The three Billy Goats Gruff
Games and Book
App
Interactive fairytale game for kids. Help the three Billy Goats Gruff to pass the troll by the...
The Last Warrior: Heroes
Games
App
This story is set ten years before the events of the Disney movie "The Last Warrior" took place....
Slippers and Songs (Brodyr Alarch #1)
10.0
Rate It
Book
In the realm of Holmfirth, far from Melthkior, Princess Tesni finds herself ensnared in a curse that...
Brothers Grimm Fairytale Retelling Welsh Gods Fantasy Romance Brodyr Alarch
ClareR (5846 KP) rated The River Has Roots in Books
Mar 11, 2025
The River Has Roots is a beautiful tale of two sisters who live on the border of Arcadia (Faerie), and sing to the Willow trees twice a day in tribute to the men they once were.
The sisters are very close: Ysabel and Esther, and they always want to be together. But of course, as in all good fairytales, a man throws a spanner in the works.
The River Has Roots is a novella and honestly, if El-Mohtar wrote this as a full length novel or decided to write more such stories, I would be all in. The writing is beautiful - full on fairytale style at its best.
This gave me “The Twa Sisters” vibes, equally as tragic, but not exactly the same - you’re not getting an exact retelling. This is a story in its own right.
The Lino-cut illustrations (Kathleen Neely) throughout the book were perfect for the story, too.
There was a bonus story at the end, “John Hollowback and the Witch”, and it was a rather pleasant surprise - a fabulous cautionary tale.
This is a must-read for my fellow fairytale fans!
BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated To Kill a Kingdom in Books
Feb 13, 2019
The plot was fun and the writing was great I honestly did not want to put this down, my favorite thing by far was there was no instalove and each character grew but still stayed on the darker side.
Knitted Fairy Tales
Book
This adorable collection of 10 knitted projects, each with specially designed outfits and...
Stone Heart (The Compelled Chronicles #1)
8.0
Rate It
Book
Dani's new home isn't just another stopover in a long chain of places she'll never see again, it's...
Young Adult Paranormal Romance
I am in love with this series, all over again. I have been wanting to re-read this series for a while and my recent-ish read of Wires and Nerve reignited my love of this series. It had been a while since I was in the world and I had forgotten how much I loved these books.
I love fairytales and Marissa Meyer’s retellings of the classic tales we’ve all grown up with are fantastic. She turns the mousey girl from the original fairytale into a relatable character that we fall in love with. Cinderella is not one of my favourite fairytales because I prefer my heroines to have a little more spunk and backbone, but Cinder is just perfect.
Kai is one of those characters that is just so good. He is incredibly kind to Cinder, even when he believes that she is just a mechanic with a grease mark on her forehead, despite his station in life generally lending itself to an air of superiority. Prince Kai only wants what is best for his people and the Commonwealth, willing to sacrifice himself for their well-being if need be. He is definitely one of my favourite male characters, although if I’m being honest I probably have a lot of those.
Most importantly, we meet Iko the droid with the faulty personality chip that we couldn’t fall in love with more. Her loyalty and pure desire to just be a person are heartwarming. (And also sad, because she is a droid and not treated like a person by anyone but Cinder.)
We don’t see much of the world that Cinder lives in beyond New Beijing aside from small, throwaway comments. The world building that is done though is vivid and allows the reader to see the city grow in their mind. As this is a re-read, I am also aware that the world building is expanded extensively over the course of the novels and can understand the more rudimentary foundation being laid here.
I appreciated the effortless melding of elements from the classic fairytale into this unique science fiction world. It is wonderfully done and the story is well written. I would highly recommend this series to young adult/teen readers who enjoy fairytale retellings, science fiction, and intricate, interconnected stories.
_
This is one of the books that I saw on display at my local library and completely judged the book by its cover. I didn't know what it was about, but it looked interesting and I put it on my mental TBR list. Many years later, I have finally gotten a chance to read it (and the rest of the series.) This book was completely worth the wait. As a fan of fairytale retellings, like Beastly by Alex Flinn, I had high hopes for this book. It gave the reader wonderful little homages to the classic fairytale while weaving the story through a world and characters all its own.
The world building in this novel, while not expansive was wonderfully done. As a reader, I could imagine Cinder meandering down the dingy, packed streets of New Beijing while Kai fretted over his father in the ornate, sprawling palace. There were a number of important characters and none of them were overlooked. You were able to learn about their personalities, histories, or relationships in a way that gave each depth.
Recommended for anyone who liked YA, romance, fairytales, sci-fi, or good books.
Battle Slimes
Games
App
UPDATE! New Team Battle mode and new power-ups! "super simplified multiplayer brawler" - Pocket...