Top Ten Tuesday #16 - Fairytale Retellings

1. Enchanted - Alethea Kontis
I can't profess to have read Hero or Dearest, the second and third books in this series, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they're on my wishlist. Enchanted successfully blends elements of several fairytales and even a couple of rhymes into a cohesive and... enchanting plot. This one is particularly centered around The Princess and the Frog, a story that doesn't get retold all that often. I can't wait to read more.

The Woodcutter Sisters Series on Goodreads

2. Mirror, Mirror - Gregory Maguire
The author who brought us Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West also does his share of classic fairytale retellings. This one is a strangely realistic version of Snow White, and it doesn't skimp on all the gory details, either.

Mirror, Mirror on Goodreads

3. The Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
A complex futuristic retelling featuring all your favourite fairy-tales; Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White as you have never seen them before. This is a riveting series and such a good take on these classic stories.


The Lunar Chronicles on Goodreads

4. The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly
A young boy is thrust into a world where fairytales live, but not always happily ever after. This book is enthralling and very easy to get in to.

The Book of Lost Things on Goodreads

5. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
My personal favourite of Maguire's books, this takes a journey into seventeenth-century Holland and is told from the the step-sister's point of view. Iris is a wonderful character, and the way that Maguire paints the scene is magical. I also love the references to art in this book, however others don't get to grips with it the way I did, hence why this book is not higher up the top ten.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister on Goodreads

6. A Long, Long Sleep - Anna Sheehan
A Sci-fi version of Sleeping Beauty, perfect for those of us who like a bit of a mix-up in their genres. Honestly, this book is really enjoyable and check out the cover! Stunning.

A Long, Long Sleep on Goodreads

7. The Grimm Diaries Series - Cameron Jace
If you are up for reading this monster of a series, it features fairytales characters as you've never seen them before. It all starts off with a devastatingly beautiful monster; Snow White. If the main series isn't enough for you, and trust me, there will be more coming out soon, then try all 18 prequels.

The Grimm Diaries on Goodreads
The Grimm Diaries Prequels on Goodreads

8. Sweetly - Jackson Pearce
A deceptive version of Hansel and Gretel. I loved this retelling because it wasn't overly magical for the most part. It was grounded in reality and only got magical once you went behind the scenes. I really loved this retelling, and it is an unusual tale to take on.

Sweetly on Goodreads



9. Bitter Greens - Kate Forsyth
A story similar to the way the Gregory Maguire develops his. This is firmly grounded in reality and history including Charlotte Rose de la Force, a famous female writer with a lot of stories to her name... and not just ones she made up, either. This tale beautifully weaves magic (and not much of it) in with reality so you can't really tell who is embellishing and who is not. I love the nature of the story, the way something can change through the telling, and that is exactly what we have here. Someone may be described as a witch one day and the next day people are convinced they have cast spells on them.

Bitter Greens on Goodreads

10. Snow White and the Seven Samurai - Tom Holt
A couple of teens manage to hack into the evil queens magic mirror and inadvertently break the whole thing. Now all the fairytales are tipped on their heads: Snow White is running the show, the Big Bad Wolf is suddenly Prince Charming. The three little pigs pretty much steal the show in my opinion though.

Snow White and the Seven Samurai on Goodreads

Kyra and Stacey _xx

Sisters Red - Jackson Pearce

The fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood gets an urban twist. Scarlett and Rosie were very young when they first encountered a Fenris but they have never forgotten it, not least due to the horrific scars that now cover Scarlett, along with her missing eye. They now hunt the Fenris, using themselves as bait, but when their friend Silas returns from his adventures elsewhere, everything changes.

This book took me a long time to get into, not because the story was actually boring, but because not a lot happened in that first third that warranted too many questions. What I like best is some mystery or something very specific to care about, but I didn't care enough about either of the characters in the beginning.

However, after that first third, the pace changes as our three heroes find themselves with multiple murders, huge numbers of Fenris and a time limit; they have to find a potential Fenris, someone who hasn't been changed yet, and save him from being bitten before the moon phase is over. The story gets fairly complex at this point, with a romance developing that shakes the bond between the sisters, the Fenris behaving differently and a shocking discovery. Well, it would have been shocking if I hadn't figured it out about half way through the book. I then felt that all I was doing was reading to find out when the characters would catch up with me. This book is meant for teenagers, really, so as an adult I probably got to that conclusion long before they would, but I think for many of them, they also would have figured it out before the book revealed it. I think if there had been less glaring clues and if we had been given more characters to choose from, this could have been avoided.

There were quite a few unanswered questions; probably enough for another book entirely. What exactly was Silas doing when he was away? How did the Fenris not find the potential before now (this will make sense when you read it)? Was there anything specific that they did to keep him hidden? What does a huntsman actually do in this book?  All it seems to infer is that they can track a tiny bit and carve things out of wood, but it seems to infer that being a huntsman is something a bit special.

As for the characters, there wasn't a great range, but we got to know the sisters and Silas quite well. I felt a great connection with Rosie, but really didn't understand Scarlett sometimes. Scarletts temper flares at the tiniest things, and it really is things that she shouldn't be getting angry at. It actually got quite annoying. Silas was very nice, but his character needed fleshing out a little bit more, as he almost fades into the background.

Although this was an engrossing read at times, and it was fairly enjoyable, it pales in comparison to its companion book, Sweetly (reviewed here), which is also a fairytale retelling. I therefore have to give it a 5 out of 10.

Sweetly - Jackson Pearce

Hansel and Gretel gets a teen makeover in Jackson Pearce's Sweetly, the second book of her fairytale retellings. Gretchen and Ansel have just been kicked out of the house by their stepmother and are road-tripping it across the state when they break down in Live Oak. They end up doing odd jobs for the town's Chocolatier, Sophia Kelly, and before they know it, they're living in her shop. Live Oak residents. But Sophia hides dark secrets, and Gretchen knows it has something to do with the eight missing Live Oak girls. Will she be able to figure it all out before more girls disappear?

This book has some great ideas; missing girls, witches, a lovely young woman who everyone either despises or loves, a ghost town and a chocolate shop in the middle of the woods. It all flows together seamlessly into an intriguing and thoroughly readable plot. The mystery, the sense of 'I just want to know what's going on!' is intense, but sadly you can figure out most of the plot as the book goes along, before the big reveal. Being fair though, this is a book for Young Adults, and being 22, I don't really think I fit the bill. I am sure that teenagers will love this story and it will keep them guessing, but for me the end was inevitable and the reveal came a little too late.

However, character-wise, it really gave you a lot of humanity. Gretchen, our first-person narrator, took us through a wonderful character arc. Her fears had a real background, and her friendship with Samuel was quite touching. Sophia, ever the enigma, was confusing, interesting and yet you were never sure who she was, what she really felt until right at the end. The way the characters were drawn was therefore very well executed. They had many layers, and were quite well-rounded as people, each with their own flaws.

The book was short (is 'short and sweet' too much of a cliche?) and was a quick read. It was devoured (sorry for the puns, they keep coming out) in just two days, despite being fairly put-downable. However, it was a nice read; something easy and enjoyable. Some YA is great for adults, but not this one. Teens with a penchant for fairy tales will love it. It wasn't weak, but it wasn't striking in the way that Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are. I guess that's fairy tales for you. 5 out of 10. Nice cover too:

Image from readnowsleeplater.com

Sweetly is the second companion book of Jackson Pearce's fairytale retellings, for the first, Sisters Red, please visit http://jackson-pearce.com/sisters-red/. She has also written a retelling of The Little Mermaid called Fathomless, and The Snow Queen, called Cold Spell.