Snow White, Blood Red

Rating:
Summary: Edgy!
Review: As I've come to expect when reading anthologies, not every story in this volume of adult fairy tales is to my liking.

However, all in all the book has a sharp feel to it, with so many stories that have great potential and quite a few that I loved just as they are. I especially liked:

THE PRINCESS IN THE TOWER: amusing and light; and
A SOUND, LIKE ANGELS SINGING: read it to see what it's all about--if I were to tell you, I'd spoil the story

Even if this collection of fairy tales retold isn't the best on the market, it's still great fun! Read it if you are a fan of dark fairy tales.

Rating:
Summary: Empty Entertainment
Review: Even as children, I think, in the back of our minds we always knew that the fairy-tales we read were a little darker than we were led to believe. The wicked stepmother, for example, was probably the real mother; it was probably more than a kiss which awakened Sleeping Beauty; and the hungry wolf--with the drool running down his lips--was probably hungry for other than just food. It was with some curiosity then, that I picked up this anthology, the stories of which are, for the most part, modern-day reworkings of these classic fairy-tales.

And for the first half of the book I was quite entertained. It was interesting to see how the authors would rework these things to more adult, modern sensibilities. Rapunzel's mother kept her daughter locked in a tower because she hated men--her father raped her when she was a child. The wolf of the Little Red Riding Hood story is redone here--twice--as a stalking, predatory child-molester. And Jack, of Beanstalk fame, is lured to the giant's cloudy castle by the giant's lusty wife, a wench in search of an earthling to tryst with.

About half way through the thing, though, I began to notice a certain similarity in these tales: all of the men were horrid, selfish beasts. Worse, they were horrid, selfish, ONE-DIMENSIONAL beasts. Boring. And then I got to the story called The Snow Queen. This is the one story in the anthology which is based on a fairy-tale with which I was unfamiliar. Without the underlying subtext, I was forced to rely on more traditional ways of understanding. You know, like plot, structure, and character development. Those sorts of things. And lo and behold, the story fell flat on its face. The characterizations were either woefully simple or bizarre and unbelievable; the setting was unrecognizable; and the plotting was of the weird, scratch-your-head variety. Of course, if I had read the fairy-tale, it might have made more sense. But I hadn't, and it didn't.

And therein lies the problem with the whole thing. Unless you know the stories--and admittedly most of us do--you'll find that these new reworkings are mostly stale. All are thematically empty, and in retrospect this was to be expected: the goal, after all, was only to artificially recreate fairy-tales. Even in the better stories, this is exactly as far as they were able to go.

Rating:
Summary: Empty Entertainment
Review: Even as children, I think, in the back of our minds we always knew that the fairy-tales we read were a little darker than we were led to believe. The wicked stepmother, for example, was probably the real mother; it was probably more than a kiss which awakened Sleeping Beauty; and the hungry wolf--with the drool running down his lips--was probably hungry for other than just food. It was with some curiosity then, that I picked up this anthology, the stories of which are, for the most part, modern-day reworkings of these classic fairy-tales.

And for the first half of the book I was quite entertained. It was interesting to see how the authors would rework these things to more adult, modern sensibilities. Rapunzel's mother kept her daughter locked in a tower because she hated men--her father raped her when she was a child. The wolf of the Little Red Riding Hood story is redone here--twice--as a stalking, predatory child-molester. And Jack, of Beanstalk fame, is lured to the giant's cloudy castle by the giant's lusty wife, a wench in search of an earthling to tryst with.

About half way through the thing, though, I began to notice a certain similarity in these tales: all of the men were horrid, selfish beasts. Worse, they were horrid, selfish, ONE-DIMENSIONAL beasts. Boring. And then I got to the story called The Snow Queen. This is the one story in the anthology which is based on a fairy-tale with which I was unfamiliar. Without the underlying subtext, I was forced to rely on more traditional ways of understanding. You know, like plot, structure, and character development. Those sorts of things. And lo and behold, the story fell flat on its face. The characterizations were either woefully simple or bizarre and unbelievable; the setting was unrecognizable; and the plotting was of the weird, scratch-your-head variety. Of course, if I had read the fairy-tale, it might have made more sense. But I hadn't, and it didn't.

And therein lies the problem with the whole thing. Unless you know the stories--and admittedly most of us do--you'll find that these new reworkings are mostly stale. All are thematically empty, and in retrospect this was to be expected: the goal, after all, was only to artificially recreate fairy-tales. Even in the better stories, this is exactly as far as they were able to go.

Rating:
Summary: Dark and quirky fairytales for adults!
Review: Ever since I read Anne Rice's Sleeping Beauty novels, I have craved more adult fairytales. And it can't get better than this! Each story in Snow White, Blood Red -- the first part of the Snow White series -- has a dark and gothic undertone in it. And I marvel at the fact that the elements taken from Snow White are twisted and disarming -- thus, making this one of the most literary anthologies ever written. My favorite story is Patricia McKillip's "The Snow Queen" -- the brand of magical realism in the story is exquisite. Snow White, Blood Red is an excellent reading investment and I look forward to reading the other installments from this unique series.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Find
Review: I came upon this anthology by chance at Borders last week and I am so glad I bought it! The stories are wonderful and it was a great way to find new authors. My favorites: the chilling "Snow-Drop" and "Little Red."

Rating:
Summary: A Great Find
Review: I came upon this anthology by chance at Borders last week and I am so glad I bought it! The stories are wonderful and it was a great way to find new authors. My favorites: the chilling "Snow-Drop" and "Little Red."

Rating:
Summary: I thought the Book Was Verry Well Wrighten!
Review: I thought the book was verry well written.But these surently are not kiddy stories by anny mean.I found Snow-Drop a littel strange.But it was good.I liked the Snow-Queen.It was good and scarry!

Rating:
Summary: "adult" disappointment
Review: I totally agree with Illana's review of this book:we, readers, don't get a deeper retelling of these traditional tales, but a veneer of sex and violence that gives them an "adult" appearance. While I found the sex and violence were totally superficial and unnecessary, and they didn't manage to move my profounder feelings, I felt deceived in my intention of going deeply into these beloved stories. I think that good fantasy writers often succeed in a deeper view on folk tales without announcing their intentions to the readers, but subtly letting them find similitudes in theme and characterization. Maybe this is because good fantasy writers let themselves be carried away by the powerful archetypal potential latent in everybody's mind and explored since the dawn of time through folk tales.

Rating:
Summary: I beg to differ.
Review: Let me start with some background info: I grew up on fairy tales, and later dove into the marvelous and complex world of adult fantasy. To me, the idea of rediscovering the raw and archetypal power of fairy tales is a brilliant one, and for this Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow are to be commended. With all their vast potential, fairy tales are too often relegated to the nursery and sanitized to destruction.

But there is a difference between exploring the potential fairy tales possess to touch adults and simply changing the rating on the cover, and unfortunately the latter is all that these editors have succeeded in doing. So the fairy tales are no longer rated G, instead they are rated R (and in some cases, X) for graphic sex and violence. The stories in themselves, rather than exploring deeper into the nature of myth, simply take old stories and add sex scenes. In fact there seems to be an obsession, all through this volume, with sex in general, and the more graphic the better. Blood and guts comes in for a close second.

Now there is nothing wrong with graphic sex and violence insofar as it adds to the story. However, the goal of these writers seems to be to simply give the fairy tales a *superficial* sense of the adult without exploring the deeper, uncharted waters. So a version of "Rapunzel," for example, will go into great detail at the beginning while the witch explains exactly how her father used to rape her. The explicit detail is completely gratuitous, and the storyline itself is a banal rewrite of the original. So we get to see Rapunzel have sex with the prince. How deep and interesting. To think, all these years and I had no idea what they did...

Then there's "Snowdrop" by Tanith Lee, a totally pointless story which seems little more than a spiffed-up Snow White with a lesbian sex scene to make things more "adult." Such a preoccupation with graphic, pointless sex is not adult; it is adolescent. The end result is that this anthology performs the rather dubious task of removing fairy tales from the nursery and putting them in the adult novelty store instead.

Naturally, my complaint would not apply if these were good stories, but they seem to have been picked solely by dint of their sex and blood. Who needs it?

The extra star is for Patricia A. McKillip's "The Snow Queen," which is subtle, beautiful, and erotic rather than crudely sexual. I am sorely tempted to photocopy it and give away the rest.

If you are actually one of those people who sees adult fairy tales as having far more to do with changing the rating from G to X, I would recommend "Beauty" and "The Door in the Hedge" by Robin McKinley. Alas, there are not too many out there, but hopefully if this anthology has done anything, it has perhaps created a new genre.

Rating:
Summary: You Will See Red if You Waste Your Money on This
Review: Retelling fairy tales we all grew up with is a sensational idea which has been done extremely well. Just not here! In other books yes, but here unfortunately no. The stories in this book do have one thing in common with the original motive of fairy tales. They will put you to sleep. These are some of the most boring low quality stories ever written. Also avoid the books A Wolf at the Door also edited by Ellen Datlow and Fractured Fairy tales by A.J. Jacobs as they are no better than this.

If you do want really good retelling of classic tales rewritten in sensational format buy Once Upon A Crime or Politically Correct Fairy Tales. You will find what you're after in those books. The fairy tale is over success was not achieved here.