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The Mermaid by Christina Henry
Christina Henry continues her series of fairytale-inspired retellings with The Mermaid, the grown-up version of The Little Mermaid for cynical adults.
Title: The Mermaid
Author: Christina Henry
Publish Date: June 19th, 2018 by Berkley
Genre: Historical fantasy
Narrator: Cassandra Campbell
Source: Purchased
Publisher’s Description: Once there was a mermaid who longed to know of more than her ocean home and her people. One day a fisherman trapped her in his net but couldn’t bear to keep her. But his eyes were lonely and caught her more surely than the net, and so she evoked a magic that allowed her to walk upon the shore. The mermaid, Amelia, became his wife, and they lived on a cliff above the ocean for ever so many years, until one day the fisherman rowed out to sea and did not return.
P. T. Barnum was looking for marvelous attractions for his American Museum, and he’d heard a rumor of a mermaid who lived on a cliff by the sea. He wanted to make his fortune, and an attraction like Amelia was just the ticket.
Amelia agreed to play the mermaid for Barnum, and she believes she can leave any time she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he’s determined to hold on to his mermaid.
Possible spoilers beyond this point.
Invested Ivana says…
The Mermaid is a grittier, and probably more accurate, tale of the famous P.T. Barnum than The Greatest Showman, though he isn’t the main protagonist. The central character is Amelia, a mermaid whose curiosity drove her to land. The first part of her life on land is somewhat idyllic. But the later part is full of heartache.
I am absolutely in love with Henry’s retellings of Alice in Wonderland (Alice and The Red Queen). So I expected a lot from The Mermaid. But, while it was a good story and a great audio performance, the story wasn’t quite as dazzling for me. Amelia, the mermaid, gets screwed over by men, and is even somewhat complicit in her own screwing over, though she finds her own strength in the end. I think it’s just not quite as novel a story as Alice — a woman getting screwed over by men is an all-too-familiar story these days.
In Alice, I also enjoyed seeing all the elements of the original story that Henry reinterpreted in her grittier version. That part was missing in The Mermaid, though not through any fault of Henry’s. I haven’t read the original H.C. Anderson version of The Little Mermaid, so if there were reinterpretations, I wasn’t aware of them. But I suspect there aren’t as many quirky characters and images as in Carroll’s tale.
Despite those subjective observations, there is nothing bad about the book. The story is well-written and interesting. The characters are believable and sympathetic. I’d recommend it to fans of The Greatest Showman who want a better taste of what P.T. Barnum was really like.
Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige
From the author of the successful Dorthy Must Die series comes a new fairytale retelling of the Snow Queen.
I received an ARC or review copy of this book from the author/publisher. All opinions are my own.
Title: Stealing Snow
Author: Danielle Paige
Series: Stealing Snow, Book 01
Publish Date: September 20, 2016, by Bloomsbury USA
Genre: YA fantasy, Fairytale retelling
Source: Provided by the publisher
Publisher’s Description: Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent the majority of her life within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high-security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she’s not crazy and doesn’t belong there. When she meets a mysterious, handsome new orderly and dreams about a strange twisted tree she realizes she must escape and figure out who she really is.
Using her trusting friend Bale as a distraction, Snow breaks free and races into the nearby woods. Suddenly, everything isn’t what it seems, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and she finds herself in icy Algid–her true home–with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai, none of whom she’s sure she can trust. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she’s destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change the fate of everything…including Snow’s return to the world she once knew.
This breathtaking first volume begins the story of how Snow becomes a villain, a queen, and ultimately a hero.
Possible spoilers beyond this point.
Agent Annie says…
Ack, what a terrible book. It was so poorly written, even the choice of vocabulary was bad. You can’t have arrows pelt off of a wing. That’s not what arrows do! They pierce, sting, puncture, drill, perforate, etc. Pelting is what you do with a rock, or you can pummel with it or batter even. That simple choice of one inaccurate word is indicative of why I didn’t like this book. It needed a good editor.
The story was actually well conceived. I liked the plot, but the execution made reading this difficult to slog through. Even the ending (SPOILER) in which Snow holds her mother’s hand and freezes her solid was so lame. How was Snow able to do that? She had never done it before. It wasn’t even something she had considered. Also, how was her mother, who had been plotting for most of her own life, not to mention the entirety of her daughter’s life, not be able to defend against the freezing? It’s disappointing that the author chose to end the book with such an implausible scene in order to set the stage for next book. I definitely will NOT be reading any more books in this series. I give this book 2 stars.
Other recommendations…
If you’d like to read a good book with a fairy tale style story, I recommend The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, the Mordant’s Need Duo by Stephen R. Donaldson (The Mirror of Her Dreams, & A Man Ride’s Through) or His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman.
I received an ARC or review copy of this book from the author/publisher. All opinions are my own.
I Hate Fairyland Volume 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young
I could not believe how good this story was and how much I wanted more!
Title: I Hate Fairyland Vol. 1: Madly Ever After
Author: Skottie Young (Writer, Artist), Jean-François Beaulieu (Colourist), Nate Piekos (Letterer)
Series: I Hate Fairyland (Trade), Book 01
Publish Date: April 20, 2016, Image Comics
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Purchased
Publisher’s Description: From superstar writer and artist Skottie Young (Rocket Raccoon, Wizard of OZ, Fortunately, The Milk), comes the first volume of an all-new series of adventure and mayhem.
An Adventure Time/Alice in Wonderland-style epic that smashes its cute little face against grown-up, Tank Girl/Deadpool-esque violent madness. Follow Gert, a forty-year-old woman stuck in a six-year-old’s body, who has been trapped in the magical world of Fairyland for nearly thirty years. Join her and her giant battle-axe on a delightfully blood-soaked journey to see who will survive the girl who HATES FAIRYLAND.
Collecting: I Hate Fairyland 1-5
Possible spoilers beyond this point.
Percy Procrastinator says…
Fairyland exists to pull girls into it to have a fun two- or three-day adventure, and then they get to go back home. What happens, though, when the girl can’t figure out what to do? That’s what we have here.
All Gertrude had to do was several quick quests in Fairyland, and then she could go home. Fairyland gave her a guide and set her on her way for a fun, magical adventure!
That was twenty-seven years ago. Apparently, Gertrude isn’t good at following directions. Or quests. Or a straight line.
It’s now twenty-seven years later, and she is still trapped in Fairyland. She can’t tell North from East, Up from Left, and can’t find the way back home. Fairyland is suffering as well. It is used to entertaining little girls for a day or two and doesn’t know what to do with Gertrude. The queen is doing what she can to get rid of Gertrude and restore peace to her realm.
Gertrude herself has aged mentally but not physically. And here is where it gets wonderfully wicked. Make no mistake about it, this is an adult book. There are adult themes in it and what could be some disturbing visuals. Not the language, though, because it’s Fairyland. No swearing allowed! That fun language alone is worth it. “Mother fluffer” abounds.
It was a great read! Fun story, fun visuals, and some hilarious dialog makes this a wonderful book! I can’t wait for the next one! Full five stars!
One Book Two 