Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Review

I read this first as a teenager and it eventually made it to my shelves. Let me be very clear, a book does not get added to my shelf unless I really like it. If it isn’t something that I will read many times over, I don’t have the shelf space for it. I’ve read a good number of books that were new takes on fairy tales - many of which I like. There’s something about reimagining the old and giving us the unexpected that is great. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles does something a little different though. Instead of following one story line and retelling Cinderella or Snow White, Patricia Wrede takes all the story tropes and weaves them into a new world then populates it with brand new characters.

We don’t meet Rumpelstiltskin, we meet Rumpelstiltskin’s great-great-great-something-grandson who has to follow the family legacy. He doesn’t want to take the kids but that’s how the magic works so if he wants to help the girls out of their spin-me-gold-or-get-thrown-in-the-dungeon situation he needs to follow the rules. Because the world is ruled by all the traditional tropes there is just a note of predictability and an immediate understanding of how the world works. Then, all of a sudden, there’s a humorous twist or the characters play the rules to win the day.

The biggest drawback is the covers on the soft copies that I own. They look rather ridiculous and aren’t a great portrayal of what is described in the book. For example, the cover of Dealing with Dragons makes it look like Cimorene is lecturing the dragon Kazul. Since Kazul is akin to Cimorene’s employer a scene like that never happened and anyone who would judge a book by the cover would get the wrong impression.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is a fresh take on old stories and a set of funny books which I have recommended to many people - and now I recommend it to you!