The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales
Grade: A-
The Starlit Wood (which I keep saying wrong) is a lovely book of fairy tales I picked up this weekend. I’m going to be honest. I picked it up almost solely on the fact it’s so pretty! But I actually really enjoyed the book. Overall I found the stories done in such a way that they really did feel different and some of the fairy tales they were based on are not ones I’ve read.
Like The Super Ultra Duchess of Fedora Forest by Charlie Jane Anders is based on a Grimm story about a bird, mouse and sausage living together. I was wracking my brains, once I got past the sausage, trying to think of what this was based on. Nope, all new. I love seeking out new stories like that. Honestly, besides the sausage that one was kind of a middling story for me.
There were a few stories that just fell flat to me. Like Giants in the Sky a sci-fish Jack in the Beanstalk or The Tale of Mahliya and Mauhub and the White-Footed Gazelle which felt more like telling me what it was about than anything else.
But I did like the twists to the stories and these are very adult indeed. Lots of stuff about gender and sexual politics play throughout many of the stories. Some favorites included Even the Crumbs were Delicious a funny and take on Hanzel and Gretel with probably one of the most likable characters in any of the stories. I found Some Wait a Pied Piper retelling to be suitably (and my kind) of creepy. It would make a good movie and I also enjoyed the last story Spinning Silver. That didn’t surprise me so much since I like Naomi Novik (Uprooted) quite a bit.
I do love a main character with good business sense however.
Overall I enjoyed The Starlit Wood. It was different and had a great array of stories that they pulled from- so I actually learned about some new tales and have some further reading to do! Those a benefits to me!
