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jannaruth's review
3.0
Overall I liked the book, had some interesting ideas and some very beautiful pictures. I enjoyed the different settings, stepping away from the traditional Medieval European settings but I felt there was so much retelling that not much remained from the fairy tales but the faintest idea. It thus lost a bit of the fairy tale magic.
One problem for me was the quite formulaic approach: Three out of four couples in the book were childhood sweethearts and thus never really fell in love with each other but for a short flashback that seemed much the same in all three of them. And everyone in the village roots for the couple, because they are such a strong supportive community. It's no surprise that I therefore liked the story best that was different (Rumplestiltskins's retelling).
While the main couple was fleshed out and the stories promoted modern-day concepts of society, it never went anywhere, nor did it pose challenges. The modern-day concepts were either wildly accepted or people didn't care (i.e. a small village gaining independence just-because), which is more true to the fairy-tale style but also let some potential go to waste.
Rapunzel:
I have to say, I really didn't like the story. I did enjoy the setting, but all three characters fell flat for me, the romance didn't evolve and the djinn's development didn't happen. I feel, like you can't give reasons and background for a character's behaviour and let the other characters realise that it's a fault of circumstances and then never try to change those circumstances but let your story go out by the easy route (i.e. kill the witch).
There was not enough of the original fairy tale, and what was in the story was changed to an even clearer black and white than the original tale. The father did break into the witch's garden on behalf of his demanding wife. Here, everything was of course an accident and his wife would never have been that demanding, because they were the good ones. One little logical mistake was that the father took the secret to his grave but somehow the mother knew it all anyway. I assume, she knew the whole time because she listened in, but there was no explanation and the text explicitly states, that she often wondered, why he was looking at his son with sorrow and took the secret to his grave.
Rumpelstiltskin:
As I said, I liked this story most. Sunny was an enjoyable character, as was her father, who was a charming grey figure. It was the most magical story with Sunny falling in love with a spring. The reference to silk worms was nice. The only thing I didn't enjoy that much was the ending itself. There was too much hesitance in their meeting and decision on whether to start a relationship or not that it lost most of its initial romance. On another note, it was very obvious from the beginning who the guy of her dreams was and how it all worked together, but compared to the other stories it felt completely thought out and came full-circle.
Briar Rose:
This was the second-best story. I liked the whole idea centering the story around the life of the normal people that got separated by the briar rose hedge and it was a sweet love story with a fairy tale ending. What didn't work for me was that there was actually so much sorrow around the main couple, that it felt kind of wrong that only they should have their happy ending while everyone else had to live with the consequences. I couldn't really feel happy for Goran and Caterina because everyone else had to deal with the reality of their fears while they got off lightly. I also wasn't too glad about the choice that Briar Rose was a clichéd spoiled brat. Since we didn't get to know her in person or anything besides her, I naturally assume that her part of the fairy tale is intact, which means she was not just gifted with beauty but also with kindness, intelligence, fairness, generosity and all good things the other eleven fairies could think off (or twelve since apparently it wasn't the twelfth fairy that changed the death sentence to sleep but the thirteenth fairy's plan all along).
Cinderella:
The story was okayish. I didn't really get the gender change as it didn't really serve much purpose but for the brothers to be even crueler? The romance was alright but the story was sorely missing challenges. Everything fell in place too easily. Miguel might have suffered from the mistreatment but he turned his fortune around... or rather it got turned around for him completely off-screen. Thus the whole message of Cinderella got lost and turned into something else entirely, progressive villagers against superficial royalty without any true interaction or confrontation. The montage about what happened when the prince came to town didn't work for me and I was annoyed by the style after the fifth comma. I appreciate the experiment but it didn't work in prose style and might have been more fitting for a dialogue segment. I did however like the very real struggles of Beauty misunderstanding Miguel's silence and the absence of letters.
On the whole these were very interesting concepts that did work sometimes and sometimes not so much. Maybe next time there could be more variety not just in settings but in romantic set-ups.
One problem for me was the quite formulaic approach: Three out of four couples in the book were childhood sweethearts and thus never really fell in love with each other but for a short flashback that seemed much the same in all three of them. And everyone in the village roots for the couple, because they are such a strong supportive community. It's no surprise that I therefore liked the story best that was different (Rumplestiltskins's retelling).
While the main couple was fleshed out and the stories promoted modern-day concepts of society, it never went anywhere, nor did it pose challenges. The modern-day concepts were either wildly accepted or people didn't care (i.e. a small village gaining independence just-because), which is more true to the fairy-tale style but also let some potential go to waste.
Rapunzel:
I have to say, I really didn't like the story. I did enjoy the setting, but all three characters fell flat for me, the romance didn't evolve and the djinn's development didn't happen. I feel, like you can't give reasons and background for a character's behaviour and let the other characters realise that it's a fault of circumstances and then never try to change those circumstances but let your story go out by the easy route (i.e. kill the witch).
There was not enough of the original fairy tale, and what was in the story was changed to an even clearer black and white than the original tale. The father did break into the witch's garden on behalf of his demanding wife. Here, everything was of course an accident and his wife would never have been that demanding, because they were the good ones. One little logical mistake was that the father took the secret to his grave but somehow the mother knew it all anyway. I assume, she knew the whole time because she listened in, but there was no explanation and the text explicitly states, that she often wondered, why he was looking at his son with sorrow and took the secret to his grave.
Rumpelstiltskin:
As I said, I liked this story most. Sunny was an enjoyable character, as was her father, who was a charming grey figure. It was the most magical story with Sunny falling in love with a spring. The reference to silk worms was nice. The only thing I didn't enjoy that much was the ending itself. There was too much hesitance in their meeting and decision on whether to start a relationship or not that it lost most of its initial romance. On another note, it was very obvious from the beginning who the guy of her dreams was and how it all worked together, but compared to the other stories it felt completely thought out and came full-circle.
Briar Rose:
This was the second-best story. I liked the whole idea centering the story around the life of the normal people that got separated by the briar rose hedge and it was a sweet love story with a fairy tale ending. What didn't work for me was that there was actually so much sorrow around the main couple, that it felt kind of wrong that only they should have their happy ending while everyone else had to live with the consequences. I couldn't really feel happy for Goran and Caterina because everyone else had to deal with the reality of their fears while they got off lightly. I also wasn't too glad about the choice that Briar Rose was a clichéd spoiled brat. Since we didn't get to know her in person or anything besides her, I naturally assume that her part of the fairy tale is intact, which means she was not just gifted with beauty but also with kindness, intelligence, fairness, generosity and all good things the other eleven fairies could think off (or twelve since apparently it wasn't the twelfth fairy that changed the death sentence to sleep but the thirteenth fairy's plan all along).
Cinderella:
The story was okayish. I didn't really get the gender change as it didn't really serve much purpose but for the brothers to be even crueler? The romance was alright but the story was sorely missing challenges. Everything fell in place too easily. Miguel might have suffered from the mistreatment but he turned his fortune around... or rather it got turned around for him completely off-screen. Thus the whole message of Cinderella got lost and turned into something else entirely, progressive villagers against superficial royalty without any true interaction or confrontation. The montage about what happened when the prince came to town didn't work for me and I was annoyed by the style after the fifth comma. I appreciate the experiment but it didn't work in prose style and might have been more fitting for a dialogue segment. I did however like the very real struggles of Beauty misunderstanding Miguel's silence and the absence of letters.
On the whole these were very interesting concepts that did work sometimes and sometimes not so much. Maybe next time there could be more variety not just in settings but in romantic set-ups.
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