This has been in my kindle library for years and I finally got round to reading it. I find the Grimm Fairytales fascinating and have enjoyed over the years, reading different adaptations of them.

Synopsis (as taken from the Amazon Kindle Store) is as follows:

A thousand years of effort to keep the true Fairy Tale hidden hidden is unravelling and the Beast is tired. He needs to find her through the diaries she left behind…

She who was Once Beauty Twice Beast

Mysteriously, knowingly, and cunningly, she’s left clues to her story and whereabouts through a series of diaries that expose the true history of fairy tales, of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, and all. Especially hers.

In a never before, darkly enchanting, love story, she’s left him breadcrumbs on pages of ancient books to where he can find her.

She will teach him the love lesson of all time, that things have to be loved before they are lovely…

Ability to read – I dived right into these stories here, not quite knowing what I was about to read and uncertain as to how my brain would perceive it. I was pleasantly surprised by the glimpse of life I saw in these short stories and the different take on much loved fairytales. I didn’t have any issue while reading, I was able to understand the plot clearly and recognise all the characters at play.

Characterisation – I don’t want to say too much in case I give anything away, but I found a richness within the pages and felt myself drawn into the stories of characters that haven’t been given a chance to shine in previous portrayals. The characters were more chilling in these prequels, there was more depth to them and more darkness. It was interesting to see how they interacted in this world and how their actions shaped and changed where they lived. The prequels work on the theory that The Brothers Grimm manipulated the storylines to suit them and thus distorted the facts of what truly happened. It was interesting to see the take on what actually happened to the characters involved.

Visualisation – it was easy to visual, mostly because I know the characters involved and know the worlds they came from. There was still an element of mystery and a curiosity to be discovered. There was room for my imagination to grow and support my visualisation.

Uniqueness – This prequel series originally came out during the height of fairytale adaptations, so in hindsight, it probably isn’t that unique. However, I prefer these prequels to some of the more hyped adaptations that are floating around out there. I enjoyed the darkness and the twist of character’s behaviour and I liked how the prequels were told as diaries to another. I thought the idea was original and different to other styles of fairytale adaptations.

Hannah xoxo