Today we are pleased to have joining us Marissa Meyer, author of Cinder, a futuristic retelling of Cinderella. Guys! Be excited! Cinder is a 2012 debut, and a little birdie on the inside tells me (Misty) it's fabulous! Make sure to stop back on Friday for a guest post from Marissa!
Now let's get down to business. "Serious" Questions: ~Can you tell us a little bit about Cinder and the series?Gladly! CINDER is a young adult futuristic retelling of Cinderella. In it, Cinder, a 16-year-old cyborg mechanic, must piece together her mysterious past in order to protect her country from an impending war. It's the first in a four-book series, each of which revolves around a different fairy-tale-inspired heroine (Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White), as they join forces to save the world and find their happily-ever-afters. CINDER is scheduled to release in early 2012.
~Why fairy tales? What is it that calls to you, personally, as a writer, and why do you think readers connect to them the way they do? I’ve always loved fairy tales. When I was growing up, I loved them for the romance, the magical kisses, the dresses, the princes in their fancy castles. Now I’m drawn to them for their timelessness—these are story archetypes that have been retold and recycled in 8 billion different ways, yet authors and artists and movie directors are still coming up with new ways to tell them. And because they still relate to issues that every society deals with, whether it’s childhood neglect a la Hansel and Gretel or just wanting to improve your social status a la Cinderella—these stories hold as much meaning for us now as they did in the time of the Grimm Brothers.
~What’s your favorite scene you’ve ever written? EVER ever? Gosh, that’s a lot of scenes. Can I say every single kiss? I’m a big fan of kissing scenes. The fun part of writing a four-book series with four different heroines who have four different romances is that there’s lot of opportunity for great kissing! Book 2: SCARLET (Little Red Riding Hood) will have some particularly smoldering ones.
Quickfire, Silly and Random stuff: ~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale? I love this question, because I was tempted at one point to call my Rapunzel character “Arugula”! I ended up settling on “Cress” though, which is also a type of lettuce. If I were in a fairy tale, I think my odd name would be something geeky and literary, like maybe Pencil or Comma.
~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale: The fairy godmother waved her magic wand and Pencil found herself with this a real live book deal—a dream come true! She was about to retire to Hawaii and do nothing but lie on the beach and drink fruity cocktails for the rest of her happily ever after... when it occurred to her that she still had to write the rest of the books. And back to work the princess went.
~Best fairy tale villain and why? I’m partial to Rumpelstiltskin. He’s sly, crafty, can actually spin straw into gold (quite the feat!), and goes after what he wants. I also love that the story leaves open a big mystery: why does he want the queen’s firstborn at all? It could be very cruel and awful (maybe he plans to eat it!) or more sympathetic (maybe he just wants a family).
~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites? I always loved The Little Mermaid—it was my favorite Disney movie as a kid, and I only fell in love with it more once I read the Hans Christian Andersen version and learned how truly tragic the story was. It has so much depth to it (pun kind of intended). As for now... it’s so hard to choose! Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are probably neck and neck for my all-time favs. As for least favorite... I don’t know that I really have one, although something about the end of Hansel & Gretel always bugged me. I felt like the dad got off way too easy in that tale!
~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be? Cinderella’s ball! I love big beautiful dresses and dancing and food!
~Would you rather: - — live under a bridge with a troll, or all alone in a high tower? Tower, definitely! Just think how much reading you’d get done.
- — ride everywhere in a pumpkin carriage (messy) or walk everywhere in glass shoes (uncomfortable)? I’ll take the carriage, with hopes that the fairy godmother had the sense to scrape all the guts out of it.
- — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming? Between getting engaged and getting my book deal for CINDER both in the past few months, I think I already have both!
Thanks so much for the fun interview, Ashley and Misty! Oh course! We were happy to have you, and can't wait for Cinder! Thanks for stopping by!So who else is super excited for Cinder? *raises hand*Stop back on Friday for a special guest post from Marissa Meyer. And don't forget to leave her some love in the comments!
We have Laura here with us today, who blogs at Laura Howard: Finding Bliss, and she is talking about the differences between Fairy tales and Faerie tales! Let's hear what she has to say!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ When you think of fairy tales, do you imagine towering castles and lovely princesses — or perhaps adorable pixies with bluebell caps hiding behind azalea bushes? As a girl, those are all the things I dreamed of. I spent hours reading stories of handsome knights and mysterious mermaids, picturing myself in the role of heroine.
It wasn't until after my 30th birthday that I discovered the darker side of fairy tales — Faerie Tales. My first taste came in the form of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely. In this story, I met equally beautiful and terrible creatures that were nothing like the fairies I'd grown up with. I was hooked! I went on to read Holly Black's Tithe and once again was transfixed by the idea that pixies and elves would be more likely to trick you into dancing til your feet were stubs than to grant you your hearts desire.
Now, I've read dozens of spins on the darker side of Faerie. One in particular that inspired me in my own writing is the Sevenwaters series by Juliet Marillier. This series combines a retelling of the Seven Swans fairy tale with another twist on fairies. In her work, the creatures known as the Good People or the Fair Folk are actually the descendants of the Celtic gods of pre-Christian Ireland. The Tuatha de Danaan, or children of the goddess Dana, were forced underground once the humans took to Christianity.
The fun part of this magical race is that they see themselves as highly superior and when the mood strikes they will go to great lengths to cause trouble for humans.
Whether you like stories with sweet flower fairies or you prefer the dark and disturbing side of the Fae, it's easy to see why fairy tales remain so popular, even amongst thirty something's: they offer us a chance to leave the ordinary behind and play pretend while we're lost in their pages.
The Princess Trio by Mette Ivie Harrison begins with The Princess and the Hound, continues with The Princess and the Bear , and then finishes with The Princess and the Snowbird . The series takes one main story arc and follows it between three very different women.
The trilogy takes place in a kingdom rich with magic. The aur-magic, also referred to as animal magic is a powerful force throughout the kingdom, and it is what keeps everything in harmony. It is magic born from the link between animals and humans. The aur-magic is within all animals and it used to be in many people. It is the magic of life, the original and true magic. Those who possessed the aur-magic were respected and it was looked upon as a blessing. But as time passed, people began, as they always do, to fear that which they did not understand. Those with the animal magic slowly fell out of favor until an event involving a wild man full of the magic, his army of animals and the transfiguration of their king from man into bear eliminated all positive feelings toward the magic. The world in which each of these stories takes place is not a good place to find yourself a wielder of the aur-magic, for those who are possess it are burned immediately upon discovery. There is no trial, there are no chances. To possess it means death. If this were not bad enough, there is another magic that begins to emerge in these stories, and that is the tehr-magic, a corruption of the original that destroys and kills instead of healing and giving life and the aur-magic is meant to do.
Each of the three books explores a different aspect of the aur-magic, it's reception among the people and the emergence of the darker tehr-magic. If the tehr-magic is allowed to spread too far, it will destroy all aur-magic, which effectively destroys the animals. Each princess has her own struggles within the story, each has her own demons to deal with. Describing their individual circumstances is impossible without spoiling much of the mystery around these three stories, so I won't offer details, but each is unique and each gives them a special advantage in their fight to save the aur-magic and those who carry it.
I will be honest and say that I didn't love the first book in the series. I liked it, but it didn't connect with me the way novels like this generally do. I remember finishing the book and being unable to find anything actually wrong with the book. Mette Ivie Harrison is a very talented writer. Her descriptions and world building are astounding and detailed without ever being overwhelming. And her characters — well, in my opinion this is where her strength as a writer lies. Because I believed in them. I believed in their actions, their motivations, their pasts and their futures. The story also intrigued me and held my attention for the entire duration of the book. So, without being able to pinpoint exactly what, something was missing for me. But, I liked it enough to read the second book when it became available, and this one, The Princess and the Bear is my favorite of the three.
The main couple in this story are my favorite. Of the three main character couples, these two are the couple I most believed in, the one I was rooting the hardest for, and the one I most wished to see again. I find that my preference for main characters is identical to my preference for story order. The second book is my favorite in the series, although the third is a very close second with the first in the series being my least favorite.
None of these are bad books, and all are worth reading, but they don't fall onto my favorites shelf. I think the Harrison is a strong writer, gifted at telling stories and creating believable worlds, even when they area full of magic. I think what is missing in these stories for me is the emotion. I don't feel along with her characters that way I do in other stories and that lessens how much I enjoy books over all. I also never felt the urgency one expects to feel when reading a story about an impending war and a dark magic that can alter every aspect of our existence. It was almost as if I were watching the events unfold over a filter rather than allowing me a closer glimpse of the events.
On a sidenote, this series does have some of the most beautiful cover images. I think that all three of them are stunning, although, once again, The Princess and the Bear is my favorite. (The Princess and the Hound comes in second this time though, rather than third). Misty reviewed The Princess and the Hound earlier in the event, which I have linked here. If you have read this, I would love to hear your thoughts! What do you think of Harrison's Princess trio?
Today's guest post comes from author Jaclyn Dolamore (Magic Under Glass, Between the Sea and Sky). When I (Misty speaking, here) contacted her about being involved in FTF and possibly doing a pos t on the behind the scenes stuff for Between the Sea and Sky (research loving dork that I am), I was understandably geeked when she agreed. And then she hit me with this awesomeness. Hope you love it as much as I do; if you do, make sure to leave her some comment love! And when you're done with this one, make sure to check out our interview and swagness! :)
Fairy Tales, Myths and World-building: Between the Sea and Sky
My first novel, Magic Under Glass, involves fairies, but in many ways they are closer to a view of elves than fairies--forest-dwelling people with a connection to the earth. After all, there were already so many YA novels that involve fairy lore and do it better than I ever could. However, when I began my next novel, Between the Sea and Sky, and I knew it would be about a mermaid--Esmerine--and a winged boy--Alan, I had to consider, once again, how much I wanted to draw from myths and fairy tales. There aren't nearly as many mermaid stories (especially when I started writing it... little did I know that 2011 would be the year of the mermaid!) so I wanted to adhere closer to traditional tales in shaping my world.
One of the most common elements of mermaid (and selkie) tales is the idea of an object that can be stolen to entrap the mermaid. Selkies usually shed their pelt, but mermaids carry caps, belts, capes, combs... A human man can steal them and the mermaid will have to come home with him and marry him. Usually they have children, but one day the man leaves the object somewhere where the mermaid can get at it and she steals it back and leaves him and her children forever.
Fairy tales, when turned into actual novels with messy human emotions and details and explanations, tend to beg some questions. My first question was, how on earth did these mermaids end up with this enchanted object a man could use to enslave them? Were they BORN with a magical object? Not likely, right? They must have created it at some point, but why would you create something that, in essence, held your freedom? And why were these mermaids always hanging out where men could steal their stuff, then?
This led me to the idea that the mermaid's belt (in my story, it's a belt) is an object of great magic, and the reason why is that a mermaid sings magical songs to fill it with power that lingers even after she has died. I figured that not ALL mermaids would have these belts. It didn't seem logical for a sustainable society! Only certain mermaids--the sirens, whose songs lure human men. And the reason their songs lure human men is because the sirens are, themselves, lured to the land and its people. After all, mermaids are half-human, so it makes sense they would be not entirely creatures of the sea. Interesting tidbit: the original mythological sirens actually had wings, and somewhere along the line mermaids took up the job, mythologically speaking. I bet there could be a story in that, too...
But back to mermaid fairy tales. The most famous one is still The Little Mermaid, and the original Hans Christian Andersen tale, like nearly ALL Hans Christian Andersen tales, is quite sad. The Little Mermaid is able to take on a human form, but only by giving up her voice and having every step feel like knives. I liked the idea of my mermaids having to sacrifice something to take on a human form, so I paid a little homage to this story too. The mermaids in my story can only walk with great pain, unless they give up their belt. Otherwise, their world is not nearly so depressing, I'll say that!
I was beginning to see my underwater society take shape from thinking about mythology, but the winged folk were really open for interpretation. Besides angels, which these people are not, there isn't much precedent for mythological winged folk. I wanted Alan's wings to work as logically as possible, so I didn't want him to look angelic--instead, his structure is more bat-like, with wings instead of, rather than in addition to, arms. He still couldn't really fly without a little magical help, but at least he could glide. But it also means the winged folk kind of have to sacrifice hands for wings. They do have a thumb and index finger and longer toes capable of grasping things, but I imagined these delicate flying people would have to make more use of tools and machines to be able to do various types of manual labor as effectively as humans.
In astrology, coincidentally, the air element represents the mind and intellect. I had written about a winged race some years before and they were very primitive and lived in mountain caves, but I wondered if maybe I should take these winged folk in the opposite direction--they pride themselves on scholarly attributes. And it makes sense, because they would be able to move and share ideas faster between cities and countries than any other people. Their world is about the equivalent of our 1800 and the more I thought about it the more wondrous it seemed to have wings back then, when even the train wasn't invented and roads were often terrible.
Now, I hope my readers will enjoy reading about these cultures as much as I enjoyed figuring them out!
Jaclyn Dolamore is the author of Magic Under Glass, and the upcoming companion, Between the Sea and Sky. You can find her online here:
We have something fun for you today. Right now on both The Book Rat and Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing, we're hosting 2 super cute guest posts (you can see mine below) and 2 Prize Packs to go along with them. Alanna from The Flashlight Reader wanted to be involved in FTF, and wanted to get her students involved (which I was so on board with!), so she decided to have them do acrostic poems for Fairy Tale Fortnight, and I have 1 to share with you! Check it out:
Forgotten by her stepmother And evil stepsisters Impossible, never ending chores Resigned to be a slave, but Yearning to be free
Today brings change with A magical wand Love at first sight while Enchanted dancers Swirl in to the night
To add to the awesome, she decided to sponsor a giveaway as well (well, 2 ---> the other one is on Misty's blog, along with another great acrostic!)
***GIVEAWAY*** 1 lucky winner will get a fabulous prize pack of children's books, which includes:
1 copy of Swan Lake with an audio CD 1 copy of Sleeping Beauty 1 copy of Petite Rouge: A Cajun Little Red Riding Hood 1 copy of The Emperor's Kite by Jane Yolen + SURPRIZES!
To enter: Leave a comment with a way to contact you, and leave some love for Alanna and her students OR tell us why you want to win. +1 for spreading the word US/CAN only Ends May 5th May 8th!
Today's guest post comes from Titania who blogs at Fishmuffins of Doom. She also wrote a guest post on Misty's blog that includes a giveaway! Make sure you read her thoughts on her favorite dark fairy tales!
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Fairy tales are adapted into films all the time. The most famous of these are the Disney films that eventually eclipsed the original tales they were adapted from in the minds of most of society. Here are a few reimaginings of fairy tales in film that don’t tell the story word for word, but tell it in a way that is completely unique from what has been seen before. Here are a few of my favorites:
Hard Candy
Hard Candy is the story of 14 year old Hayley who meets Jeff, an adult photographer, at a coffee shop after they have been chatting online for a while. They go back to Jeff’s apartment and drink screwdrivers. You think you know exactly where this is going to go, but you are terribly wrong. Jeff passes out as the result of a spiked drink and spends most of the movie tied up and tortured, physically and mentally. Hayley is like an avenging angel for every girl who was abused or raped. She is convinced that Jeff is a pedophile and possibly involved in the rape and murder of a local girl and is willing to do what it takes to make him confess. Throughout the course of the film, I switched sides so many times. It’s difficult to say through most of the film if Hayley is psychopath or a justified avenger and if Jeff is just a normal guy or a guilty pedophile. This is not an obvious adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood. It’s not an easy thing to identify the true Big Bad Wolf like in so many other retellings. This film is both brilliant and manipulative. Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson deliver flawless, realistic, and alternately sympathetic and alienating performances. Highly recommended.
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes is a Korean horror film that tells the story of Sun-Jae, a woman who leaves her husband after discovering his infidelity. Her daughter was spoiled by her husband and only cares about him. Her friends are rude and blunt without any concern for her feelings. One day on the subway, she finds a pair of beautiful pink shoes and takes them home. She feels better when she wears them, but notices that other women seem to covet them, even her young daughter who steals them from her. Her rude and inconsiderate friend attacks the girl and takes them for herself before being killed in a most horrific way. These shoes seem to be followed by violence and death and Sun-Jae needs to figure out how to save her daughter and herself before it’s too late. The Red Shoes is a gruesome fairy tale on its own about greed, vanity, and dancing severed feet. This K-horror film adapts it beautifully, even acknowledging the 1948 film of the same title by including a ballet subplot. The film is even gorier than the tale and features an atmospheric creepiness as well as in your face blood and gore. As a whole, it’s suspenseful and tells a semi-ghost story and semi-murder mystery. The ending is a bit convoluted, but as a whole it was creepily enjoyable. I would also recommend other K-horror fairy tale adaptations for those interested, such as Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel.
Black Swan
The ballet Swan Lake is based on a variety of folk tales from Germany and Russia and tells the story of Princess Odette’s tragic love story that usually ends in her or her love’s death. (There are several alternate endings to the ballet.) Black Swan is the story of Nina Sayers, an ambitious ballerina obsessed with perfection. Her dream role is to play the Swan Queen in Swan Lake, but is seen to have not enough passion or emotion to do the role. She is finally given the role after convincing the director of her potential. What follows is her descent into madness as she struggles to prepare for her dual role as the White Swan and the Black Swan. She experiences hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia. In a twisted way, her story reflects that of the ballet. Nina at first is Odette: innocent, naïve, and fearful. Thomas, the director at first embodies the Prince, but later is more like the Sorcerer. Odile, the Sorcerer’s evil daughter, is Lily, Nina’s ballet rival. They look alike, as in the ballet, but Lily primarily wears black, while Nina wears white. Lily is also mostly ruled by emotion and is more impulsive, which is true of Odile. As she becomes increasingly paranoid, she suspects Lily of deception and trying to take her role as Swan Queen, much like Odile tries to steal Odette’s love away. It’s an interesting modern interpretation of the original ballet with a psychological twist and it’s just a great film. Everyone acts exceptionally well, especially Natalie Portman as intense and driven Nina Sayers. The soundtrack is absolutely beautiful and complements the film well. Every aspect of the film works in harmony and is something truly exceptional.
Every night, Shahrazad begins a story. And every morning, the Sultan lets her live another day — providing the story is interesting enough to capture his attention. After almost one thousand nights, Shahrazad is running out of tales. And that is how Marjan's story begins...
It falls to Marjan to help Shahrazad find new stories — ones the Sultan has never heard before. To do that, the girl is forced to undertake a dangerous and forbidden mission: sneak from the harem and travel the city, pulling tales from strangers and bringing them back to Shahrazad. But as she searches the city, a wonderful thing happens. From a quiet spinner of tales, Marjan suddenly becomes the center of a more surprising story than she ever could have imagined. ___________________________________________________
While in the early stages of planning fairy tale fortnight, Ashley contacted Susan Fletcher, asking her if she'd like to be a part of the event. Susan didn't have the time to contribute an author interview or a guest post, but she did donate a signed hardcover of Shadow Spinner from her personal collection. How cool is that?!
If you need further proof of how awesome it is, you can read Ashley's review (click!) . In case you haven't already guessed, she's definitely a fan.
In order to win a signed hardcover copy of this book, you must
Leave a comment telling us and Susan why you want to read her book. Be sure to include your email address so we have a way to contact you if you win!
Hello fairy-tale lovers! I’m back! Did you miss me? As a reminder, I’m Enna Isilee from Squeaky Books. I posted a guest post on “How Fairy Tales Changed My Life” last Friday on Misty’s blog, and now I’m here on Ashley’s blog to give you some recommendations and a giveaway!
I’ve compiled a list of fourteen (one for every day of the fortnight!) of my favorite fairy-tale retellings. Many of these have already been featured during Fairy Tale Fortnight, but I steered away from the well-known fairy tales (Beauty, Ella Enchanted etc.) on the chance that you some of these are new to you. Check out the end of the post for a giveaway!
Plain Kate Erin Bow (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: This book is not technically a twisted fairy tale, but I included it in this list because it reads like one. It’s light and fluffy, while still being deep and touching. While reading this book I laughed and I cried. It’s beautiful.
Entwined Heather Dixon (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: This one only just barely came out. It’s a retelling of the twelve dancing princesses and I love it because it does stick very closely to the original tale, while being completely unique. This story has a strong heroine, a dastardly villain, and the cutest love story ever. Fabulous.
Ice Sarah Beth Durst (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: There are lots of retellings of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” but this is my favorite one that I’ve found. Sarah has written a number of fairy-tale books, and I think this is my favorite. It follows the typical fairy-tale arc, but manages to keep you on your toes for the entire book.
Shadow Spinner Susan Fletcher (Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: Based off the story of Scheherazade, this was one of the first twisted fairy tales I ever read. Susan has an AMAZING ability to tell a story. This book has a special place in my heart, as my mom read it aloud to me when I was a child, and I still have memories of me begging her to read just “one more chapter.”
Mira, Mirror Mette Ivie Harrison (My Review | Goodreads) My thoughts: I included this book in the list because it’s so different. It takes its inspiration from Snow White, but is told from the perspective of the mirror, and the person trapped inside. Many people don’t like this book because of its odd format, and not-so-happy ending, but I found it powerful.
Keturah and Lord Death Martine Leavitt (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: This is also not based directly off a fairy-tale, I suppose it is a little like Scheherazade. This is a beautiful love story about an amazing girl and time period. I read this book years ago, and I still find snatches of its prose popping into my mind from time to time.
Wildwood Dancing Juliet Marillier (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: Honestly, all I can say about this book is that it’s brilliant! If you haven’t read it, do so now. It’s also based on the twelve dancing princesses, but only loosely. It’s more like a wild conglomeration of many tales.
The Swan Kingdom Zoe Marriott (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: I only just read this book a couple weeks ago and I absolutely ADORED it. It’s a retelling of “Wild Swans,” the only one I’ve read, in fact. By the time I reached the end of this book I was gasping, crying, and laughing aloud. Fabulous.
The Swan Maiden Heather Tomlinson (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: This was one of the first books I received for review. I loved it because it isn’t directly based off any tale (that I know of), but feels like it is. My absolute favorite part of this book is the French influences like that. There are lots of tales from Ireland, Eastern Europe, and such, but I’ve never read a French tale before. So nice.
Toads and Diamonds Heather Tomlinson (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: This was another recent read of mine. It’s based off the tale of the two sisters: one who speaks diamonds, one who speaks snakes. The author makes this tale so fascinating and original because both sisters see their “gifts” as a blessing, and strive to find out why they’ve been given their powers. It also is based in an Indian-like culture (as in India) which added some fabulous flavor. Only complaint about this one was that it was too short.
Dust City Robert Paul Weston (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: This book is so unique! It takes all the classic fairy tales you’ve ever read, and throws it into a New York setting. Ever wondered what the world would be like if there really were talking animals, fairies, and magic? Then what would happen if the magic went away? This book addresses all of those ideas in a very witty way.
Rapunzel’s Revenge Shannon Hale (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: I would be remiss if I didn’t throw in some Shannon Hale books. Rapunzel’s Revenge is a HI-larious take on the classic Rapunzel. Shannon wrote this book because she thought the tale was overtold, and I’m so glad! In this, Rapunzel is a kick-butt, lasso wielding, rockstar! This is a graphic novel, and is great for readers young and old!
The Goose Girl Shannon Hale (Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: I mentioned in my guest post on Misty’s Blog that this was the book that sparked my voracious love of the twisted fairy tale genre, and it’s true. This book is full of beautiful prose, unforgettable characters, and one of the best plots I’ve ever read in my entire life. If you haven’t read this book yet, I BEG you to please go find a copy. Please.
Book of a Thousand Days Shannon Hale (My Review | Goodreads | Amazon) My thoughts: I’m going to end with my favorite. And I’m serious when I say that. Most of you probably couldn’t name your favorite book of all time, I can. This is it. This was the first ARC I ever received, and it is my favorite book of all time. Have I mentioned that? It’s touching, heartwarming, beautiful, amazing, lyrical, and every other positive adjective you can think of. Khan Tegus (the love interest in this book) has ruined all real men for me. It’s the world’s most perfect book.
What do you think? Have you read any of these? Would you like a chance to win one? Well, I like to consider myself TFT evangelist, and so I want to share these books with you! I’m going to give two people their choice of any book on this list! Unfortunately, my current financial situation and privacy limitations prevent me from shipping internationally, so this is only open to the US. But to two commenters I will give their choice of any of these fourteen books in any format you’d like (hardcover or paperback, availability permitting).
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:
Win your choice of any one of these fourteen books
Giveaway runs 4/25-5/5 May 8!
TWO winners will be chosen
Must be 13yo or older
Must have US shipping address
HOW TO ENTER:
Leave a comment with which book you’d want to win in order to be entered
Be sure to include your e-mail so I can contact you if you win! Or you just need to keep a careful eye out for the winner announcement.
Get an extra entry by naming another of your favorite YA twisted fairy tale that wasn’t listed
Eilis O’Neal’s debut novel, The False Princess, isn’t directly based on a fairy tale, but has that “feel” to it as you read. It’s about a princess who finds out that for the past sixteen years, she was a decoy for the real princess, who had been cursed at birth. It’s the complete reversal of tales where young maidens discover that they are princesses. Full of its own magic and lore, this novel has already been nominated by The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) for its annual Teens’ Top Ten Award. For a review of The False Princess, please visit A Backwards Story or Books From Bleh to Basically Amazing
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1) What were your favorite fairy tales growing up? What drew you to them? I loved Beauty and the Beast and The Snow Queen. The first because I liked the fact that Beauty saw through the Beast’s exterior to his inner self, and the second for its atmosphere. And, though I wouldn’t call it one of my favorites, I had a very strong reaction to Bluebeard. We had a book of one-hundred fairy tales, which my mother would read to me from, one a night, and I don’t think I slept for two nights after hearing Bluebeard for the first time. I can still recall the picture that went with it of the wife opening the door, and it still makes me shiver. It frightened me and creeped me out, and I would read it whenever I wanted a good scare.
2) Did any fairy tales influence you when writing THE FALSE PRINCESS? In a way, you could say that all the fairy tales in which common girls either become princesses or in which princess are raised in obscurity as common girls influenced The False Princess. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are probably the two most famous of these types of fairy tale, though they certainly aren’t alone. Having grown up with their stories and having had them in my imagination for so long is part of what made me ask the question that lead to The False Princess: What if you grew up thinking you were a princess and then found out you weren’t? I wouldn’t have gotten to this reversal without first having read it the other way around.
3) Was it hard coming up with your own lore when you began world-building for TFP? How did you bring everything together? It’s always such a balance when you’re world-building. With The False Princess, there are quite a few elements of the world—the oracle of the Nameless God, the way magic works, the tension between commoners and nobles—that are essential to the plot. The reader needs to understand them and how they work to really get into the book. But TFP also has heavy doses of mystery, adventure, and romance, and so the pacing has to move along at a pretty good clip. So it was sometimes a challenge to balance fleshing out the world and its rules and keeping the book moving. I want the information to be there, but in a way that feels natural and keeps the book going, rather than a ten page diatribe on exactly how magic functions in Thorvaldor. So that was what I tried to concentrate on: getting the needed information into the book in a natural way.
4) What are some of your favorite fairy tale inspired novels and/or authors? I love Robin McKinley’s Beauty—I’m still so jealous of the Beast’s library in that book, which contains books that haven’t been written in Beauty’s time. Edith Pattou’s East, which retells East of the Sun, West of the Moon, has a prime place on my fairy tale shelf. Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow’s anthologies of fairy tale retellings (the first one is Snow White, Blood Red) are must-reads. Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl is a favorite, and recently, I’ve gotten really attached to Malinda Lo’s ASH, which is a very powerful and wonderfully written twist on Cinderella.
5) If you could live out any fairy tale, what would it be and why? Probably Beauty and the Beast. It has so many elements that appeal to me: the enchanted castle, the mysterious curse, the slow building of trust and love between two people. And, of course, in many modern retellings, a girl who loves books!
6) Will you be writing any more novels that read like something out of a fairy tale? Can you tell us anything about your upcoming work? I think so. It’s a feeling that I love in other books, and one that I like to cultivate in my own work. I’d like to do an actual fairy tale retelling myself someday—I just have to figure out which fairy tale I want to do most!
As for what I’m working on now, it has a bit of a more modern feel than TFP or many fairy tales, though by “modern,” I mean Regency England. Still, there are some definite fairy tale tropes in it. I’m going to be coy and not say much more than that, as these are still early days, and I tend to lose momentum if I talk about works in progress too much.
7) What's your favorite Disney rendition of a fairy tale? What makes it so special? I feel a little like a broken record, but I would have to say Beauty and the Beast. It came out when I was in 6th grade and having a really hard time socially. I felt very alienated from kids my own age, and I spent a lot of time alone with my books. So to see a girl who loved to read and who was considered odd by the people around her be strong, fall in love, and have someone fall in love with her meant a lot to me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ We want to thank Bonnie for sending this interview our way for FTF, and thank Eilis for stopping by and chatting! Make sure to leave them some comment love!
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher is set in Ancient Persia and it is a retelling of 1001 Arabian Nights. The original tale is the story of Shaharazad, the young woman who tells stories each night to the Sultan, ending before the climax is complete in order to remain alive one more day. Over and over she does this, for 1001 nights. The original tale is where we get such beloved stories as Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. I have not yet read the original tale, partly because there are so many translations available and I am unsure which is best, but as far as I know, there are a lot of questions that the original tale doesn't answer.
What happened after 1001 nights that the Sultan decided Shaharazad could live without telling more stories? Why was 1001 somehow the magical number? Where did Shaharazad get enough stories to fill 1001 nights? What would have happened if she started to run out?
Shadow Spinner answers these questions and more. I was surprised and intrigued but this book when I learned about it, because Shaharazad is not the main character as one would expect from a retelling of 1001 Arabian Nights. Instead, our story is narrated by Marjan, a crippled young serving girl who gets drawn into the lives of those in the palace. She goes with her mistress to sell baubles in the Sultan's harem and stops to tell a group of young children a story. Her voice and her ability to tell a story are one of her most valued and prized 'possessions' and her hero is Shaharazad. No one believed that an ability to tell stories could change your life until she stepped up and offered to marry the Sultan. Shaharazad's sister overhears Marjan telling her story to the young children and she takes Marjan to meet Shaharazad, because she is beginning to run out of stories and she doesn't know what to do next.
And so, Marjan comes to live in the Sultan's palace as a serving maid to Shaharazad. But there is much more to live in the palace than plush fixings and plenty of food. Even after almost 3 years of storytelling, every morning there is an air of tension when Shaharazad leaves the Sultan's rooms. The Sultan's mother also hates Shaharazad and wants to see her fail, which means a hatred for anyone close to her, or trying to help her.
I love this book. I mean, really, honestly and truly, I love this book. Marjan wants to be a great storyteller. Every where she goes, she collects stories and collects information that could be used to create and weave her own tales. Each chapter begins with section titled "Lessons for Life and Storytelling" and the lesson within would often foreshadow the events to come withing the chapter.
Watching Marjan grow and develop as a person and as a storyteller felt like a gift. In the beginning, Marjan is holding onto some deeply rooted anger and bitterness, although it takes a while for the reader to realize this. I think it takes Marjan herself a while to realize the extent of the anger she is harboring. She also learns about a solid core of goodness within herself. She is fiercely loyal, willing to do whatever she can to protect and shield those she cares about.
Shadow Spinner is a completely unique tale that takes us into a world of palace intrigue, danger, love and hope. It is everything a fairy tale should be. There is no magic in their world but there is magic in their story. And their story teaches us that there is magic within ourselves.
Cindy Pon is the author of two Asian-inspired high fantasy novels, Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix. While not based on a fairy tale, the books, especially Silver Phoenix, are full of original lore and mythical beings that could have stepped out of any traditional story. For a review of Pon’s work, please visit A Backwards Story .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 1) What were your favorite fairy tales growing up? What drew you to them? I love the Hans Christian Anderson stories like The Little Match Girl and The Little Mermaid and The Snow Queen. They were all magical but also all rather tragic. I think my father was the one to buy me his anthology and I treasured those stories.
2) What Chinese folklore tales were your favorites? What did you like about them? My favorite is The Cowherder and the Weaver. It is called the Chinese Valentine’s story and not only incorporates fantasy, but is very romantic. The weaver girl in the story was immortal and despite having children and living a happy human life, she was pulled back and separated from her family and husband to return to the heavens by her angry grandmother. So it is only on July 7th of each year that the lovers can meet in the heavens on a bridge across the Milky Way formed by magpies.
2) Did any traditional tales influence you when writing Silver Phoenix? Not really. I'm influenced by everything I read in a way. But with Silver Phoenix, I simply knew I wanted to tell a heroine's journey and have a fantasy inspired by ancient China.
3) Was it hard coming up with your own lore when you began world-building, especially because, despite the Chinese influence, Xia isn't China? How did you bring everything together? That wasn't the difficult part. The difficult part was allowing myself the freedom to make stuff up! I had to realize and accept that I wasn't writing a historical or even a historical fantasy (which would have to take place in a certain time or place in our history), but creating my own world inspired by China. Once I gave myself that freedom, it was easy to just write Ai Ling's story the way I envisioned it. It is no different than what Tolkien or Lewis or many fantasy authors did, use real culture and myth but also create your own for your fantasy world.
4) What are some of your favorite fairy tale inspired novels and/or authors? I really enjoyed Entwined by Heather Dixon as well as Ash by Malinda Lo. White Cat by Holly Black is amazing (followed by Red Glove). These novels are loosely based on the White Cat fairy tale and is a favorite series of mine!
5) If you could live out any fairy tale, what would it be and why? As tragic as it is, and as afraid as I am of being underneath the sea very deep, I'd have to say The Little Mermaid. I've always been fascinated by mermaids since reading the story.
6) Will you be writing any more novels that incorporate mythical beings? Can you tell us anything about your upcoming work? I only sold two young adult novels so Ai Ling's story ends with Fury of the Phoenix. For my next project, I do hope to write and sell another Xia fantasy starring a shape-shifting snake demon (very popular in Chinese folklore) heroine and a wannabe monk. =)
8) What are some traditional Asian tales that should be more well-known in the Western Hemisphere? Journey to the West (Monkey King) is the best known (but still not very well-known) story. I'm very excited, as Neil Gaiman has been asked to write the screen play and I hope to see an excellent film made for the US audience in the near future!
And now, in traditional Fairy Tale Fortnight fashion, the lightning round of crazy but fun questions!
~Best fairy tale villain and why? The stepmother from Snow White. She was just so conniving and scary
~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale? A pastry, like Pie or Cupcake.
~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale: Cupcake wandered lost in the strange forest, surrounded by star-shaped donuts, singing apple pie slices, and dancing blueberry scones.
~Would you rather: - — eat magic beans or golden eggs? Golden Eggs!
- — style 50ft long hair or polish 100 pairs of glass slippers? Polish glass slippers!
- — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming? A fairy godmother!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and answer some questions for us today Cindy! The interview was fascinating! And thanks Bonnie, for contacting Cindy and working with us on these interviews! You are both wonderful!
Deerskin by Robin McKinley is a retelling of the fairy tale, Donkeyskin. I admit it's not a tale I was familiar with before I read this book, and I still haven't taken the time to seek out the original. (Perhaps I should make this a priority...) Anyway, I've posted about Robin McKinley in Memory Monday's before (here I talk about her general influence on me as a reader and here I focus specifically on Beauty.) I have always been the type who goes out of my way to find other books an author has written when I find I really like a book they've written. So, seeing that this was also a fairy tale retelling, I picked up a copy to read. In 8th grade.
From what I do know of the original tale, Donkeyskin is just as disturbing and unsettling as Deerskin. Princess Lissar is the young daughter of a fairy tale couple. No seriously — there is magic in their world, and the her father was one of many suitors to win the hand of the most beautiful woman in all the lands. They fell in love at first site and that love motivated him and gave him and gave him the strength and ability to complete the challenging quest. They marry and are deliriously in love. But when a love is that consuming, when love is that obsessive, it can become tainted and corrupted. They become so focused on and full of each other that there is not room for anyone else, not even their daughter. Always alone, Lissar is delighted when a neighboring prince sends her a dog from his prized brood. Lissar names her Ash, and they become inseparable.
Things are fine, and each of the characters are settled into their roles. But then, the queen falls ill. Afraid of losing her beauty and living when she is no longer the most beautiful woman of all, she allows herself to waste away to nothing. After the queen dies, the king is overwhelmed by grief. While the queen lived, they were so caught up in each other that they had very little attention to spare for their daughter, so she is used to being on her own. But as the king becomes more and more consumed by his grief, and the whispers that Lissar is the exact replica of her mother become stronger and louder, things start to change. Lissar doesn't know what to with all the extra attention from her father, growing more and more uncomfortable until it culminates in an announcement that shocks and horrifies her. Her father announced to the whole court that he would marry his daughter after her birthday. Sickened and terrified, she locks herself in her chambers with her beloved Ash, but the door cannot hold forever and on the third night, her father breaks into her chambers and brutally rapes and beats her. Near death, Lissar takes Ash and flees. The Moon Goddess appears to Lissar and heals hear, removing the painful memories until Lissar has healed enough to be able to handle them.
There is more to the story of Deerskin than this. Far more. There is much to say about Lissar's time in her mountain safe haven where she begins to heal, or down in the neighboring kingdom where lives Ossin, the prince who long ago gave her Ash. There is much to say about Ossin himself. But, this is a post about my memories of the book and the beginning of the story is what filled and took over my mind any time I thought about this book. A few years after I had originally read this book, I was talking to a friend who was thinking about reading it, and I couldn't remember anything beyond knowing that I *think* I liked it when I finished reading it, and that it disturbed me.
I think that I understood as an 8th grader that this book was not actually aimed at me. That I was not currently in the books targeted age bracket. I was too young. This is one of the few of McKinley's books that is specifically aimed at adults. And so, wanting to give the book a fair chance, I decided that I would reread it. And I did. I reread the book two years ago (I think) and am happy to say that, although the book did still disturb me, I genuinely liked it and would read it again. I think that now, I understand more of why the story is told as it is, and now I am disturbed as the story intended me to be, rather than as a 13 year old who wasn't old enough to be the story's target audience.
The is one of the darker retellings out there. You can't have a story based around incest without darker elements creeping into the story, especially given the way the father's inappropriate desires begin to form for his daughter. This is a book that I do recommend, a book that I think is worth the read. This is a book that I will be interested to reread in the future, so I can once again compare how my thoughts and feelings regarding the book have changed as I have gotten older and as I change.
Help us welcome today Diane Zahler, author of The Thirteenth Princess a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses and A True Princess a retelling of The Princess and the Pea. (in my blog to read Ashley's review of A True Princess ).
Diane grew up in Ithaca, New York, where she spent most of her time reading children's books. She loved fantasy, but she especially loved fairy tales. In high school, she started working in the children's room of the public library, and kept reading fairy tales. After college, she went to New York City, got a job in children's book publishing and (what else?!) read more fairy tales before she finally decided to write her own! She loves to travel and often finds inspiration for her writing from the places that she visits.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ What made you decide to write fairy tale retellings? I’ve loved fairy tales for as long as I’ve been a reader, and I also love a lot of the retellings I’ve read, especially the ones by Robin McKinley and Shannon Hale. So it was a natural fit for me when I started thinking about writing my own novels for young readers. Would you consider a non-fairy tale retelling? Do you have any ideas?
I’m working on an idea now for a non-fairy tale retelling, but it’s in such an early stage that I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it (and I haven’t worked out the details).
Can you tell us anything about your current writing project? I’ve finished a third retelling, Princess of the Wild Swans, which is based on The Wild Swans (versions by both Hans Christian Andersen and the Grimm brothers). And I’m partway through a fourth, which has a well-known fairy tale as its inspiration but goes off on some wildly different angles.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses has always been my favorite fairy tale, and I've thought about it a lot. But a thirteenth princess has never occurred to me. Where did the idea for Zita come to you from? There’s not a lot to the original story, if you recall. Twelve princesses are cursed to dance until they die; they’re rescued by a soldier. Not much detail there. So I felt like I had a lot of freedom to play around with it. Fairy tales are often about abandonment and betrayal, so I wondered: what if there were another princess, but she wasn’t allowed to be part of the family? Zita is abandoned in plain sight, living in the servants’ quarters below her sisters’ bedchamber, but she never loses her desire to be connected with her family, and she never loses her determination to help them.
Is there a fairy tale you would love to retell, but haven't been able to find the right inspiration for?One that you are maybe working on, just waiting for everything to click? I love Rapunzel. It’s been retold in various forms, but I still feel there’s a lot that can be done with it. It’s on the back burner for now, but maybe soon…
Are there any fairy tales that you absolutely do not want to retell? Well, there are some that have been done either to death or so beautifully that I wouldn’t want to go there – Cinderella, for example, and Beauty and the Beast. And some fairy tales are just too weird or grotesque to approach, especially some of the lesser-known Grimm tales. What amazes me is how MANY fairy tales there actually are. Check out this Wikipedia list! I could write a dozen a year and not run out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fairy_tales (Try Foundling-Bird or The Iron Stove for bizarre Grimm stories.)
Silly/Random questions:
~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?
Chocolate, without a doubt. But in another language, so it sounds princess-y: Suklaa (Finnish)? or Siocled (Welsh)?
~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale: I was named after the food of the gods, because my mother loved chocolate more than any other food. But I never managed to live up to the sweetness of my name.
~Best fairy tale villain and why? I started thinking about this and immediately wondered: Why are the villains mostly women? There’s Bluebeard, and the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, and Rumplestiltskin, if you’re looking for wicked males. But, though I don’t want to retell the story, the queen in Snow White has a malevolence all her own. It’s based on envy of her stepdaughter’s youth and beauty, which strikes me as particularly nasty. In the Grimms’ original tale, this villain was Snow White’s mother, not her stepmother, which makes her all the more evil.
~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites?The Twelve Dancing Princesses and Rapunzel, as a child. As an adult, maybe Beauty and the Beast – one of the few with a heroine whose courage and love help her to save another. I’m not crazy about Jack and the Beanstalk or The Frog Prince (kissing a frog – ick. But in the original version, the princess throws the frog against a wall).
~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be? If you consider A Thousand and One Nights a kind of fairy tale, I’d most like to try riding a flying carpet. Ever since reading E. Nesbit’s The Phoenix and the Carpet, it’s been my preferred mode of travel. So much easier and more romantic than the subway or JetBlue!
~Would you rather: - — eat magic beans or golden eggs? Golden eggs, definitely — scrambled - — style 50ft long hair or polish 100 pairs of glass slippers? The hair, by a length. One long braid.
- — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming? A fairy godmother – I could wish for the prince, if I wanted him. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Thank you so much for participating with us Diane! It's been a real pleasure to work with you!
We have a copy of A True Princess to giveaway to one lucky reader today! Diane was generous enough to provide us with a copy of the book (via the publisher) as well as some really neat bookmarks to go along with both A True Princess and her debut novel, The Thirteenth Princess.
One person will win a copy of the book and a set of the bookmarks. Then, winners will be drawn for the remaining bookmarks.
Rules:
You must leave a MEANINGFUL comment on this post. Let Diane know you appreciate the time she took to contribute be involved with us. Include a way to be contacted.
There are so many books in the Once Upon a Time series and it's been so long since I've read many of them, that I just wanted to take a minute to give you a brief paragraph or so of my thoughts on each of the books in the series I consider my favorites. I'm going to give you a few tidbits here and there of parts of these stories that really stood out to me.
I've made no secret of the fact that The Twelve Dancing Princesses is my favorite of all fairy tales. It has been since I was a little girl. So, I was especially excited to read Suzanne Weyn's retelling, The Night Dance. I love that this retelling ties in Arthurian Legends with the tale of the 12 princesses. That connection really made the story stand out to me and gave it much more strength that it would otherwise have had.
I watched a stage production of Motzart's opera The Magic Flute, and it was stunning. I loved the music, the story and the costumes were beyond beautiful. (This link here will show you the costume design for the show I saw.) The retelling, Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey was beautiful. It is faithful to the spirit of the original while still bringing it's own pieces to the story. It is a retelling that honors the original while still adding much that is new.
I had never read a novelized version of The Frog Prince before I read Suzanne Weyn's Water Song. I was initially a little bit worried, because how are you supposed to build a romance between a girl and a frog and make me believe their story. Weyn's decision to have our 'frog' be an injured American soldier (during WWI) who feels more at home on water than on land (he grew up in the Bayou) was brilliant.
Cameron Dokey's version of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty Sleep is one of my favorites because I love Princess Aurore. She's a strong character who doesn't let her circumstances get the better of her. Unable to do traditionally princessy things, because they all require needles, she instead becomes very close to the people of her kingdom, and is willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to protect them. She is one of the strongest internal female leads in the series and I love her. The magic in this one, and the way the curse functions also fascinates me.
Tracy Lynn's only addition to the series, Snow (Snow White) is one of my favorites because it is completely unlike any other retelling of any fairy tale I've read. Rather than obsessively checking her magic mirror, the evil queen here is a bit of a mad, evil scientist. She is so desperate for eternal youth and beauty, and the ability to thwart or overcome death that she performs unnatural experiments on people and animals, searching for the answer and the path it puts her on is very nearly deadly for our heroine.
Cameron Dokey's version of Rapunzel is also a favorite because of it's uniqueness, and because it makes the witch a slightly more sympathetic character. In Golden, after the witch catches them in her garden, she makes the wife promise to give up her child if she cannot love her at first site. Recklessly the beautiful woman agrees and when she gives birth, she cannot find it in her heart to love her bald child. And so, the witch takes her, names her Rapunzel and loves and raises her with all the love she has to give. It isn't until nearer to the end of the story when we meet the character traditionally known as Rapunzel, locked in the tower with beautiful golden hair and the combining of these two lives is magical.
So there you have it. The books in the series that, as of right now, I claim as my favorites. There were many more I could have listed, many more I could have shared short snippets of why I loved them, but I don't want to overwhelm you, and it's not much of a favorites list if I include every title! I did include a list of books below that were almost, but not quite favorite enough to be included on this list. Have you read any of the Once Upon a Time series? Which books are your favorites?
Honorable mentions: Midnight Pearls (The Little Mermaid); Winter's Child (The Snow Queen); The World Above (Jack and the Beanstalk); The Storyteller's Daughter (The Arabian Nights tales); and Wild Orchid (Mulan)
This evening, we have Ems guesting today! Emily (Ems) blogs at In Which Ems Reviews Books and I've known her for a long time. She's one of my favorite IRL buds to talk books with, and whenever books are involved, we always have a great time.:) I'll let Emily take it from here with her review of Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George.
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For those of you who read Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, you’ll remember Princess Poppy. She was one of the sisters under the enchantment of the wicked King Under Stone (shudders).
Poppy makes a return appearance here, when she participates in a royal exchange program. The idea of the program is to create strong political alliances and possibly see some marriages too. It’s all going well, until we learn that a poor servant girl has been tricked by a wicked fairy godmother into impersonating a princess and trying to steal all the eligible men away from Poppy. The lengths she goes to in order to best Poppy are awesome. I couldn’t wait for each new ball to see what was going to happen next.
For lovers of fairy tales and fairy tale retellings, you’ll be in heaven. This one is masterfully done and seamlessly weaves elements of Cinderella in. You’ll get your fill of beautiful ball gowns, political and princess-y intrigue, fairy godmothers, and one rather plucky heroine.
I loved Poppy. She was one of my favorite characters in Princess of the Midnight Ball and I was thrilled to see her make a repeat appearance here. She’s the kind of heroine you can really get behind and cheer for. The gal who makes her own way in life, even though she’s a princess. The gal who takes matters into her own hands and doesn’t wait for someone else to do the dirty work. She’s a character who’s really easy to look up to.
LOVE.
I could go on and on about how much I love this book (and Jessica Day George’s other books too, for that matter), but I think you get the picture.
When the Once Upon a Time series was originally published, they were released with a series of covers paintings of the female main characters drawn from neck to knees. I loved the original covers. The paintings give them an old fashioned feeling, and a lot of them feel just a little bit enchanted. Most of the original covers also have a scene from the book below the title bar, adding one more level of magic to the image. Look at the cover of The Crimson Thread. You see the girl in the dress with golden swirls, and below that is Rumpelstiltskin spinning the gold on his wheel. I love the dual layers to the covers, and many of them have this.
But, I will admit that not all of them do the story justice. Like the cover of Scarlet Moon. I had to read the synopsis to realize it was a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and even then, it took me a while to decide that it really was supposed to be a red cloak, and I think they added a little bit too much of her face into the drawing. It looks a little bit weird.
Then one day as I was checking out Goodreads, I saw a new cover for one of the books. I did some checking and saw a cover in the same style for the books scheduled to be released soon. And then I saw that a lot of the older books in the series were also getting the new covers. I didn't know what to think. The new covers are, for the most part, stunning. They are very beautiful and will definitely draw the eye. In these new covers, They depict the full model and use photographs instead of paintings/drawings. And each of the models is wearing a breathtakingly beautiful dress. And they are lovely.
But I don't think that they are anything new, or unique. There are so many book covers out there all in this same style. And, to be perfectly honest, some of the models are in awkward poses and just look... strange. I have a feeling that these newer covers are generally the more popular images, and I don't blame anyone who loves them. They are gorgeous.
So, now I struggle. I like having my books match. I think that a series should be uniform when on my shelf. Personally, although I do like both sets, I prefer the original covers. But, the original covers aren't being published anymore. (at least they haven't for the last several books releases) and there are some of the older titles that have not yet been given new covers. There are definite pros and cons to each. What do you think? Which set do you prefer?
I'm going to compare a few below, tell me which one you think does a better job.
These are the covers for The Night Dance (The Twelve Dancing Princesses): I love that we can see the shoes in the newer covers, but I also love the image of the sister's prepared for the ball at the bottom in the older cover.
These are the covers for Before Midnight (Cinderella): I think this might be the cover I have the hardest time choosing between. I think that both of them do a good job capturing and relaying that fairy tale feeling.
These are the two covers the Beauty Sleep (Sleeping Beauty): I do not like the cover with the model. I think her pose is awkward and strange and very posed and I do not like it. The painted cover is not my favorite of the series, but I definitely prefer it to the alternative.
The Once Upon a Time series is a series of books written by several authors published by Simon Pulse. There are currently 19 books published in the series, written by five different authors. The most prolific of these two writers are Cameron Dokey and Suzanne Weyn with nine and four books, respectively. There are also books in the series by Debbie Viguié with three titles, Nancy Holder with two, and Tracy Lynn with one.
I saw these books popping up on Goodreads a few years ago, and was immediately interested because, well, duh! The series is called Once Upon a Time, and it is a series of nothing but retold fairy tales. The fairy tales retold by these five authors cover a wide variety of fairy tales, from Sleeping Beauty (Beauty Sleep) to The White Bride and the Black Bride (The Rose Bride) as well as including a few legends such as Mulan (Wild Orchid) and Anastasia (The Diamond Secret) and there's even a retelling of an opera, The Magic Flute (Sunlight and Shadow). I've read them all. And, as a general rule I've really enjoyed them.
Almost all of these 18 stories takes a fairy tale, generally one that is very well known, and retell it with a very unique, very original spin that makes the tale completely new. In The World Above (Jack and the Beanstalk), Jack has a sister. In Golden (Rapunzel) Rapunzel is bald. The Crimson Thread (Rumpelstiltskin) is set during the Industrial Revolution in America and the main characters are Irish immigrants, while Water Song(The Frog Prince) is set during WWI, with our frog a wounded American soldier overseas. Snow (Snow White) is a sci-fi tale with the evil queen using scientific experiments to try and freeze her youth and beauty. The Night Dance (The Twelve Dancing Princesses) combines the well known fairy tale with Arthurian Legends while Spirited (Beauty and the Beast) gives us a white 'beauty' captured by American Indians, who begins to fall for the tribe's Shaman despite the cultural barriers.
I will admit that these books are not the most complex stories to read. They are all fairly small, most likely averaging between 200-250 pages per book and they writing moves quickly. My favorite things about this series is that with the exception of only two novels (The Diamond Secret (Anastasia) which reads like a novelized version of the 'Fox' animation minus the glowing green demons and Belle (Beauty and the Beast) which is a simplified and lesser copy of Robin McKinley's Beauty) each of these stories brings something completely new to the tale they are trying to retell. The authors have made the story their own, and there is magic in this. Magic in this ability to craft a completely new story from one that has been told since there have been people to tell it.
That is why I continue to read this series. Because these five authors have managed to tell me a story I've never heard before.It doesn't matter that the books are not perfect, that there are times when the plot could use more detail, or the characters more growth. It doesn't matter than there are times when it's hard to believe a character got from one place to another. But the telling of the story is so new, so unique, so wonderful that I forgive them. I forgive them and continue to read them so that they will continue to tell me these new stories to delight and entertain me.
And you know what? I love them.
Full list of the Once Upon a Time novels: Cameron Dokey's titles: Before Midnight (Cinderella); The Storyteller's Daughter (The Arabian Nights); Sunlight and Shadow (The Magic Flute); Golden (Rapunzel); The World Above (Jack and the Beanstalk); The Wild Orchid (The Ballad of Mulan); Winter's Child (The Snow Queen) Belle (Beauty and the Beast);Beauty Sleep (Sleeping Beauty). Suzanne Weyn's titles: The Crimson Thread (Rumpelstiltskin); The Night Dance (Twelve Dancing Princesses); The Diamond Secret (Anastasia); Water Song (The Frog Prince);. Debbie Viguié's titles: Scarlet Moon (Little Red Riding Hood); Violet Eyes (The Princxess and the Pea); Midnight Pearls (The Little Mermaid). Nancy Holder's titles: Spirited (Beauty and the Beast); The Rose Bride (The White Bride and the Black Bride). Tracy Lynn's title: Snow (Snow White).
Just when you think Fairy Tale Fortnight can't get any better, it does! As if Sierra from Yearning to Read wasn't already made of awesome (click her to enter for the Jessica Day George Prize Pack she donated) she is also donating her personal copy of My Fair Godmother by Jeannette Rallison. She purchased the sequel (My Unfair Godmother) in hardcover and wants a matching set (and who can blame her?!) So, be aware that this is a slightly used copy, but Sierra says that it's in great condition.
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Finding your one true love can be a Grimm experience! After her boyfriend dumps her for her older sister, sophomore Savannah Delano wishes she could find a true prince to take her to the prom. Enter Chrissy (Chrysanthemum) Everstar: Savannah’s gum-chewing, cell phone–carrying, high heel-wearing Fair Godmother. Showing why she’s only Fair —because she’s not a very good fairy student—Chrissy mistakenly sends Savannah back in time to the Middle Ages, first as Cinderella, then as Snow White. Finally she sends Tristan, a boy in Savannah’s class, back instead to turn him into her prom-worthy prince. When Savannah returns to the Middle Ages to save Tristan, they must team up to defeat a troll, a dragon, and the mysterious and undeniably sexy Black Knight. Laughs abound in this clever fairy tale twist from a master of romantic comedy _______________________________________________
To enter: Leave a commenttelling us why you want to read this book (and give a BIG THANKS to Sierra!); make sure I have a way to contact you! +1 for following Sierra on her blog via GFC | email | Facebook US onlyEnds May 5th May 8th!
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier is one of the most unique and beautiful retellings for The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It is primarily Jenica's story, the second of five sisters, although Tatiana, the eldest sister, has an important role in the direction the story goes as well.
As young children, Tatiana (Tati) and Jenica (Jena) discovered a portal that opens each full moon into the Dancing Glade within the Other Kingdom. They have gone through the portal each full moon since then (with, I believe, a few absences for illness and the like) and as the younger sisters were born, they brought Iulia, Paula and Stela into Glade with them. And there they dance until dawn, each full moon with the magical and mysterious beings who dwell in the Other Kingdom.
Things are going wonderfully until their father gets fall ill and must move to a warmer climate for the winter. The girls are left behind on their estate, and Jena is left in charge of management. She has been helping her father for years, and it is decided that she can remain in charge, with the understanding that their cousin Cezar, who lives on a neighboring estate with be around to offer whatever assistance is necessary. And then, Tati falls in love with one of the dangerous 'night people', Cezar begins trying to seize power of their estate from Jena, not to mention trying to own Jena herself and everything they love is suddenly in danger.
This is one of those books that I loved, but wasn't really sure I liked all of it. — Does that even make sense?! Probably not... I shall try to explain. As I mentioned above, Wildwood Dancing is one of the most unique and wholly original fairy tale retellings I have read. The Twelve Dancing Princesses is my favorite fairy tale of all time, and I have read a lot of retellings of it. This one reaches a level of beauty, originality and magic that I have never come across before in a book of any kind. But, I had been hearing from so many people how amazing the book was, and when I first read it, it was at a time when I was looking for something just a little bit different. (Incidentally, it turns out that what I was actually wanting to read at the time is something that I got from its sequel, Cybele's Secret, which is not a retelling, but tells us Paula's story.)
Don't get me wrong here. I did genuinely love this story. Marillier's writing is enchanting and completely believable. While reading, you think you are quite clever, and you understand where the twists in the story are going to take you. And, you are right, but oh so wrong as well. The story is so much more complex and interwoven than it would appear at first and there were moments when it stunned me completely and I was left breathless. It is also a story that, as time goes on, I cannot remember any flaws within. I cannot remember what it is that made me give it 4 GR stars instead of 5, and back then my reviews were horrifyingly vague and short.
And now, I'm going to devote an entire paragraph to Gogu, Jena's pet frog. She found Gogu in the woods when she was very young and he has been her constant companion and trusted confidant since then. I know he is a frog, but he is still one of the absolute greatest characters in this book. It is clear that he cares for Jena as much as she loves him, and they have been together so long they are able to communicate through facial expressions, body language and an almost uncanny ability to sense what the other is feeling. Honestly, if I could only pick one, I think Gogu would be my favorite character of the story. I want a pet frog like Gogu!
This is a book that retains it's magic no matter how many times it's been read, that no matter how familiar you think you are with the story will continue to enchant, amaze and surprise you. I highly, highly recommend this book. I have more of Marillier's book on my tbr, and I find myself itching to re-immerse myself in the magic she creates.
(Review Update: I spent some time after I wrote this review rereading my favorite parts of this book (something I do regularly with books I love) and I remembered why I had somewhat mixed feelings the first time I read it — I hated Tatiana. Like, hated her. I don't like or relate to her character, and she really pissed me off. I get it, but I don't have to like it.)
Today's interview is with Zoë Marriott, author of The Swan Kingdom (read Ashley's review) , Daughter of the Flames (which Ashley also loved) and the upcoming Shadows on the Moon (which both Misty and Ashley are eagerly awaiting). Zoë has known that she wanted to be a writer since she was finished reading her first book; The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. She thinks she was about eight, but she decided on being a writer and hasn't changed her mind since then. And boy, are we glad that she didn't! Help us welcome Zoë to the blog today!!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The Swan Kingdom is my favorite retelling of The Six Swans/The Wild Swans that I have come across. You talk about what inspired you to write this one down in your guest post. I loved what you did with the story to make it your own, but your interpretation of the ending to this story is largely responsible for how much I love this book. Without spoiling anything, can you talk about that? Can you share where or how that idea came to you?
So hard not to spoil!! Argh! Okay... well... basically, in the original version of the story, I didn't think the heroine really got a very happy ending. Or enough credit! She's clearly an extraordinarily brave and strong young woman, loyal the her brothers to the end despite all the suffering she's gone through — but she gets stuck with this prince who pretty much *kidnapped* her, and then was going to burn her because he thought she was a witch? That's true love for you, right? And she never gets justice for the wrong done to her family by her stepmother, or any closure, or even to see the land of her birth again! I suppose a few hundred years ago women weren't supposed to care about thing like that, but I was sure that for someone like her, the fate of the people she had left behind much have weighed on her mind very heavily. And then, it also made sense to me that in order to reverse such a powerful curse on her brothers through almost nothing but willpower and knitting, she must have had some fairly strong magical power of her own! So I wanted to try and bring those elements into the resolution of the story and bring everything full circle.
Did you have the changes you brought to the story in mind before you started writing, or were these things that came to you after?
Wow, that's a good question! I think some of them were always there, because they grew from the questions I had about the story — the questions that made me want to retell it. I mean, for example: just who was the mother of these royal children? In fairytales the real mother nearly always gets erased in the first line and replaced by a wicked plot-point. But it seemed to me that, particularly in The Wild Swans, where the father is pretty much a non-entity and yet the children are remarkable, that the mysterious, dead mother must have been remarkable too. So I always new that in my version the mother and particularly her death would be significant and happen 'on-screen' as it were. In other cases, the changes to the story were due to things that happened to be marinading in my brain at the time. When I was working on the first draft of the story I was watching a BBC documentary series about British pre-history in which there was a lot of information about the hunter-gatherers who built all our long barrows and stone circles. The experts talked about ancestor worship, and about the way that cave art seemed to show animal and human spirts all together, as part of nature. But then as people started to farm and develop agriculture and a more sedentary life, the idea of ownership and kingdoms appeared, and there was a massive shift in the way people lived. Did the hunter-gatherers disappear? Or were they absorbed into the farmer population? So those ideas worked their way into the book, and gave me an interesting and, I think, unique magical system and backstory for the Kingdom. Is there a fairy tale that you just need to retell, but are waiting to retell, or holding off for now? What are some of the other fairy tales you've considered retelling? Are there any fairy tales that you absolutely do not want to retell? Sooo many! I've always wanted to retell Beauty and the Beast, but I'm horribly intimidated by Robin McKinley's legacy. I mean, how is anyone supposed to live up to THAT? And there are a lot of less famous stories, for example, from Japanese mythology, that I have ideas about. The one I've never really been interested in is Sleeping Beauty — there's so little for the princess to do, and the idea of falling conveniently in love with your saviour bugs me. But I'd never say never. I always hated Cinderella too, until she started whacking me on the back of the head with a pick-axe demanding I tell her story properly! You've also written a non-fairy tale story, Daughter of the Flames. How does the writing and the research differ between the two genres? Which do you prefer writing? Do you prefer creating a completely new story and creating the world to fit the story, or taking an existing story at making it your own?
This isn't a very interesting answer, but I can't really put my finger on any significant differences in the process between writing an original fantasy and a fairytale relling. Possibly because I don't stick very closely to the specific events of my fairytale frameworks (as you may have noticed!) which means I still need to come up with my own plot, my own characters, my own emotional conflicts and arcs. Probably more importantly, I don't really think that writing a fairytale retelling is a get-out-of-jail card when it comes to setting. It's easy to slip into that non-specific, Eurocentric, Tolkien-esque world we all know so well. But that is a thin, bland sort place where I don't have much fun as a writer. Creating the world of Shadows on the Moon, for instance, required as much (actually, far more!) thought and research than the world of Daughter of the Flames. Your most recent book, Shadows on the Moon comes out this July, and I'm crazy excited for it. It's a Cinderella story, but she is most assuredly not your typical Cinderella. You mention why you wrote her this way in your guest post, and I am dying to read about it. There are many fairy tales with rather weak heroines. Are there any other stories that you would like to retell to give the heroines a chance to be strong? Actually, I think the female characters in fairytales tend to get a bit of a bad rep, overall. In a lot of original folk stories, young woman are cunning, resourceful, brave and loyal. Often men are the weak ones who need to be rescued. Look at Janet in Tam Lin, Kai and Gerda in the Snow Queen, the heroine of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, all those clever young witches and woodcutter's daughters! And the powerful, fearsome baddies are often women too. The problem, I think, is that the Victorians didn't approve of all these bold, adventuring women, and they cut their parts down and sometimes out entirely, in order to make fairytales 'fit' for their children. Not many years later, Disney carried on this process by producing a great many films in which being sweet, obedient and passive (and supernaturally attractive to forest animals) were the heroine's only traits. Later films, like Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, did allow the heroines to have SOME personality — but their number one desire was nearly always to escape from their fathers so they could find true love, and their princes were the ones with the claws/swords. It's really only very lately that we're seeing books and films that give women back their original, strong roles (Tangled, for example!) and I'm very happy to be a part of that process. Silly/Random Questions: ~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?
Pencils, probably. I always have one on me somewhere! Princess Pen... now, why does that sound familiar?:) ~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale: "Princess Pen cracked open her stepmother's ribcage and cut out the woman's horribly blackened, twisted, yet still-beating heart; she then replaced it with an artificial one which she had grown within a local farmer's pig, and closed up the incision." [Misty likes Princess Pen already... ] ~Best fairy tale villain and why? The wicked fairy from Sleeping Beauty's christening. She's really the only interesting character in the thing! ~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites? Childhood favourite was definitely The Wild Swans, and I have to be boring and say it STILL is. Least favourite used to be Cinderella — now Sleeping Beauty. ~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be? I wouldn't. Are you crazy? Those stories are full of utter loonies, and even Princess Pen isn't mightier than the sword. ~Would you rather:- — eat magic beans or golden eggs? Golden eggs. With a little smoked salmon, on toast points. Maybe they would finally allow me to get a tan. - — style 50ft long hair or polish 100 pairs of glass slippers?My hair is actually waist-length right now, and I'm about to have it cut off from sheer annoyance, so I'd have to go with the slippers! - — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming? Fairy godmother — and once you've read Shadows on the Moon, you will know why! [Ashley says — SO mean to tease us this way when you already know how badly I want to read it! :) ]Fill-in-the-Gaps, story 1: Three Wishes The strange little man had offered Princess Pen three wishes. But what to wish for? The obvious answer was world peace , but that would never do, for obvious reasons. Princess Pen wasn't naive enough to think that people would ever stop fighting for long. And unlimited money for stem cell research was out of the question, since Princess Pen's wicked stepmother had outlawed it.
The Princess squandered the first two wishes on aiding earthquakes sufferers and cooling down some nuclear reactors, and really needed to make the 3rd one count. There was only one thing to do: he/she would ask her genetically enhanced pig, Francis.
So early in the morning, the Princess set off for her lab where the porcine Francine lived. It was no easy task getting there; Princess Pen went through three security searches and a full body CT scan, and nearly lost hope of ever reaching Francisand making her final wish before she had to go off and do her rounds at Mount Eraser Hospital. Her stepmother's security measures were really getting out of hand.
But in all good time, Princess Pen reached the door of the one person who could help. With great trepidation, (for Francis could be somewhat cranky in the mornings if he hadn't had his coffee) Penknocked and waited. Finallly, Francisopened the door with one handsomely trimmed trotter and peered out. “Yes?” he said.
Penlaunched into the story of the little old man and his three wishes, but Francismerely held up a hand and said “It’s simple, really. I’m surprised you wasted your time coming all the way out here — you must wish for your wicked stepmother to agree to heart surgery so you can change her blackened, wizened heart for one which is generous and free of bigotry and unreasoning fear.”
Penwas baffled. Wish for something so simple? Not magic League-Boots to travel the world, or a wheel to spin flax into gold so that she could set up an inoculation project in the slums?However, it wasn't long before Pen realized that if her government was run by someone who actually had a working heart all the other things might one day be possible. So the Princessdid the only thing she could, and wished for her stepmother to finally heed her pleas to accept a new heart.
Whether it was the right choice, the world will never know, but for Princess Pen it meant freedom from a great deal of unnecessary red tape in the long run, and the increased well being of everyone within the kingdom. And with all of the wishes gone, Pen lived busilyever after. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Thanks for stopping by Zoë!! We're so glad to have you! Hope you guys liked the guest post. If you want to fill in one of the stories for yourself, see this post. And make sure to head over to our awesome guest post from Zoë, and enter to win our prize pack of Zoë's books!
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