The Stepsister Scheme

Just a lot of fun. Full review to come. Must get the rest of the series now.

Ok, a good night's sleep later, I'm ready to talk about this book. For the sake of my OCD completionist soul, I must say I started this book via the audio version, but finished it in the print version. This is not a knock on the audio -- the read was excellent and my husband finished it via audio. I just felt the need to switch to print (especially since I had BOUGHT it already) because tension is easier for me to handle in text.

ANYWAY...

I enjoyed this smash up-mash up of fairy tale princesses kicking ass and taking names. I'll admit it, I think I liked it better than [a:Mercedes Lackey|8685|Mercedes show more Lackey|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1215643156p2/8685.jpg]'s [b:The Fairy Godmother|13982|The Fairy Godmother (Five Hundred Kingdoms, #1)|Mercedes Lackey|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347732340s/13982.jpg|16082], which is saying something since I recommend that book highly. It shares qualities with Lacky's book but the humor, the attitude, and the general atmosphere is more adventure and less love story (although it certainly has a love story). There were also a lot of out-loud laughs, which I don't get from many books.

I also enjoyed the humanness of the main characters and the way they built relationships with each other, which was a nice touch. Nobody is perfect, and even the villains have motives that make sense (because a good villain does not think he/she is a villain, but deserving of the things he/she wants, and justified in his/her methods of getting them.) That's a nice trick when it's played right, and I think Hines plays all the right cards.

But, best of best, I think Hines did his research. I'm a fan of the fairy tale, both in original forms and in refashioned/retold versions. The originals were a long cry from the Disneyfied versions many of us know, full of violence, sex, cruelty and other stuff from deep in the human psyche. This is the place Hines goes to get his versions of classic fairy tale princesses. These women aren't saccharine lace paper cut outs tossing in the winds of fate, but women who have ridden the tides of trauma and carry the scars. I not only enjoy how he used the original sources, but I respect it. Good job, sir.

Now to get on with the rest of the series :) show less

"The Stepsister Scheme" is one of the few books recently that I've stayed up until the early hours to finish. It was a lot of fun. It was quirky, original, not afraid to handle dark themes but ultimately powered by selfless bravery and optimism.

The Stepsister Scheme" tells the tale of three Princesses who set out to rescue a handsome Prince. These are not Disney Princesses with phenomenal hair, over-large eyes and chart-topping singing voices. These are Princesses who have survived the appalling abuse handed out to them in the original Grimm fairy tales and have gone on to become resourceful, talented, dangerous women who won't necessarily get to live happily ever after.

You'll recognise the three Princesses as the story unfolds, but show more you won't have seen this side of them before. Jim Hines presents his Princesses with a wonderful mix of humour, tension, excitement and I-want-to-stand-up-and-applaud originality that is a joy to read.

This is a story that seldom went where I expected it to go. It was humorous, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, but the humour was a gloss on a tale about the strength it takes for young women to survive the things that people do to them.

The Fairies in this book are the stuff of nightmare rather than bedtime stories. There is violence and cruelty and more violence. There are men in the story but they are necessary to the plot, not central to the story-telling The worst and the best characters in this book are all female and they are all formidable.

The world-building is solid, the pacing is good, the ideas are original and the action scenes are tense and exciting. And all of this is has a big bow of humour tied around it to make you smile even when blood is being spilt.

Reading Jim Hines, I feel I've found another talent as original and energetic as Terry Pratchett, only with all the books still ahead of me. I read his trope-twisting Sci-Fi novel "Terminal Alliance.- Janitors of the Post-apocalypse " and enjoyed it. I only discovered his fantasy novels when I was searching for something to read for the "Grimm Tales" square in Halloween Bingo over on BookLikes. Now I'm hooked. I've already started the second book in the series. show less

I'm pretty sure I say this a lot, but Fairy Tales--and fairy tale reinventions--fascinate me. From the days of Happily Ever After on HBO to the wonderful, dark Vertigo title Fables--if its about a fairy tale I will give it a chance. This isn't to say I enjoyed them all (I'm not a fan of Shelly Duvall's Fairy Tale Theatre, wasn't even as a child), but I will give them a chance. I'm a late comer to The Stepsister Scheme, which came out earlier this year and until the upcoming sequel knew very little about it. I loved the cover, it had three 'classic' princesses done over and Happily Ever After existed--at a lifelong price.

I'm pleased to note that The Stepsister Scheme falls into the 'happy to have known' category. Danielle (Cinderella, show more and to note in Ever After 'Cinderella's' name was Danielle as well) doesn't take things laying down. She has her moments when she indulges in cliche'd princess behavior, but overall she comes across as a real person. Her reactions (such as to Talia) were believable and quite frankly she cracked me up. It was sometimes jarring when she'd go from Amazon to Princess, but by in large Hines straddles the line quite well.

Talia (aka Sleeping Beauty) is a pistol. She's cynical, tough and just shy of me thinking she's scary violent. Like the other two Princesses her backstory is comprised of the original tale and the watered down version a lot of people have learned it as. For those who've read the original tale, yes the Prince is still a right bastard for what he did to her and Talia isn't unhappy in saying so. She also decided to take a proactive stance against that happening every again and arms herself accordingly.

Snow (aka Snow White) took a little longer for me to cozen up to. Mostly because what I mistook for her being a tramp, was really her just being very confident in who she was and how she looked. By no means a lightweight in the fighting department, I think it thrilled her more to outwit the folks then anything else.

This isn't to say I loved it blindly, but its definitely been one of the better re-interpretations of the old tales (secret ninja Princesses is now my new favorite story device I think) I've read. Its definitely up there with Fables. And despite the fact it has an almost kid-like cover to it (at least to me) this is clearly an older teen to adult range book. Don't let the pretty princesses fool you folks--this isn't a Disney Princesses story at all.

Book 2, The Mermaid's Madness (with the Little Mermaid!) comes out October 6th with book 3 (Red Hood's Revenge) due out in 2010 and book 4 (Secret of the Snow Queen) due out in 2011. Titles and publish year are of course tentative and may change at any time. show less

Cinderella’s story didn’t end with “Happily ever after”. No fairy tale does. Princess Danielle is settling in at the palace after a long honeymoon when her vengeful stepsister kidnaps the prince and tries to assassinate the princess. Danielle is rescued by a 'serving girl’ named Talia, the famed Sleeping Beauty, who became a member of Queen Beatrice’s secret service after her own fairy tale came to an end. Along with Snow White, another of the queen’s extraordinary girls, they set out on a quest to bring Danielle’s husband back.
This book is really cool. It makes badass heroes out of fairy tale princesses and acknowledges the less pleasant aspects of these tales while keeping the happy, hopeful fairy tale spirit. We have show more Danielle, a pregnant newlywed who wields a magic sword, and whose main character trait is how incredibly nice she is; Talia, a kickass woman of colour who came out of her century of sleep spitting angry and has been fighting ever since; and Snow, a bubbly, fun-loving, flirtatious sorceress. And when you think it can’t get any better, one of our heroines turns out to be queer. The three damsels rescue their prince in distress and become found family along the way. show less

Pretty much every fairy tale ends with the words “And they lived happily ever after”. But do they? In The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines, the author picks up the story of Cinderella a few months after the marriage. Danielle is still very much in love with her Prince Armand, but her stepsisters haven’t accepted the situation at all. As the elder stepsister escapes after an attempt to assassinate Danielle, she leaves behind the knowledge that the Prince has been kidnapped. Danielle bands together with two other princesses whose happily ending didn’t work out, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Together these three princesses embark on a quest to save Armand.

The Stepsister Scheme was everything I look for in a fairy tale retelling. show more The author cleverly uses story elements from the original but enhances and broadens the story. The use of humor, action and magic move the story quickly. The three princesses were unique and interesting characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

This is the first book in this author’s Princess series and I can’t wait to carry on with these books and meet more kick-a** princesses. show less

Jim C. Hines weaves a marvelous yarn about three princesses in a world where magic has consequences, fairies are real, and 'happily ever after' isn't the end of the story. Unlike many recent books that take classic stories and try to make them into 'Buffy the Vampire/Zombie Slayer' or a series of films that makes fairy tales all about pop culture, this book takes a fresh approach to these traditional stories without getting too far out of character.

Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella know about the legends that are being told about themselves and each other. Legends that are only partially based on the truth. In due course, we learn more about what 'really' happened to each princess, all because Cinderella's step sisters decide show more to fight back.

Rather than add a thin patina of quaintness over a modern story with modern characters, the author creates a familiar world still a long time ago and far, far away and extrapolates what makes sense in that world. The result is a well told story that has both humor and danger and is just plain fun to read. show less

Wow that was a fun book. I very much enjoy that each of the princesses have both a very large strength and a flaw, keeping them out of Soulless Action Girl realm and making them interesting characters. This book focuses mostly on Danielle (Cinderella) who is one of those incredibly compassionate and forgiving characters that when done wrong can be terribly stupid, but showed a real growth and a willingness to see when Things Had To Happen. Her newness to the group was particularly useful as an introduction to the status quo as well, so I can understand why we're in her POV.

I really REALLY love her companions. Some people roll their eyes at Snow (White) but she's probably one of my favorite sorceress types out there; her flirtatiousness show more doesn't come out as fanservice-y like in some books, probably due to the fact that instead of just being a Pretty Girl With Magic Who Is The Hero's Love Interest she's incredibly nerdy and spends most of her time in the library, and there IS no love interest (unless you count the gnome she flirts with a lot, which is kind of endearing?). She's also the youngest, and her immaturity was believable. I really look forward to seeing her character grow too.

And then there's Talia (Sleeping Beauty). Oh. My. God. Way to pull out everything I find creepy about the original fairytale and turn around and make her BADASS. Both her and Snow have had some pretty traumatizing things done to them (and in Danielle's case, JUST HAPPENING), and it's really lovely to see how she draws strength from that. But unlike a lot of the badass types of females, you get moments with Talia's vulnerability, which instead of making her weak just makes you kind of love her more for being so refreshingly HUMAN. I also really adore her close relationships with both the Queen and Snow, there was a bit where Snow was talking her through a briar patch which just really warmed me. Women (pretty and talented even) getting along and looking out for each other WHY IS THERE NOT MORE OF THIS IN FANTASY/SCI-FI.

Also, there's some refreshingly normal takes on queerness (humans are still a little uptight about it, but most of the other magical races have varying degrees of normalcy with it) that makes me wish that this had been around when I was 14. Seriously. I look forward to how one thing in particular gets resolved in this realm. Because. Yeah. Awesome. show less