The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater

This isn't, in the strictest sense, a fairy tale, or retelling.  But it does hit strongly on the otherworldly, the underhill, or in this case, the undersea.

I admit I was turned off by the premise at first: on the tiny island of Thisby, at the beginning of every November, the islanders get together to race their water horses -- capaill uisce -- deadly creatures that would more often than not turn on their riders if given the chance.

What makes this story work is -- well, everything.  Stiefvater tackles the subject skillfully, building the lives of Puck Connolly and Sean Kendrick with care and detail, filling the world with tactile details, and creating a strangely bizarre but believable island.  Puck and Sean both have real stakes and their romance is savory and slow.  With ties to fairy magic (bells and iron to control the water horses) and a respect for Celtic-lore, the book is thoroughly enjoyable.

Also, the audio version is extremely well narrated, with a voice for Puck and a voice for Sean.  If you're an audiobook fan, I definitely recommend this one.

The Silver Bough by Lisa Tuttle

The Silver Bough was a recent treasure I found, thanks to the recommendation of a friend -- I'd never even heard of it.  Featuring an ancient and mysterious library, a strange blessing/curse tied up with apple trees, and a misty island that is half in and half out of this world: it was just my cup of tea.

Kathleen leaves her big-city library job to take over a position in tiny, declining Appleton, which was once famous for its apples (go figure) but no longer seems to have much of a crop or anything else to offer tourists.      Ashley visits her distant relatives and learns the story of how her grandmother left the town and rejected the blessing that kept Appleton prosperous.  And Nell has come to find peace and solace after the death of her husband, and her work toward restoring the apple orchard at the estate she purchased sets a chain of events in motion that will change the fate of the town.

The three women's lives weave in and out of each other's, and that of the town itself.  When Appleton gets cut off from the rest of the world after a mudslide, blocking the only access road, strange events start to affect all the locals and visitors....

This was a real gem, and definitely recommended if you want something that touches on the otherworldly and mythy.  It's not a straightforward folktale retelling but draws on many of the familiar elements and creates it's own fantastically atmospheric setting.  I think this one will appeal to fans of Charles de Lint or Juliet Marillier.

Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

Although Extraordinary, by Nancy Werlin, isn't directly a fairy tale retelling, it definitely draws heavily on fairy tale motifs and concepts.  Phoebe is a rather ordinary girl from a family of remarkable people.  She becomes close friends with a girl named Mallory, who has a dark agenda from another world.  Mallory, though, is drawn to Phoebe as well, and delays in her task.

Mallory, as we-the-readers quickly discover, is from the faerie realm, and her people are sick and dying.  Years pass as she grows closer to Phoebe, until her people send Ryland to finish Mallory's task -- and to destroy Phoebe.

This book works well on the top level, as a fairy tale about friendship and loyalty.  It also works well as a metaphor for emotionally abusive relationships.  Phoebe is drawn to Ryland and he builds a terrible trap for her: sweet and warm at first, and then slowly tearing her apart with carefully cruel words.

I was gritting my teeth in frustration and anger as I read this book -- Ryland was so.  Freakin.  Evil.  And yet he's set up as justified in the story -- he's trying to save his people, after all.  Although his behavoir isn't directly considered acceptable in the story, I feel pretty ambiguous about the justification that's built into the story.

In the end the characters do find another solution, and Ryland's behavoir, while tolerated by his faerie folk, is not applauded.  And I do think that Phoebe's eventual confidence in herself is what makes the book work.  My main concern with the book is that there would ever be any reason for such behavoir to be justified.

If you can read this book on the literal level, it is a good story and I will say that in the end, love does triumph (although not romantically, which I have to say is a refreshing twist).  I do hesitate to give it a full endorsement because of that justification, but it does give a good starting point for discussion on abusive relationships.

Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre: The Pied Piper of Hamelin

So. The Pied Piper of Hamelin is an interesting episode of Faerie Tale Theatre -- mostly because they didn't write it at all. The entire story is narrated and the dialog is lifted straight out of the original Robert Browning poem.

Which is good poetry but makes for some awkward and phrases that turn strangely on the actor's tongues.

In spite of that it's one of my favorite episodes. It's just such a crazy, creepy story, and FTT does a good job with the scenery at atmosphere. The Pied Piper is one of my favorite "villains" of fairy tale lore; I've always thought the real villains were the townsmen who promised to pay him and, well, you know. Plus the implications of underhill/faerie are so strong in this one (both the poem and the episode), yet without being blatant.

And what about the Piper? What's his DEAL?

This episode is available to watch for free on hulu. The complete collection of Faerie Tale Theatre episodes is available on amazon and the price seems to vary a lot from month to month, so if you're interested in buying (it's over $30 right now but I've seen it go as low as $22 or $23) I'd say your best bet is to throw it on a wishlist and just keep an eye on the price for a few months.

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

As you may recall, when I reviewed The Secret of Moonacre, I said I would try to find and review the book that it was based on, The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. I was able to get it fairly quickly through the Interlibrary Loan function of my local library.

It's a dear little book, written in a style similar to George MacDonald and other older writers for children; not watered down by any means, but definitely with the suggestion that good things come to good little girls and boys, and bad things come to naughty children.

I liked the story itself; the pacing was better than the movie, which sometimes felt abrupt or rushed. In the book, though, I often felt like things were falling into place TOO neatly, which is fair enough for a children's book but I guess I wanted things to be a little more complex or messy--or at least for the heroine not to triumph on her first try every time. (The one time that things did not go according to plan, she still discovered several important pieces of information which led to her eventually success.)

I hesitate to say that this might be one of the rare times when I like the movie better than the book... but it's definitely a close call, in spite of the many changes that were made to the movie. Perhaps because I saw the movie first?

The book is worth reading, especially if you like this somewhat older style of children's book. If you'd rather read a dark story with a lot of twists, you might want to give this one a pass. (Although I guess you could say there are twists in this one; to me they seemed more like things that had been subtly set up, falling into place, than surprises.)

Wildwood by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, is not a picture book, to be clear before we start. It is in fact a big fat novel, but the color illustrations are really lovely. I think there were 8 or 10 set throughout the book.

As far as the story itself, I think it calls to mind Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak or Labyrinth--another story of an older sister going to rescue a young sibling, kidnapped by otherworldly creatures. Although in this case, the young brother is kidnapped by crows. Still, there is plenty of magic and enchantment once Prue, the elder sister, follows her brother into the Impassable Wilderness, the magical forest of so many fairy tales.

Her not-quite-friend Curtis follows along and has adventures of his own. The two soon discover that there is much more happening in the Wildwood than one missing little boy, and find themselves placed where they can effect events.

Honestly I found this book a struggle to get through. It was way too wordy and there was not nearly the depth I was hoping for in a book over 500 pages long. Meloy doesn't have the gift of description that some children's writers do, and even as an adult I found myself rushing past the lengthy descriptions of everywhere the children ended up.

Even so, the plot was entertaining enough that I wanted to finish the book (even if I did speed-read through quite a bit of it).

My main problem with this book was the parents. It's tricky to have a child protagonist if there are adults in the picture; I think that is why there are so many orphans in children's literature. But the parents in Wildwood are alive and well, and, it turns out they know more about what's going on that they're letting on. Prue eventually discovers, after she returns home (in the middle of the book), that her parents made a bargain: they couldn't have children, so they made a deal with a woman from the Wildwood, that if they ever had a second child, that child would belong to her.

Now, in fiction, I can see a bargain like that being struck. After all, they don't even have ONE child, how likely are they to have two? What I could not get past was the parents' attitude, when they discover that the reason their children are missing was that the daughter went to find the baby, and found out that he'd been taken by the women they struck the bargain with.

And they shrug their shoulders and give up. And Prue says she's going to get him back, and they discourage her, saying that the three of them can be a happy family. I find that utterly beyond the realm of believability. Whatever other charms Wildwood may hold, that section in the middle ruined the book for me.

That may not be a factor for other people. Overall, I can't really recommend this book unless you are a hardcore Decemberist fan (the author is one of the band members) or if you... hate parents or something. The illustrations are gorgeous, and I hope we'll see more of Carson Ellis's work in children's literature. If you see the book at the store, I'd encourage you to pick it up and flip through for the lovely inserts.

The Secret of Moonacre

Have you guys HEARD about this MOVIE? It is AMAZING.

I spotted it at the library and thought it looked like it might be worth a go... although I was afraid it might also be really cheesy. I think it was the holographic cover that had me worried. But never fear! It turned out to be AWESOME.

I'll compare it to Stardust or The Golden Compass as far as quality/special effects/fantasy movie, though the plot is not anything like either of them. This is about a newly orphaned girl, Maria Merryweather, who goes to live with her uncle at Moonacre Manor. Her only legacy from her deceased father is a book which tells the ancient story of the Merryweathers and the De Noirs, two families that have been feuding for years.

Naturally, she, a Merryweather, has continuous run-ins with this scoundrel, Robin De Noir.

As she spends time at Moonacre Manor, she quickly comes to discover that all is not as simple and mundane as the life she is used to. The stars on her ceiling move, strange creatures appear and disappear, et cetera. She unravels the mystery of Moonacre, and discovers that there is very little time to save it and the people she has come to know.

The plot is solid, but this movie is worth it for the costumes alone. I had complete and utter dress lust after watching this movie. I mean, LOOK:

There's a romantic sub-plot, a handful of fun and eccentric characters, and a typically wonderful performance by Tim Curry as the bad guy. My only real problem with this movie was the occasional feeling of things being rushed--which isn't a problem so much as it makes me want to read the book the movie was adapted from, The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. (It's on my library list, so we'll see about a review in the near future....)

Definitely check this out if you like fantasy movies; it's really well done.

Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones

Enchanted Glass is the story of Andrew Hope, a young professor who's just inherited more than he realizes from his grandfather, and Aidan Cain, a boy who has just lost his grandmother and his home, and is on the run though he doesn't know what he's running from.

With her customary skill, Jones draws the reader in to the story of a magical estate, a "field of care," in which the mundane meets the mythical. Creatures of fairy lore live all around Andrew's home, and it's his job to walk the boundaries and see that all is well.

This book is mostly brilliant for the setting and characters. The plot is good, too, but it's the people that really shine--like a lot of British comedy, once the situation is set up, the characters run away with it. My main issue with this was that just as I was getting into it, the plot was tied up and the book ended. Which isn't a BAD thing, per se, but perhaps it was geared more towards children and I got hooked and wanted something a bit deeper and more grown up.

In either case, I recommend it for a different twist on the Underhill type stories of fairy and folklore, or if you like a dose of British humor with your fantasy.

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

I really enjoy Underhill-type stories: a faerie world alongside normal earth, crossing over and through "our" world, bringing magic and strangeness into everyday life. A lot of urban fantasy seems to be going that way, and I approve. The problem has become, however, that I GET it (and I'm sure many of the readers of this particular blog are on the same page with me) and I don't need pages of explanation of what's going on to understand the concept.

So keep that in mind as you read this review.

The Iron Witch is about Donna Underwood, a 17-year-old who has been raised by her aunt since her father died ten years ago. Her mother is in a care home, not quite insane but certainly not "right." Their whole family belongs to a society of alchemists who are responsible for protecting humanity from the faery creatures who cross over to Donna's world.

Although I liked the book more than I disliked it, the pacing is slow, with long passages of exposition slowing it down even more. The characters are almost compelling; they are interesting, but there's not quite enough urgency even in the midst of kidnapping and rescue mission to really be gripping.

I think this is best as an introduction to the type of urban fantasy it represents, with enough explanation that even someone who's never picked up a fantasy book will understand everything without any problem. This is the first book in a trilogy, and the unresolved plot threads (Donna's mother's cure, and her upcoming initiation at age 18 into the alchemists' society) promise intriguing developments in books 2 and 3.

If you are looking for more mature or in-depth fantasy, I'd skip this one.

Karen Mahoney's website is here.

Flora's Very Windy Day by Matt Phelan

I can hardly describe my excitement when I saw that Jeanne Birdsall (of The Penderwicks
) was teamed up with Matt Phelan, one of my all time favorite illustrators. I mean, just look at this--every page is delicious:

Reading this reminded me of Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak, and Labyrinth, and other tales wherein the rescue of a sibling or significant other takes one into fairy land or some other strange place. Although that's not a "fairy tale" per se, it did get me thinking. It has the same kind of thread through mythology and literature as so many of the fairy tales that are told over and over. It seems to fit here, anyway.

In any case! Check out Flora's Very Windy Day--it's glorious!