ISBN: 0698119606
This is a collection of four short novellas, two of which are retellings of old fairy tales, the other two are originals. At least I think they are, I haven’t heard or read any other versions of them. The four stories are:
- The Stolen Princess
- The Princess and the Frog
- The Hunting of the Hind
- The Twelve Dancing Princesses
The lack of characterisation was off putting, but I still enjoyed the writing in this book. McKinley has a lovely style that just lets the words flow creating wonderful scenes and worlds. I didn’t devour this book at all, still, the stories are interesting, my favourite was The Hunting of the Hind and I’m sure that any fans of McKinley would enjoy this book.
Both the original and retold stories are almost simplistic in their plots, but that is to be expected with fairy tales and stories inspired by them. I did however notice that the writer of the blurb may not have actually read the stories. The blurb says that in the world of The Stolen Princess Linadel lives in a world where princesses are stolen on there 17th birthday, but that isn’t actually true. Yes, teenage girls are stolen, but they don’t have to be princesses, and not every princess is taken.
Enough of the giving out about the blurb though, this is a well-written collection, and although they won’t be listed among my favourites I still enjoyed reading it.
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