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Cori June (3033 KP) rated Searching for Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles, #2) in Books

Dec 3, 2018  
SF
Searching for Dragons (Enchanted Forest Chronicles, #2)
Patricia C. Wrede | 2002
10
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
In the sequel, you get Mendanbar's pov. Again there is no dumbing down characters and common sense that most fairy tales lack. There is more magic in this book and is a little different paced. I think the plural of dragons is a slight misnomer and one of the characters can get a little too technical with his 50 cent words. & I don't mean the rapper. Although, it does get translated. This is a story that doesn't take itself to seriously and because of that it is enjoyable.
  
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ClareR (5674 KP) rated The Gloaming in Books

May 2, 2018 (Updated May 2, 2018)  
The Gloaming
The Gloaming
Kirsty Logan | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A grown up fairy tale
This is a story which weaves the fantastical and the real together so well. It's set on a small, remote Scottish island, where the people there believe in selkies and turn to stone on a cliff top looking out to the ocean, when they die.
Mara Ross and her family live in a run down castle, that they never quite manage to repair. After her little brothers death, Mara leaves the island with Pearl, who she often refers to as a mermaid or a selkie (it's her job, actually).
This is a story of love, loss, hope, return and growing up. Fairy tales are used as a way of illustrating gender roles and how they have changed. This all sounds far too 'dry' though. This story is written in such lyrical, wistful language. It's beautiful. I could carry on reading it for another 200 pages. You're never quite sure what's real and what's fairy tale - and that's O.K.
And for the record, I like that there's no definite ending. I think that works really well with the rest of the novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.
  
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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Cruel Beauty in Books

Apr 26, 2018  
Cruel Beauty
Cruel Beauty
Rosamund Hodge | 2014 | Young Adult (YA)
9
8.5 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
After reading Bright Smoke, Cold Fire I knew I HAD to find more Rosamund Hodge. She has a fantastic flair for taking fairy tales (or Shakespeare!) and twisting them into something darker but more realistic. Cruel Beauty is a twist on Beauty and the Beast, but this is no Stockholm Syndrome-suffering Beauty. She is resentful, and bitter, and angry at her father for subjecting her to this. She has trained her entire life to go to the Beast and destroy him, even if it means destroying herself too. What she find at the castle is nothing like what she expected, though, and neither is she what Hodge's Beast expects. Watching these two bitter, mocking characters dance around each other to get to the bottom of the curse and what actually happened to their world is engrossing and beautiful.

I couldn't put this book down once I started it, and I've already started Crimson Bound (Little Red Riding Hood), the next book in the same world. There's also a novella, Gilded Ashes (Cinderella), that I should snag a copy of.

The world is lovely and evocative, with gods and Forest Lords and Demons who actively participate in the world and grant wishes and make deals. It's a little bit Rumpelstiltskin, a little Fairy Godmother, a little Greek mythology, and all Rosamund Hodge. She's got talent, and writes my favorite micro-genre SO WELL.

If you like dark fairy tales, read this and then everything else Rosamund Hodge has written. It's excellent!

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com