I just spent my whole book allowance for the year! Each of these stories was so good, I had to get more that the authors had written. ( )

An anthology of fairytale retellings that I loved reading. They are short enough to read one each night. Some of the stories I loved the writing and where the idea was going and found that I wanted more of it. It was amazing to get so many tales written by different authors.

I love the stories of the Brothers Grimm. Going in to this book I expected to get a different take on their stories, but for me it felt a bit lacking. Not all stories were original Grimm stories. I loved that there is a division between the different stories but for me it felt like it were a few novellas wrapped up in one book. I noticed a clear difference in writing style which for me felt like a missed chance to make the book whole. We have 10 different stories in the book:
THE SOULS OF MISBEHAVED BOYS written by James Chambers - 1 star This tale is the dark version of Pinocchio. I don't have anything with the original story, and this one just creeped me out. Gipetto, the 'dad' is just batshit crazy and I just needed to stop reading this story since I just got sick by reading this. Gipetto kidnaps children to experiment on them and it just makes me sick. I DNF'ed this one. Nothing against the author, but just not for me.
THE FOX AND THE CLOCKWORK BIRD written by Jeff Young - 3 stars I was not familiar with this Grimm story, but what I read was definitely better than the first one. The story is very original and I loves seeing how it all played out. The character were well written and the writing style of this author is just enticing. You just want to keep reading. However, I rated it 3 stars since this fits the description of my rating system (even though it is well written and I really enjoyed it)
THREE DAYS OF THE CUCKOO written by Bernie Mojzes


THE PORCELAIN PRINCESS written by David Lee Summers


THE PIPES ARE CALLING written by Patrick Thomas
THE BINDING CLAUSE written by Cynthia Radthorne
THE SIX CLOCKWORK SWANS written by Christine Norris
DRESS FOR THE OCCASION written by Gordon Linzner
ALA AL-DIN AND THE CAVE OF WONDERS written by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
HEART OF STONE written by Michelle D. Sonnier
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Fun collection of short stories. All fairy-tale retellings set into a Steampunk ish vibe. - mostly more of a clockwork era, although a few few almost felt modern. Some were more direct (eg Emperor's New Clothes), whereas others were more loosely based (Rumpelstiltskin especially opaque but was still connected).

I enjoyed them all but didn't note any of the contributing authors particularly, none were names that I'd come across before. If you enjoy variations on fairy tales this would be worth reading. ( )

This collection made me look at some of the tales I'm familiar with differently. I read a lot of fairy tale retellings, but have never read many steampunk retellings. It made me imagine these old stories in a new light, but didn't gloss over the darkness that the original stories hold. Highly enjoyable and well worth the read.