The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C. Hines (2009) – Okay, I broke a few of my self-imposed reading rules when I picked up this book, and I’m glad I did. I don’t usually select a book that’s in the middle of a series, and I tend to skip “reworked” fairy tales when I want to read fantasy. As usual, rules are meant to be broken, and I totally enjoyed this book loosely based on the original Little Mermaid. In this fantasy realm, Snow White, Sleeping […]
Underwhelming
This is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with some Snow White mixed in. Since I read it on my Kindle, I didn’t realize before I started that this is actually a sort of graphic novel, or maybe an illustrated short story? I’m not sure what it looks like in actual book form. I had just assumed it was a regular novel, but it’s not even 75 pages long. The Sleeper and the Spindle is the story of a queen, who sets out with three dwarf […]
Snow White Is Badass and I Love It
The fairy tale is such an underrated genre for adults. I think sometimes when we talk about fairy tales we forget just how twisted the genre was at the beginning, and that many of the original stories weren’t intended for children. This one isn’t quite so grotesque, and while there isn’t anything that would automatically rule it out as a book for children (sex, violence, the usual), it’s clear that Gaiman wrote this with an adult audience in mind. It all starts with Snow White, […]
These fun fairy-tale retellings are feminist as f*ck.
The Stepsister Scheme Jim C. Hines is honestly one of my favorite authors, even though he’s never written a book that I’ve lost my mind* over. What he writes is solid, fun fantasy with a strong feminist backbone. He also seems to have a thing for championing the underdog, and writing stories that subvert traditional story-types. The Princess series, of which I’ve read all but the last book at the time of writing this review, is particularly notable as all the main characters are ladies, […]