settingshadow's review
3.0
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 stories pulled from other, similar, anthologies, but the vast majority of them have been published in one of the Ellen Datlow/Terri Windling anthologies.) Its also poorly organized, with adjacent stories doing nothing to build or communicate with each other and some stories on the same faery tale are close to each other, while others aren't. The theme is also poorly defined, with some stories being modern interpretations of faery tales, some being retellings without a change in setting, and yet others seem to come from a universe where the words "faery tale" have no meaning.
All of that notwithstanding, there are some excellent stories:
-Wil McCarthy's He Died That Day, in Thirty Years is one of those rare pieces: a sci-fi short story that actually is satisfying. It stood on it's own and yet was clearly related to Alice in Wonderland. It was rich and provocative and wholly original. Perhaps particularly remarkable is how every little detail of the story was rich with information.
-Michelle West's The Rose Garden was something that I wanted to hate. I hate Beauty and the Best as the exemplar of the Bad Boy genre -- that horribly insidious, misogynist trope by which women should cleave to cruel, angry men and by their love covert them into some sort of paragon. But The Rose Garden, while not being a full inversion, was raw and honest about its intentions. And, I'm a sucker for platonic romance, so...
-Robert J. Howe's Pinocchio's Diary is terrifying, brutal, and an absolutely fascinating retelling. I loved his exploration of "realness" and bullying and othering. This is faery tale telling at it's best -- using a tale familiar to all of us, to tell a moral familiar to all of us, but to also tell a story that feels real and visceral and to twist it into something new that has a new moral.
There are also some completely AWFUL stories
-Howard Waldrop's The Sawing Boys is completely impenetrable. You see it's a modern twist on the faery tale in which a bunch of Yiddish gangsters are finally thwarted by a Klezmer band playing construction equipment. No? No hint of recognition? Maybe it will help if they only speak in roaring twenties slang, which is converted into Pig Latin such that you both have to decrypt every utterance and then further deduce it's meaning based on the glossary at the end of the story? No? Yeah, me neither. Also, apparently Yiddish is the new black in faery tales, as it also seems to infiltrate Leslie What's The Emperor's New (and Improved) Clothes for no clear reason, too.
-Gregory Maguire's The Seven Stage a Comeback, which unfortunately starts this collection, may work as a play, but as written media is completely god-awful. It's impossible to keep the dwarfs straight, as they have no names; only numbers, therefore there is no character development evident.
The rest is mostly pretty cliched and unmemorable. (I do love Neil Gaiman's The Troll Bridge, but I've already read it in a different collection, so it doesn't count)
All of that notwithstanding, there are some excellent stories:
-Wil McCarthy's He Died That Day, in Thirty Years is one of those rare pieces: a sci-fi short story that actually is satisfying. It stood on it's own and yet was clearly related to Alice in Wonderland. It was rich and provocative and wholly original. Perhaps particularly remarkable is how every little detail of the story was rich with information.
-Michelle West's The Rose Garden was something that I wanted to hate. I hate Beauty and the Best as the exemplar of the Bad Boy genre -- that horribly insidious, misogynist trope by which women should cleave to cruel, angry men and by their love covert them into some sort of paragon. But The Rose Garden, while not being a full inversion, was raw and honest about its intentions. And, I'm a sucker for platonic romance, so...
-Robert J. Howe's Pinocchio's Diary is terrifying, brutal, and an absolutely fascinating retelling. I loved his exploration of "realness" and bullying and othering. This is faery tale telling at it's best -- using a tale familiar to all of us, to tell a moral familiar to all of us, but to also tell a story that feels real and visceral and to twist it into something new that has a new moral.
There are also some completely AWFUL stories
-Howard Waldrop's The Sawing Boys is completely impenetrable. You see it's a modern twist on the faery tale in which a bunch of Yiddish gangsters are finally thwarted by a Klezmer band playing construction equipment. No? No hint of recognition? Maybe it will help if they only speak in roaring twenties slang, which is converted into Pig Latin such that you both have to decrypt every utterance and then further deduce it's meaning based on the glossary at the end of the story? No? Yeah, me neither. Also, apparently Yiddish is the new black in faery tales, as it also seems to infiltrate Leslie What's The Emperor's New (and Improved) Clothes for no clear reason, too.
-Gregory Maguire's The Seven Stage a Comeback, which unfortunately starts this collection, may work as a play, but as written media is completely god-awful. It's impossible to keep the dwarfs straight, as they have no names; only numbers, therefore there is no character development evident.
The rest is mostly pretty cliched and unmemorable. (I do love Neil Gaiman's The Troll Bridge, but I've already read it in a different collection, so it doesn't count)
curiouslibrarian's review
5.0
This is a wonderful collection of retold fairy tales. Very few of the stories failed to hit their mark with me, which is rare indeed. The stories are well chosen and varied, with authors I know and love, as well as plenty of others I've never read. I tried to limit myself to only one story per day (which meant it took a long time to read, but was very worth it that way).
All that being said, if you are a fan of the Datlow and Windling collections ([b:Snow White, Blood Red|141024|Snow White, Blood Red|Ellen Datlow|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1387746798s/141024.jpg|135922] and [b:Black Heart, Ivory Bones|81038|Black Heart, Ivory Bones|Ellen Datlow|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388675482s/81038.jpg|78241] in particular) you may be disappointed. All but one of the stories in this book are reprints, and about half come from the Datlow and Windling collections (those two most heavily, but some of the others as well).
But if you don't mind rereads of old favorites mixed in with wonderful new-to-you stories, it really is a well put together collection.
All that being said, if you are a fan of the Datlow and Windling collections ([b:Snow White, Blood Red|141024|Snow White, Blood Red|Ellen Datlow|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1387746798s/141024.jpg|135922] and [b:Black Heart, Ivory Bones|81038|Black Heart, Ivory Bones|Ellen Datlow|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388675482s/81038.jpg|78241] in particular) you may be disappointed. All but one of the stories in this book are reprints, and about half come from the Datlow and Windling collections (those two most heavily, but some of the others as well).
But if you don't mind rereads of old favorites mixed in with wonderful new-to-you stories, it really is a well put together collection.
samwescott's review
3.0
This is a solid anthology. The stories were, collectively, of high quality. The range of styles was satisfactorily broad and the selected authors represent a good range of approaches. There was only one story that I couldn't finish and that more of a stylistic preference than a result of bad story telling. My only complaint is that so few of the stories wowed me. They were all good and some were great, but somehow I just wanted astounded by many. Neil Gaiman's story was my favorite, naturally. I also enjoyed the stories of Kelly Link and Patricia Briggs.
It's a good collection of stories, but, for some reason or another, I just wasn't super impressed.
It's a good collection of stories, but, for some reason or another, I just wasn't super impressed.
lotusflower85's review
4.0
Fairly awesome faery stories. Some are a little creeptastic, and yet still really good.
djrmelvin's review
4.0
"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 original "The Fairy Handbag"
Rober J Howe's "Pinocchio's Diary", a dark story that hits on the reason I've never thought of Pinocchio as a children's story
Wendy Wheeler's "Little Red", gloriously and obviously inspired by another classic piece of literature
Gregory Frost's grown up version of Rapunzel "The Root of the Matter"
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 original "The Fairy Handbag"
Rober J Howe's "Pinocchio's Diary", a dark story that hits on the reason I've never thought of Pinocchio as a children's story
Wendy Wheeler's "Little Red", gloriously and obviously inspired by another classic piece of literature
Gregory Frost's grown up version of Rapunzel "The Root of the Matter"
ichewonpushpins's review
Some of the stories are gorgeous and terrifying and amazing. Some fizzle and die. But I do think there's way more good than bad.
liriel27's review
4.0
Well - the stories are good, but check the titles before you buy. If you have the Datlow/Windling collections from a while back, you already have most of these. Frustrating.
jmshirtz's review
4.0
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 fantastically written and will forever change my view of this particular fairy tale!