Fairy Tale

Review: The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman

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The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman (UK edition)

Title: The View from the Cheap Seats
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP (11th April 2017)
Blurb:

‘Literature does not occur in a vacuum.
It cannot be a monologue. It has to be a conversation’

This collection will draw you in to exchanges on making good art and Syrian refugees, the power of a single word and playing the kazoo with Stephen King, writing about books, comics and the imagination of friends, being sad at the Oscars and telling lies for a living. Here Neil Gaiman opens our minds to the people he admires and the things he believes might just mean something – and welcomes us to the conversation too.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
Review:

In THE VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS Neil Gaiman dips his toe into the non-fiction genre with a series of essays on a variety of topics. It is hard to sum up this collection, as the topics covered are so varied and different; they have also been written at various stages of the author’s life. To try and create some form of cohesion within the book the eighty-seven (if I haven’t miscounted) articles are split into ten loosely themed sections, but even those are chaotic in nature. It is, despite being non-fiction, very “Gaiman-esq” in theme and style – by which I mean, a hodgepodge of non-connected ideas that somehow mesh and form a solid and entertaining whole.

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Review: Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

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Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones (UK edition)

Title: Wintersong (Wintersong, 1)
Author: S. Jae-Jones
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Titan Books (7th February 2017)
Blurb:

All her life, Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, dangerous Goblin King. They’ve enraptured her spirit and inspired her musical compositions.  Now eighteen, Liesl can’t help but feel that her musical dreams and childhood fantasies are slipping away.

But when her sister is taken by the Goblin King, Liesl must journey to the Underground to save her. Drawn to the strange, captivating world she finds – and the mysterious man who rules it – she soon faces an impossible decision. With time and the old laws working against her, Liesl must discover who she truly is before her fate is sealed.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
Review:

WINTERSONG by S. Jae-Jones is at its heart a fairy story. Eighteen-year-old Liesl has heard stories of the stunning and perilous Goblin King all her life, she even played with him as a child. But as she grew older, she drew further and further away from his magic as she was forced to grow-up. Yet his influence still lingered in her music. When the Goblin King takes her sister, Liesl risks everything to follow her into the Underground to try and win her back. Despite the warnings, Liesl finds herself drawn to the Underground and the Goblin King. With time running out and the old laws against her, Liesl finds herself with an impossible choice.

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Review: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

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Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Title: Geekerella: A Novel
Author: Ashley Poston
Genre: Contemporary, Fairy Tale, Re-Telling, Young Adult
Publisher: Quirk Books (4th April 2017)
Blurb:

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN ONCE UPON A CON . . .

When geek girl Elle Wittimer sees a cosplay contest sponsored by the producers of Starfield, she has to enter. First prize is an invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. Elle’s been scraping together tips from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck behind her step-mother’s back, and winning this contest could be her ticket out once and for all – not to mention a fangirl’s dream come true.

Teen actor Darien Freeman is less than thrilled about this year’s ExcelsiCon. He used to live for conventions, but now they’re nothing but jaw-aching photo sessions and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Federation Prince Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the diehard Starfield fandom has already dismissed him as just another heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws hear, closet nerd Darien feels more and more like a fake – until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise.

Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, GEEKERELLA is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars)
Review:

GEEKERELLA by Ashley Poston is a young adult re-telling of the fairy story Cinderella, but set in the world of the fictional fandom of Starfield. The story is split between Elle, who grew up in the Starfield fandom as a young child and who now runs a blog, and Darien, the actor playing the main character in the new Starfield reboot and a fan of the original series. The producers of the Starfield reboot sponsor a cosplay contest at ExcelsiCon, and Elle sees it as a way for her to escape a seriously dire situation even if she is unimpressed with the reboot. Darien meanwhile is trying to deal with feeling more and more like a fake, as he hides his own history with Starfield, until he meets a girl who reminds him what he loves about the series and fandom.

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Review: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

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The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (UK hardback) (pic via Penguin website)

Title: The Bear and the Nightingale
Authors: Katherine Arden
Genre: Historical Novel, Fantasy
Source: The publisher via NetGalley
Publisher:  Del Rey (12th January 2017)
Blurb:

A magical debut novel for readers of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, and Neil Gaiman’s myth-rich fantasies, The Bear and the Nightingale spins an irresistible spell as it announces the arrival of a singular talent with a gorgeous voice.

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales.

(Blurb taken from Goodreads)

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)
Review:

THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE by Katherine Arden is a beautiful book. It has a gorgeous front cover, and the story inside is delightfully magical. This debut novel tells the story of a young girl, Vasilisa Petrovna – Vasya to her family: the youngest child of Pytor Vladimirovich and Marina Ivanovna. THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE follows Vasya, as she grows up, the daughter of a lord in a small Russian village. Vasya isn’t quite like the other girls, not even her elder sister. Her life changes with the arrival of her father’s second wife, Anna Ivanovna, and Father Konstantin Nikonovich.

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Review: The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell

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The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell

Title: The Wolf Wilder
Author: Katherine Rundell
Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Middle Grade
Publisher: Bloomsbury (10th September 2015)
Blurb:

Feodora and her mother live in the snowbound woods of Russia, where their closest neighbours are wolves. Feo’s mother is a wolf wilder, and Feo is a wolf wilder in training. Like the wolves, Feo has learnt to be wary of humans – even before the soldiers arrive with their guns and threats. And when the soldiers do their worst, she goes on the run with just a fugitive boy and her wolves for company – to rescue her mother and to save her pack . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

THE WOLF WILDER by Katherine Rundell reads like a Russian fairy tale. It tells the story of Feodora and her mother, they live in the snowbound woods of Russia. Feo’s mother is a wolf wilder, so Feo has grown up with wolves and has learnt to be wary of humans. So when soldiers from the Tsar arrive with weapons and take her mother away, Feo has no choice but to try and get her mother back.

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Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

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Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Title: Uprooted
Author: Naomi Novik
Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Young Adult
Publisher: Macmillan (21st May 2015)
Blurb:

Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what the stories tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travellers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true; he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our father’s would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, ambitious wizard known only as the Dragon, to keep the Wood’s powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman must be handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as being lost to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows – everyone knows – that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia – all the things Agnieszka isn’t – and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But no can predict how or why the Dragon chooses a girl. And when he comes, it is not Kasia he will take with him.

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

UPROOTED by Naomi Novik is a standalone young adult fantasy novel. The novel is heavily influenced by fairy tales and tells the story of Agnieszka who lives in a small village that is protected by the Dragon. Next to this village is the Wood, which casts a dark shadow. The book begins just before Dragon picks the next young woman to serve him.

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Review: The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy

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The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy (UK edition)

Title: The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle (The Hero’s Guide 2)
Author: Christopher Healy
Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Middle Grade
Publisher: Harper Collins (4th July 2013)
Blurb:

The League of Princes are out to prove themselves true heroes, and stop their kingdoms from falling into the wrong hands.

Magical swords, man-eating eels, evil warlords?

All in a day’s work.

And it’s going to be a looooong day . . .

Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

THE HERO’S GUIDE TO STORMING THE CASTLE by Christopher Healy is the second book in the series. Things have gone downhill for our heroes (princes Liam, Frederic, Gustav, and Duncan) with the Bandit King getting his revenge, but the princes soon find themselves involved in another adventure.

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Review: The Sleeper And The Spindle by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Chris Riddell

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The Sleeper And The Spindle by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Chris Riddell

Title: The Sleeper And The Spindle
Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrator: Chris Riddell
Genre: Fairy Tale, Re-Telling, Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury (23rd October 2014)
Blurb:

IT WAS THE CLOSEST KINGDOM TO THE QUEEN’S, AS THE CROW FLIES, BUT NOT EVEN CROWS FLEW IT.

You may think you know this story. There’s a young queen, about to be married. There are some good, brave, hardy dwarfs; a castle, shrouded in thorns; and a princess, cursed by a witch, so rumour has it, to sleep forever.

But no one is waiting for a noble prince to appear on his trusty steed here. This fairy tale is spun with a thread of dark magic, which twists and turns and glints and shines. A queen might just prove herself a hero, if a princess needs rescuing . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

THE SLEEPER AND THE SPINDLE is a beautifully illustrated adaptation of the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. It combines the talents of author Neil Gaiman and illustrator Chris Riddell to create a haunting and beautiful world and story, with Riddell’s illustrations adding an extra dimension to Gaiman’s words. Together, Gaiman and Riddle create a rich and enchanting fairy tale. Beware, there’s no Disneyfication here!

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Review: Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville

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Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville

Title: Gretel and the Dark
Author: Eliza Granville
Genre: Historical Novel, Horror, Fairy Tale, Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin (6th February 2014)
Source: Penguin Ireland
Format: Finished copy
Blurb:

VIENNA, 1899.

Josef Breuer – celebrated psychoanalyst – is about to encounter his strangest case yet. Found by the lunatic asylum, thin, head shaved, she claims to have no name, no feelings – to be, in fact, not even human. Intrigued, Breuer determines to fathom the roots of her disturbance.

YEARS LATER,

in Germany, we meet Krysta. Krysta’s Papa is busy working in the infirmary with the ‘animal people’, so little Krysta plays alone, lost in the stories of Hansel and Gretel, the Pied Piper and more. And when everything changes and the real world around her becomes as frightening as any fairy tale, Krysta finds that her imagination holds powers beyond what she could ever have guessed . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

GRETEL AND THE DARK is a stand-alone novel by Eliza Granville. It tells the stories of two different girls, in two different counties, in two different times. Their stories unfold in interchanging chapters.

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Review: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

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The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Title: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making (Fairyland #1)
Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Genre: Fairy Tale, Middle Grade
Publisher: Much-in-Little (17th January 2013)
Blurb:

SEPTEMBER is a twelve-year-old girl from Omaha. With her dad fighting a faraway war, and her mum always out at work, she is lonely, stuck in a rut and starved of adventure. So when a Green Wind arrives at her window and invites her to Fairyland she accepts in a flash (mightn’t you?). But Fairyland is in crisis, crushed by the iron rule of the villainous Marquess – and September holds the key to restoring order. With a book-loving dragon and a mysterious boy named Saturday by her side, she sets out on a thrilling quest to Fix Things. But time is short, and time is ticking, and every story must have an ending. Can September save Fairyland? Can she even save herself?

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente (hence forth known as The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland) is a modern fairy tale – it even starts with the famous ‘Once Upon a Time’. It tells the story of twelve-year-old September’s adventures in Fairyland.

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