Patricia C. Wrede

I'm a blonde and my closest sister is a redhead, so as one half of my own Snow White and Rose Red, I may have been predisposed to love this book. Still, there's something about the combination of Elizabethan England, a prince warped into bear form (and his determined brother), Faerie, selfish alchemists, and Robin Goodfellow that makes for a fantastic retelling...and one that I greatly enjoy rereading.

Say what you want about 1980s science fiction and fantasy, but some of it (like this novel) stands the test of time and the books are far better quality than those that are getting published these days! Patricia C. Wrede presents us with a tale inspired by a classic story from the Brothers Grimm, wherein two sisters (the titular Snow White and Rose Red, or in this case Blanche and Rosamund) must face a finicky foe to get their just rewards. The original is a strange little tale, but Wrede show more crafts a narrative that draws on a unique intersection of reality and Faerie in the London-adjacent town of Mortlak that works perfectly in the story’s Tudor setting. Sisters Blanche and Rosamund Arden live with their mother just outside of town, where they are easily able to traipse through the (Faerie-infested) woods for the herbs that make their mother’s healing business successful, setting the stage for some expected complications with their fae neighbours. But it is the townsfolk (namely true historical characters John Dee and Edward Kelly), who draw the ire of the fae when they cast a spell that steals the magic from one of the half-mortal princes of Faerie, Hugh, and transform him into a bear. In typical Shakespearean fashion, the bear shows up at the Arden’s cottage, and it falls to the sisters to figure out how to return Hugh to his rightful shape. Interposed are storylines which explore themes of the boundaries between the mortal and fae realms, carefully wrought magic lore, and lusciously described settings of the town and forest which work in perfect conjunction with Wrede’s lightly Elizabethan narrative style. While I may have read this novel before (years ago), it is so well written that the story remained fresh and even though I knew that both sisters would end up happily ever after I couldn’t wait to delve back into the book, chapter after chapter. And now apparently we’re accidentally rhyming, so we’ll leave Robin Goodfellow where we found him (spying for both sides and causing mischief, no matter the story in which he appears!) and bid the English forest and Mortlak adieu! show less

The wizards are up to no good again, and this time it starts with a seven-foot-tall rabbit named Killer who ran afoul of the residual effects of a spell. The wizards have stolen Mendanbar’s sword, and Cimorene, Morwen, Kazul, and Telemain set out on a quest to recover it — along with a couple of Morwen’s cats and Killer, who seems to have an absolute genius for getting into magical mishaps.

There’s so much to love here. The interactions between characters are fantastic, the humor is show more delightful, and the plot moves briskly on through various twists and turns. This is my favorite book of the series, even though it does end in a whopping big cliffhanger. Read it, but have the sequel at hand. show less

Oh, I like a story that starts by dissing your typical princess, and moves right on to a spunky, intelligent heroine, who happens to be disadvantaged by her birth. Princess Cimorene would rather be eaten by dragons than marry an eligible prince, so to the dragons she goes when threatened by this horrible fate. Fresh, funny and self-respecting, and a main character with an organizational bent – love it!