Recent Reviews Around the Web

Here are links and excerpts to two recent reviews found around the web:

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s ‘Scary Fairy Tales’ by Amy Halloran

I am in love with fairy tales and the mirrors they hold to everyday life. This is not escapism, but a preference to view brutal truths slightly disguised, in a world just the other side of this one.

But even if you are married to verite-style fiction, and even if haven’t touched a fairy tale since your parents quit reading to you, you should grab There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya.

Petrushevskaya is a living, prolific, and now honored Russian writer. Theater provided an audience for her work when she couldn’t get her fiction into print, but by now she has become a champion of Russian letters, winning awards and receiving a nationwide birthday party when she turned seventy.

There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya was released this past September in the U.S.


The Mermaid’s Madness by Jim C Hines – review by dragonwomant

While the basis of the story is highly steeped in the traditional fairy tales that most kids know and love, Hines makes them over into a satisfying read for a more grown-up audience. There are a few racy parts, but they aren’t over the top, and they don’t seem gratuitous. Each of the princesses is a strong, smart woman who is mostly capable of taking care of herself, but not one of them is perfect. They all have flaws and some quirks that make them characters who are entertaining and believable, and keep them from straying into the annoying cartoon stereotypes.

This book is part of a series, but it worked quite well as a stand-alone novel. I got enough background from reading the book that I knew what was going on, without ending up knowing so much I don’t want or need to read the first book. The story flows well, and it was very easy and quick to read. I found it immensely enjoyable in the same way that I found fairy tales enjoyable. It’s a good adventure story, with magic and evil and a few misunderstood characters in it. The plot doesn’t drag at all, and it was well-paced.

I've posted previously about Mermaid's Madness here.