Reviews
Clockwork Fairy Tales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables by Stephen L. Antczak, James C. Bassett
telerit's review against another edition
3.0
Two of the stories, "Fair Vasyl" and "Mechanical Wings" made this book worthwhile; the other stories seemed weak to me.
marimoose's review against another edition
3.0
Full review here
The book is clearly reimagined fairy tales with the steampunk elements thrown in. And sometimes that surprised me at how well these two things melded together. Some of the stories did stick out, others made me want to read the fairy tales they were based off of, because it was difficult having to follow otherwise.
The standouts (at least, for me):
“La Valse” by K.W. Jeter was a gruesome way to open a book on fairy tales and steampunk, but I find this highly appropriate, considering how dark the old fairy tales could be. It took me a bit longer to get into this, however, because I wasn’t sure what the heck was going on the first time around (all that steampunky terminology, I tell ya!). That said, I kind of did find the punishments at the end were more warranted than not.
“Fair Vasyl” by Steven Harper was, hands down, my favorite in the collection. It was certainly a gender-bending version of “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” and Harper just didn’t take the tale and go with it, he embellished it to flesh the characters out. Also, I love the mechanical cat. And Baba Yaga’s mechanical home. Oh, and Baba Yaga herself was practically fantabulously witchy. Yes.
“You Will Attend Until Beauty Awakens” by Jay Lake wasn’t so much a retelling of the events of “Sleeping Beauty,” but more of a background intro to the characters involved and the lead-up to what could be if the Sleeping Beauty fell in love with an automaton instead. I liked the little points of view, from the faeries to the prince, to the king and queen. I’m not sure if this counts as a “short” story, because I felt like it could have been made into a novel in order to tell the entire thing of it. Still, I liked it enough.
“The Clockwork Suit” by G.K. Hayes was based off of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” so I wasn’t sure how this was going to go about, considering the fairy tale itself was simply straightforward. I liked the turn-around here, showing not the tinker conman and king’s conversations, but what was happening in the background that led up to the emperor wearing his birthday suit. As grim as the story had been, the end made me chuckle somewhat.
“The Mechanical Wings” by Pip Ballantine wraps the anthology up with what I thought was a fantastic derivation of “The Wild Swans”. I’d been struggling through a derivation of this in Juliet Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest (which I swear I will end up finishing…eventually), so a shortened, steampunk retelling was something welcome in my book. I loved that this was taking place in floating cities. And that there was still that hint of magic and folklore in there (not that the other stories didn’t…Ballantine’s just had it engraved so well in her story in any case). So, yeah, this is probably my second favorite of the collection.
All in all, I think the book itself was worth a read, if not for the sake of steampunk and fairy tales, then for the fabulous authors above.
The book is clearly reimagined fairy tales with the steampunk elements thrown in. And sometimes that surprised me at how well these two things melded together. Some of the stories did stick out, others made me want to read the fairy tales they were based off of, because it was difficult having to follow otherwise.
The standouts (at least, for me):
“La Valse” by K.W. Jeter was a gruesome way to open a book on fairy tales and steampunk, but I find this highly appropriate, considering how dark the old fairy tales could be. It took me a bit longer to get into this, however, because I wasn’t sure what the heck was going on the first time around (all that steampunky terminology, I tell ya!). That said, I kind of did find the punishments at the end were more warranted than not.
“Fair Vasyl” by Steven Harper was, hands down, my favorite in the collection. It was certainly a gender-bending version of “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” and Harper just didn’t take the tale and go with it, he embellished it to flesh the characters out. Also, I love the mechanical cat. And Baba Yaga’s mechanical home. Oh, and Baba Yaga herself was practically fantabulously witchy. Yes.
“You Will Attend Until Beauty Awakens” by Jay Lake wasn’t so much a retelling of the events of “Sleeping Beauty,” but more of a background intro to the characters involved and the lead-up to what could be if the Sleeping Beauty fell in love with an automaton instead. I liked the little points of view, from the faeries to the prince, to the king and queen. I’m not sure if this counts as a “short” story, because I felt like it could have been made into a novel in order to tell the entire thing of it. Still, I liked it enough.
“The Clockwork Suit” by G.K. Hayes was based off of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” so I wasn’t sure how this was going to go about, considering the fairy tale itself was simply straightforward. I liked the turn-around here, showing not the tinker conman and king’s conversations, but what was happening in the background that led up to the emperor wearing his birthday suit. As grim as the story had been, the end made me chuckle somewhat.
“The Mechanical Wings” by Pip Ballantine wraps the anthology up with what I thought was a fantastic derivation of “The Wild Swans”. I’d been struggling through a derivation of this in Juliet Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest (which I swear I will end up finishing…eventually), so a shortened, steampunk retelling was something welcome in my book. I loved that this was taking place in floating cities. And that there was still that hint of magic and folklore in there (not that the other stories didn’t…Ballantine’s just had it engraved so well in her story in any case). So, yeah, this is probably my second favorite of the collection.
All in all, I think the book itself was worth a read, if not for the sake of steampunk and fairy tales, then for the fabulous authors above.
madelyn91's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed it for what is was but it fell flat often. I’ve read a few of these stories in other anthologies so that may be why I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped.
Clockwork Fairy Tales is great one to start with if you are looking to dive into the Gaslight/Steampunk genre!
Clockwork Fairy Tales is great one to start with if you are looking to dive into the Gaslight/Steampunk genre!
regorama's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed it far more than I expected (and I expected to enjoy it!). Usually anthologies are hit-and-miss, but this one had only one that I kind of didn't like (the Stovepiper, the Steampiper, and the Pied Piper was a little misogynist for my tastes). The rest were amazingly written and wonderful shadows of the "originals". Proof positive that stories are eternal and storytellers are priceless. These storytellers are worth their weight in brass and æther.
faeriedrumsong's review against another edition
3.0
This collection of classic folk and fairy tales has been twisted with metal, steam, and gears. The intriguing premise was disappointing only in its disjointedness. A few of the stories were really strong, and a few were only middlingly good, but there were a few that were so intriguing, that I felt let down that they didn't continue. The adaptation of "The Pied Piper" however, with its overt (and really unnecessary) racism, its implicit approval of borderline pedophilia, and its clunky writing, almost made me gag with disgust. But I'm glad I made it through to the last story, the adaptation of "The Swan Maiden" with its mix of magic and steampunk tech, it was the most fairy-tale feeling adaptation, as most of the rest fulfilled the role of Victorian era sci-fi.
These stories are not all based on well-known stories, and I found myself Googling some of the stories, so that I had a frame-work.
I listened to the audio book, the voicing in some of these stories was just plain ANNOYING at first. I really had to give myself some time to adjust, and in some cases I had to start the story over once I'd done that. So, be prepared.
These stories are not all based on well-known stories, and I found myself Googling some of the stories, so that I had a frame-work.
I listened to the audio book, the voicing in some of these stories was just plain ANNOYING at first. I really had to give myself some time to adjust, and in some cases I had to start the story over once I'd done that. So, be prepared.
slipperbunny's review against another edition
3.0
Not as great as I thought this would be but I found some new interesting authors. My favourite story was Fair Vasyl from Steven Piziks. I should really try to find more steampunk books.
heatherp23's review against another edition
4.0
As with all anthologies, some stories were definitely better than others, but overall, very entertaining steampunk.
jena_33's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5