Showing posts with label fairy tale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairy tale. Show all posts

Sunday, October 30, 2016

WATERS OF VERSAILLES, Kelly Robson's beguiling novella of fishes out of water


WATERS OF VERSAILLES
KELLY ROBSON

Tor.com original
Free read online

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A charming novella of court intrigue in 1738 Versailles as a clever former soldier makes his fortune by introducing a modern water system (and toilets) to the ladies of the palace. He does this with magical help that he may not be able to control.

My Review: This is what fairy tales should do, make the world shimmer with magic and stir the reader's spirit to singing a song as right and true things displace the brummagem and the mundane.

Just go read it! Or step over to Amazon and get the Kindle edition.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

BRIDGE OF SNOW by Marie Rutkoski...short, lovely, moving


BRIDGE OF SNOW
MARIE RUTKOSKI

Tor.com original
Free, online only

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Ignore the stirrings of war. Let the carriage to a royal ball wait. There is a story to be told: of a starless night, a mother and her sick son, and a mortal who falls in love with the snow god, and will do anything to have her...

Read “Bridge of Snow,” which is set in the world of Rutkoski's newest novel The Winner's Curse.

My Review: Some days, my friends, are made for storybooks and fairy tales and the quiet words of mothers to their children. This day was one of them.

I saw a mention of this story on BookLikes and, feeling mildly annoyed at life as well as sore of hands so unable to hold my usual sovereign rememdy a book, decided to read it in spite of the fact that fantasy and I are old and cold enemies. That was a good decision. The story is a slice of life, a moment in time that any one of us will, most likely anyway, relate to from one or both perspectives. We've all been children, and I hope against hope cherished by one, both, all three four or five of our parents; many of us have had the role of parent too. And the moment in time that this story reveals is a simple and profound one: What is my place in the Universe? Where do I belong, who do I belong to?

Both people in this story discover the answer to that nested set of questions is more profound and more flexible than we think it is, and more difficult to express openly and honestly. Paradoxically, it is more important than mere words can convey to say the truth and the whole of it. There is never a sure thing in life. Say what you need to say, now.

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