Reviews

Swan Sister: Fairy Tales Retold by Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling

honeymonster's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This anthology of retold fairy tales was kinda hit or miss. Some stories I really liked. Others were a little too cutesy for my taste. And Neil Gaiman's poem was.. not for me.

rachel_abby_reads's review against another edition

3.0

I didn’t realize it was a short story anthology. I liked some better than others, and the swans sister story at he end was unexpectedly touching.

shanameydala's review against another edition

1.0

Not impressed with this collection of reinterpreted fairy tales. I read a recommendation somewhere, but I can't understand why it was enjoyed. It was short and boring.

crowyhead's review against another edition

5.0

An excellent collection of re-told fairy tales, for young adults. This book and A Wolf at the Door are sort of the YA equivalents of Datlow and Windling's fairy tale collections for adults. I usually don't pick up book solely based on the editor, but I make an exception for Datlow -- it seems like everything she touches is just gold. This is no exception.

bowienerd_82's review against another edition

3.0

On the whole, a pretty average collection of short fairy tale retellings. The title (and final) story, however, was outstanding, and made the whole book worth picking up.

kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition

4.0

Jane Yolen still rocks, but she didn't have the best story in this collection.

The best story, hands down, is "My Swan Sister" by Katerine Vaz. To say anything about it would spoil it. Just read it. Even if you don't buy this book or read anything else it, read that story.

The second best story is Midori Snyder's "Golden Fur", which is a nice twist on the enchanted princess theme. Also enjoyable was Gaiman's poem about Sherezade as well as a lovely retelling of "The Fisherman and his Wife".

But read "My Swan Sister".

greymalkin's review

3.0

Like most anthologies, there were some gems and some I didn't like. Overall pretty good but there were enough I didn't like to keep the average rating at 3 stars.