Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood

Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hoodis the third story in Liesl Shurtliff's True Fairy Tale series.

This tale takes a slightly different turn from the earlier books in the series, which completely reexamine the characters Rumpelstiltskin in Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin and Jack in Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk giving us entertaining new stories.

We have already met Red Riding Hood in previous adventures and in this novel she teams up with Goldie. There are two twists in this story, but not enough to make it as engaging as the previous two novels. Red and her Grandmother are witches, but Red is struggling to embrace her powers and has almost killed her grandmother trying to adapt. That is not in the original tale. The second is that the wolf and Red are friends, he risks his life to save hers. Again this moves it away from the original, but not enough to make it interesting. These just aren't as the same kinds of bold changes made in the the previous novels that made them quick reads.

The crisis that moves the plot is Red's Grandmother is dying. Not able to face losing her, Red finally is compelled to consider magic as a solution to keeping her grandmother alive. However, as she and Goldie set out to find something to save her Grandmother she finds that kind of magic always has a hidden cost. The outcome is rarely what one hopes for and generally provides less than ideal results.

Along the path she meets people who help her come to terms the reality that her quest is not one that will benefit her Grandmother. A turning point comes when she discovers what the cost was for Beauty when she sought to stay young forever. On her return from that encounter she meets someone that has turned even darker pursuing eternal life and is only saved when she can fully embrace her own magic and stop fearing death.

This is an interesting tale, but not quite up to the standards set in the first two novels of the series. There are so many possibilities for an alternate story of Red's life. This one seemed a bit lacking.

Flunked

If you're interested in Fairy Tale characters finding their happily ever after Jen Catonita's Fairy Tale Reform School might be worth a read. In the first novel, Flunked we learn the fate of Cinderella's evil stepmother. It appears Cinderella's marriage was a wake up call for Flora, Cinderella's stepmother and after reforming herself, she has gathered together other reformed villains and started a school to help young future villian fairy tale characters have a chance to reform.

In the beginning of the story we meet Gilly, the daughter of the woman in the shoe. Her starving siblings have driven her to stealing and after her latest encounter with the law, she is sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School. I've always been amazed how many boarding schools exist in fantasy literature. While it serves as a practical setting for isolating students from parents and home life, as an American it isn't a common education option for most students. However, despite the fact that most students have never attended boarding school, they still seem to enjoy stories where characters attend one.

I had looked into this series for someone who is a fan of the Ever After High series, but had read everything available from the TV series. This series has some of the charm of alternate stories for the fairy tale characters. While a thief, Gilly proves herself to be a good friend to several of the other students sentenced to the school.

The plan for the story was an interesting one. The school is under threat from a returning villain. The execution could have been a bit stronger. Ironically, I usually see character development sacrificed to plot. In this case, there was some surprisingly good character development and interaction. The plot just needed to be a little tighter to make it work. Perhaps I've been spoiled by some great children's fantasy writers, but it is possible to write creative plots that are strong in execution and ideas.

I'm going to read the next book to see how the story progresses and see if the series grows and if the potential plot lines deliver on the potential.

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack: The True Story of Jack and the Beanstalk is the second book in Liesl Shurtliff's Fairy Tale series.

This book changes the premise of the story. The reader is presented with the idea that giants aren't giants, but instead that Jack is an elf. Just by changing premise of the story, the actions of all the characters from the traditional tale tilt. This book opens up the universe from the previous novel Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskinbut keeps connects the stories characters consistently.

The author has upended the whole concept of the Jack stories as she did with Rump. Jack is still a mischievous child. However, he also shows a good deal more responsibility and remorse for his action in this story than he does in the traditional tales. The author sets up Jack for a different experience however. In the traditional tale, Jack's father is dead and he is struggling to help his mother keep the family going. In this story Jack's family is intact. His father is his role model and defender. Jack's father tells him stories of his Grandfather the giant killer filling his son's desire for adventure. He also is the one who reminds the mother character that a boy's high energy is natural not a sign of evil. When the giants attack and his father goes missing, this triggers Jack's trade of the cow for the magic beans that will allow him to go to the land of the giants to rescue his father. It was a small, but interesting twist to the story.

In this version Jack discovers the giants have an ecological disaster on their hands due to an overuse of magic. They have been raiding Jack's world for food as their own land has been cursed and will no longer grow. However, do to the small size of the animals and the food, they require the use of elves to help them to milk the smaller cows and to help out with tasks too small for the giants to manage.

Those who have read Rump, will soon understand who the giants really are and also understand how this problem got so bad for the kingdom. Jack's is able to help both worlds reach a satisfactory conclusion to the problem.

My criticism of the book is similar to the first novel. Jack is a much rounder character than we find in most of the traditional tales. Even some of the supporting characters are deeper than one might expect. However the villains are still not as well balanced as they could be and remain flat.