The Rose and The Beast: Fairy Tales Retold, Francesca Lia Block

From "Snow": When she was born her mother was so young, still a girl herself, didn't know what to do with her. She screamed and screamed- the child. Her mother sat crying in the garden. The gardener came by to dig up the soil. It was winter. The child was frost-colored. The gardener stood before the cold winter sun, blocking the light with his broad shoulders. The mother looked like a broken rose bush. 


As you can (obviously) tell from the title, this is a book of retold fairy tales by Francesca Lia Block. I love fairy tales, especially with new twists or different endings, so this was the perfect book for me-or so I thought. Block is known for writing dark stories, and these fairy tales are as well. Perhaps a bit too dark. They are very different from the original. Block's writing style is very distinct too. In fact, many of the blurbs on the back of the book commented about Block's language. I'm not sure if I liked it though. Kind of flat. And really, reflecting back, the stories were really grim. And not just in the Grimm sense of the word. Grim. One M. I mean, I know that fairy tales aren't all skipping in meadows filled flowers, and I enjoy reading slightly dark fairy tales, but not this dark. Read Angela   Carter (The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories) if you want some darker fairy tales. Not this.

Read The Rose and The Beast:

• if you like fantasy
• if you like fairy tales
• if you like very dark retellings of fairy tales

229 pages.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!