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mxsallybend's review against another edition
3.0
In his introduction to The Wicked Stepbrother and Other Stories, Warren Rochelle writes that he believes “love, in its myriad forms, is the most powerful force in the universe,” and it is that spirit that guides this collection of LGBTQ+ fairy tale retellings.
That being said, these are retellings of the classic fairy tales, not the Disney versions, and that means there’s a lot of darkness and sex to the stories, and happily-ever-afters do not come without pain and self-reflection. Mirrors, one of my favorite stories in the collection, is particularly dark, dealing with closeted love, suicide, and remorse, which makes the eventual discovery of love all the more poignant, while the title story, The Wicked Stepbrother, goes to some very dark, cruel places before finally allowing love to be recognized.
While I wasn’t so much a fan of the stories that brought the fairy tales into contemporary times, something about the contrast between magic and reality in Luck really worked for me, and I loved the interplay of Narnia/Middle Earth and North Carolina Weirdness in The Boy on McGee Street – and it’s last line is poetic perfection.
I was a bit disappointed that all of the retellings M/M queer, when the blurb mentioned Princess Charming and heroines as people of color, but in hindsight I realize that we me misreading context versus content, and it’s a minor quibble. This was a well-written collection that puts original twists on the stories and demonstrates real heart.
https://femledfantasy.home.blog/2020/11/16/excerpt-giveaway-the-wicked-stepbrother-and-other-stories-by-warren-rochelle/
That being said, these are retellings of the classic fairy tales, not the Disney versions, and that means there’s a lot of darkness and sex to the stories, and happily-ever-afters do not come without pain and self-reflection. Mirrors, one of my favorite stories in the collection, is particularly dark, dealing with closeted love, suicide, and remorse, which makes the eventual discovery of love all the more poignant, while the title story, The Wicked Stepbrother, goes to some very dark, cruel places before finally allowing love to be recognized.
While I wasn’t so much a fan of the stories that brought the fairy tales into contemporary times, something about the contrast between magic and reality in Luck really worked for me, and I loved the interplay of Narnia/Middle Earth and North Carolina Weirdness in The Boy on McGee Street – and it’s last line is poetic perfection.
I was a bit disappointed that all of the retellings M/M queer, when the blurb mentioned Princess Charming and heroines as people of color, but in hindsight I realize that we me misreading context versus content, and it’s a minor quibble. This was a well-written collection that puts original twists on the stories and demonstrates real heart.
https://femledfantasy.home.blog/2020/11/16/excerpt-giveaway-the-wicked-stepbrother-and-other-stories-by-warren-rochelle/
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