The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale

It was a normal night for Alys. She couldn't sleep and went out to explore when two hauntingly beautiful women passed her and briefly spoke to her. How could Alys know that they were soul eaters? When she woke up the next morning, all of the adults in the town were dead. Defaid, a nearby town, takes pity on the abandoned children for a price. These children must guard their gates at night to protect the city for the rest of their lives. Alys feels out of place and rumors swirl around her as someone who met the soul eaters and lived. This is in addition to an ability that Alys has to hide for fear of being condemned as a witch. Can she live among these supersititious people and will the soul eaters stay away from their town?

The Beast is an Animal is a dark fantasy novel that reminds me thematically of the film The Witch. Alys is surrounded by a society cowed by a specific type of religion implemented in a way to keep everyone in their place. The higher ups are obviously corrupt and the ones underneath say nothing to keep their space in society. If you step out of line, you could be ostracized, tortured, or killed. Alys is in even more danger because she has a supernatural power and she helps a healer who uses unlawful herbs and treatments to help women on top of being the only one to interact with the soul eaters and live. Alys is a restless girl who doesn't flourish in an oppressive environment. She relatably finds it hard to keep silent when authorities are clearly wrong and fights the most for the people she loves. Alys shows a more modern perspective in the face of backwards, misogynistic, and corrupt rulers.

There are two supernatural figures that are thought to be the same, but turn out to be quite different. The story of the soul eaters is a place exactly like Defaid where the girls were ostracized as children for being twins and female. Their rejection from society coupled with the death of their mother and their ensuing hatred for these people caused them to become monstrous soul eaters. They lure people away like sirens, calling names, singing songs, and tempting people with whatever they want most. The Beast is supposed to be the devil in Christianity, torturing people and luring people to sin, but it isn't that at all. The Beast is simply the force of nature personified, neither evil nor good. The only thing it wants is balance in nature, which the sould eaters disrupt, and calls for Alys' help. Alys is also a little of both. Her power can allow her to feel other's pain and heal them or consume their life force as soul eaters do. She can easily follow in their footsteps or use her power to stop them.

The Beast is an Animal is a dark fairy tale that shows this society's opposition to nature at the time and how the search for evil can create evil where there was none. The story moves a little slowly, but I was completely entrenched in the story the entire time. Alys shows an unconventional strength that is rarely shown in YA novels. She may not be physically strong or completely modern, but she has an emotional strength and a power of her own. I very much enjoyed this novel and I will look for more by Peternelle van Arsdale.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Women in Horror: Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire

After Jack and Jill go through their door, life goes on at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, a cover for children still looking for the doorway to whatever fantastical world they were expelled from too soon. Some have found their doors, others haven't, and more children arrive seeking their doors. Nadya and Cora are looking for a door in a pond when a girl in a sugar dress falls from the sky into the water. Her name is Rini from Confection, a nonsense world, and she's looking for her mother who was unfortunately killed by Jill. Cora, Nadya, Christopher, and Cade go on a quest to several different worlds to find Sumi and prevent Rini from disappearing bit by bit.

This world of fantastical worlds and portals is always a treat to read. Each book is a novella but packed full of dynamic characters, their development, and the best world building I've read. More worlds are seen in this book than ever before. The Halls of the Dead are burned into my mind with its elegance, darkness, and stillness where Nancy enjoys being a living statue. The Lord and Lady of the Dead force the group into a bargain for Sumi's soul. Confection is a nonsense world where everything is made of candy except for the people. The sea is soda; candy corn fields pepper the land; even the royal guards' armor and weapons are candy wrappers and hard nougat. The food never rots or goes stale and the people never get cavities or malnourished from constantly eating candy. Because of the nonsense of the word, Sumi's death has caused a weird situation where both realities (where she does and doesn't live) exist at the same time until one overtakes the other. All of the worlds, no matter how fanciful, have a layer of reality and horror where bad things happen to good people and people die due to selfishness or greed.

The motley crew who help her are only together because of circumstance, all but one waiting for their chance to return to their world. Each character seen in has moments of insight into them even if they aren't part of the main plot. Eleanor is doomed to see and help so many find their door while she remains aging decade after decade, apart from her own world. Cora is my favorite new character, a girl who lived as a mermaid in an undersea world. Her round shape is a point of shame in our world because of the implications of that shape as lazy, slow, and somehow worth less than other shapes. She proves each of those points wrong but is still affected by the fatshaming rhetoric. Christopher is another of my favorites who is in love with the Skeleton Girl and plays a flute to call the dead made of his own leg bone. I would love to read Kade's story as he was chosen for his world due to his frilly dresses as a child that did not at all reflect who he really was and the warrior became in the end. He is the only one satisfied to stay at Eleanor's home. I love each and every character that comes to the Home and I want to see everyone's backstory plus their adventures in that other world

Beneath the Sugar Sky is another fascinating look into the fantastical world of portals, other worlds, and the people who travel through them. Seanan McGuire's writing is simply amazing. She populates her worlds with women, people with disabilities, transgender people, and people of all different cultures and points of view. Their story focuses more on their friendships whether just starting or extended for years which is nice to see since so many books primarily focus on romance. It's so refreshing to see all types of people going on adventures, not just the able bodied, male, or white. The next book in this series was just announced and I'm already hyped for it. I will read every book by Seanan McGuire or her horror/sci-fi pseudonym Mira Grant.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

The Shape of Water (2017)

Elisa Esposito goes through the same routine every day, sleeping during the day and working at night at the Occam Aerospace Research Center in Baltimore as a cleaning lady. She is mute due to scars around her neck from infancy and communicates with sign language. When the facility brings in an "asset" that turns out to be an amphibious man, Elisa is immediately fascinated. The creature is kept in shackles, cut, electrocuted, suffocated, and all other manner of torture inflicted by the military, spearheaded by Colonel Richard Strickland. Elisa spends as much time as she can with the amphibious man, introducing him to music, feeding him hardboiled eggs, and teaching him sign language. When the military decides to terminate "the asset," Elisa gets her few friends to attempt to free the man she fell in love with.

Guillermo del Toro's vision is always exciting, fresh, and steeped in horror. The Shape of Water is another fairy tale film for adults that deals with love in unexpected places, outcasts, and the toxic nature of the patriarchy. Elisa is a generally cheerful person who goes through her daily life with few friends and simple pleasures. As a cleaning lady, she can't afford lavish things, but manages to make the things within her means special. Most of the people in her life dismiss her out of hand due to her mute nature, but her true friends, who are her neighbor Giles and her co-worker Zelda, treat her as they would anyone else. Giles is a struggling artist and closeted gay man in an era where coming out would mean losing everything. Zelda is a no-nonsense African American woman in a time of segregation and overt racism. Elisa finds kinship and respect with both of her friends despite how the world treats them and they find the same in her.

The amphibious man is essentially the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He was taken from a river in South America where he was worshipped as a god. In the US, the military abuses and tortures him. They only find value in a dissection of the creature to find out how it works even though he may be the only one of his kind. The Russians, on the other hand, care more about destroying the creature to keep the knowledge from the Americans. The amphibious man has intelligence and the ability to learn along with animalistic instincts and behaviors. He is in between human and animal with traits of both. His relationship with Elisa starts off as friendship and progresses to attraction and love. Their relationship will never be a conventional one, but they make each other happy and that's all that really matters. Elisa and her friends, along with a Russian double agent who values the man over his country, break the amphibious man out of the lab in a half baked, pulse pounding heist. His life at Elisa's home has some hiccups, but is generally beneficial until his health starts to decline.

The villain of this piece is Colonel Richard Streckland, a man completely confident in himself. He treats those he views under him like garbage shown when he unabashedly pisses on the floor in front of Elisa and Zelda who just cleaned. Racism and sexism color his point of view and he tosses out comments no matter who is present. The patriarchal society has told him his whole life that he is worthy, special, and above everyone else. The scene at the car dealership encompasses this when the salesman feeds him a line about being a man of the future. Streckland falls for it and buys the car because it's in line with what he's been fed his whole life. When he loses the "asset" to what he thinks is a sophisticated Black Ops team, his whole career, all that he's worked for his whole life, could be destroyed. The creature bit off his fingers early in the film and those slowly necrotizing digits symbolize his fall and his self perceived value influenced by the patriarchy. He rips off those fingers in a fit of rage, showing that he will find the creature and destroy it even if it means destroying himself as well. Streckland could have easily been a one dimensional villain, but his motivation and reasoning give him dimension.

The Shape of Water is an absolutely beautiful film with love and friendship right alongside violence and cruelty. Fantasy exists with harsh reality and social issues that are still relevant today. Every performance is exceptional, especially Richard Jenkins as Giles and Michael Shannon as Colonel Streckland. The pacing is a little unexpected, but perfect in retrospect. The mystery of the creature isn't dwelled upon because we all know what it is. More time is dedicated to getting to know all the characters, building up their relationship, and moving the plot along. Guillermo del Toro made a wonderful movie with a bizarre premise and makes it a touching, emotional work of art.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

The Hazel Wood

Alice and her mother Ella have always been on the road. Bad luck follows them everywhere and it wasn't uncommon to take off on short notice, in the middle of the night. This has been her life ever since she can remember until the grandmother she never met Althea, a reclusive and little known fantasy author. Ella suddenly settles down and marries a wealthy man. Months into the marriage, it's clear that divorce is on the horizon. Alice comes home one night to find the apartment empty with a weird smell. Her stepsister and violent stepfather eventually return, driving her from her home, but Ella stays missing. Alice goes to Ellerey, one of her few friends, for help and vows to find her mother.

The Hazel Wood combines the real world and a dark, dangerous fairy tale world populated by nuanced, realistic characters and frightening fantastical characters alike. Alice isn't afraid to tell harsh truths to people and comes off as abrasive. Her anger skates below the surface of her facade and it comes out at times. It's understandable since no one but her mother stays in her life for any extended period of time. Even the people she's with every day never get very close. Once she and Ellerey commence their search, strange things start to happen. Alice sometimes responds to these unexplainable events in irrational, dangerous ways. I was disturbed to see that so many readers didn't like Alice when so many abusive young men whose actions are much worse are revered as attractive and romantic. Women and girls are still looked down upon for having unbecoming emotions.

The story takes a while to venture into fantasy and horror. At first, Althea's dark fairy tales from the Hinterland are told to Alice by Ellerey, including Twice Killed Katherine who avenges her own death by draining the life out of men. Althea's novel is mysteriously absent with no library copies or digital copies and very rare physical copies. The two worlds overlap when Alice sees Katherine in real life. She and Ellerey find a way to the Hazel Wood, Althea's estate, but have to overcome trials to enter the actual Hinterland that has been bleeding into the real world through her stories. These tales are so unlike our traditional ones. There are no set rules (safe one), no morality, and no judgment. The only one in power is the story spinner and the characters must cycle through their stories over and over to keep the Hinterland existing. It's much different than any other fantasy novel I've read.

The Hazel Wood takes horrific fairy tales and blends them with the real world. There are grave consequences for tangling with fairy tale creatures and happily ever after doesn't really exist. Melissa Albert creates such an interesting world with unexpected traits and keeps the reader mesmerized with her masterful writing. The story wasn't predictable at all and I was eager to meet every twist and turn. I'm especially happy that the typical romance was subverted and chnaged in the end. I couldn't stop reading this book and I had to know how it ended.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Beauty and the Beast

Maurice and Belle live in a small French town. He goes to sell some of his inventions and gets lost along the way, stumbling upon a dilapidated castle. Unseen people give him food and shelter until he leaves frightened at the animated teacup. He takes a rose from the garden as a present for his daughter, but the master of the castle known as the Beast, cursed for refusing to help a beggar woman, throws him in a dungeon as punishment for the theft. Belle saves Maurice by willingly taking her father's place. Maurice frantically tries to gather people to save her, but succeeds only in angering Gaston, the man dead set on marrying Belle even when they have nothing in common.

This version of the fairy tale obviously shares a lot with the cartoon version, but the magic is in the differences. The Beast's past is a little more fleshed out at the beginning. His greed, lust, selfishness, and decadence, portrayed in a lavish party with only women in attendance, show that his punishment is at least a little more reasonable. He was also an adult when this happened rather than the eleven year he was in the animated version. Belle's story is also more detailed with her talent for mechanics and her mother's tragic death due to the plague. The added plot of the town being hostile towards her when she tries to teach a girl to read or when she uses her new inventions in public also fleshed out her character and her relationship with the townspeople more than the "Bonjour" song does alone. These added details of realism for the time period make the story come to life and set it apart from the animated version. The sets and costumes are amazing and make the cartoon version look terrible in comparison. The grandeur of the castle and the quaint air of the town are better depicted and constrast well.

The other improved aspects of the film are in Gaston, LeFou, and the relationship between Belle and the Beast. Gaston is not the overexaggerated, stupid character in the cartoon. He's a war hero who is only interested in Belle because she resists him. Belle's opposition is sport for him as he doesn't view Belle as a person, but a prize to be won. Every other woman in town fawns over him, offering no challenge for him to overcome. For the first part of the movie, he seems like a decent person. Le Fou keeps his ego stroked, even stooping to bribery to get people as excited about Gaston as he is about himself as seen in . When Maurice refuses to give permission to marry Belle, it's the first time Gaston has been opposed by someone with power over him. Gaston is quick to tie him up and leave him to die, showing his cowardice and more realistic villainery. He shows the same attributes when he later turns the townspeople against Maurice to discredit him and put him away in an asylum. Le Fou has numerous doubts about Gaston's  evil actions and tries to counsel him away from them. He ends up following anyway because of his unrequited crush on Gaston.

The romance between Belle and the Beast is much improved. The Beast is less prone to screaming and bonds with Belle over saving each other and literature. Their discussions are beautiful and give him a new perspective on his surroundings. The story is inherently problematic (detailed in this article from Tor but the changes make it a little more palatable. We accept it because it's familiar and don't give much thought to the fact that Belle probably would have died if the cursed staff hadn't intervened. I enjoyed the new songs, the filled plot holes, and more realistic situations, but some things still put me off. The CGI, in particular with the Beast, looked off especially when next to real people. The extra castle staff added color, but only made the film a little more bloated time wise. Overall, Beauty and the Beast is a beautiful movie that really portrays the grandeur of the story. I honestly felt more emotion than I expected with such a familiar story. It is largely unnecessary and has some flaws, but manages to be enjoyable.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

The Bear and the Nightingale

Vasilisa grew up at the edge of the Russian wilderness where the weather is harsh and cold for most of the year. Winters are particularly cruel, but she has many pleasant memories of her siblings and her nurse by the fire telling fairy tales to pass the time. Since her mother died in childbirth, her father goes to Moscow to present his sons to royalty and find a new wife. He brings home Anna, a young woman from a royal family who is also notorious for seeing demons everywhere. She and Vasilisa butt heads immediately because Vasya sees creatures as well, but knows they are house spirits or domovoi that make their lives easier in exchange for tribute. The arrival of a fiery priest Kostantin creates fear of hell and damnation in her town and causes other people to shun their domovoi, which causes further misfortune and weakens them to the attack of sinister forces.

The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderful merging of Russian society as it adapts to Christianity and Russian folklore. The very beginning has Vasya's nurse Danya telling her fairy tales of the cruel winter and how humility and kindness get you further than selfishness. I wasn't quite drawn in until Vasya sees and interacts with the domovoi in her house. The people that live near the Russian wilderness, away from big cities, believe in Christianity and go to church, but also pay tribute to their house spirits or domovoi more out of habit than anything. Unbeknowst to most of them, these gifts of food and drink help them immensely by extending the use of resources and keeping crops and cattle healthy. Once these creatures are shunned due to the fire and brimstone antics of Father Konstantin striking fear into the villagers' hearts. Now, the domovoi have weakened, leaving the humans with dwindling resources and mounting fear, unaware of the supernatural danger their spirits protect them from.

Everyone knew Vasilisa was different right from birth. As she grew up, she realized she could see and understand the domovoi and other creatures right out of her nurse's fairy tales. Over time, she learns to care for and respect them. Through her friendship and tribute, they respect her in return and teach her how to move silently through the forest and how to talk to horses. As she grows into womanhood, Vasya keeps her sweet nature entwined with a wildness and confidence that others find troubling. Vasya is an amazing character that does what she can, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Her perseverence proves to be unshakeable even in the face of the disapproval of her whole town. Unfortunately, her only future paths are in the prison of either marriage or a convent. Her access to the supernatural world helps her break out of her social norms. The supernatural forces she faces are out of her realm of reality and understanding, but it doesnt stop her from fighting for her family and her town anyway.

The only other person with any knowledge at all that fairy tale creatures are real is Anna, Vasya's stepmother. She fits into the evil stepmother trope well, but she's more fleshed out than that. Everyone around her assumes she's crazy because she sees what she assumes are demons everywhere. She's basically Vasilisa, but intent on ignoring the creatures instead of getting to know them. Her existence throughout life is tortured because no matter how devout she is or how hard she prays, these demons plague her. Instead of trying to educate Vasya, Anna simply abuses her whenever Vasya acknowledges the domovoi. I had sympathy for her because she doesn't understand her situation and feels constantly attacked. However, she lost my sympathy when she decided to abuse her stepdaughter and taking everything she can away from her. This character shows how Vasya could have been had her temperament or upbringing or attitude been different.

The Bear and the Nightingale is a wonderful book that I couldn't put down. The fairy tale elements are woven in throughout, contrasting with the real world woes of the townspeople. Vasya interacts with many figures from Russian fairy tales using her knowledge of their tales and her generous nature. It takes a little while to hold my interest, but once it does, it doesn't let go. Katherine Arden is amazing and I would love to read whatever she writes next. This book is highly recommended to fans of Neil Gaiman or fairy tale literature.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Roses and Rot

Imogen and Marin are sisters who were once best friends. When Imogen left their abusive home years ago, they never kept in touch despite her reaching out. Now, they just recently began talking again and agreed to apply for Melete, a prestigious artist colony, in their specific area of expertise. Imogen is a writer while Marin is a dancer. Both are accepted and both are excited yet nervous to live together again. The past is ignored and they pick up where they left off. As their residency goes on, they are both chosen to possibly get an extension to stay and work on their craft, but it rapidly becomes clear that both of them can't get this coveted prize and the colony is not as benevolent and normal as they thought.

Imogen came from a violent home thanks to her abusive mother. Imogen was the sole target of the violence, but Marin shared the emotional abuse and manipulation their mother doled out on a daily basis. Imogen coped by leaving for boarding school after a horrific event that left her scarred for life. It's nice to see the view of people with abusive family members who aren't eager to visit them on holidays or happy to receive letters or gifts from them. As shown in the story, these gifts and other forms of communication are often laced with emotional bombs that aim to hurt and sabotage. I can see Imogen's point of view and I understand her motivations even as they're being misinterpreted by others.

Melete appears to be a beautiful, eclectic haven for artists with a large dose of whimsy. At first, everything is idyllic and inviting for new art. After a while, the pressure starts to get to people because they are supposed to be doing something brilliant while they are there. Imogen starts to see things that get more and more difficult to explain away. Melete is closely tied to another world that infuses it with magic that at first is wonderful, but then shows its dark side. The novel is entrenched in fairy tales and the writing shows the positive and negative aspects. Some forget with the popularity of Disney films that fairy tales punish harshly as often as they dole out rewards. Magic beings are the same. They can bestow luck and seem benevolent, but they are inhuman at their core. Howard does a wonderful job of portraying both the beautiful and sinister parts of her fantasy world.

The one thing I found lacking was Marin. She is more removed because the novel is primarily through Imogen's eyes. Her choices and actions just confused me. She always seemed to assume the worst when it came to Marin and even cut her deeply with lines right out of their abusive mother's mouth. Her insecurity causes her to be quite cruel to Imogen to an almost cartoonish degree. I wish her character would have been more nuanced because I just wanted her gone by the end and found her undeserving of all of Imogen's efforts to save her. Other than that, Roses and Rot was a darkly magical read. I will definitely be looking forward to more from Kat Howard.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Wink Poppy Midnight

Poppy is blonde, hot, and very aware of it. She can get whatever she wants and she doesn't care who she has to step on to get it. Midnight is the boy in the love with her. He's everything she isn't: sincere, sweet, and genuine. His goal is to distance himself from her and move on, but she won't let him. Wink is an odd girl from an odd family with lots of children. Her wild red hair, outdated clothes, and lack of normal social graces make her an outsider at school, but no one teases her because she just doesn't care. All three of their lives entwine after Midnight moves right next door to Wink. Poppy gets jealous and tries to torment them, so Wink and Midnight play a prank to punish her that goes terribly wrong. Poppy is missing and no one claims to know where she is. Someone is lying, but who?

Wink Poppy Midnight is hard to classify. It's a mystery and a romance, but it's not clear if it's fantasy or just a contemporary novel until the end. I liked the uncertainty and the unfolding of the mystery little by little. The story is told through the alternating first person narration of the three main characters: Wink, Poppy, and Midnight. They are all vibrant characters that are hiding something from everyone like I suppose we all are. Each of them reveals their inner thoughts and hopes while the others share what they project and how others think of them. The difference between how they are and how they are viewed is one of my favorite parts of the story. On the outset of the novel, Poppy is pretty much insufferable. She's cruel because it's fun and she can get away with it. Her collection of followers do anything she says and affirm her bad behavior. Her favorite plaything is Midnight and she never passes up an opportunity to torment him because he loves her. She shows that she has a heart and realizes how cruel she is being, but does it anyway. By the end, I felt for her very much when she peeled away all her armor.

Midnight seems like a sweet boy who just needs to get over Poppy. He is tired of her cruelty and arrogance, so Wink is a breath of fresh air in comparison. He resolves to get to know her and separate himself from the temptation of Poppy. Poppy views him as weak and pathetic, but he's a nice boy that wants a real relationship.Wink is obsessed with fairy tales and fantasy stories with heroes, trials, and villains. She's the most interesting character in the story. Her whole life has a bit of fairy tale in it. She and her siblings (who she calls the orphans) run kind of wild. They wear outdated clothes, talk about weird things, and aren't afraid to be themselves. They don't care what anyone else think. Poppy avoided her for years after it because clear she was unable to be embarrassed or shamed. Now, she's right in Poppy's crosshairs because of Midnight. Wink believes in fairies and heroes and villains, but she has a dark side too. Through the story, it becomes clear that people don't fit into the flat stock character roles of fairy tales no matter how much she tries to make them fit.

Wink Poppy Midnight flows well through the multiple narratives. Each chapter is rather short, so it seemed to take no time to read. The ending loses momentum a bit, but it's reflective of real life. Real life doesn't always have an explosive ending. Sometimes life just goes on. I was a bit disappointed with Tucholke's Between Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, but she continues to impress with her short story in Slasher Girls and Monster Boys and this book. I will eagerly read whatever she writes next.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

A Wicked Thing

Princess Aurora wakes up unexpectedly after over one hundred years of enchanted sleep as a result of the curse she was put under as a child by a malicious witch. Everyone keeps telling her how much more wonderful life will be for the people now that she's awake, but she just doesn't feel it. The boy who kissed her awake is nice, but she doesn't love him. The fictionalized version of her story where she brings magic back to the kingdom and lives happily ever after with her true love is widespread and rings so false to Aurora. She doesn't know what to do: keep being the royal family's pretty and useless pawn while the common people starve, join the resistance to overthrow the corrupt king, or something else entirely her own?

Right from the beginning, A Wicked Thing just sucks you in. How would you feel if you had been sleeping for a hundred years and some random boy invaded your room to kiss you? Suspicious and violated are my guesses and how I would feel. She has no idea how much time has passed and everyone she loved or even knew are now dead. The beginning of this book is perfect and illustrates how a real person would feel in a fairy tale situation. I was immediately on Aurora's side. Her struggle to make sense of this new world rings true and made me sympathize with her. Her parents practically smothered her growing up and her new family isn't much better, but only because of the strategic benefit of her presence and not because they actually like or care about her. She longs to be free and make her own decisions. Unlike the classic Sleeping Beauty, Aurora isn't a delicate flower of a heroine, waiting for her true love to save her. She's also not an action hero either. She's a conflicted girl mostly just trying to figure out what she really wants and what path will hurt the least amount of people. With no clear cut answers, she spends the majority of the book letting others push her around until things get really dire.

A few things annoyed me about the book. It's pretty slow moving and seemed like the goal was to stretch the plot to make a series rather than just have a good stand alone. Much of the book felt like marking time because it was the same situations: Aurora agonizing about her decisions, then people pushing her around, and Aurora allowing herself to be pushed around. There were way too many love interests and most of them weren't interesting. The majority of them wanted her for what she represented and power, but not because they actually liked her. The evil fairy who cursed her was also largely absent from the book and she's one of the few characters I find interesting. Although I generally liked the book, I'm not sure if I would read the sequel. The ending had a lot of action, but I'm not looking forward to another book were very little even happens.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

The Darkest Part of the Forest

Hazel and Ben Evans live in Fairfold, an odd town that lies adjacent to a magical forest. This forest is populated with faeries and supernatural monsters that usually lurk around the corners of human civilization. Chance encounters happen sometimes usually resulting in a person's good luck or death. Hazel and Ben embraced the magical danger as children as they teamed up to battle the monster as a knight and a bard. They also both made up stories about the horned boy in the glass casket in the woods. Nothing awakens him and nothing can even scratch the glass, so he lays there year after year. When Hazel and Ben have quit their adventuring and they view such things as childhood fantasy, the horned boy escapes from his glass prison. Hazel's whole world is turned upside down as she discovers those forgotten or rationalized memories of fighting magical creatures are shockingly real. Can she remember enough of her past to be able to fight in the present?

I've been a huge fan of Holly Black since reading White Cat and she has yet to disappoint me. The story immediately drew me in with the town that is both aware and in denial about the supernatural creatures and forces influencing the town in the periphery. I am a sucker for this concept. It brings to mind Sunnydale from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and New South Bend from Brenna Yovanoff's Fiendish. All of these works have a magnetic quality where the townspeople experience all this craziness, but rationalize it with normal causes. When confronted with the unbelievable reality, they tend to lash out and then go back to their comfortable, normal reality as soon as possible. Growing up in such a forest definitely affects the young people in the area while the adults seem pretty oblivious, only brought out of it by tragedy. The teens in the area are surprisingly normal despite the things they've experienced.

Hazel and Ben are pretty normal. Hazel gets herself into trouble by kissing boy after boy and living life to the fullest despite the consequences. Ben is the angsty artists type because was blessed/cursed by a faerie as a baby to have an exceptional musical talent and feels great guilt over how he has let it get out of control in the past. They are so similar in other ways. Both are boy crazy in their own way and want to find lasting love.  Both of them love each other fiercely, but also try to keep huge secrets to protect the other when it does the exact opposite. I loved reading these characters and their mistakes and blunders powered by their love. I forgave all of their sometimes frustrating mistakes because it came from a good place and they were only doing their best. I especially liked the way Ben was treated. His sexual orientation just was; no explanation or special treatment needed. No one in his life treated him any differently. The other character I loved was Jack, a changeling child all grown up and raised as human alongside the human boy he was meant to replace. The concept alone is amazing and one I haven't seen. Jack acts as the bridge between the two worlds and can't decide which one he belongs in. He has significant ties to both sides and either choice would be a betrayal.

The book is organized in an odd way. The plot isn't really solidified until much later than expected in the novel. The beginning is just establishing the world and exploring into the lives of the main characters. The plot moves forward and then there's intermittent flashbacks to show why characters are the way they are or background on what's presently happening. If you hate stories jumping around, this wouldn't be for you, but I enjoyed it. Things became clear the more the flashbacks happened and it just shows Holly Black's writing skill. The revelations are doled out carefully and bring clarity to the story. I really enjoyed the journey and exploration through Holly Black's unique world. I hope another book is in the works in the same world (because I would be all over it), but it works very well as a stand alone novel. It's one of the best reads of the year so far.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Postmodern Fairy Tale Music

These songs go against happily ever after and deconstruct fairy tales.

1) After Ever After by Jon Cozart



Jon Cozart bases various Disney films in a more realistic setting and shows the tragically funny results. My favorite is Pocahontas since the film is so good, but incredibly historically inaccurate. He sings in four part harmony with himself with impressive intonation and timing. I love this medley of irreverent reimaginings of these classic tales.

2) Shalott by Emilie Autumn



Emilie Autumn takes the classic Tennyson poem, The Lady of Shalott and adds her own perspective. The poem is about a woman cursed to weave images without actually seeing the world. She then sees (and falls in love with) Lancelot and leaves, but dies before she gets to Camelot. That's a pretty screwed up tale and it's nice to see a modern perspective. Although it's about Arthurian legend, there are typical fairy tale stand bys here: spinning wheels, curses, a tragic woman, and a handsome man.


3) Fairy Tale by Sara Bareilles



This jazzy song shows how happily ever after isn't all it's cracked up to be. Fairy tale love isn't anything close to reality and wouldn't have turned out well in real life. I especially like the Rapunzel verse where she just wants to be alone. Sara Bareilles shows a variety of fairy tales in the video with a theater flair. She ends the song in modern clothing with just herself and the piano on the stage, without the false trappings of fairy tales.

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Feyre and her family are living in poverty. Her father used to be a successful merchant, but disaster struck, leaving their debts unpaid and her father grievously attacked and disabled. Feyre is her family's only source of income, so she hunts to provide for them. One fateful day, she finds a huge wolf in the woods about to attack her quarry. She chooses to kill the wolf and the deer to sell the pelt and eat the venison over a couple weeks. Things seem to finally be looking up until a faerie in wolf form named Tamlin bursts into their house demanding recompense for the murder of his friend. Feyre has two choices: either be executed or go to live in the faerie land of Prythian for the rest of her life. Of course she chooses life, but faeries are inhuman, cruel, and horrible creatures who used to enslave and use humans as playthings. Feyre braces herself for torture, enslavement, or just incarceration, but Tamlin proves to the opposite of her expectations. As they develop a relationship, it becomes clear that all is not well in Prythian. A blight that has robbed the faeries of most of their power is moving towards the human realm, posing a threat to everything and everyone. Can a weak mortal like Feyre help save her world?

A Court of Thorns and Roses is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast that subverts a lot of the expectations of the fairy tale while staying true to the spirit of the story. Our Beauty is Feyre who is unlike any iteration of the character I've read or seen. She is pretty joyless, but not outright bitter. Her family needs someone to step up and get the money and food necessary to survive. Feyre is a pragmatist willing to do whatever it takes no matter how it effects her personal happiness. She has the strength and determination to hone her skills in hunting and other important skills even though she doesn't enjoy them. When she moved to Prythian, she became almost a different person. She was suddenly without direction. Her family was taken care of and she didn't need to do anything anymore, so she loosened up a bit. She focused her energy at first at trying to escape, but realized her family is better off with her there as the faeries provide for them. So then she learns and hones more unnecessary skills that she actually enjoys like learning to read and painting. She starts to tell jokes and actually get to know the faeries, who she has considered flatly evil and dangerous creatures her entire life. Her outlook completely changes and she starts to fall in love with Tamlin, the Beast. Despite some superficial changes, the core Feyre is basically the same. Later in the story, she also takes on momentous tasks to attempt to save her love and her friends despite prolonged suffering.

Tamlin, our Beast, is a mix of sensitive and callous. He was raised to be a warrior to survive his world while his true interests were in music and the arts. War and hardship have been such a part of his life that it's easy for him to forget who he is outside of all of that. He has to present a hard shell and make difficult decisions to succeed as a ruler in Prythian, but he changes as Feyre does. Both become more sensitive and learn something about each other and the culture they come from which causes both to shed their prejudices. The romance develops organically and over a large chunk of the book. That part does move a little slow, but if it were any faster, Feyre's actions at the end simply wouldn't make sense. It takes a lot of time to completely change your outlook on something that's been hammered into your head since birth. Also, I LOVE the way sexuality is treated in the novel. Feyre is very matter of fact and comfortable with herself. She had one partner in the human world who she liked but didn't love. For both of them, it was a convenient escape from their respective hardships, a spot of joy among all the misery. With Tamlin, things are more fiery and passionate because of love. I like that both sides are portrayed as positive instead of having a preachy message against different types of sexual relationships.

The book is lengthy and goes through a lot of different changes. It almost feels like it's multiple books in one due to the changes in location and tone. I read it in about 2 days because I had to know what happened next. Sarah J. Maas knows how to construct a book and I was invested from the first chapter. The fairy tale aspects are handled very well. The general story line is similar with the curse being the most obviously Beauty and the Beast aspect, but the story is free to move into past the plot of the fairy tale. I also enjoyed all the different types of faeries shown, mostly of the horrific variety. The ending is satisfying and at the same time leaves some loose ends that make me want to read the next book immediately. In the time before the next book comes out, I'll be reading all of her other books.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins

Wayfarer

Ellen Sinder is miserable. Her father recently died and before she could even begin to heal, her evil stepmother revealed her true colors. This marked the beginning of Ellen being treated as a servant in her own home and being subjected to all kinds of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse. She can't just leave because her school enrollment in high school and university are dependent on living in her family home. A few things are keeping her sane: her two best friends Ruby and Cami, her magical talent to charm, and the hope that she can eventually get away and make a real life for herself. Unfortunately, her situation is getting worse and worse as her stepmother gets more oppressive, her friends seem more distant, and her life is just disintegrating before her eyes. When will the downward spiral end?

Wayfarer is the follow-up-not-quite-sequel to Nameless (which I absolutely loved) and focuses on Ellen Sinder. This retelling of Cinderella vastly expands the unique fairy tale world that draws upon many recognizable tales and combines them in interesting ways. Again, Lili St. Crow just throws the reader into the deep end of her world with Families, Jacks, Twists, and the Deprescence. Things gradually come into focus, but the beginning is a little disorienting, especially having read the first book over a year ago. The Deprescence occured in the 20's and was an explosion of magic that ruined a lot of the world and a lot of people in it. People were Twisted into monsters and Jacks, which made them no longer fit to be a part of normal society. The positive side is that some people have Potential that means when their power settles, they can do wonderful or terrible things with their magic. Magic is used in everything from clothing and fashion production to medicine. The magic system is more explored here through Ellen's eyes and it seems to be a mix of magic and science, but without any specific explanation to really blend the two together. I liked the apprentice system for beginning Charmers and the way magic and Charms are integrated into their everyday lives.

Lili St. Crow takes the flat, stock characters of fairy tales and gives them dimension and at times unexpected characteristics. Ellen is obviously Cinderella, but she isn't the stereotypical enslaved but cheerful princess. The abuse definitely takes a toll on her. Hearing day in and day out that she is useless and unwanted wears on her and she subconsciously internalizes the insults. Leaving home isn't as easy as her friends make it sound. The abuse may be bad, but the unknown may be worse. At least she knows what to expect at home. Leaving could have her be without food, education, or even a place to sleep. She's determined not to be a burden or charity case to her friends. So many people are blind to Ellen's abuse that she feels completely helpless. This sentiment is repeated often, but is misguided since her friends only want her to be safe and happy. I grew annoyed with Ellen's insistence that her friends only wanted her around as charity or as some cruel joke when they showed time and time again that they were worried about her and cared for her, She also lashes out at them again and again until I was surprised she even had any friends left. I would have liked Ruby and Cami to have a more major role in the book. Most of the book has Ellen making horrible decision after horrible decision and simply ignoring or hiding from the consequences. This part was incredibly frustrating to read and I just wanted to talk some sense into her. Once she figured some stuff out and realized her own worth, I began to enjoy the novel again. Although it infuriated me, this portrayal of the effects of abuse is pretty accurate.

The other characters are equally dynamic.  Cami and Ruby are amazing friends who couldn't be more different from each other. Cami is quiet and sweet while Ruby is loud and brash, but they both care for Ellen in their own way. I felt so sorry for them when Ellen refused to accept their help or listen to their advice. Avery is the Prince Charming here and while he was sweet and nice, the romance could have been developed a bit more. The evil stepmother is the only character that is completely and flatly evil. She has the ability to charm other people, especially adults, into not seeing her horrible side, which definitely reminded me of some real people I know. I loved to hate her and the depths of her evilness surprised me, The fairy godmother Auntie is my favorite of the minor characters. She's a weird mix of a typical fairy godmother and the witch from Hansel and Gretel.

I didn't enjoy Wayfarer as much as I did Nameless, but it has the same magical world, darkly humorous writing, and realistic language. Some may be offended or condemn the language as too adult, but it's the reality of how people speak. It was nice to see a YA not censoring itself for its audience for once. My main problems were with Ellen's refusal to see sense for much of the book and the slow pace at times. I still liked the book and devoured it within a day. I can't wait to read the next book, Kin.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Cruel Beauty

Nyx Triskelion is angry and rightfully so. Due to an idiotic promise from her father, she must marry the Gentle Lord, the monstrous demon responsible for ruining countless lives (including her own), countless deaths, the destruction their royal line, and the state of their home city of Arcadia being separated from the rest of the world. Nyx knows she is condemned to the sick whims of her husband and will most likely die after attempting to assassinate him, but she must try for the sake of her family and her people. Nyx resents everyone, but does her duty. The Gentle Lord defies most of her expectations and she develops an attraction to him even as she makes attempts on his life. Will she be strong enough to destroy him or will her emotions trap her and her people?

I was honestly not expecting a lot from Cruel Beauty. I expected lots of whining and an abusive love interest, but that's not what I got. Nyx is angry and resentful. She's been raised mostly without love of affection with the clear knowledge that she is a glorified sacrificial lamb. She was chosen over her twin sister for this purpose, so she had to sit by and see her sister treated as a father treats his daughter while she is held at arm's length. I completely understand her feelings and I don't blame her for being so bitter and negative. This type of character is usually a doormat, but Nyx makes all her own decisions and she's strong willed. It's ironic that the person she was told all her life that she has to kill, the Gentle Lord Ignifex, is the one who led her to experience love and happiness. It doesn't start out all roses and perfection. She is totally dedicated to her goal even if she has to commit loathsome acts. Ignifex is much nicer than she thought and never forces himself on her like she expects. They develop a real relationship with the occasional assassination attempt mixed in. One key scene between them is when Ignifex needs help to his room after dark because it causes him crippling pain. Nyx leaves him there and briefly celebrates his pain, but then feels regret. She pulled herself back from becoming a monster and went back to help him to his room. Losing her humanity and celebrating in another's pain wasn't worth getting closer to her goal. Nyx's journey and her development made over the course of the book made it impossible to put down.

Ignifiex and Shade are the two love interests in this love triangle. I usually hate love triangles, but this one had neither person being perfect and it is resolved in a very unexpected, but satisfying way. Ignifex and Shade look alike except that Ignifex has red cat eyes and a crueller visage. Right off the bat, Shade seems to be the meek, kind, long suffering prisoner while Ignifex seems to be the powerful, cruel demon. These expectations are subverted, showing Ignifex's softer side and Shade's cruel and even evil side. I like that these two men are people: not perfectly good or completely evil. Both are a mix. Nyx is conflicted because she likes both and has to come to terms with both of their good and bad qualities. All of the characters have a varying degree of the darker side of human nature. Some, like Nyx's father or many of the people lining up for Ignifex's dubious bargains, have an abundance, but no on is perfect and I'm glad the book reflects that.

The world where Cruel Beauty takes place really caught and kept my interest. The city of Arcadia in Greece is encased in a parchment-like bubble, secured away from the rest of the world for hundreds of years and ruled by the Gentle Lord. The people still worship the Greek pantheon of gods and some even practice Hermetic magic. Demons, supposedly from Tartarus, populate this world as well, including Ignifiex, his superiors who give him orders, and the Children of Typhon who escape Ignifex to drive people mad. The mixture of European fairy tales with Greek myths creates a different flavor of fairy tale book than usual. Greek myths are delved into much deeper than I would have thought and they include Cronos's downfall, Typhon's entrapment, the myth of Hades and Persephone, and the list goes on. Cruel Beauty is mainly a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but has shades of Rumplestiltskin (Nyx can guess Ignifex's true name each night) and Bluebeard (Ignifex's 8 dead and weirdly preserved wives and his only allowing her to explore certain rooms of the castle for her own safety). I love the world and that it does go through some crazy changes.

Cruel Beauty is a detailed, well written retelling of Beauty and the Beast with shades of other fairy tales and a healthy dose of Greek mythology thrown in for good measure. My only complaint is that the ending isn't super clear and could have been a little more descriptive. Other than that, I'm eager to read the next book in the series, although it's not a straight continuation of this story.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Princess of Thorns

Princess Aurora is a briar born child (the only one besides her brother) set to inherit the kingdom of Norvere were it not for an ogre inheriting it instead. Queen Ekeeta wasted no time after taking over to imprison Aurora's family and insinuate ogres into the castle. Freed and empowered with fairy gifts by her mother's sacrifice, Aurora and her brother Jor escape to prepare for the day they will claim back their kingdom and make it once again safe for humans. Unfortunately, close to the prophesied time, Jor is captured by the ogres and Aurora will stop at nothing to get him back. She poses as him and enlists the help of roguish Niklaas to travel and gather an army. Nothing goes as it should: her plans fall apart; allies betray her; and she finds support in unlikely places. Will Aurora reclaim her kingdom and defeat the ogres?

Princess of Thorns is not what I expected from a fairy tale retelling. The first two pages are confusing with two different prologues kind of smashed together and not well explained. It took me a little while to process that Aurora is not Sleeping Beauty, but Sleeping Beauty's daughter. Having this Aurora and the classic fairy tale Aurora share a name was confusing at first. The story plays out as a retelling and continuation of the Sleeping Beauty story along with dashes of Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, The Swan Princes, and other fairy tales. Although drastically different from the original tale, Princess of Thorns retains the fairy tale elements and becomes a unique story. I loved many of these elements that were familiar, but changed for this retelling. Aurora's fairy gifts in the classic tale are benevolent and only serve to benefit her. Not so with this Aurora. While her gifts of enhanced strength, bravery, mercy, and a heart no man she loves can defy are pretty useful, they are also a curse. The strength and bravery are the most useful, but the mercy takes away her free will. She literally cannot be unmerciful even if it is essential to her goals. The last one is weird and really just a plot device, but the effects are devastating. Once she loves and kisses someone, even in a platonic manner, their entire existence is dedicated to serving her. They are a shell of their former self and lose any personality they might have had. I like this double edged sword quality of the gifts and the grisly way in which they were bestowed upon her (which was with her mother's suicide).

The romance aspects are pronounced, but develop organically. Aurora and Niklaas bicker, tease, and fight on their travels and develop a real relationship. Since Aurora is disguised as her brother and she knows the devastated effects of her fairy gifts, romance is the last thing on either of their minds. I found this so refreshing after so many boring instalove teen romances. I also loved the world in general. The ogres were especially interesting with their religious fanaticism and rise to power. Aurora's stepmother was a particularly interesting character because of her doubt ad her ability to think for herself despite being commanded to the contrary. Their religion advocates the destruction of all non-ogre beings as their heaven. I really would have loved to read more about how they rose to power, the intricacies of their religion, and how the stepmother came to her conflicted feelings. A lot of this is glossed over which is a bit more interesting than reading about romance. I could definitely see this one book expanded to at least two to accommodate more of the history of the word instead of those very awkward and confusing prologues.

Princess of Thorns is an enjoyable read that is filled with excitement, adventure, and chock full of fairy tales. I loved the characters, the twisting of fairy tale conventions, and the world. It could have been expanded to avoid awkwardness and show the history of the world and how it got there. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives and I look forward to other books by Stacey Jay.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Frozen

Princesses Elsa and Anna are sisters and best friends until Elsa's power over ice and snow gets away from her and she hurts Anna. Elsa completely pulls away, locking herself away from the world and working to control her powers by suppressing her emotions. Their parents downsize the staff and close the gates to Arendelle to reduce the danger Elsa poses to others. Anna feels abandoned and both girls feel utterly alone. Years later, their parents die in a boating accident, making Elsa the queen of Arendelle. She is forced to open the gates and hold a coronation celebration. The coronation goes well, but her powers are revealed after a heated argument with Anna. She runs away, leaving a wake of ice and snow, making the much needed summer into winter in Arendelle. Anna feels it's her responsibility to make amends with Elsa and convince her to life the supernatural winter.

Frozen is a fun film with charming characters and an unexpected ending. Anna and Elsa are both sympathetic characters who feel alienated and alone. I just want to give Elsa a great big hug. She tries her best to contain her powers and her feelings, sacrificing her close relationship with her sister in order to shield her from harm. She is forced to hide a fundamental part of herself in order to appear normal and utterly fails, causing harm to her entire community. I"m glad she wasn't a real villain as in the original story (which is very weird and religious), but a person trying her best and making mistakes. Anna is funny, quirky, and definitely not the poised and graceful Disney princess one might expect. She's very clumsy and embarrassingly blurts out her feelings to random people. She just wants a real relationship with her sister, to be able to make friends, and to have people around instead of cutting themselves off. My favorite character is Olaf, the living snowman who loves warm hugs. He provides perfect comic relief and he's just adorable.

Disney films are rather guilty of having two people fall in love rather quickly based on next to nothing and then living happily ever after. It seems as if this film goes in that direction when Anna falls for Prince Hans of the Southern Isles and accepts a proposal within an evening of meeting. When Anna is once again injured by Elsa's magic, her condition is said to be cured by an act of true love, suggesting Hans should save the day. The ending switches things around and Anna is cured because she threw herself in front of Elsa as Hans tried to kill her. The true love in this instance wasn't romantic love, but sisterly love. I really enjoyed this subverting of typical Disney tropes and the story is the best Disney has produced in a while.

The music of the film is delightful and another reason for the film's success. The filmmakers opted to hire Broadway composers to create these fun songs of varied styles. Do You Want to Build a Snowman is a cute, but sad song that encompasses Anna and Elsa's relationship after the accident and each of their loneliness and frustration. For the First Time in Forever is a cute song that shows Anna silly and quirky nature and her excitement for human contact and a dash of Elsa's mantra to control her powers. Love is an Open Door is an adorable instalove song between Anna and Hans with more of a rock feel and fun harmonies. In Summer is Olaf's hilarious song about his obsession with summer, but he has no idea what snow does in heat. The song has a nice old Hollywood musical flair and some unexpected lyrics. The best song of the film is Let It Go, Elsa's song of empowerment where she accepts herself despite what others think of her. Idina Menzel belts out the song and gives it the power it needs. The visuals are also amazing as Elsa effortlessly builds an ice castle around herself.



The only part of the film I didn't really like was the trolls. They were cute and provided some comedy, but didn't really add much to the story. They could have easily been cut out without anything essential being removed. Other than that, Frozen has my vote for best animated film of 2013.

My rating: 9/10 fishmuffins

Fathomless

Lo and Celia are both not normal girls. Lo is a soulless ocean girl with no memory of her previous human life as Naida. She and her ocean sisters wait for the time when the angels will come and take them away. In the meantime, they can try to make human boys love them and drown them to return to get their souls back and return human form, but it has never worked, as far as any of them can remember. Celia and her two sisters are triplets, which is uncommon, but they also have special powers that allow them to see into various aspects of people's lives through touch. Celia considers her power to see into the past is basically useless, but finds purpose when she and Lo meet. They work together to save a boy from drowning. Celia, curious about Lo, looks for her later and works to help her remember her human self and how she came to be an ocean girl. They find themselves building relationships with the boy, Jude, and working against each other. Celia wants love, but Lo wants her soul back.

I love fairy tale retellings and Jackson Pearce's have been the best in the genre so far. Fathomless lives up to the rest of her novels and puts a new, dark spin on my favorite fairy tale, The Little Mermaid. The original tale by Hans Christian Andersen has some very dark elements, including the stabbing pain every time the mermaid steps in human form, her option to kill the prince to become a mermaid once again, and the unhappy, weirdly religious ending. Fathomless makes great use of these elements by slightly altering them instead of entirely omitting them like many other retellings. My favorite example of this is the ocean girls waiting to become angels. After they forget who they were and transform into cold ocean beings, an angel comes to free them and makes them into angels. Instead of being something beautiful and redemptive like in the original story, where the mermaid becomes an air spirit to earn her soul after she dies, this transformation is revealed to be something much more nefarious.

The characters and the plot are much more fleshed out than in the original tale. Lo is kind of like two people in one. The Lo personality is a soulless ocean girl, inhuman, cold, and dangerous. The Naida personality tries to hold on to every single human memory discovered with Celia's help. She is desperate to get her life back and return to human form. Celia is my favorite character. She has never really had an identity of her own and lives beneath her sisters' shadows. Lo presents her with a unique opportunity to use her special power to see into people's pasts, which she has always found to be patently useless. Jude became her first friend separate from her sisters and her first date. The romance is organic and sweet and also didn't overpower the story as is typical in YA books. These multidimensional characters really elevate the story and bring it into the modern age.

Fathomless is the best retelling of The Little Mermaid I have ever read. I love that Jackson Pearce chose to embrace the darkness of the original story while adding her own spin to it. I also like how it relates to both Sweetly and Sisters Red. I can't wait to read the next book in the series, Cold Spell, a retelling of the Snow Queen.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins

Brave

Princess Merida of the Dunbroch clan hates tradition, despises it with every fiber of her being. She loves adventuring, riding her horse, and, above all, archery. Her mother always reprimands her for doing unladylike things, which cover just about everything she likes, and instructs her how to be proper and respectful. The lessons culminate when Merida is expected to marry the young man who wins the competition between the three clans in the kingdom. Refusing to conform to convention, Merida decides to compete for her own hand and wins. She and her mother fight, leaving both tearful, frustrated, and angry. Merida rides into the woods and is let to a witch's cottage by wisps. After buying all the witch's wooden wares, she gives Merida a spell to changer her mother which would in turn change her fate. The spell doesn't go as Merida wanted, so she and her mother go in search of the witch to change her mother back to the way she was.

I have been looking forward to Brave for a long time and it definitely didn't disappoint me. This is the first Pixar film to feature both a setting in the past and a female protagonist. Both the medieval Scottish setting and Merida serve the film well. The lush greens and wonderful Scottish landscapes are just perfect for this film. They really help in creating the mood of possibility, mystery, and magic. The visuals are breathtakingly beautiful and seem more realistic than many other recent computer animated films. Merida is a breath of fresh air after so many simpering, weak, boring female protagonists of recent years. Merida is as fiery and wild as her hair. She knows who she is and what she wants in life. Her intelligence and cleverness sometimes get her into trouble, but it's nice to see these qualities revered for once. Even though she rashly makes decisions without thinking them through and hurts some people in the process, I appreciated that this warrior princess erred on the side of impulse. Beneath it all, she truly loved and cared for her family, but didn't really know how to balance their needs with her own. Her endearing personality and the goodness at her core outweighed her carelessness and the ramifications of her impulsive actions on everyone around her.

I don't believe this is really a children's film. It's a film that really speaks to mothers and teenage daughters. The conflict between Merida and her mother Elinor that is in the center of this film has no clear side that is right. Merida wants what any teenage girl wants: freedom to be herself and pursue her dreams. An arranged marriage is the last thing she wants. Elinor, on the other hand, has more than herself and her daughter to think about. The fate of the kingdom is in her hands and she must think of the kingdom's safety and wellbeing as well as her family's. Both of these women have valid worries and concerns. If they had spoken to each other rationally, they may have resolved their problems before anyone got transformed, but they are both stubborn and felt they couldn't open up to each other. I think anyone can relate to not being able to communicate with their parents or their teenaged children. Although there is a witch that can be blamed on the surface for Merida and Elinor's predicament, the real villain of the piece is really Merida, her rash decisions, and her inability to take responsibility for them. The witch is an easy scapegoat for younger viewers who don't yet understand more complex themes, but she is only in the film for a very short time and isn't particularly malicious. Some of the humor in the film is fairly simple and childish I believe to entertain young children, but the bulk of the film is for a much older crowd.

One of the main shining stars of this film for me is the soundtrack. It is phenomenal and is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. I'm not too familiar with Patrick Doyle's body of work besides Thor, but after this I will seek out anything else he does. The soundtrack is incredibly varied and utilizes a variety of instruments from the Scottish culture, such as bagpipes, dulcimers, flutes, a fiddle, and a bodhran. Scottish reels and jigs create excitement and momentum, while a simple lullaby theme featuring quiet dulcimer and solemn fiddle create tenderness and sadness. My favorite is the lullaby theme from the song Noble Maiden Fair sung in Gaelic by Merida and Elinor. When that theme recurs throughout the film, it just pulls on my heart strings and makes me cry. I also loved that 3 featured songs came from the movie: Touch the Sky and Into the Open Air performed by Julie Fowlis, my new favorite Scottish singer, and Learn Me Right by Mumford and Sons. I love all these songs and have been listening to the whole soundtrack on loop since I saw it earlier this week. Another gorgeous song by Julie Fowlis was featured in the trailer for Brave, but wasn't on the soundtrack called Tha Mo Ghaol Air Aird A' Chuain. It's another gorgeous song with Julie Fowlis' pure tones and a simple strings accompaniment and one of two that are actually in Gaelic.



In addition to being incredibly entertaining, full of heart, and full of emotion, Brave is a good step forward in fairy tale films. First, it's an original tale with the basic trappings that put the audience at ease. However, the conclusion is much different than most princess stories. ** SPOILERS** At the end of the film, Merida and Elinor come to a compromise and it's agreed by all the the young people will choose their own spouses. Unlike many other fairy tales, there is no real love interest for Merida and she doesn't get married at the end. She is not defined as a character by any romantic relationship. It also lets the audience see an alternative to marriage or having a family as a life choice in general. I found that refreshing in a genre that almost always ends with a marriage and a happily ever after. I loved Brave and consider it one of my favorite Pixar films. It was entertaining to both children and adults and pushed the boundaries of what a fairy tale princess film can be.

My rating: 9/10 fishmuffins

Entwined

Azalea is the oldest of twelve girls to the royal family of a modest kingdom and she holds a lot of responsibility. After the birth of her eleventh sister, her mother tragically dies, leaving her and her hoard of sisters with their distant and cold father. Now that they are in mourning, they must shun many of the activities they enjoyed when their mother was alive, including wearing colorful dresses, attending parties, and dancing. Azalea, after being victim to her father's constant disappointment and disapproval, stumbles upon a secret room in the castle that leads to a mysterious and beautiful silver forest. In this forest dwells a mysterious man called the Keeper who seems nice at first, giving the girls a place to dance, slippers to dance in, and people to dance with. As times goes on, he gets more sinister and creepy, forcing the girls to return night after night with threats. How will Azalea save her sisters from the Keeper and keep her father ignorant of their troubles?

This is a retelling of a The 12 Dancing Princesses that far surpasses the original. I just read it this past year in a fairy tales class and I just found it weird. The princesses seem like creepy, frivolous sociopaths who don't really care that people regularly die trying to figure out where they dance at night. This retelling takes those sociopathic girls and actually makes them relatively normal, if a little rambunctious and energetic. I immediately liked Azalea and her sisters, who all have been alphabetically named after some sort of plant (Azalea, Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, etc.). I thought 12 sisters would be too much to keep track of, but most of the girls had such defined, bold, and different personalities that they were hard to forget. The eldest 3 sisters are the main characters of the work, but the others still have significant roles. Azalea, Bramble, and Clover could not be more different. Azalea is the most like her mother, taking care of her sisters and shouldering a lot of responsibility, while Bramble is the most energetic and fun loving. Clover is the most reserved and quiet, but will stand up for what she believes in when it matters. All of the sisters loved and cared for each other even when everyone else basically abandoned them after their mother's death. I liked all of them except for Delphinium, who was endlessly annoying and pessimistic.

I enjoyed the role dancing and magic played in the novel. The close knit siblings weren't as frivolous as their fairy tale counterparts seemed to be. There was no defined reason for the dancing that had grave consequences in the original tale. In Entwined, the girls used dancing as a coping mechanism for their grief and to still feel close to their mother in some way. It also serves as a way for Azalea to teach her sisters about discipline, poise, and proper demeanor. The magic aspects of the world aren't immediately apparent, but kind of sneak up on you as you read. It starts small with an ill tempered magic tea set and ends with magical silver, enchanted passages, and an creepy villain with dark magic. I liked how the magic in the castle was really a relic of the past, enchanted by a past king, and people just didn't know how much magic was there or how to unenchant it. I enjoyed the understated and believable magic as well as the role dancing played for the sisters.

Entwined breathes new life into the flat characters and bizarre story of the 12 Dancing Princesses. I loved the romance, magic, emotions, characters, and relationships portrayed. I would definitely read anything else Heather Dixon writes in the future.

My rating: 4/5 fishmuffins

Snow White and the Huntsman

This fairy tale film follows the basic plot points of the Grimm's Brothers' classic tale while preserving and even deepening the dark tone and fleshing out the flat, stock characters. These efforts vary in level of success, so I will start with the aspects I felt were successful.  The original tale is already pretty dark by itself with the evil queen wanting to cannibalize Snow White, but the film pushes the boundaries even more than I expected. The Evil Queen is the most evil and sadistic than I have ever seen in a fairy tale film. She gleefully sucks the youth and beauty out of random townspeople to fuel her magic and keep herself looking flawless. Her ability to kill with a touch and create construct soldiers make of glass and rock give a sense of real danger to the tale. It doesn't come as a surprise that a large group of women gather their daughters to live in a town far away and scar their faces to avoid the queen's attention and need to destroy beauty. For a PG-13 fairy tale film, I was very impressed that the dark tone of the Grimm tale was preserved and even made darker than their version of the tale.

Everything visual about the film was amazing. The setting and the special effects were phenomenal, especially the glass/metal constructs the queen makes. The CGI or makeup (I'm not sure which) that was used to age Charlize Theron's face was incredibly realistic. She went from young to old throughout the film in varying degrees in relation to how much magic she used and how many people she drained of youth and health. My favorite visual aspect was the costumes. Ravenna had about as many costume changes as Lady Gaga as she had different dress for almost every scene. The inclusion of bones was genius on her clothing as well as her metal claws and spiky crowns. There is no denying that this is a really pretty film.

I loved the Evil Queen, Ravenna. Instead of a mindlessly evil, two dimensional character, we got a deliciously evil queen with a tragic past and awesome magical powers. She vehemently hates men because in her experience they use and discard women when they are no longer useful or beautiful. This mentality creates her obsession to stay young and beautiful to keep her powers. Ravenna is by far the most interesting and magnetic character in the film. I can't help but feel some sympathy for her even as she eats raven organs and sucks the youth and health from people while sadistically looking into their eyes as she does it. I wish the whole film would have been about her her life from penniless orphan leading up to becoming the evil sorceress queen that conquers kingdom after kingdom. Charlize Theron did an excellent job capturing Ravenna's wide range of emotion and making her the most memorable character in this retelling.

The two things that really brought the film down for me were Kristen Stewart and the masses of unnecessary background characters. Kirsten Stewart's version of acting is grabbing her hair, sighing, hyperventilating, and leaving her mouth vacantly open for about 90% of the film. She has about 3 facial expressions and acts just as she does in Twilight and, from what I have seen, as she does in real life. Her character is only slightly better than Bella because the writing behind the film is better.The only nice thing I can say is that her natural hazel eye color looks much better than the brown contacts she had to wear in the Twilight films. In addition to a main character I cared literally nothing for, there were way too many minor characters. The Huntsman was fine and necessary, but Christ Hemsworth is a good actor and he was given very little to do. Snow's childhood friend Will was not needed at all. The love triangle had barely any actual romance and the two male characters could have been made into one. The dwarves were pretty useless as well, although generally enjoyable. They just seemed to eat up screen time while Snow meandered about until the final battle. The film needed a lot of streamlining both in the plot and in the characters.

Overall, I would say Snow White and the Huntsman is an enjoyable summer movie. It's definitely not perfect and could have used a lot of improvement, but it's a small step in the right direction for fairy tale films. If nothing else, go see if for Charlize Theron, the dark tone, and the beautiful visuals.

My rating: 7/10 fishmuffins