![]() “Cinderella” is a cute story about friendship focusing on the titular character and her mouse companion, who was human until the prince’s betrothed transformed her for the crime of catching the eye of her affianced. Though it includes some of what’s expected, such as having a trail of breadcrumbs and baking someone alive, it’s a very different story overall. In “Hansel and Gretel,” the children’s mother is a gifted baker of rosewater ladoos and other delicious sweets-but when she becomes so successful that people only want to purchase her baked goods, the people accuse her of witchcraft, poke out her eyes, and send her into the forest. My favorites all struck a balance between familiarity and newness, and there were three I found particularly notable: “Hansel and Gretel,” “Cinderella,” and “Beauty and the Beast.” (“Red Riding Hood” also stood out to me as one of the better stories and probably would have been one of my favorites as well if I hadn’t already read a couple of similar stories.) The other stories do not hew as closely to the usual as the former but keep more of the standard elements than the latter. “Sleeping Beauty” is hardly recognizable as that particular story: it tells of a prince who discovers something has been feasting on his blood in the middle of the night and falls for another boy instead of the princess, and it hardly has anything in common with its namesake although it is reminiscent of fairy tales in general. The bones of “Rumpelstiltskin” are not changed much at all: it’s still basically the same story with a maiden desperate to discover the name of the one who spins straw into gold for her, but some of the details are different. These stories all have something in common with the original premise, but just how much they diverge from that varies. (Plus, most of these tales do have some sort of happy ending that makes them seem less grim than they may have otherwise.) Although these stories do contain disturbing elements just like the stories they stem from, they didn’t seem all that dark to me given the straightforward prose and storytelling style that didn’t dwell on the horrific. I now think it’s more likely due to my preference for poetic prose and darkly atmospheric tales. ![]() That could be part of it, but some of these stories are different enough that I no longer believe that’s the main reason. However, none of the art struck the same beautifully haunting chord for me as the cover or made me want to flip through the pages to revisit it later.Īt first, I thought these retellings didn’t especially stand out to me because I’ve read a lot of subverted fairy tales. There were certainly images I liked and many of them added character to the stories (that disdain and skepticism emanating from Rapunzel when the prince tries to convince her she’d enjoy being his wife!). Though it definitely enhanced the reading experience, I felt similarly about the interior art. That is to say, it was perfectly readable with aspects I appreciated, but few of these twelve stories remained memorable after turning the final page. ![]() But as fitting as that picture is for Little Red Riding Hood’s story, the book as a whole did not leave as much of an impression on me as its jacket design. ![]() I read Beasts and Beauty because I love fairy tales and their retellings-and although I know I shouldn’t judge books by such things, also because of the gorgeous cover by illustrator Julia Iredale. This book contains the following stories: As stated in an interview, the author wanted these stories resonate with both younger readers and adults, and it’s published as being for ages 10+ in the US and adult readers in the UK. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.īeasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales is a collection of twelve reimagined fairy tales written by New York Times bestselling author Soman Chainani and illustrated by Julia Iredale.
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