Tag: fairly tales

Categories
Books

Review: The Woodcutter

The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

I give this book a 5.

LoveIt

The Woodercutter is tasked with keeping the balance of the Fae World and the Human World while he, himself is something a little different. In efforts to keep the balance, The Woodcutter must now take on the mantle of detective in order to solve, and hopefully prevent, the murders of young people in his woods.

I am not familiar with the story of a woodcutter and for me, this was an entirely new look into the typical fairy tale world.  It was a little confusing and off-putting at times to see how the many old and new tales intermingled, but in the end I liked it. It can sometimes be risky to mix stories (especially fairy and folk tales) and genres, but I like the way Danley has done it.

The slow pace of the story, I feel, added to the suspense that would build up from time to time and capture my heart. The Woodcutter is reminiscent to an investigative noir character trying to solve a case but with sprinkles of magic all around him. That is, however, when he isn’t taking on the role of nurturer. It’s not unusual to see men as father figures, but nurturer is a little different. The way he is connected to the trees and the way he seeks to help the fairies and the children make him a very unique character that I’ve grown to love.

I think this is a good adult and teen read.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Books

Review: Grimm’s Fairy Stories

Grimm’s Fairy Stories by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

I give this book a 4.

LikeIt

This is one of those cases where you’ve heard of something for so long that you think you’ve already experienced it, but then you realize that you haven’t so you give it a try and it’s not what you expected…Does that make sense?

Everyone is familiar with some aspect of the Grim Fairly Tales, but how many of us have actually read any of the original stories. A fan a fairy tales for as long as I can remember, I decided it was time for me to right a great wrong I had committed against myself. I had never read any of the Grim stories until recently and I was shocked, amazed, weirded out, and a little disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved these stories, they were awesome, but they were not what I think of as fairy tales. I have been so brainwashed by mainstream modern thinking that I almost wouldn’t allow myself to enjoy these stories for what they truly are, brilliant.

I think the main two reasons I didn’t give this book a five is: 1. that I would never actually read these to any child under the age of 10. If a nine-year-old happened to pick these up and love them, good for them, but I’m not planting crazy dreams into the minds of any kids anytime soon…oh and fables these are not; not many good lessons to be learned here. 2. Some of the stories seemed to overlap or repeat. I know that in this day and age, everyone borrows ideas from everyone else, but I figured back then, these guys should have been able to come up with a collection of stories that didn’t all sound the same…but of course, I’m exaggerating. Most of the stories were quite original, but the little bit of repetition there was, drove me crazy.

I must give the brothers Grim and whoever influenced them, some French guy I can think of, a clap of praise for inspiring and influencing storytellers for centuries beyond their time. I might, just for fun, one day write my own versions of these wonderful stories. I mean, they are now permanently stained onto my brain, I might as well do something with them…Truthfully, I’d recommend this to anyone ten or over, but a mature adult mind may appreciate them better.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Books

Review: Cinder

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, book 1) by Marissa Meyer

I give this book a 4.

LikeIt

Cinder is just as the book and cover suggests, a futuristic retelling of the classic Cinderella story, but there is the brink of a great space war looming in the background. It tells the story of a cyborg teen, a mechanic, commonly referred to as Cinder. There is a mean stepmother and stepsister, but there is also a nice stepsister. There is also a scary plague and some crazy curfews and rules about life as a cyborg. So when Cinder has a chance encounter with the charming Prince Kai, the last thing she wants is for anyone to know about it, especially not him. No one can know that the Prince has associated with a cyborg peasant, but before long, that’s the least of Cinder’s worries.

I’m a fan of fairy tales and all their retellings, so it would have to take quite a bit for me not to like this story, but even with my own personal bias, I think this is a really good story. It is very creative and imaginative. I think what I like most about the story is that Cinder isn’t presented as just another girl. I know she’s a cyborg, but she’ll still a person. What I mean is that, deep down, in most Cinderella stories the girl really does want to go to the ball and dance with the prince and have butterflies flutter across the sky, but that’s not Cinder. Her youth is gone and she has too much else on her mind to even think about the ball, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t wasted a few moments thinking about how cute the prince is.

Then there is the matter of the plague, the threat of war, and the moon people. I was very impressed with the way the multiple conflicts mingled in this story. The whole idea of the traditional love story is almost put on the back burner as the rest of the story takes over. I unfortunately have read too many books and seen to many movies to be kept in the dark about Cinder’s greatest secret. I figured it out pretty quickly, but I was still impressed with how it came together. I have a feeling there will be more action in the follow-up story, simply based on the amount of intrigue and conflict in this one. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to continuing this story.

This review has been posted to GoodReads.

If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords