Maura (maura853) - , reviewed on 9/3/2017 + 542 more book reviews

The story of how one lost little boy has his soul saved by his quest through the tropes of a dark, dismal fairyland landscape. A reworking of some of the most famous fairytales, deeper, darker versions that sweep away the prettified, Disneyfications that we think we know so well, and restore the danger, power (and violence) of the originals. Like the wonderful Broadway musical and movie "In the Woods," the power of the tales are enhanced by the mash-up of characters (Rumpelstiltskin, meet Sleeping Beauty!), and a return to their violent roots (this Sleeping Beauty has sharp teeth ...)

This grew on me as I read on: I found the opening chapters, in which David loses his mother and has to adapt as his father remarries and presents him with an unwanted half-brother, a bit resistible. David seems like a very young twelve-year-old. (The ghost of myself at 12 -- who considered herself quite a grown up woman of the world -- bitterly resents babyish depictions.) Some elements of his grief at his mother's death feel like the way a pious adult would think a child should feel.

It got much better SPOILER when David passed over to the blighted fairyland, set to work saving himself, solving the mystery of the blight that had befallen the kingdom, and finding his way home. There was some humor, some lightness of touch, SOME recognition of the absurdity of it all. The ending was genuinely touching and, like all the best fairytales, the "happily ever after" was relieved by a good dose of reality.

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