The Happy Librarian
Fairy Tale Adaptations: AKA Fractured Fairy Tales
Any translation or re-telling of a folk or fairy tale. The original story is usually altered to some degree. For example, characters may be changed, the ending may be softened, the language may be simplified, dialogue may be added or subtracted, and new illustrations may create a different mood.
Cinder
by Marissa Meyer
Summary:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, as ruthless Lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg.
She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
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Cinder is the first in a five-part series, with each book featuring another fairytale heroine and adaptation.
Review:
A cyborg Cinderella, set in a future dystopia, fighting an evil and powerful race from the Moon? Throw in the handsome prince, a deadly plague, and supernatural powers and you've got one incredible and unique retelling. Cinder's story may have hints of Cinderella, including a wicked stepfamily, a handsome prince, and a fancy ball, but the story and characters are wholly unique.
Cinder isn't your typical heroine, with a grim outlook on life and a society that shuns her, she spends most of her time working and trying to stay invisible. Her stepmother and older stepsister may be wicked, but her younger stepsister, Peony, is her only human friend in the world. Her closest non-human friend is a delightful android named Iko who distracts readers with her very humanlike emotions and enthusiasm for 'life' as she knows it.
Centuries of living on the moon and exposure to the elements of space, these humans have adapted a bio-electric power that gives them control over the minds and bodies of others. Their wicked queen is determined to gain access to Earth's resources by way of marriage to the much younger prince and newly crowned emperor, Kaito.
Readers will find themselves entranced with a story full of plot twists that take unexpectedly dark turns, and will sympathize with Cinder's struggles to stay alive and free.
Key Elements: Dystopia, Fantasy, Scie-fiction, Family dynamics, mystery, political unrest, prejudiced society, oppression
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopia, Fantasy, Science-Fiction, Retellings, Romance
Towering
by Alex Flinn
Summary:
Rachel is trapped in a tower, held hostage by a woman she’s always called Mama. Her golden hair is growing rapidly, and to pass the time, she watches the snowfall and sings songs from her childhood, hoping someone, anyone, will hear her.
Wyatt needs time to reflect or, better yet, forget about what happened to his best friend, Tyler. That’s why he’s been shipped off to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter to live with the oldest lady in town. Either that, or no one he knows ever wants to see him again.
Dani disappeared seventeen years ago without a trace, but she left behind a journal that’s never been read, not even by her overbearing mother…until now.
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Review:
Towering offers a unique insight into the Rapunzel fairytale, expertly winding together with the elements of whimsy and mystery and just a little suspense. Told in the perspective of two voices, this book allows readers to connect with both protagonists, Wyatt and Rachel, and even sympathize a little for the Momma character. Though the story has a few predictable twists that align with the traditional Rapunzel story, the author takes many liberties to modernize the story and add an element of realism.
The pacing of the story starts slow but the hints at secrets carry a mystery theme throughout the book, with some reveals only being exposed at the most climactic moments. Relationship dynamics throughout the story feel genuine and the characters deal with real-world issues that many fantasy novels don't often take on. Readers will find themselves eager to the turn the page, and suspicious of everyone and everything until the very end
Key Elements: Fantasy, Depression, Suicide, Kidnapping, Family Dynamics, Imprisonment Missing Persons, Criminal Underworld
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings, Suspense, Mystery, Romance
Curses
by Lish McBride
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Summary:
Merit Cravan refused to fulfill her obligation to marry a prince, leading to a fairy godling's curse. She will be forced to live as a beast forever, unless she agrees to marry a man of her mother's choosing before her eighteenth birthday.
Tevin Dumont has always been a pawn in his family's cons. The prettiest boy in a big family, his job is to tempt naïve rich girls to abandon their engagements, unless their parents agree to pay him off. But after his mother runs afoul of the beast, she decides to trade Tevin for her own freedom.
Now, Tevin and Merit have agreed that he can pay off his mother's debt by using his con-artist skills to help Merit find the best match . . . but what if the best match is Tevin himself?
Review:
A gender-bent retelling, Curses is an adaptation of Beauty and The Beast, with the beast being a female aristocrat, and the beauty being a male criminal. The typical beastly curse is adapted to keep the beast a human at times, but the deadline for breaking the curse looms the pages as her human days become numbered. Destined to live as a beast forever, Merit is determined not to end the curse at all, out of sheer spite for her mother and her class upbringing.
Tevin is a surprisingly unusual take on the beautiful character, with a questionable moral compass and a darker past than typically seen from the retellings. Both heroines seem unlikable and unredeemable at the beginning, making it all the more satisfying when challenges and unexpected friendships improve their likeness, making both of them curse breakers in their own right.
Key Elements: Fantasy, Depression, Curses, Family Dynamics, Criminal Underworld
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings, Suspense, Mystery, Romance