Two and Twenty Dark Tales review

Every time I read an anthology or book of short stories I promise to never read a book like that again. I can’t stand them. They are never consistently good, at least half of them are bad and short stories means that I only get a small glimpse into a character and there is no room for development in character or plot.

            Of course, I always falter and end up buying an anthology. Either because the topic the stories surround are interesting or because one of the authors in the anthology is one of my favorites. Both were the case when I read Two and Twenty Dark Tales: Dark Retellings of Mother Goose Rhymes. I love fairy tales, and stories from my youth. Especially retellings, I find them fascinating. So when I came across this book I had high hopes (especially when I found out the Suzanne Young wrote one of them).

            As usual though, I was disappointed in the book. While some of the stories were good, most weren’t. I liked the story based on the “Four and Twenty Blackbirds in a Pie.” In the retelling, the blackbirds were a rebel group against the king. The king using magic would trap his enemies inside a magic plate. It was a pretty good story, but it was one of the few I liked.

            I felt like most of the retellings were pushing relating the stories to rhymes, but even worse they weren’t complete stories. Rather than just short stories, I felt like they were just small snippets of larger stories and weren’t complete. Over all I would rate the novel a 2/5 stars, and hopefully I will learn to stop reading these types of books.