A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales

The Wolf at the Door is a collection of fairytales retold by prominent writers in the Young Adult and Fantasy genres—exactly the sort of thing that tends to catch my eye and nag at my mind until I simply cannot resist the prospect of picking it up and reading it. This has happened twice now, and neither time have I been impressed by the entries. I was hoping that I would understand the stories better now I am older, and while that was the case in a few instances, comprehension did not necessarily lead to love.

There are a few selections here that I do feel stand out, however. Two of them, Neil Gaiman’s “Instructions” and Gregory Maguire’s “The Seven Stage a Comeback,” are mostly poetic in form: the former is a series of show more directions on what to do when one stumbles into a fairy tale (“It’s always best to be prepared for these things, after all”), while the latter has the seven dwarves hatching a plan for a reconciliation with Snow White—or is it revenge for her departure that they desire? I’ve often avoided the work of these two authors because of their tendency to utilize unnecessary adult content, but both of their submissions here are perfectly clean, as well as being witty, whimsical, and wildly creative.

Unfortunately, the prose selections are not nearly up to this standard. In terms of content and reading level, they range from Garth Nix’s dark and gruesome “Hansel’s Eyes” to Jane Yolen’s “Cinder Elephant,” which would be better suited to a child in the nursery than an eight- or ten-year-old, I think. This last tale really disappointed me, because I know Yolen is capable of so much more. That said, I did love her description of the skinny stepfamily, with “hearts so thin, you could read a magazine through them.” Also, so many of the retellings were painfully cliché, including—believe it or not—Nix’s. He seems to be the kind of author other readers might find incredibly creative because he makes so many cosmetic changes to the story, but his characters are both inhuman and unoriginal. Blegh.

Nancy Farmer’s “Falada,” Delia Sherman’s “The Months of Manhattan,” and Kathe Koja’s “Becoming Charise” are all passable, but not at all the sort of stories I am likely to remember.

Then Patricia McKillip comes in and blows them all away.

I do not say this because I am campaigning to become her Biggest Fan Ever. (I am, but that’s beside the point.) When I first read this collection years ago, I had no idea who she was, and I still thought her version of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” incredible. Unlike Nix, she makes relatively few cosmetic changes to the story, merely turning the Grimms’ old soldier into a young one, compressing the visits underground into one night, giving the princesses floral names, and making it explicit that they have pledged themselves to the dead. And yet—and yet, in sixteen brief pages she creates a fascinating interplay of light and shadow, with three-dimensional characters and thematic complexity. That’s it, Patricia. Show ‘em how it’s done.

Though I enjoyed the selections by McKillip, Gaiman, and Maguire, I would not recommend this collection overall. If one of your favorite authors submitted a story, check The Wolf at the Door out at your local library. Otherwise, let it be. show less

I originally chose this book from the library shelf because it was edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, whose collections of very severely twisted fairy tales for grown-ups (starting with Snow White, Blood Red) I adore, though they occasionally leave me slightly horrified or at least unsettled.

I was certainly not disappointed by the tales within, though these are, of course, suitable for a younger demographic than the ones I am accustomed to reading in the anthologies gathered by these two.

There are some excellent fairy tales in this book, often told from a strange new perspective - for instance, have you ever more deeply considered the story of Falada, who was The Goose Girl's horse? Nancy Farmer has, and retold it in her own show more way.

Or perhaps thought of what the giants thought of Jack, or how they came to live in the clouds, only reachable by a magic beanstalk? Michael Cadnum brings their story to life with incredible empathy for such usually neglected characters, and in a truly intriguing way.

Some of the fairy tales are also presented in vastly different settings than the ones we are used to when it comes to this kind of story - I think such things can be terribly effective.

Garth Nix's adaptation of Hansel and Gretel, for instance, is set in something approaching a modern city - and I must agree with his statement that being lost in cities is ever so much more terrifying than being lost in a forest.

The main characters of these fairy tales often think less like, well, something out of a fairy story, and more like someone we can empathise with - someone much like us, for all their fantastical situation or trials.

I greatly enjoyed the book, even wishing it were longer - though despite my occasional wish for more of a particular story, I suspect their teasing length is part of their charm - and will definitely be back to re-read it. show less

I loved this short story collection. My favorite was probably Neil Gaiman's rules for a fairy tale. Some of the tales were simply other perspectives of the tales we know and love such as Jack and the Beanstalk from the wife's point of view and the aftermath of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for the dwarves. Others were completely changed such Ali Baba and the 40 aliens or an interesting version of the Ugly Duckling involving Albert Einstein. This book was extremely enjoyable.

Perhaps it's because this book is intended for a YA audience, but I did not enjoy this as much as the other fairy tale anthologies that Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling edit. Some of them were good -- I definitely enjoyed the Ali Baba retelling, and Garth Nix's Seven Dwarves retelling. But the rest of the them mostly just left me flat.

This short story collection is much what I would expect from a Datlow/Windling compilation -- stories ranging from moderately good to very good, from familiar writers as well as lesser-known ones. The real gem of this collection is Neil Gaiman's poem, "Instructions," which was later published as a picture book. I enjoyed all of the other stories, but none of them stuck with me in the same way. This is a solid collection, recommended for those who love fairy tales.

Summary: A collection of retold fairy tales by a variety of children's and fantasy authors, most notably Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, and Gregory Maguire. Stories include Cinderella, Snow White, The Goose Girl, Little Red Riding Hood, Twelve Dancing Princesses, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Jack and the Beanstalk, as well as others I'd never heard of. About half are told from a different character's perspective, and half are modernizations or modifications to the familiar story. Stories range from short to long, and include a few poems.

Review: Maybe I'm beyond the target audience age, but I was kind of disappointed by this. The stories were pretty variable in content, tone, and length, as would be expected, but also in humor, charm, and show more overall quality. It seemed like the pieces I enjoyed were over too soon, and the stories I didn't care for seemed to go on and on. The retellings work better in some cases than others, as well - often the change doesn't seem to add anything to the story other than novelty for its own sake, and actually seemed to fracture the flow of the narrative more than anything else.

Recommendation: Short and inoffensive enough, but I'd recommend something like Gregory Maguire's Leaping Beauty for a more consistently enjoyable example of this genre. show less

Hm. I really liked these. I've a lot of experience reading children's stories and 'fractured' and 'modern' fairy-tales, so it's not just the charm of the novelty for me. I simply have to disagree with the reviewers who rated this so much lower. And I'm very sorry I can't explicate exactly why I like this collection so much.

A little bit of the 'why' is that there's generally at least some humor in the stories. They often tend to pay homage, not only to the original of the specific tale they're updating, but to the fairy-tale tropes in general. But of course, because the tropes are almost cliches, the homage cannot be 100% respectful, and is actually more engaging when paid with tongue in cheek.

Another bit of the 'why' is that the tales show more are for all ages. They're not too sophisticated or violent or erotic for children age 8, and they're not too simplistic or twee for adults. In my opinion.

They're clever and fun and well-told. I will look for more by every contributor to the book, even if I'd passed when I encountered them in other collections like [b:Black Thorn, White Rose|863540|Black Thorn, White Rose|Ellen Datlow|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1178999095s/863540.jpg|848964] or [b:The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest|249855|The Green Man Tales from the Mythic Forest|Terri Windling|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1311838445s/249855.jpg|242107] or [b:The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales|463033|The Coyote Road Trickster Tales|Ellen Datlow|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361075524s/463033.jpg|451480]. I will also reread this book before releasing it. (PM me if you live in the US and would like to read it - I would love for it to a good home and will gladly ship it gratis.) show less