Goodreads rating: 3.76
Pages: 480
Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:
Ellen Hopkins
Amanda Hocking
Julie Kagawa
Claudia Gray
Rachel Hawkins
Kimberly Derting
Myra McEntire
Malinda Lo
Sarah Rees-Brennan
Jackson Pearce
Christine Johnson
Jeri Smith Ready
Shaun David Hutchinson
Saundra Mitchell
Sonia Gensler
Tessa Gratton
Jon Skrovon
I'm going to go through each short story and give them their own rating :) For each, I did go and read the original versions for comparisons and highly recommend everyone to do the same!
- The Key: retelling of Bluebeard
Rachel is a likable character and the author does a great job of building her in the limited time she has. I did end up calling the ending a little just by knowing the Bluebeard story but there were a few nice twists :) I could see this being a full length novel that I would read.
- Figment: retelling of Puss in Boots
Probably my favorite so far :) really cute retelling but of a cat good luck charm. Absolutely loved the ending!! So cute!
- Twelfth Girl: retelling of 12 Dancing Princesses
Interesting retelling. Liked how they combined the story with some mythological aspects. Ending was a nice twist as well :)
- The Raven Princess: retelling of The Raven
Interesting story but pretty much is just like the original (almost identical except for a few details and the ending). Kind of disappointed since the point of an anthology is to retell the story a different way. Though I really did enjoy the story, but I liked it better than the original.
- Thinner Than Water: retelling of Donkey Skin
Very dark story but I guess the original was pretty dark as well. I did like the adaptation with the gown made of sunlight, moonlight and starlight instead of just the color... Oh and when the daughter got revenge >:) that was something I thought of in the original, like oh your father finds another woman and everything is ok now? But I guess they didn't "consummate" the marriage in the original...
- Before the Rose Bloomed: retelling of Snow Queen
Liked the prequel to the snow queen in the beginning :) interesting take on how she came to be.
The second part kept pretty close to the original with some slight changes.
- Beast/Beast: retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Interesting dark twist to Beauty and the Beast. Love how she hates being there because she didn't choose to, liked seeing her slowly start to care, and her slowly start to be a "beast" herself (getting less pretty just from being unkempt). The beast being more plant/rose-like was an interesting twist too.
Best thing was he would ask her every day to marry him but his true sign that he loved her was he gave her the choice to leave or stay (kind of like the Disney movie). So cute!
The ending was a little abrupt, not sure if I like it. If she was just going to stay, why have him put her on the wall? I know that it showed her choosing to stay with him but felt like that could have been done a little better.
- The Brothers Piggett: retelling of Three Little Pigs
Very dark but interesting retelling :) fairly short but really very good, so my review is the same :)
- Untethered: retelling of The Shroud
Use of sisters (twins) instead of mother and son was interesting. Love the kind of "The Others" (thriller movie) type ending :) really cool ending! Had to go back and re read some because it didn't fully hit me what was going on.
- Better: retelling The Pied Piper
As a story, it's not bad. A bit dark but good. It really makes you think "what does it mean to be alive". As a sci-fi retelling of the pied piper... It was ok... It got some of the key points, paying someone to rid the town of a disease/infestation and then going back on their word, to have the person steal the children and doom the others for revenge... Though the people did not go back on their word for no reason or out of greed like the original. And the rape scene that occurred I don't think was wholly necessary... There were other ways to tie it back to the pied piper while getting the point across that to many Pip wasn't alive... Example, have the senate go back on their word because they don't count her as alive or something...
- Lit It Up: retelling of Hansel and Gretel
Kind of modernized version of Hansel and Gretel. Kids are ditched in the woods by their stepmother (instead of their father) and it's a cannibal ranger instead of a witch. Overall really cool, horror movie-like retelling.
- Sharper Than a Serpents Tongue: retelling of Diamonds and Toads
Cool and modern retelling :) Pretty much just modernized the original but all the aspects of the original were there, with a slight twist. The mother didn't favor one daughter over the other before the spell was put on the girls and the second daughter (cursed with toads) didn't go to try and get the same gift as her sister. I actually like this version better :) even the ending was better.
- A Real Boy: retelling of Pinocchio
Such an amazingly cute story! My favorite probably out of all the stories here! (But it's Claudia gray so I could have told you that before reading it that it was going to be good) stuck nicely to the story, minus the whole of you are a good boy you will be real thing. Really enjoyed the robot aspect (kind of had an iRobot feel) so cute!
- Skin Trade : retelling of The Robber Bridegroom
Great similarity with a nice twist (robber is a hero now and saved the girl). Even got the severed finger part. The three wines they had were more ritualistic than the original which is cool. Really like how the "robber groomsbride" was actually a good guy :) very sweet.
- Beauty and the Chad: retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Really interesting between the surfer lingo and the older proper English. Very funny! Love the dynamics between the two and how apparently the castle gets a new beast every time the old one gets cured. Kind of keeps the cycle going. Also like how Beauty portrays herself as a man to work for the beast and he ends up falling in love with her/him anyway :) really touching!
- The Pink: retelling of The Pink
This really isn't an anthology of the original but pretty much just goes into greater detail of the original story, adding dialogue and more details. I really enjoyed reading it but felt that the original just turned into a quick summary of this story. Still very good though.
- Sell Out: retelling of Snow White
It started out being interesting, with people that could hire "princes" to bring back people who have died.it even had the semblance of an evil step mother who wanted "Snow White" to stay dead. But the ending felt rushed and I don't know why but I just wasn't a big fan of his sudden change of heart.
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