Once Upon A Winters Night by Dennis Mckiernan

East of the Sun and West of the Moon is one of my preferred stories from mythology, and this book did it little to no justice. I didn't connect with the heroine at all and at times felt like she was trying too hard and with not enough motivation. I felt that the author was making her out to be more clever and strong than she actually was, which is annoying. I mean, we all love strong, smart, courageous heroines, and because we love them we can tell when someone doesn't fit the bill, however hard the author tries to boost the character's image in the eyes of the reader (the truth always comes through).
 
Also, there's suggested bestiality in the story, which is cool, I mean besides the fact that some people are into that, it can symbolically bring a raw, primal aspect to the story, but not in a book intended for something of a younger audience. I am not against younger people becoming familiar with what sex is, as it would be absurd to hide it from them beyond a certain age and not do them some sort of harm, but the... flavour of sexual experience they are aware of should be left to human on human until later on... if ever. This may be my inner prude coming to light, but I would be hesitant to give it to anyone younger than me for fear that they might pick up on the suggestion.
 
I didn't completely hate it because I like faeries, and I suppose I appreciate the author's attempt to incorporate faeries into the plot, what with the red caps n such, and the prince being kind of a faery himself, so I put aside the poor writing for one of my obsessions, but other than that I deem it to be a failed attempt.

I've just finished reading another retelling called East by Edith Pattou. I found that to be more successful. The story is a good one, this was just a bad version of it.

Rose And The Beast: fairy tales retold by francesca lia Block

This book was really great. Often with the retelling of a popular story there is the potential to fail miserably, as so many people know and love the original. Even taking the bare bones of a story and (like Cinderella for example) and using it as a plot line for other stories wherein you can clearly see the reference can go horribly wrong because there are so many examples of this story being told correctly and well... that is is somewhat admirable for an author to take on these stories and succeed as did this author.

The book is a collection of short stories, the retold fairy tales being snow white, Thumbelina, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Rose Red and Rose White, Blue Beard, Beauty and the Beast, and the Snow Queen.

The author has a very lyrical style of writing that leaves you with an almost evanescent interaction with the emotions she's throwing at you... kind of reminiscent of Patricia Mckillip, but not that intense. Some of the fairy tales are modernized and some aren't, but all of them take a different look the fairy tale in question, staying close enough to the original that you can clearly relate it, but looking at it from different angles, making it almost a different story. The plot doesn't change, the perspectives do.

Definitely a successful attempt.