Reviews

Cursed: An Anthology by Angela Slatter

cadence1500's review against another edition

3.0

*Castle Cursed: 4/5
*As Red As Blood, As White As Snow: 2/5
*Troll Bridge: 3/5
*At That Age: 3/5
*Listen: 4/5
*Henry and the Snakewood Box: 4/5
*Skin: 3/5
*Faith & Fred: 1/5
*The Black Fairy's Curse: 4/5
*Wendy, Darling: 3/5
* Fairy Werewolf vs. Vampire Zombie: 1/5
*Look Inside: 1/5
*Little Red: 3/5
*New Wine: 1/5
*Haza and Ghani: 4/5
*Hated: 1/5
*Merrie Dancers: 5/5
*Again: 3/5
*The Girl from the Hell: 1/5
*Castle Waking: 3/5

aparker89's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

A fun mix of completely unique tales and reimaginings of classic fairy tales! This book has a story for everyone- this collaboration has introduced me to new authors that I had never heard of and I can't wait to read more of their works! 

miepsy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious relaxing tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

larkais's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

I thought this anthology stuck the landing for me. I thought the writing style was compelling across them all and none of them overstayed their welcome. There was no overly long short story and I'm grateful for that. I did not take this as a fairy tale but rewritten to be darker, this is simply a book of fairy tales because the originals were dark enough to match the tones here especially since it opens with Bluebeard. 

They had solid endings that wrapped up the story nicely. Some other people commented they didn't like the purple prose, but this sort of flowery, metaphorical, fantasy writing is exactly up my alley. I think the descriptions were great and immersive for a fairy tale. 

My stand out favourites were As red as Blood and as White as Snow by Christina Henry, New Wine by Angela Slatter, and Again by Tim Lebbon.

I thought all of them had interesting nuggets!

unalahiff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

kellysmaust's review against another edition

4.0

I really liked the idea of building a fantasy/contemporary fantasy/folklore- and fairytale-inspired short story collection around a theme like this! Some of the stories were "meh," but the only one I absolutely hated was the last one, The Girl from the Hell (Margo Lanagan). What was the heck was it even about? The ones I liked best were:

Troll Bridge (Neil Gaiman)
At that Age (Catriona Ward)
Wendy, Darling (Christopher Golden)
Fairy Werewolf vs. Vampire Zombie (Charlie Jane Anders) - this one was so cute!
The Merrie Dancers (Alison Littlewood)

bluemaiden's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

ema114's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

samanthaalis's review against another edition

2.0

 Anthologies have a tendency to be hit or miss since the author/voice changes with each new story. This one was a big miss for me. The majority of the stories seemed to be purple prose with no plot. The flow from story to story felt very clunky, like there wasn't a lot of thought as to what order they should be in. I think I would have enjoyed it just a little bit more if there was more consistency in the organization and I wasn't constantly jumping back and forth from good story to not-so-good story every 20 pages.

I would like to give a shoutout to the stories that I thought were absolutely amazing and I would have loved to see more of that world:
As Red As Blood, As White As Snow by Christina Henry
Listen by Jen Williams (my favorite)
Henry and the Snakewood Box M.R.Carey
Again by Tim Lebbon

I'll be honest, if you're looking for an anthology of stories, maybe look for a different one. 

maxoliveira's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5