Book Review: Charming by Jade Linwood

Pros: fun characters with some unique takes on fairy tales

Cons: the story meanders, convoluted plan

Prince Charming has been rescuing women - and paying himself with half their treasuries - for years. Now, a group of his victims has banded together to bring him to justice.

This is an entertaining reworking of several classic fairytales, but with the idea that Prince Charming is a real cad. I enjoyed seeing how the author would rewrite each woman’s history. The characters were fun to watch, even - especially? - Charming.

Once the women got together and started their plot, things began to meander a bit. Their plan, as it’s revealed through the story, is so convoluted when you consider it after the fact, that it’s hard to believe it succeeded. The ending was also a bit lacking of consequence.

I did find it strange that with how many women he’d defrauded and how THEIR part of the stories travelled, that the prince wouldn’t be more easily recognized. He’s using the same name, just translated for new languages after all. Seems with a detailed description and his modus operandi new potential victims could be warned away.

It was a fun, quick read. Don’t think too hard about it. Just go along for the ride - and the reworked fairytales.

Book Review: For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

Pros: interesting retelling of several fairy tales, compelling characters, good worldbuilding, fun romance

Cons: constant tension, repetitive danger

Redarys is the second daughter born to Valleyda’s royal family. The first daughter is for the throne, the second is for the wolf. After she enters the Wilderwood Red discovers the stories she’s grown up with are mostly true but that the Wolf is not the monster she expected. Her twin sister Neverah resolves to bring Red back, not realizing that destroying the forest will destroy her sister and unleash the monstrous shadows it holds captive.

Though the title and cover make it seem like a retelling of Red Riding Hood, the book is actually more Beauty and the Beast. It’s a very loose adaptation with a lot of unexpected twists and a larger underlying plot.

The worldbuilding was good, with several nations and mentions of trade and religion. The Wilderwood was interesting in how it trapped people inside and how it interacted with the Wolves.

I loved the slow building romance between Red and Eammon. It felt very organic, and though I did wish they were more open with each other their various traumas made it hard for them to trust and risk losing what they’d gained. Their interludes created some needed breaks to the tense atmosphere.

The story doesn’t slowly build tension, every time something bad happens it’s an immediate 10 on the tension scale. I found the book somewhat exhausting as a result of it’s flipping between 0 and 10 so often and had to read the book in bits and pieces.

The dangers were fairly repetitive with the Wolves dealing with the same things over and over again.

The ending paves the way for the sequel with some major events still needing resolution.

Shout-Out: The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Sky in the Deep in this bewitching, historical horror novel, perfect for fans of Holly Black and V.E. Schwab.

Seventeen-year-old Aderyn ("Ryn") only cares about two things: her family and her family's graveyard. And right now, both are in dire straits. Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to the fae. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don't always stay dead.

The risen corpses are known as "bone houses," and legend says that they're the result of a decades-old curse. When Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker with a mysterious past, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with new ferocity. What is it that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they be stopped for good?

Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a journey that will take them into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and the deeply-buried truths about themselves. Equal parts classic horror novel and original fairytale, The Bone Houses will have you spellbound from the very first page.

Shout-Out: The Goblins of Bellwater by Molly Ringle

Most people have no idea goblins live in the woods around the small town of Bellwater, Washington. But some are about to find out.

Skye, a young barista and artist, falls victim to a goblin curse in the forest one winter night, rendering her depressed and silenced, unable to speak of what happened. Her older sister, Livy, is at wit’s end trying to understand what’s wrong with her. Local mechanic Kit would know, but he doesn’t talk of such things: he’s the human liaison for the goblin tribe, a job he keeps secret and never wanted, thrust on him by an ancient family contract.

Unaware of what’s happened to Skye, Kit starts dating Livy, trying to keep it casual to protect her from the attention of the goblins. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kit, Skye draws his cousin Grady into the spell through an enchanted kiss in the woods, dooming Grady and Skye both to become goblins and disappear from humankind forever.

It’s a midwinter night’s enchantment as Livy, the only one untainted by a spell, sets out to save them on a dangerous magical path of her own.

Graphic Novel Review: Shame written by Lovern Kindzierski and illustrated by John Bolton

Pros: lush artwork, bonus features

Cons: nudity started to feel excessive

When the white witch Virtue makes a selfish wish for a child, the demon Slur grants that wish. He taunts her that their daughter, Shame, will be a tool of evil. To prevent Shame from damaging the world, Virtue contains her in a forest grove. But evil cannot be contained. 

Shame is comprised of three comics: Conception, Pursuit, and Redemption. There’s a forward by Colleen Doran, a preface by Lovern Kindzierski, and a preview of the next comic in the series, Tales of Hope. It also contains a discussion about Shame between Lovern Kindzierski, John Bolton, and Alexander Finbow (publisher and editor in chief of Renegade Arts Entertainment) that includes some concept and finished artwork, the original outline for the Shame graphic novel, and some panel description to finished copy artwork stills. 

Graphic novel artwork can be hit or miss for me. John Bolton’s artwork is lush and descriptive. It is done in photorealistic watercolours and form a mix of gorgeous and grotesque. When the artwork aims for beautiful it’s stunning. When it doesn’t, there are hideous, misshapen creatures. I really liked the artwork around the young Virtue in book 2, and a lot of Shame’s medieval outfits in book 3. Personally I’m not so keen on the grotesque side of art, and so many panels were not to my liking. Virtue’s old form, for example, is the unattractive, warty witch from traditional fairytales.

There’s a fair amount of nudity, as fits the adult nature of this fairytale. Some of it felt warranted, like the nymphs, though at times it started to feel gratuitous, as when nipples were visible through opaque cloth. Having said that, there is no sexual violence or gratuitous sex depicted.

I’d expected the plot to have a more Pandora’s Box feel, showing how the world changed when shame was introduced to it, but that’s not what happened. It’s a clear cut story of evil versus good, where true evil cannot be redeemed, and pure good cannot be corrupted. Only a man of fate, standing between them, has the ability to choose which side to join, and thereby change the outcome. 

Slur and his minions are quite terrifying in execution. Their guiding of Shame down the dark path is chilling.

As someone who doesn’t believe in original sin or that the sins of the parents damn their children, I was surprised that Virtue simply left the child and didn’t even try to prevent her corruption (though the assumption is that Shame is automatically corrupt, I would argue that the fact that she wonders why her mother abandoned her shows she could have turned another way).

It’s an interesting story with a unique art style.