all the twists, The Queen was awesome and thrilling. I am confused about the world though, whenever some explanation starts, the just say it is too complicated to explain. (hide spoiler)]

[Markus]

19%:(view spoiler)[Seriously, they are falling for each other. 1)Ewwww, 2)so badly written. (hide spoiler)]

[Markus]

Second one:(view spoiler)[The idea behind these stories is pretty good, but the execution is poor. (hide spoiler)]

[Markus]

Third story: I am bored.

[Markus]

4th story: The best so far, I enjoyed it.

[Markus]

The last two: I think it was a good book all in all, the last two were OK as well. (view spoiler)[I liked how goddess Pomona was brought in, I just love Greek mythology. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Yes I agree the 4th one was the best!

[Amy]

Ladle rat rotten hunt (view spoiler)[ I liked this one but i guessed that the tree drank blood, it was cool that little red riding hood turned out to be death though. I thought the ending was weird, i wouldn't want to be friends with death to be honest even if she did just save my life. (hide spoiler)]

[Lesley]

Just finished this last night, and I am quite interested in reading the full series. Havw to say that Laddle Rat Rotten Hut was my favorite.

[Amy]

Mary Mary Quite Contrary (view spoiler)[ Wow, this one was messed up and quite graphic. Funny how Elizabeth had the same thing happen to her because of her daughter, didn't see that one coming. A little weird how Peter Pan used to be a angel but i guess it makes sense because he can fly (i think he does in this anyway), has his own 'neverland' etc. (hide spoiler)]

[Amy]

Blood Apples (view spoiler)[ I liked that the apple thing was explained but otherwise i didn't see much point of this story. Why do all of the men fall for murderers? Just because they are princesses? It makes no sense. (hide spoiler)]

[Betwixt the]

I can't wait to start this one!

[Abi]

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Reading from the 5th of October 2015.

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[Betwixt the]

Alright, I'll be starting this tomorrow! :D

[Betwixt the]

12%:

(view spoiler)[
--I really like the writing style--it's very poetic and lyrical, and hits the right notes like all fairy tales should. The perspective for the first story is interesting, too--I like that we're seeing the world through the "villain," who's claiming to be something OTHER than what she's been painted. The changes Cameron Jace has brought to the forefront for this tale are very unique, as well, and make this read stand out.
--Also...Snow White is something of a vampire?! I didn't see that coming, though I should have! It's so fitting--she's always been described as having snow pale skin and lips as red as blood. Why hadn't I thought of that?!
(hide spoiler)]

[Betwixt the]

(view spoiler)[
--I'm really not enjoying the second story as much as the first?... the writing suddenly seems very rushed, not as pretty or poetic, and almost awkward. I'm not sure WHY this is. Also, the characters and story itself are sort of flat. Which is disappointing...the first story was so pretty and intriguing! What happened?! (hide spoiler)]

[Betwixt the]

66%:

(view spoiler)[
--I really enjoyed the Anguish Language (as seen in Ladle Rat Rotten Hut); I'm going to have to do some research and find the book that was created with this language, I feel it might be a fun puzzly time to read.
--I still don't understand why some of these stories are so much better written than others? It's like...the author was more invested in certain ones, and put the extra effort into them...and let the others sort of just slide by and lose bits of the style she cultivated in the first two sections. It's disappointing overall; is this how the books are? Do the chapters switch off between "really engaging" and "just sort of meh" ??? If so, I'm not sure I want to continue reading the series after this...
(hide spoiler)]

[Betwixt the]

Finished.

(view spoiler)[
--I'm not sure I'm going to be continuing with this series. It wasn't BAD, per se... I really enjoyed the "alterations" that were made to the well-known tales featured. They were creative and entertaining...but I'm disappointed with the quality of writing overall. The first two sections were gorgeous--lyrical and poetic. But after that, things sort of flopped for me. The stories were rushed; the plot was a bit all over the place. I'm not sure this series is for me, unfortunately; if the books are like the prequels, I'm worried I'll be frustrated with them/the world-building.
(hide spoiler)]

[Betwixt the]

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...