Fitcher's Brides (The Fairy Tale Series)

Rating:
Summary: The Brides of Death
Review: A widower, with a little help from his cold-hearted new wife, has fallen under the spell of Elias Fitcher, an apocalyptic preacher who predicts the world will end within the year. Packing up all his earthly belongings, and his three daughters--romantic Vernelia, neurotic Amy, and practical, skeptical Kate--he and his wife move to a tiny village in upstate New York to await the end of days. There, the charming, charismatic, and utterly horrifying Fitcher takes a shine to Vernelia, and sweeps her off her feet in a whirlwind courtship.

It says on the very cover that it's a Bluebeard story, so I'm not spoiling much to say that Vernelia goes mysteriously missing, and Fitcher then marries Amy. When Amy, too, vanishes, it's up to Kate to find out what has happened and stop Fitcher's horrible spree. There's a storm brewing, of course, and the plot goes from atmospherically creepy to nail-biting as the storm rises to fever-pitch. I could have sworn I heard thunder when I discovered Kate's middle name, when she stood up to him as no one had previously done, when she raced against time to stop him from adding her to his collection. Does she survive? Read and see.

Gregory Frost here gives us an unforgettable rendition of one of our darkest fairy tales, a heroine to root for, and a truly terrifying villain. An added bonus is Terri Windling's introduction. Her introductions are always a treat, but she's getting even better, as evidenced first by the fascinating one for White as Snow, and now by the essay she wrote for this novel. She points out, most interestingly, that Perrault's famous version blames Bluebeard's murders on his wives' curiosity and disobedience, but that the older version give us heroines, like Kate, who save themselves by their willingness to question authority and look for answers.


Rating:
Summary: The Fallen Brides
Review: Firstly, let me say this. The book really isn't all that bad. It just really didn't end up as one of my favorites. I thought that was rather too bad, because I was excited about reading, one of the less retold fairy tale stories
I thought the story was slow passed and I didn't like the fact that abuse was such a key plot line in the story.
I honestly don't mind such stories, but I just didn't really care for the way that it was represented.
I found it very little entertaining and thought the writer switched writing sequences quiet a bit.
Not the worst retelling fairy tales that I have ever read, but not the best either.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and finely written
Review: Fitcher's Brides is as engrossing as any fairy tale I've ever read, but with so much more depth. The young maidens are more than just innocent fools; Fitcher is more than just your generic evil guy. How this man, both mesmerizing and menacing, maintains his power over not only his wives but over a growing congregation (which he actually refers to at one point as his "sheep") is what makes this story fascinating and universal. I had trouble putting Fitcher's Bride down; even if you're familiar with the morbid Bluebeard fairy tale, chances are you will keep reading to see how this particular version of it unfolds.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful and finely written
Review: Fitcher's Brides is as engrossing as any fairy tale I've ever read, but with so much more depth. The young maidens are more than just innocent fools; Fitcher is more than just your generic evil guy. How this man, both mesmerizing and menacing, maintains his power over not only his wives but over a growing congregation (which he actually refers to at one point as his "sheep") is what makes this story fascinating and universal. I had trouble putting Fitcher's Bride down; even if you're familiar with the morbid Bluebeard fairy tale, chances are you will keep reading to see how this particular version of it unfolds.

Rating:
Summary: Faith, horror, hypnotism, religious zeal, murder
Review: In the 1840s western New York was known as the Burned- Over District because it was where Smith and the Mormons came from. Where Finney toured the country leading revivals in tents, where Miller prophesied the world would end in 1843, Noyes led a utopian community in Onieda and the Fox sisters heard ghosts "rapping" and began the spiritualist movement. The last four are all plot elements in this novel set in that place and time, rather reminiscent of Coville and Yolen's contemporary Armageddon Summer. The three Charter sisters Vern, Amy and Kate come to the attention of the Rev. Elias Fitcher, and one after the other they marry him. Kate succeeds in rescuing herself, her sisters and most of the people living in Harbinger - when the world ends but only for Fitcher.

Rating:
Summary: Yet another grand re-visioning of a classic fairy tale.
Review: Terri Windling's Fairy Tale Series never disappoints. Author Frost here creates a vivid and accurate, if bleakly creepy milieu for his take on Bluebeard. The millennial fervor of mid-19th century America is fascinating in itself and Frost elucidates as he entertains. His characterizations are apt, although I was at first discomifited by his descriptions of the sexual de-flowering of his three protagonists; eventually, it all fits and is entirely appropriate. The story of Bluebeard has always been an ugly for me and it's no less so in this re-telling. Some very engaging and aptly retro prose.

Rating:
Summary: A fairy tale for grown-ups.
Review: The Bluebeard legend sliced, diced and transplanted to the 19th century in the "burned-over land," that section of upstate New York from which were born the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists and other modern religious cults. Frost takes this somewhat forbidding fantasy landscape to the edge of gothic horror for a tale that is really about female empowerment: how long will we suffer from monstrous evil before SOMEBODY fights back? The fight is worth the wait, and the gruesome details leading to it. Clever readers will see that Frost is using the story to analyze why it is that the intolerance and xenophobic hatred that powers the mindless fanaticism of an era that, for all its historical trappings, seems curiously contemporary. For fans of Frost's short but very accomplished body of work, this novel is a definite joy. Frost is writing at the peak of his powers: literate, intelligent fantasy doesn't get much better than this.