Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales

Okay, at first I thought it was me, but five stories in, it's definitely the author. I love a good fairy tale retelling. These are not good. They don't make sense. Sleeping Beauty was just one what the hell is happening moment after another. So many details took me out of the stories, for example Rapunzel's LIPSTICK. Despite the incredible audio narrator, I have to give this one up.

**An ARC was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

Finishing this book I'm conflicted. The word choice and tone feel like the target audience is middle schoolers, but the topics very frequently went serious to the point where I, an adult woman, was horrified. I feel like there should have been some commitment to matching the prose to the topics, but there was a huge disconnect that made several parts weirdly uncomfortable.

Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales is an anthology of fairy tale retellings, many with changed themes from the originals and all paired with gorgeous artwork. I love fairy tales and fairy tale retellings so when this arc arrived in the mail I was pleasantly surprised. I did enjoy the opening show more retelling of Little Red Riding Hood as well as the retelling of The Little Mermaid. There as a large effort to diversify these tales which I really appreciated, but unfortunately the other 10 retellings felt flat. I can really only recommend this anthology to die-hard fairy tale fans that love retellings. show less

Interesting retelling of classic fairytale. Some are really intriguing reimaginings, and some fall rather flat.

I enjoyed the feel of the stories, the slightly darker tone gave them a fresh edge. Plot changes were not always original, or with great impact. Worth a read, but not breathtaking.

Livro de história curtas e alteradas em relação ao original. Umas mais conscientes que outras. No geral a mensagem original de "esperança, acreditar, partilhar o bem com os outros" está lá. Mas mais vingativa e por vezes até mais sofrida que o original.
Numa altura em que temos presente a magia do natal, ler este livro soube bem.
Uma boa maneira de acabar o ano de leituras.

Da história de Peter Pan:
"Houve o ano em que Peter fez uma poção de bruxa, achando que poderia voltar no tempo para que pudéssemos ter mais dia juntos, o que só fez com que ficássemos do tamanho de salamandras. Houve o ano em que Peter me deu tic-tic-tics para comer, pequenos vermes fluorescentes da floresta que fazem a pessoa rir tanto que ela não show more consegue parar, e acordamos todas as feras selvagens, que nos perseguiram através da terra e da água. Não importava o perigo, todas as aventuras terminavam com Peter me salvando ou eu salvando Peter, e uma corrida para chegar à Estrela Polar e me entregar em casa antes do fim do sétimo dia, com uma série de lembranças que durariam até a próxima primavera." show less

A dark and melancholic collection of fairy tale retellings.

Loved this so much! Favorite of 2021! Soman Chainani has become an autobuy author for me.

I loved all of the stories in here, but my absolute favorite is probably Snow White.

To hear my full thoughts on this one, check out the Diversity is Lit Bookclub discussion: https://youtu.be/z6gL9N8T9wc

Beautiful illustrations.