The best writers of our generation retell classic tales. From Sir Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops", literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, today's most acclaimed award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories and use their own unique styles to rebuild these timeless stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these twelve stories and boil them down to their bones, and reassemble them for a new generation of readers. Written from a twenty-first century perspective and set within the realms of science fiction, dystopian fiction, fantasy, and realistic fiction, these short stories are as moving and thought provoking as their originators. They pay homage to groundbreaking literary achievements of the past while celebrating each author's unique perception and innovative style.Okay, so I didn't read all the stories in this book as some of them frankly didn't catch my interest so I will do short reviews on the ones I did.
That the Machine May Progress Eternally by Carrie Ryan, inspired by E.M. Forster's The Machine Stops - Absolutely brilliant. I haven't read the original but this short story was actually terrifying and it didn't take on a preachy tone. It was an intriguing science fiction/dystopian short story that I really enjoyed. Left me reeling.
Losing Her Divinity by Garth Nix, inspired by The Man Who Would Be King - I found this to be a bizarre little short story, and one that I enjoyed mostly because of the more unique style of the narration. Told in first person, it reads like a person having a conversation with two others (which is exactly what's going on). It was confusing at first, but once I got into the swing of it, I found it to be entertaining and amusing.
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, inspired by Sleeping Beauty - A retelling of Sleeping Beauty, Gaiman manages to make Sleeping Beauty very dark (which he is very good at) and put a whole new twist to it. Gaiman twists two well-loved tales, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty together artfully. None of the characters are ever given names, the Reader thinks they know how the story will go, and then WHAM! Gaiman gives it a nice twist. The narration is third person which works brilliantly.
Millcara by Holly Black, inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla - A retelling of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla. The agenda feel continues, only this time our protagonist isn't bisexual; she's a infintile lesbian vampire. Who just looooves to talk about her girlfriend's succulent lips, body heat, skin, and everything else. Ugh; I don't want the details, thank you very much. Boring and mildly pointless as it brings no new take to the story. Narration is first person, past tense, though it jumped to present tense sometimes, as well as feeling almost like a stream-of-consciousness narration.
Awakened by Melissa Marr, inspired by Kate Chopin's The Awakening - Agian I have never read the original. I personally love selkie mythology and stories and this one was no exception. The young selkie is forced to live with an abusive, twisted man because he posesses her pelt and in extention her. In rebellion she sleeps with another man who happens to be his best friend. While her actions arent illustrious I think a common miscenception is that selkies are like humans. Personally they arent, it would like being mad an elemental or animal cheated on you when you have trapped them. My favourite of the group I read.
The Soul Collector by Kami Garcia, inspired by the Brothers Grimm's Rumpelstiltskin - I didn't realize it was a Rumpelstilskin retelling until the very end, it is so dissimilar. Which was a good and bad thing. I enjoy retellings that are different from the original, but I also like to see some familiar aspects. The similar aspects in this story required some interpretation. Really enjoyed the gritty, twisteness of this version. Another favourite. Because The Soul Collector deals with street crime, there's drug, sexual, and profanity content (5 s-words), but nothing horribly explicit.
Overall an interesting read. The mixture of source material ranges from fairy tales to Renaissance literature to short stories from the 19th and 20th centuries. While I'm not necessarily opposed to this Laissez-faire approach, it's a bit odd in an anthology aimed at teens. How many of us have read E.M. Forster's story "The Machine Stops" or Henry James' "The Jolly Corner"? I had hoped and expected more fairy tales and was disappointed with the lack of them.
Age Rating 15+. A few allusions here and there and the Soul Collector is quite raw but other than that nothing untoward.
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