A reimagined fairytale combining parts of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty into one story, that because of the author Neil Gaiman, you know will be a dark and whimsical tale.
Snow White is about to have her wedding and her happily ever after, but she’s really not into her Prince and would rather have an adventure without him. She kisses him goodbye and heads off with three dwarfs to look into a sleeping sickness she heard about in the kingdom over. You are already off-kilter from that start, and the rest of the story follows suit. When she arrives at the castle you assume you are about to meet Sleeping Beauty, and are half expecting a romance to develop between the two women. But that’s not where Gaiman goes, and the surprise ending elevates this short story.
The book is more a novella with lots of illustrations, too long and mature in theme to be a children or even a junior book, but not quite a teen book or a graphic novel either. I enjoyed the twist ending but it is really Chris Riddell’s illustrations in black and white with gold leaf that pushes the book beyond a simple fractured fairytale. His illustrations are lush and detailed, with the gold touches used to great affect. This story is worth a read, especially if your like your fairy tales a bit on the creepy side.
-Nancy
November 22, 2018 at 8:37 am
Whenever I read something by Neil Gaiman or a piece about something he’s written I think that I need to read more Neil Gaiman :). He’s such a prolific writer and he has such a unique vision. There’s so much he’s done I haven’t read!
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November 22, 2018 at 8:34 pm
I’m still rather meh about him. This book was good, plus I liked Coraline and Marvel 1602, but I hated Sandman. I tried some of his adult books too, but never get past the second chapter.
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November 22, 2018 at 10:04 pm
I’ve never been able to get into ‘Sandman’ although people often tell me I should. It just wasn’t me thing. I really enjoyed his novel ‘Good Omens’ (which he wrote with Terry Pratchet). But there’s just something about the scope of his imagination – his vision of Norse mythology in ‘American Gods,’ the fairy tale mash-up you talk about above, his various fantasy series – that intrigues me. I haven’t read a lot of his stuff but I feel like I SHOULD because the ideas interest me so much, if that makes sense.
Except ‘Coraline.’ That looks freaking HORRIFYING and I want nothing to do with that. I was once at the movies with a friend who was dying to see it. I refused. She didn’t want to see my choice. So we did the only thing two reasonable adults could do. We left it to the flip of a coin. THANK GOD I won and didn’t have to see that terrifying button-eye horror-fest.
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November 24, 2018 at 1:33 pm
I absolutely agree, it was just as whimsical and creepy as I expecting coming from Gaiman but the illustrations were totallu what made the whole book come together. Fantastic review, Nancy 🙂
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November 24, 2018 at 2:18 pm
Thank you! That gold accent really made the illustrations stand out!
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December 15, 2018 at 7:55 pm
A friend of mine at work who usually shelves the YA and juvenile sections recomended this one to me, and, I liked it, but I also felt like you said that it was a lot of “nots.” It’s not a short story but it’s also not novella, and it’s not a full graphic novel either. The art was, AMAZING, but I just felt there was a lack of balance to it. It either should have had more art or less writing , and actually yeah it just needed more art because the illustrations were flawless.
Did you ever feel while reading this that the dwarves should have had more character?
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December 16, 2018 at 6:22 am
I uneasily shelf it in the teen area, and it doesn’t circulate much because it defies which category it should be in. I do believe the story could have been expanded, and giving the dwarves more character could have been a good way to lengthen the story. Plus more art of course!
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