había una vez

That’s “Once Upon a Time” in Spanish. I hope. Unless I messed up the spelling. *sigh* It was a long and wonderful weekend. And it’s been a long time since my last Spanish grammar lesson, come to think of it. Eeek! But enough of that. This post is a wrap-up/summation/endnote for the Once Upon a Time IV Challenge, hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings, which officially ended on June 20.

I said I’d read five books that fit into the category of fantasy, myths, or fairy tales. Not all of these books are classic ‘fairy tales,’ but all of them contain elements of the fantastic, and thus count for the contest. Click on the titles to see my reviews.

White Cat by Holly Black

Sleepless by Cyn Balog

The Moorchild by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey

No worries that I’m going to drop fantasy any time soon…I’ll continue to read fairy tales for the rest of the year because I’m also taking part in the Once Upon a Time 2010 Reading Challenge. Do you have any recent fairy tale reads to recommend?

the sleeping beauty

Mercedes Lackey is a ubiquitous fantasy writer. Chances are if you’ve ever stepped into the fantasy and science fiction section of the bookstore, you’ve seen one of her titles. And not only is she prolific, she’s incredibly good. There’s something for almost every taste. My favorite series (well, one of them) is her Elemental Masters series, which re-imagines fairy tales in an alternative, magic-laden Edwardian England.

In the past several years Lackey has published another fairy-tale-type series, set in a new fantasy universe. These stories combine generous doses of romance and happy endings with imaginative world-building. They include: The Fairy Godmother, One Good Knight, Fortune’s Fool, The Snow Queen and now The Sleeping Beauty.

The hallmarks of the 500 Kingdoms books (as they are called) are humor, inventive plotlines that alter fairy tale stories and take them in new directions, clever heroines, and sweet romances. In my book that combination equals a satisfying read.

With signs and The Tradition (a magical force that places people in fairy tale stories) pointing to an all-out war set to break out among the kingdoms, Rosamund, the king's daughter, is "playing dead" as two princes show up at the palace intent on waking her with a kiss. But, as the two of them start to fight it out, Rosa's godmother cuts them all short and takes charge.

Now, with two princes competing for the hand of Sleeping Beauty-one of them, the one with roving hands (Prince Leopold) probably "should" be her prince, while the other (Prince Siegfried) doesn't seem to belong here at all - more complications occur. The king dies and the neighbors start looking at Rosa's kingdom.

But with the palace filling with young and old princes intent on winning Rosamund's love, invading the kingdom and putting those young men in peril would mean incurring the wrath of thirty other countries! With a volatile situation in the making, will anyone get a happily-ever-after?

After I’ve read a summary, I often ask myself a couple of questions. What’s the deal with this book? Do I need to read the others in the series to ‘get’ it? What makes it worth my time? Let me try to answer. If you’ve read the other books in this series, you’ll like The Sleeping Beauty (but you don’t have to read them to understand). If you read fairy tales for adults (or even teens), you’ll like it too. If you prefer your stories fairly clean and a touch humorous, you’ll also fall for it. In other words, it’s what you expect. And that’s not a bad thing.

For Lackey's novels in general, this is ‘romance lite.’ Though she reworks several familiar tales to bring something quirky and new to the table, the result ends up feeling a bit formulaic. Which isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it. I did. It’s a tribute to how much I expect from the 500 Kingdoms novels, and from Mercedes Lackey – I anticipate first-class entertainment. She so enchanted me with previous stories that I felt a bit let down when I could see just how the story would end after I finished the first twenty pages. I guess I expect twists and mysterious endings these days…

I’m a demanding nitwit, I know. After all, I enjoyed the reading and I will still re-read The Sleeping Beauty and also eagerly await the next installment in the series (Lackey is that fantastic). What does it boil down to? I heartily recommend this book to anyone with a natural bent towards happily-ever-afters. In fact, it qualifies as a PERFECT summer beach read, especially for the fantasy-inclined. There! I’ve found its niche. And I can’t wait to place a finished copy in my beach bag!

The Sleeping Beauty releases on July 1, 2010.

I read an e-galley of this book courtesy of Harlequin Luna and NetGalley. It also counts for both Once Upon a Time challenges.

teaser tuesday (36)

It's Teaser Tuesday, a bookish blog meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here's how it works:

Grab your current read and let it fall open to a random page. Post two (or more) sentences from that page, along with the title and author. Don’t give anything vital away!

“So chances were, the Huntsman was a planted agent for someone, and it would be impossible to prove it. There was no telling when or how the manipulation had taken place, nor by whom, and rather too late to worry about that now.”

-p. 30 of Mercedes Lackey’s Sleeping Beauty (ARC version, subject to change)

briar rose

Alyce at At Home with Books has started a weekly tradition of revisiting past reading favorites and bringing them into the spotlight.

My pick this week: Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. This book was originally published as part of Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling’s Fairy Tales series – a project meant to unite some of the biggest names in fantasy and have them re-write the classic fairy tales for adults. The thought being that adults were the original audience for fairy tales, anyway, and a dark or different take on the traditional stories would provide something new for the genre. That was YEARS ago, and now (or maybe yesterday) it’s the next big thing to re-write classic fairy tales. The books in the series included Patricia C. Wrede’s Snow White and Rose Red (just re-released as a YA book, ironically enough) and Charles de Lint’s Jack of Kinrowan, among others. I started with those two and then decided to read Yolen’s take on the fable of the Sleeping Beauty.

I’ve been a fan of Yolen for a long time – she’s an immensely talented and prolific writer in the YA genre, and her writing (and that of a couple of other authors) helped introduce me to the world of fantasy. Plus I trust the editing of Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. Then throw in a fairy tale re-telling that mixes Sleeping Beauty (favorite!) and the Holocaust. WHAT?!, you say? Yes, I know…it sounds completely improbable and maybe un-doable. Only an author of Yolen’s caliber could pull it off. Evidence: it’s on the ALA’s 100 Best Books for Young Adults list, and I’ve seen it paired in lesson plans with Elie Wiesel’s Night.

When I first read Briar Rose I felt unsettled, anxious and out of my comfort zone. The book is powerful, hard-to-read (in the way that reading about true evil is difficult, not that it’s tough to understand), and disturbing. The story touched me and made me think about prejudice, intolerance, the nature of conviction, and the violence hidden in the human soul. It’s a good book; Yolen deftly handles a terrifying topic and gives the reader a chance to experience a time and a story that are often beyond comprehension.

Ever since she was a child, Rebecca has been enchanted by her grandmother Gemma’s stories about Briar Rose. But a promise Rebecca makes to her dying grandmother will lead her on a remarkable journey to uncover the truth of Gemma’s astonishing claim: I am Briar Rose. A journey that will lead her to unspeakable brutality and horror. But also to redemption and hope.