![]() ![]() ![]() "New takes", these stories are not, not really. When I saw the description of "new takes on the Brothers Grimm" and "classic fairy tales, lovingly retold and featuring characters who receive wonderfully queer happily-ever-afters," I was hoping for something like rewriting The Little Mermaid (yes, that's Hans Christian Andersen but just as an example) to bring the subtextual queerness into text and explore what it means for a queer person to give up their voice in exchange for the appearance of normalcy in order to gain acceptance. I'm not sure if this is intended to be children's literature, but it reads that way, though it wasn't labelled that way when I selected it. The stories - at least from the half I read - have not had the basic plot or perspective changed, either. The stories are told in the same, children's fairytale level of language and depth, except that the characters have different gender identities or sexual orientation. However, this collection of stories is none of the above. Previously, I have enjoyed fairytale and mythological retellings that take childhood/classic stories and explore them from different viewpoints (like Snow, Glass, Apples), greater historical context ( She Who Became the Sun), or deeper richness ( Song of Achilles). Substituting pronouns, does not good storytelling make. EDIT: decided to rate 1/5 because this is one of the most uncreative, boring books I've ever read. ![]()
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