Thornhedge, by T. Kingfisher

Tor Books, ISBN 9781250244093, August 2023

We have a princess, sleeping in a tower. The tower is entirely surrounded by tall, thick, dangerous thornhedge. We know this story!

But no, this is T. Kingfisher, and she does strange and wonderful things to fairy tales.

Our heroine is Toadling, born in the tower, but stolen away by fairies, and raised in the warm waters of faerieland, in the loving care of the toads. And then she is summoned to go on a mission, to make a blessing on a newborn princess in the tower, to prevent harm. Such a simple mission. What could go wrong?

The Sleeper and the Spindle, by Neil Gaiman (author), Chris Riddell (illustrator)

HarperCollins, September 2015

There are brave, hardy, loyal dwarves. There's a beautiful young queen, never identified as Snow White, but there are at least suggestions that her backstory matches that one.

There's a neighboring kingdom, on the other side of the mountains, where the dwarves, seeking a suitable gift for the queen's wedding, find instead a strange sleep spreading across the whole kingdom. They also here of a princess cursed by an evil witch, sleeping in a castle surrounded by thorns, which no prince, no knight, no hero has ever penetrated, to save her.

Realizing there is an evil magic at work here, they head back through the the mountains (yes, through, not over) to their queen.

Snow, Glass, Apples, by Neil Gaiman (author), Colleen Doran (illustrator)

Dark Horse Books, August 2019

This is the story of Snow White, from the viewpoint of the Wicked Queen, who may not be so wicked after all. It's also beautifully illustrated by Colleen Doran. (I don't have to tell you what a great storyteller Neil Gaiman is.)

The Queen is a witch, and does use her powers to help win the heart of the handsome knight who is the king. She doesn't meet her new stepdaughter immediately, but when she does, she sees black, black hair, red, red lips, and skin too white to be natural. They do not take to each other.

Falling in Love With Hominids, by Nalo Hopkinson

 

Tachyon Publications, ISBN 9781616961992, July 2015

This is a wonderful collection of short stories, and Nalo Hopkinson kept me reading stories that were just straight up horror that I would ordinarily just skip right over. Along with the horror, there's dark fantasy, lighter, happier fantasy, and even a couple of stories that can fairly be called science fiction. There's a reworking of the story of Caliban, and a new Bordertown story. It's an impressive range.

What sets this collection apart, aside from the fact that Hopkinson is just a really excellent writer, is that she writes from her own Afro-Caribbean heritage, giving us stories that are new, and bringing an entirely different perspective to stories grounded in more familiar material. There's folklore and storytelling traditions here that are a new experience, and take me places I haven't been.

The Caliban story flips the narrative and changes how we see not just Caliban, but Ariel, as well as their mother. The Bordertown story widens the world not just of Bordertown itself, but of the "other side," the elf world. Turns out there's ethnic diversity there, too, and it's extremely well done. There are stories that leave me feeling warm, and reconnected to the good parts of my childhood without denying the bad parts, and...okay, what just happened there? Was it real? Does it matter, when it leaves that warm glow behind?

There's a zombie apocalypse story, "Easthound." I hate zombie apocalypse stories. This one kept me reading. Or "Emily Breakfast,' which starts out seemingly without fantastic elements. Chickens, cat, lizards--all have their elements of the fantastic, and you don't notice it sneaking up on you.

Vishnu figures prominently in one story, and an elephant about whom I will say nothing more in another.

Ghosts relive their deaths, daily, in a shopping mall. Indigenous people defend themselves against invaders, at great cost. A self-conscious teenager struggles with her unruly hair, and a tree that won't stop talking to her.

There's so much here, and it's so rich and rewarding.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.

The Fir Tree, by Hans Christian Andersen (author), Carol Phillips (narrator)

Bookstream Audiobooks, January 2022

This is the story of a beautiful little fir tree, living in a lovely spot with good neighbors, and all too eager to grow up, so eager he doesn't appreciate the excellent things that he has. He wants to be tall and strong, and handsome, and he doesn't take the correct lesson from the big, strong trees around him that do get cut down and carried off.

Eventually, one Christmas, he does get cut down, and carried off to be a Christmas tree. Which, initially, seems like a wonderful experience.

It's Hans Christian Anderson, well done, well translated, and well performed.

The Wickeds (Faraway Collection #5), by Gayle Forman (author), Frankie Corzo (narrator)

Brilliance Audio, December 2020

Elsinora, Gwendolyn, and Marguerite--the wicked stepmothers of "Cinderella," "Snow White," and "Rapunzel,"--meet at their cosmetician's office, and start getting together and discussing all the unfair press they've gotten due to the young girls they raised.

Because really, they don't deserve it. They did their best by those ungrateful girls, and weren't appreciated. When the girls rebelled, it's "the wickeds" who paid the price.

Maybe it's time to get revenge, and set the record straight. They hatch a plan. They set out to travel to the fair where "the princesses" will be expecting more triumphs, and will instead be confronted with the truth of how unfair they were.

I'll freely admit I did not at first have any idea where this was really going. It's funny, engaging, has some unexpected twists, and a satisfying ending. Just a lot of fun, in a small package.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Hazel and Gray (Faraway Collection #2), by Nic Stone (author), Kimberly Woods (narrator)

Brilliance Audio, December 2020

This is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Instead of brother and sister, they are young lovers, and their immediate problem is Hazel's stepfather, a.k.a. The Monster. He's very strict and controlling, and forces her to break up with Gray. She does, because her approach to her difficult life with her mother, with her highs and lows, and until now her constantly changing boyfriends, has been to adapt and adjust.

This time it isn't working. The Monster is watching her, looking at her in ways that make her feel not just uncomfortable, but unsafe. She contacts Gray once more, and they plan a picnic in the woods.

The Prince and the Troll (Faraway Collection #1), by Rainbow Rowell (author), Rebecca Lowman (narrator)

Brilliance Audio, December 2020

A charming and attractive young man, whose name we eventually learn in Adam, is walking to work when he accidentally drops his phone off the bridge. It's retrieved for him by a friendly troll--a friendly female troll. From that point on, they meet every day for coffee, which he picks up at the nearest Starbucks.

Over the course of their conversations, we learn, gradually, that the river is drying up, that there is no rain, and that somehow the Road, the magnificent Road, may be responsible for this. And Adam, it seems, works on the Road. He's one of the people responsible for keeping it safe, and smooth, with good signage.

The river dying up is obviously not good for the troll, or other trolls, or the plants that grow along it.

The Road, it seems, is not good for any living things.

As I was listening to this, the story didn't quite work for me. Yet now, as I'm writing about it, the complexities of the story, which I did notice as I listened, are seeming more compelling. What that means exactly, I have no idea.

Overall, though, an interesting story, even if not perfect.

I bought this audiobook.

Once More Upon a Time, by Roshani Chokshi (author), Rebecca Gibel (narrator), Shiromi Arserio (narrator), Vikas Adam (narrator)

Audible Originals, June 2020

Imelda was one of the famous Twelve Dancing Princess, until her sisters began to get married off. She falls in love with a princce--but not the heir--of a neighboring kingdom. The prince's name is Ambrose, and they marry and are granted by her father the little land of Love's Keep. The King and Queen of Love's Keep must be in love, and remain in love, and will be exiled after a year and a day if they are not in love.

Then Ambrose sacrifices their love to save Imelda's life after she is poisoned.

For a year and a day, no longer remembering why they got married, they live in Love's Keep, and avoid each other. Then their time is up, and Imelda must return to her father's kingdom, while Ambrose will be a wandering exile. And they both want something different. Then the witch who took their love from them in exchange for saving Imelda's life, returns to promise them she can grant them their true wishes, in exchange for going on a quest together to recover a potion for her, a potion that turns people to stone.

Little Red Rodent Hood (Hamster Princess #6), by Ursula Vernon (author), Eva Kaminsky (narrator)

Recorded Books, September 2018

Ursula Vernon is, as always, a delight.

In this case, she takes the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and turns it inside out and sideways, with wonderful results.

Princess Harriet Hamsterbone and her friend Wilbur respond to a plea from a very odd young hamster girl, dressed all in red. and mount their riding quail to go to the aid of her grandmother. Grandmother's cottage in the woods is surrounded by weaselwolves of nefarious intent...

Evangeline (A Joseon Fairy Tale), by Erica Laurie

Createspace, ISBN 9781543286953, May 2017

Evangeline Lane is grieving, confused, and alone.

Her mother has died of cancer, and her father has become distant and apparently completely wrapped up in his work--for which he travels frequently. She loves the Korean dramas of her mother's heritage, and was previously an excellent student in high school, but she finds it increasingly hard to focus. Her grades are slipping.

She feels that her father doesn't love her, and fears that perhaps he never loved her mother, either.

Then one day, in a bookstore, she finds a marvelous book. The bookseller says that it's a book that finds its reader, something which makes no sense to her. But he lets her borrow it, and she is soon wrapped up in the book.

And then she is inside the story.

The Bear and the Nightingale, by Katherine Arden

Del Rey, ISBN 9781101885932, January 2017

Vasya is the younger daughter, and youngest child, of Pyotr, a Russian boyar, and his wife Marina, daughter of the Grand Prince. Her mother dies at her birth, and Vasya is growing up wild and willful--and the beloved image of her mother. She'd rather roam the forest than learn to cook, and learn to understand the magical creatures of forest and hearth than learn needlework.

Pyotr worries about his youngest child, and even more so when a visit to Moscow to find a new wife to be her stepmother. His new wife is Marina's cousin, but very different, frightened of the things she sees in the corners of the house. In addition to a new wife, Pyotr has a frightening encounter with a frightening man of magic, who gives him a pendant for Vasya. He gives it to her nurse to give to her later, and she puts it aside to give it to Vasya when she is grown.

What neither of them knows is that the Frost King will be watching, and so will his brother, the Bear.

The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Andersen (author), Julia Whelan (narrator)

Audible Audio, December 2014 (original publication 1845)

This is a lovely reading of Andersen's story of Gerda and her friend Kai, who becomes contaminated by the shards of a demon-made magic mirror, and succumbs to the lure of the Snow Queen.

Gerda sees the change in her friend when he is affected by the shards, and when he vanishes, she will not believe that he is dead. She sets off on quest to find him, armed chiefly with her courage, loyalty, and good heart.