Reviews

Read this for Coursera's SF&Fantasy course, and the original tales are quite bloody indeed. Ashenputtel/Cinderella's sisters cut off their toes and heels in order to make their feet small enough to fit the lost shoe, for example.

tschwedii12's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny inspiring tense medium-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

deepat's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.0

Reading the original versions of these familiar tales was interesting. So many of these stories have a very similar Indian counterpart, too - I’m surprised. Or maybe these tales were modified to better suit today’s world. Also the popular Fairy Tales from this series are very much different from the original version. Now the disappointing part - I hadn’t expected this book to be so long and boring. Actually, it has nothing of the charm I expected of Fairy Tales. Several of these stories feel so unfinished, they have no sensible ending at all. Most of the stories are quite ‘Grimm’ too, too cruel for no apparent reason. Several of the stories are almost copies of others. Trying to read the entire book at a stretch was the biggest mistake, I feel. I wanted to DNF this book so badly.

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