Reviews Week 22

 Reviews Week 22

May 30th- June 5th

Book 62: Red Butterfly

by A.L. Sonnichsen

Read May 30th

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This book was wonderful, heartfelt, and absolutely beautiful. I love that it was written in verse, which I think made it even better. It had such a great story that drew me in from the beginning.

Book 63: Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales

by Melanie Gillman

Read June 5th

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I really enjoyed this collection of stories. Especially, the way Melanie Gillman took these popular fairy tale tropes and flipped them in new ways. I only wish that it could have been longer and had more tales. Maybe eventually Melanie Gillman will come back to this. I know I would pick up another one if they did.

Introduction and Conclusion- I wanted to talk about both of these parts together because they were both connected, and the conclusion is a continuation of the introduction. These were great ways of starting out the collection and also ending it. I love the sentiment at the end.

"The King's Forest"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A sweet story with a beautifully sad message.

"The Goose Girl"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Definitely, a different take on The Goose Girl story. I did not know going into this one if it would be similar to the original fairy tale or not. But I really like where this story went.

"New Name"- ⭐⭐⭐

This was a pretty good story, but it was probably my least favorite from the collection.

"Sweet Rock"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed this take on offerings to a giant and where that goes in this story.

"Hsthete"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

God and Goddess stories are always my favorites, and this was a great little story about a goddess of Mishaps. I knew exactly how the story was going to end but I loved that so much.

"Fish Wife"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This and the last story were my two favorites from the collection. The take on mermaids and tales of them was clever and different.

"The People's Forest"- ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A great story with a powerful message for the reader. I also like how this is connected to "The Goose Girl" story earlier in the collection.

Overall, this was a great collection of queer fairy tales that I thoroughly enjoyed. I only wish that there could have been many more.

*I received an ARC of this book for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley. *

Book 64: A Hat Full of Sky

by Terry Pratchett

Read June 3rd-5th

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The 32nd book in the Discworld series and the 2nd in the Tiffany Aching Subseries.

I am really enjoying this subseries a lot. This book follows Tiffany as she apprenticed with another witch named Miss Level. Miss Level was such an entertaining character and I hope that we will get more of her in later books. It had many different hard-hitting topics as Terry's books always have, such as family, finding and accepting oneself, and traditions. 

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

Tiffany is not only learning how to become a witch, but is also dealing with getting possessed, accepting what it means to be a witch, and also trying to accept who she is as a person. She goes through quite a bit in this book. Along the way, she meets many different types of witches who all believe that being a witch is something different than the next one. 

One of the most formable is Granny Weatherwax, who is a witch that has played her role in many Discworld books before this one. She is also my favorite character from the Discworld. Tiffany learns quite a bit from her time with Granny. Granny is set in her ways as most witches are and is quite the teacher throughout the novel. She teaches Tiffany that there is much more to witchcraft than just waving a wand and casting a spell. A lesson that Tiffany is not so willing to accept at first. I like seeing two headstrong characters working off of each other and I cannot wait to see more of them together in future books. 

“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”

The return of the Nac Mac Feegle was also a great part of this book. I enjoyed their part in this book quite a bit and look forward to seeing more of the little buggers in the next book. Also, the new character Miss Level was quite entertaining, especially with her two selves. I will not go into that too much but Tiffany's time with her was also fun to read about. 

I believe that this would be a great young adult subseries for young readers to read, though I believe that they should also read the other Discworld books along with it. Anyone could get something from this subseries though. 

“There's always a story. It's all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything's got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.”