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graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated The Sleeping Beauty (Five Hundred Kingdoms, #5) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
The title implies that the story told within the pages is about Sleeping Beauty, it's not. While that fairy tale plays a small part, it's not really what the book is about. Featuring many fairy tales and mythical references, a tournament with diverse quests, and of course, magic, THE SLEEPING BEAUTY's main characters are Lily, the Godmother of the kingdom of Eltaria, Rosamund, the princess, and Siegfried, the Norse-like warrior "prince". Of all the characters, Siegfried is the one I got to know the best, who I liked the most, and was fully fleshed out, while Rosamund was flat with no personality; I honestly didn't care what happened to her. Lily was a promising character at the beginning, then she was almost abandoned, her personality lost, and thrown in here and there until the end, which is a shame.
The story was okay, it had its ups and downs. Sometimes it dragged, other times it kept at a brisk pace. Often the humor fell flat but there were a few smile-worthy moments. The "evil" was never fully explained and I never understood why the bad guy did what he did. As for the final confrontation, there didn't seem much to be overcome and it was over in almost an instant. I would have hoped for more of a bang instead of a whimper. The ending itself was pretty much how many people would expect a fairy tale to end, but it was too hurried and too confusing for me. The book is an enjoyable, light afternoon read, but one I'm likely to forget about. Not my favorite of the series by far.
The story was okay, it had its ups and downs. Sometimes it dragged, other times it kept at a brisk pace. Often the humor fell flat but there were a few smile-worthy moments. The "evil" was never fully explained and I never understood why the bad guy did what he did. As for the final confrontation, there didn't seem much to be overcome and it was over in almost an instant. I would have hoped for more of a bang instead of a whimper. The ending itself was pretty much how many people would expect a fairy tale to end, but it was too hurried and too confusing for me. The book is an enjoyable, light afternoon read, but one I'm likely to forget about. Not my favorite of the series by far.
Dana (24 KP) rated Crimson Bound in Books
Mar 23, 2018
I gave this review a 4.5 out of 5 stars. While I mostly enjoyed it, there was that pesky love triangle that always seems to make me like a book a little less.
This is a loose retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. While there are some major theme similarities and some small details that are the same, I didn't get the full feeling of Little Red Riding Hood like I did with Beauty and the Beast in Cruel Beauty. I still enjoyed the story though.
I liked how there was another fairy tale being woven into the story being told. And the mythology of the world was stunning. I loved the idea of the woodwives and how it is actually the women who were charged to save the world. Talk about girl power!
I liked reading about Rachelle's development as a character and how she is continuously battling the Great Forest inside of her. And Amelie's relationship with Rachelle was so sweet. It really felt like they were most themselves and most at peace when they were with each other.
I really enjoyed reading about the imagery and contrasts between the light and dark. It captured how the characters are living in the light, clinging to their hope for a better world while they live in a dying one.
I only wish there were more ties to Cruel Beauty and those story lines, especially since I fell in love with that world so easily.
I recommend this to anyone who like fun and interesting takes on fairy tales, folk tales, new mythologies, or high fantasy novels.
This is a loose retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. While there are some major theme similarities and some small details that are the same, I didn't get the full feeling of Little Red Riding Hood like I did with Beauty and the Beast in Cruel Beauty. I still enjoyed the story though.
I liked how there was another fairy tale being woven into the story being told. And the mythology of the world was stunning. I loved the idea of the woodwives and how it is actually the women who were charged to save the world. Talk about girl power!
I liked reading about Rachelle's development as a character and how she is continuously battling the Great Forest inside of her. And Amelie's relationship with Rachelle was so sweet. It really felt like they were most themselves and most at peace when they were with each other.
I really enjoyed reading about the imagery and contrasts between the light and dark. It captured how the characters are living in the light, clinging to their hope for a better world while they live in a dying one.
I only wish there were more ties to Cruel Beauty and those story lines, especially since I fell in love with that world so easily.
I recommend this to anyone who like fun and interesting takes on fairy tales, folk tales, new mythologies, or high fantasy novels.
David McK (3547 KP) rated The Tales of Beedle the Bard in Books
Sep 20, 2020
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard": a series of five 'in universe' short stories first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and portrayed as having being discovered amongst Professor Dumbledore's belongings (following the events of the Harry Potter series), and with each of theses stories as being annotated by the Professor himself.
The version I 'read' was the Audible version, narrated by several of the stars of the films themselves, so I obviously can't comment on the (supposedly magnificent) illustrations: indeed, I didn't even know until just now that this was as illustrated book!
The stories within include:
The Wizard and the Hopping Pot
The Fountain of Fair Fortune
The Warlock's Hairy Heart
Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump
The Tale of the Three Brothers
and are, like their muggle fairy tale counterparts, designed to pass on moral lessons to the young reader.
The version I 'read' was the Audible version, narrated by several of the stars of the films themselves, so I obviously can't comment on the (supposedly magnificent) illustrations: indeed, I didn't even know until just now that this was as illustrated book!
The stories within include:
The Wizard and the Hopping Pot
The Fountain of Fair Fortune
The Warlock's Hairy Heart
Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump
The Tale of the Three Brothers
and are, like their muggle fairy tale counterparts, designed to pass on moral lessons to the young reader.
The Dead Lake
Andrew Bromfield and Hamid Ismailov
Book
LONG-LISTED FOR THE INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE 2015 ------- LONG-LISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL...
Heart of a Hunter (End of Ever After #5)
8.0
Rate It
Book
The last installment of the End of Ever After fairy tale retelling series! Daimyon was raised...
Young Adult Fantasy Fairy Tale Retelling
Book Divas (227 KP) rated Winterdream in Books
Jun 7, 2019
Simply Enchanting
"Look with your heart. Look with your mind."
I just finished reading WinterDream and I'll start by saying that author Chantal Gadoury is truly gifted as her fairy tales are always created with a magic spell that captivates me from beginning to end. This storyline was beautifully flawless and her characters leaped out of the pages and invited me into the magical world of WinterDream were I felt all the emotions that were written on each page and fell further in love with the Nutcracker.
If you are looking for an immersive holiday tale then look no further as this story is simply enchanting
I just finished reading WinterDream and I'll start by saying that author Chantal Gadoury is truly gifted as her fairy tales are always created with a magic spell that captivates me from beginning to end. This storyline was beautifully flawless and her characters leaped out of the pages and invited me into the magical world of WinterDream were I felt all the emotions that were written on each page and fell further in love with the Nutcracker.
If you are looking for an immersive holiday tale then look no further as this story is simply enchanting
Aasiyah Sidat (34 KP) rated A Silent Voice in Books
Jul 9, 2018
Don't be a bully!
Manga is not my first choice of something I would pick up if I was browsing Waterstones. I did read Naruto when I was at school but I have never had a physical copy. It is only recently that I have been getting into anime because my other half watches a lot and I end up watching it with him; Fairy Tale, Dragonball Z and Full Metal Alchemist just to name a few.
So I decided to pick up something out of my comfort zone and give some proper manga a try.
Continue reading my review at: https://www.readsandrecipes.co.uk/2017/11/dontt-be-bully.html
So I decided to pick up something out of my comfort zone and give some proper manga a try.
Continue reading my review at: https://www.readsandrecipes.co.uk/2017/11/dontt-be-bully.html
Kate (355 KP) rated Once Upon a Time - Season 1 in TV
Jan 3, 2019
Once upon a time is a mash up of all the different fairy tale characters and them living happily or not so happily together in modern life. You have all the favourite ones such as The Wicked Witch, Hook, Snow White and many others. The musical episode in one of the later series's is brilliant and will have you singing the songs. They needed to end it on a high when the last story line came to an end and some of the main characters left, but they have tried to keep it going by introducing new characters and people but didn't work, sorry stopped watching it then.
Faithful and Virtuous Night
Book
Shortlisted for the 2014 Forward Prize for Best Collection 'At last the night surrounded me; / I...
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Charming (Pax Arcana, #1) in Books
Jan 6, 2021
This is going to have to go down as a DNF, I'm afraid.
It seemed to start good but then came the information overload and I am so not a fan of that. I got to 21% and just couldn't muster up the energy to continue reading it because it held very little appeal.
I was expecting some amazing fairy-tale-esque story with a kick-arse hero by the name of Charming.
Maybe I didn't get far enough into the story for that to happen but heaps of info are so not my thing and it really turns me off a story and that's what happened here.
It seemed to start good but then came the information overload and I am so not a fan of that. I got to 21% and just couldn't muster up the energy to continue reading it because it held very little appeal.
I was expecting some amazing fairy-tale-esque story with a kick-arse hero by the name of Charming.
Maybe I didn't get far enough into the story for that to happen but heaps of info are so not my thing and it really turns me off a story and that's what happened here.