Retold: Six Fairytales Reimagined by Ana Grilo

Retold: Six Fairytales Reimagined Reviews

• 
  Jessica Lewenda

  
  Originally posted on my blog
  
  Hunting Monsters:
  This was a story that attempted to define the boundaries between good and evil in monsters and humans alike. It describes a world where otherkin have the same rights as humans, whether they're monsters or not. This is a story based loosely on what happens after Little Red Riding Hood, and Beauty and the Beast.
  What I loved most about this story was the deviation from a traditional family setting. Xiao Hong lives with her mother, and is raised by both her and an estranged woman whom she calls Auntie Rosa. This alteration in the traditional family setting, as well as creating a Chinese main character in a white, traditional world creates a richer world and makes her mother a far more complex character than previously believed.
  Loved it. 5/5 stars
  
  In Her Head, In Her Eyes
  Hase is a woman with a pot over her head, covering her eyes. As such, she is ridiculed not only by her fellow servants but the wives of her masters. She comes from the Island, where patterns are made up and people are born with them. Hase has been sent to get inspiration for pattern ideas.
  This was certainly an imaginative tale, a retelling of a Japanese tale that I've never heard of.
  This story changed tones very quickly, and I found that to be jarring at some points, and as a result, I'm giving it 3/5 stars.
  
  Mrs Yaga
  I love that this story uses Polish words; it makes me feel right at home, just like Uprooted did. It also explores a mother-daughter relationship that isn't fully noticeable until the very end, when Aurelia realises that Yaga is sending all those boys on hopeless quests because she knows they're not good enough for her daughter.
  It's very reminiscent of Brave, in which the daughter claims herself, instead of letting a boy do it for her.
  4/5 stars
  
  
  The Mussel Eater
  This is a retelling of a Maori myth, which is a category I'm very unfamiliar with. Even so, the tone of the story feels ideally exotic and foreign, yet still familiar enough that I can understand some of the concepts (with Australia being so close to New Zealand).
  The story is utterly seductive, with food being a way to seduce--and ultimately, shackle--the Pania. Food is the focal point of the story, with Karitoki attempting to lure the Pania with cooked food and rubbing her with scented oils in a way to humanise her, to make her his. The ending is wonderful, paying homage to the imagery of food, and is a delightfully dark feminist twist.
  5/5 stars
  
  The Astronomer Who Met the North Wind
  I wasn't too much a fan of this story. It was mainly the constant telling versus showing. That sort of thing feels jarring to me, and I've never really liked it.
  The sotry felt rushed, and while it was a beautiful premise with interesting characters--I loved the tricksy North Wind--it never felt fully formed to me.
  I liked the honesty of the story, of Minka being defiant of all the people who try to dissuade her from being an astronomer because of her age or because of her gender. Her resistance to this wall of negativity is what drives the story, and I really liked the strength and will she displays.
  3/5 stars
  
  The Ninety-Ninth Bride
  This was the longest tale, and once again, relied on telling instead of showing. As a retelling of the 1001 Nights, of course there's going to be some quick recapping of some of the stories, but it just felt so derivative. The big reveal at the end, though, was what made it stand out.
  4/5 stars
• 
  Nancy O'Toole

  Retold collects the first year of short fiction published on the Book Smugglers Blog. All six stories are focused around the topic of subversive fairy tales, and they often have a feminist bent. Beyond that, the stories here cover a wide variety of topics, cultures, and even age groups (Hunting Monsters and The 99th Bride could be classified as YA, and The Astronomer Who Met the North Wind is Middle Grade). Unlike some other anthologies, even though the amount of stories is on the short side (six), there is a lot of supplemental material, including essays and interviews with the various writers, which allows the reader to experience the story with an extra layer of depth.
  
  As far as my experience goes, I enjoyed all of the stories found within, with the exception of one, which I thought was just okay. I found the stand out story to be the longest, The 99th Bride, where Catherine F. King adds her own twists onto the classic story Arabian Nights, of which I am a big fan of. Other stand out stories include Hunting Monsters, which draws from a variety of stories such as Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast, and In Her Head, In Her Eyes, a horror tinged story which draws it's inspiration from a Japanese folktale.
  
  If you enjoy fairy tale retellings, and feminist short fiction, then this would be a great choice.
• 
  ShingetsuMoon

  This is a wonderful collection of short stories. All of them are based on fairy tales of some kind from around the world. These are supposed to be reimagined versions of some popular tales and some are more loosely done than others. Still all of them are very well done.
  
  It was good to see tales from other parts of the world included and the short stories based off these tales were all fascinating. Each story was unique but still fit the theme of the anthology very well.
  
  I especially loved the comments from the author about where they got their inspiration as well as the interviews with the writer that came after that. I wish more anthologies would include something similar that after each story. Even if it is just a short comment from the author and info on how to find them online.
  
  This was beautifully done and I look forward to reading more stories published by Book Smugglers in the future.
• 
  Debbie is on Storygraph

  I appreciated the feminist bent in these stories, and that they were all loosely (some more than others) based on a traditional tale. Like all anthologies though, some were stronger than others.
  
  The first and last stories, Hunting Monsters and The Ninety-Ninth Bride, were the ones that really shone in the collection, and the ones I loved. The ones in the middle, while enjoyable, didn't leave as large an impression on me.
• 
  Mika

  Some of these hit the mark for me and some of them missed it. I liked S.L. Huang's "Hunting Monsters" and Catherine F. King's "The 99th Bride," loved Octavia Cade's "The Mussel Eater," and was lukewarm on the rest of the stories. So I'll probably go hunt down some more Octavia Cade, but that's about it. Liked the idea of this collection a lot, but didn't love the execution.
• 
  Kathy (Kindle-aholic)

  Working on rev but really liked this collection.
• 
  Kaylie

  A collection well worth reading! I adored two of the stories especially, but the collection as a whole has some weak points.
• 
  Pers

  Ever since reading 'Fawn', I've had a bit of a thing for re-imagined fairy tales, and this slim collection fits right in.
• 
  Melissa Polk

  Thoroughly enjoyed about half of these stories.
• 
  Tanya

  second best of the short story collection.