Aka, I read the books and think “Oh I really need to write (even a mini one) reviews for them”. I’m really trying to clean my super old arcs out and sometimes the best way for that tends to be mini-reviews!
Disclaimer: I received these e-arcs through the publishers, Netgalley, and Edelweiss in exchange for free and honest reviews. The book covers and details are taken from Goodreads and the content warnings are taken from The Storygraph, from me reading the book, or from others’ reviews. I try my absolute best to find the cover art/designer but unfortunately I am not always able to do so. The featured image is my own. All opinions expressed are my own.
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Title: The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Author: Jacob Grimm (Illustrator), Wilhelm Grimm, Arthur Rackham (Illustrations)
Number of Pages: 752
Year Published: 2020
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group – Rock Point
Cover Art/Designer: Can’t find it
Genre: Childrens ~ Fantasy ~ Short Stories ~ Fairy Tales
Stars: 
Links: Goodreads || The Storygraph
Copy: E-arc (Netgalley)
Featuring 211 classic tales from the Brothers Grimm, including favorites such as “Hansel and Gretel,” “Cinderella,” “The Frog Prince,” “Rapunzel,” “Snow White,” and “Rumpelstiltskin,” The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales is accompanied by 40 color plates and 60 black-and-white illustrations from award-winning English illustrator Arthur Rackham, whose books and prints are now highly sought-after collectibles.
Originally titled Children’s and Household Tales, The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales contains what have been the essential bedtime stories for children worldwide for over two centuries. The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, were German linguists and cultural researchers who gathered legendary folklore and aimed to collect the stories exactly as they heard them.
The fourth book in the Timeless Classics series from Rock Point has nearly 800 pages of classic fairy tales to enjoy and features a gorgeous deckled edge, ribbon marker, and foil and deboss details on a vibrantly colored case–a standout for your personal library collection.
The Timeless Classics series from Rock Point brings together the works of classic authors from around the world. Complete and unabridged, these elegantly designed gift editions feature luxe, patterned endpapers, ribbon markers, and foil and deboss details on vibrantly colored cases. Celebrate these beloved works of literature as true standouts in your personal library collection.
Other titles in the series include: The Complete Novels of Jane Austen, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, The Complete Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
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I did not know that there were so many Grimm Brothers stories. Honestly, my knowledge mostly comes from The Brothers’ Grimm movie – with Heath Ledger (RIP) and Matt Damon. And then some of the more popular stories I know. But this had so many stories you could probably read this to your kids for years and still not reach the end. I even skim read most stories and that was still quite long. I think probably the most famous Grimm stories is Hansel and Gretel, but did you know they also wrote The Frog Prince, Rapunzel, and Cinderella? And most of the stories are… quite dark (which I’m not exactly sure you’d like to tell them to little kids, but I guess some kids’ movies are also violent and can get dark).
All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I’m definitely wanting to read more retellings that have the dark themes in common with the original. Or manage to find other, smaller collections of their tales and reading those. I think every storyteller has something different to contribute. My favourite storyteller is still Hans Christian Anderson because I love the way he tells the story. I now also really like the Brothers Grimm, also because of how they tell the story – very different to Anderson.
Title: Gods & Lies
Author: Elizabeth Vail
Number of Pages: 111
Year Published: 2020
Publisher: Serial Box
Cover Art/Designer: Can’t find anything
Genre: Adult ~ Fantasy ~ Mythology ~ Mystery
Stars:
Links: Goodreads || The Storygraph
Copy: E-arc (Netgalley)
CW/TW: (Taken from The Storygraph) Moderate: Animal death, Death, Torture
A priestess of justice and a disgraced demigod investigate a grisly murder that threatens the throw the uneasy balance between gods and mortals into chaos.
Gods make everything complicated. No one knows that better than Justix Iris Tharro, a human agent of the Goddess of Justice, still reeling from a scandal that almost ended her career. Grateful for a second chance, Iris’ mandate is clear: investigate crimes, mete out justice…and never again insert herself in the business of the Pantheon.
But when the dead body of a young woman is found on the altar in the wind god’s temple, iris quickly realizes her task might not be that simple. Because while murder is usually a human crime, this one is rife with magic only a God would be capable of. To accuse a God of murdering a human acolyte would do more than ruin Iris’ reputation (again); it could put her life at risk.
That’s why she needs a partner who knows the good, the bad, and the ugly consequences of dealing with the Gods. Enter Andy: a handsome demigod with a silver tongue, desperately trying to win back the favor of his sea goddess mother. It’s a challenging partnership, but there’s no one better to guide iris through black markets teeming with illegal relics, nightclubs full of nymphs, and the nefarious politics of the Pantheon . . . especially when it becomes clean that more than one immortal may have something to hide.
In a world where ancient grudges and human desires live side by side and the old ways die hard, Iris and Andy are confronted with an impossible choice: whether solving one human’s murder is worth the wrath of all the Gods.
This fun, fast-paced fantasy noir novel by Elizabeth Vail is perfect for fans of American Gods and The Maltese Falcon, and was originally published on Serial Box (serialbox.com).
I absolutely loved this book – actually looked just now to Amazon and Goodreads to see when the second book is coming out, couldn’t find anything, so I went to the author’s website. Apparently it’s available as an audio fiction podcast which I’m excited about! Now I can reread the first season (I suppose I could call it that?) before I listen to the second one.
The story is filled with action and quite a bit of humour, which I very much enjoyed. There’s mythology in, and honestly anything mythology is always going to get my attention – I’m just glad that it was well-written too. Iris and Andy were two fun characters to read, especially Andy. I feel like they played off of each other well and that they paired well with each other too.
Title: The Little Mermaid
Author: Hans Christian Andersen, Misha Hoekstra (translator)
Number of Pages: 64
Year Published: 2020
Publisher: Pushkin Children’s Books
Cover Art/Designer: Helen Crawford-White
Genre: Middle Grade ~ Fantasy ~ Fairy Tales ~ Mermaids
Stars:
Links: Goodreads || The Storygraph
Copy: E-arc (Edelweiss)
A beautifully illustrated new translation of a beloved Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale
Six young sisters live in the depths of the ocean, longing for the chance to see the beauty of the earth. Most eager of all is the youngest mermaid, who counts the days to her fifteenth birthday when her grandmother will finally allow her to rise to the surface.
Her first sight above the water is a large ship on which a beautiful prince is celebrating his sixteenth birthday. Immediately she falls in love, and so begins her determined quest to join the prince on earth as a human.
Full of wonder and heart, The Little Mermaid remains one of the most powerful fairy tales ever written, and this new, gorgeously illustrated translation gives it renewed life
Ariel’s always been one of my favourite Disney Princesses. It’s definitely the fact that she’s a mermaid and it’s sad that there aren’t more Little Mermaid adaptations! But I’m quite happy with what we got in Once Upon a Time and I can’t wait for the live-action adaptation!
It had gorgeous writing, just flowed across the pages and brought me into the story. It held true to the story we all know and love. The book also has The True-Hearted Tin Soldier, which was a happy surprise, as I love that story – so that was fun to see.
Fun fact: The words the little mermaid appears 49 times in the book.
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I do love fairy tales and mythology, so it makes sense that this post is all about the two. What about you? Are you a fan of fairy tales? Who’s your favourite storyteller? Or even Disney princess as most of them are based on a story – Frozen, for example, is based on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson is a favourite of mine (which isn’t hard as I love most of his stories).
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