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Loading... Tales of Wonderby Jane Yolen
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  kitsune_reader | Nov 23, 2023 |  no reviews | add a review
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A breathtaking collection of literary fairy stories from an award-winning fantasist Author Jane Yolen speaks to the ancient magic within us all in this anthology of 30 grown-up fairy stories--lovely, lyrical, poignant, sometimes frightening tales of transformations and transfigurations, magical destinies and dangerous quests, strange visions, reawakenings, and just desserts. A past winner of the Nebula Award, World Fantasy Award, and numerous other honors, Yolen takes her rightful place alongside the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, combining innovative literary style with fables that reimagine the myths of old and some of her legendary predecessors' most cherished characters: Cinderella, simple Jack, Guinevere, Icarus, and the Frog Prince. Step into Yolen's wondrous realm of magic and dreams, where a curious young woman's desire to read the future leads her to the weaver of tomorrow; a farm boy with the voice of an angel seeks out Lady Death to sing for the life of his mother; and a sow, a cow, and a mare set out together to see the world. These timeless stories tell of an eager girl's entrance into the Hall of Grief and a sunless prince who fears the vengeance of a jealous star. A tree-bound young dryad longs to dance in the spring, and a grumpy old potter pours his heart and soul into his greatest work. Yolen's stories are unforgettable tales of the heart and the spirit; they are truly tales of wonder. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.75)
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Wikipedia in English
5
In this collection there are a large number of stories, some inspired by traditional tales, folktales or fairy tales, such as Cinderella or Pinnocchio, and others perhaps based on less well known international tales but a lot with beginnings like 'Not so very long ago, a sow, a mare and a cow were friends' or 'In a time when the rivers ran crystal clear all the way down to the sea ....' Others are extracts from what became her novels 'Cards of Grief' or the second in the White Jenna series - that story is recognisably a sequence from near the end of the second book but has changes (even without going back to the novel to check) such as the chief villain being present in the dungeon scene instead of one of his henchmen. Still others are longer stories which could be material for a novel, such as the one about the boy who steals and rears a baby dragon on a planet where dragons are used to fight in an arena and can win freedom for their owners.
With such a varied collection there should be some which please the reader - some were dark, some I wasn't so keen on, but the collection as a whole balanced out into a solid 3 star read. (