You know, I haven't either. I have read fairy tale re-tellings, those have become popular, including (especially) dark/horror-adjacent re-tellings... But actually modern fairy tales, or modern stories employing the mode and techniques of a fairy tale, aren't something I come across very often. This novel definitely did a good job at it!
Thanks! I don't think this is re-telling or re-examining any specific fairy tale, per se, but it is definitely using a fairy tale modality and playing with expected moods and tropes associated with fairy tales in really fun an engaging ways. There is something about fairy tales that makes them especially great for exploring concepts of family and of fitting in, and this novel certainly makes use of that.
This sounds like something I will like. Have you read any Robin McKinkey? She has done some fairy tale retellings that I really love. Deerskin has themes that are very dark about trauma, being abused by parents, but the book is also beautiful and so very feminist and poweful. I think it is under appreciated. She writes my favorite heroines.
I haven't read anything by Robin McKinley, thanks for the suggestion! Goodreads suggests her most popular book is her re-telling of Beauty & the Beast, which seems to be the first in a trilogy. I checked out _Deerskin,_ and it is a retelling of a fairy tale I have never heard of, which is actually kind of fun, the chance to experience the original and the retelling both fresh at the same time...
@arockinsamsara Beauty was from 1978, I think her first book, and then many years later in the 1990's she decided to retell the Beauty & the Beast story again with Rose Daughter. Which could be odd to take the same story and then completely re-write it in a different way but I enjoyed them both. I might prefer Rose Daughter a little more than Beauty but I think they both good re-tellings. I am slowly making my way through all her books. I am really hoping she will put out a new one. It's been awhile.
You made the book sound intriguing. I haven’t read many modern fairy tales.
You know, I haven't either. I have read fairy tale re-tellings, those have become popular, including (especially) dark/horror-adjacent re-tellings... But actually modern fairy tales, or modern stories employing the mode and techniques of a fairy tale, aren't something I come across very often. This novel definitely did a good job at it!
Great review, Lekden. I don’t think it’s outdated at all to revisit classical tales from a modern perspective.
Thanks! I don't think this is re-telling or re-examining any specific fairy tale, per se, but it is definitely using a fairy tale modality and playing with expected moods and tropes associated with fairy tales in really fun an engaging ways. There is something about fairy tales that makes them especially great for exploring concepts of family and of fitting in, and this novel certainly makes use of that.
This sounds like something I will like. Have you read any Robin McKinkey? She has done some fairy tale retellings that I really love. Deerskin has themes that are very dark about trauma, being abused by parents, but the book is also beautiful and so very feminist and poweful. I think it is under appreciated. She writes my favorite heroines.
I haven't read anything by Robin McKinley, thanks for the suggestion! Goodreads suggests her most popular book is her re-telling of Beauty & the Beast, which seems to be the first in a trilogy. I checked out _Deerskin,_ and it is a retelling of a fairy tale I have never heard of, which is actually kind of fun, the chance to experience the original and the retelling both fresh at the same time...
@arockinsamsara Beauty was from 1978, I think her first book, and then many years later in the 1990's she decided to retell the Beauty & the Beast story again with Rose Daughter. Which could be odd to take the same story and then completely re-write it in a different way but I enjoyed them both. I might prefer Rose Daughter a little more than Beauty but I think they both good re-tellings. I am slowly making my way through all her books. I am really hoping she will put out a new one. It's been awhile.