My first introduction to Susanna Clark and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed her book. Some clever wit likened the prose to 'Jane Austen meets the Grimm brothers' and I have to agree.
This is a collection of eight good old-fashioned English fairy tales, written in a style and language that many Austen fans would recognise. Lovers of faerie and fantasy would appreciate the almost historical manner of their telling. Clark gives a new twist to the Rumpelstiltskin tale and Shakespeare's Queen Mab. She even sets one in a Neil Gaiman universe.
Not everything is sunshine and rainbows; like Grimm's tales, there's a darker undercurrent afoot. Fairies are not the 'little people', or 'fair folk' we remember from childhood tales. They are lustful, mean-spirited and cunning. Their interactions with humans nearly always spell disaster for ordinary folk. But this book is far from that. It's a quick easy read, done in one long afternoon.
Now reading: The Faith Club - A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew by Idliby, Oliver and Warner. I've already gotten to some difficult parts involving stereotyping and prejudice, some of which I recognise all to well. But it's proving to be a very eye-opening read.
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