3.5 stars This is a very imaginative and clever re-telling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy-tale set in Prohibition NYC. The princesses are flappers and their father is some kind of business magnate trying to protect his family legacy without a son, the poor man. He keeps them locked up in their large home to protect their virtue and reputation, because that’s a surefire way to earn the obedience of teenagers. Here’s the overview from Goodreads: “Jo, the firstborn, “The General” to her eleven sisters, […]
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 […]
There’s gotta be a Game of Thrones joke here somewhere
This is a pretty good story, but somehow I didn’t like a lot about it. The final fairy tale ends up being Snow White, and while Winter fits the general outline, her Prince Charming Jacin doesn’t quite make sense. His attachment to Winter and hers to him just doesn’t seem to have much of a foundation other than they kind of grew up together and he’s been around her entire life. The other thing I didn’t really like is how the heroes spent so much […]
A fairy tale about salad as heroine
I have to admit, the title got me a little. I figured ‘Cress’ was short for something, but I would not have guessed “Crescent”; I was thinking something along the lines of ‘watercress’, which made no sense given that the model fairy tale this time is supposed to be Rapunzel. The other books have heroines whose names have some clear connection to the base story, so why this doesn’t is beyond me. In terms of enjoyment, Cress falls in between Cinder and Scarlet. 3.5 stars. […]