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UnEnchanted
UnEnchanted
Chanda Hahn | 2013 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
4
7.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I downloaded this 18 months ago, not long after receiving my first kindle, and I was obsessed with freebies. Since then I've read a lot of books and I now know my tastes a lot better.

This wasn't to my liking.

I thought it would be some retelling of a fairy-tale but it wasn't quite like that. I'll admit it was rather imaginative, plot-wise, but it didn't grab me as much as I'd have liked. The best bit for me was the slight romance between Mina and Brody.

It could also do with a little editing.
  
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
1955 | Drama, Mystery
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The Night of the Hunter was Charles Laughton?s only film as a director and its poor reception pretty much killed his directing career. It?s a remarkable debut and there?s no other film quite like it. It?s very reliant on imager from back in the days of D.W. Griffith and it?s strikingly designed and extremely dark. I saw it at a kiddie matinee when I was a child and I was just terrified. It has such a fairy tale atmosphere about it that it probably speaks more directly to children than it does to adults."

Source
  
    Talking Magical Mirror

    Talking Magical Mirror

    Social Networking and Lifestyle

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    FINALLY a mirror app that actually does something! Straight out of a fairy tale, your own TALKING...

    Ada

    Ada

    Vladimir Nabokov

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    Ada or Ardor is a romance that follows Ada from her first childhood meeting with Van Veen on his...

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.
  
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Dana (24 KP) rated Crimson Bound in Books

Mar 23, 2018  
CB
Crimson Bound
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
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.
  
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
J.K. Rowling | 2008 | Children
6
8.2 (38 Ratings)
Book Rating
"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.