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