The third book in The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani, The Last Ever After, was surprisingly unpredictable. While Agatha and Tedros are transported back to Gavaldon, Sophie is living with the School Master. Although the girls’ story was supposed to be closed long ago, their separation causes their story to be opened once again as evil takes over and old villains return from their graves.
A retelling of the Goose Girl, Khanani introduces us to Princess Alyrra who is soon to be betrothed to the Crown Prince Kestrin. She travels to his kingdom with her handmaiden where the Lady, a fae folk, switches their appearances and uses this to capture Kestrin. Distraught, Alyrra has to warn him of the fake princess and the soon coming danger to his life. She soon realizes that he’s aware of this, and Alyrra comes to accept her new life. She takes on the position of a goose girl and the new name of Thorn.
Blue de la Cour is a talented alchemist with a dangerous secret: she is a witch. In Balavata, magic is both feared and hated, so the magic in Blue’s blood could very well lead to her death. After her father’s sudden death, she is thrown into turmoil, finding herself the ward of Lady Chauveau, a powerful councilwoman. What’s more, strange things are happening in the kingdom — orphans are being kidnapped, daughters of influential families are being murdered, and screams of monsters echo through the streets.
To the people of Salann, the sea is everything. It is a cruel master, harsh and unforgiving, and it is both life and death. Annaleigh Thaumas has sent four of her eleven sisters back to the sea — and each went more horribly than the last. Now, there are whispers that the sisters are cursed, and loneliness has joined the heavy swaths of grief and mourning that encase the family like a black veil.
It’s a shame Maia wasn’t born as a boy. She has the makings of one of the best tailors in all of A’landi — she spins silk into the finest thread, weaves gossamer cloth that almost floats in its delicacy, and embroiders scenes that seem to dance with life — but as a girl, she is destined not for greatness as a tailor, but for marriage. However, when her elderly father is summoned to the palace to compete against eleven other tailors for the position of imperial tailor, Maia assumes the identity of her brother Keton and travels to the palace in her father’s stead.
Poisoned brings an interesting alternative plot line to the classic fairytale Snow White. Sophie is both compassionate and the heir to her father’s throne. Her stepmother shares different ideas when it comes to ruling. She orders for the hunter to bring back Sophie’s heart. Unlike the traditional tale, the hunter accomplishes his task. Sophie is thankfully saved by many mysterious strangers that she meets along the way. She of course has also saved many creatures of sorts, and many of them return the favor.
The sequel to The School for Good and Evil, A World Without Princes, was very engaging, but It had problematic gender representation. In this book, Sophie and Agatha begin in their village, but when Agatha wishes for the prince that she left behind, the two friends return to their former fairytale school.
Zahra, a Jinni, has been imprisoned in her lamp ever since her last master and best friend, Queen Roshana, was killed by a Jinn. She has just resigned herself to an eternity alone when a boy, Aladdin, stumbles across her lamp—and picks it up. Now Aladdin, the son of long-dead revolutionaries, has the power to finally create the change he had believed impossible—and to get revenge on the monarchy that killed his parents.
The Hinterland — a fairytale world filled with magic, violence, and wickedly beautiful promises. In this collection of twelve dark fairytales, author Melissa Albert brings to life the stories that make up the very backbone of her debut novel, The Hazel Wood. Within these pages, girls grown from apple blossoms, women in bearskins, and grooms with the eyes of lions perform a precarious dance, toying with the fibers of life.
Marvel Fairy Tales is a graphic novel compilation of several different stories written and illustrated by C.B. Cebulski, Claire Wendling, and many others. I loved the idea of this book and was excited to see my favorite Marvel characters transported into some of my favorite fantasy worlds, but I was disappointed by the execution. There is no character or plot development; the stories all have a great beginning, but there’s no build-up to their climaxes; all of the stories suddenly end and feel almost incomplete.
