Friday, October 12, 2012

Two and Twenty Dark Tales (Paul's Review pt.1)

My Pre Reading

I'm following Ashley's lead and posting multiple posts on consecutive days, each of which will cover my review of a few of the stories. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. There were some very familiar nursery rhymes and others I had never heard. each of the contributing authors took their own twist on how to retell or re-imagine these Mother Goose tales. There were definitely some I liked more than others. I'll go into some brief details in these following posts. I must warn you that I have been slowly reading this collection over at least a month and I wasn't as detailed in my notes for the first few short stories. 

As Blue as the Sky and Just as Old:
I wasn't familiar with this rhyme. It was interesting how it dealt with destiny and whether destiny can be changed or broken.  3/5

Sing a Song of Six-Pence:
I really liked the imagery in this one. It brought to my mind a very interesting Tim Burton-esque world. The Blackbird was described well. The whole story was done well and creepy. Like Ashley, I had many questions after reading this one. I could see it expanded into a full novel, or maybe a novella. 3/5

Clockwork:
I thought this one had a really interesting ending. It deals with self sacrifice for the greater good. It was interesting the way the mouse from this familiar rhyme is shown as an enchanted human. 4/5

Blue:
This story had a very interesting concept. It reminded me of Gossamer by Lois Lowry. It may have been too conceptual to really come through to me, though. 2/5

Pieces of Eight:
This one was quite epic for a short story. I thought music was used in a very interesting way. I love when music is incorporated into written works. I liked The Wolf. The atmosphere of this one reminded me of Game of Thrones. 3/5

Wee Willie Winkie:
This one was truly creepy. This reminded me of Darkness Falls and I imagined it as a B-grade horror/thriller. The tension in this one was written so well. 4/5

Boys and Girls Come Out to Play:
I liked the way witches were incorporated into this story. I liked how metal rings were used instead of wands. Magic being genetic is always interesting, as well as children competing in magic trials at a young age. I would love to see this story expanded on. 4/5

-PAUL

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