White Cat, Black Dog

A fascinating series of stories, each based on a fairy or folk tale, that then gets turned by the author into her own tales. Some maintain the fairy tale atmosphere, while others take on a fantasy or contemporary tone. I was not familiar with some of the sources used for the stories, but it is worth looking them up after reading the stories here to see the similarities and differences between the source materials and her stories.

• The White Cat's Divorce: a rich man who can get anything fears growing old and sets his sons tasks to determine who will inherit his wealth. As usual, the youngest one manages to fulfil the wishes with unusual results when he meets a talking white cat that helps him out. But the strangest result would come when the cat insists on meeting his father.

• Prince Hat Underground: the relationship between Prince Hat and his lover are interrupted when Prince Hat's former fiancée suddenly appears and whisks him away. The lover then goes on a journey to Iceland and then down underground into another world to find Prince Hat and find out how he wants to live.

• The White Road: in a future when an unknown calamity has occurred, a travelling theatre group which also acts as a messenger service travels to the town of Bremen, with a strange white road running alongside them in the distance. It is only when they get to Bremen, and discover a disaster, do they realize that they have to give a realistic performance to save their lives from whatever inhabits the white road.

• The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear: a traveller is stuck at an airport, waiting for an available flight during a weather disruption. While there, she learns her child at home is getting scared; a situation which she is struggling to understand when, at last, a flight home opens.

• The game of Smash and Recovery: a girl and a boy play games on a distant world while waiting for a long delayed rescue by their parents. But in one of the games, the girl does the unexpected and discovers the truth about herself, hidden in a forbidden area of the planet.

• The Lady and the Fox: during a snowy Christmas at a house, a young girl sees a face at a window, whom she later discovers is that of a young man. But at subsequent meetings, when the man only appears when it snows at Christmas, she finds herself falling in love with him. Now, she is determined to discover why he can only appear at that time, and how to keep him in our world.

• Skinder's Veil: a man is asked by his friend to help take care of a house in the woods while she is away. He is given strict, and unusual, instructions about who can enter the house. Following the rules, he lets in a series of travellers, both human and non-human, which tell him seemingly disconnected stories that gradually reveal just who the owner of the house really is.

Kind of an off-the-wall pick for me, as I don’t normally read/review short story collections, but I was drawn in by the premise of modern-day takes on fairy tales, and it seemed short enough to not overstay its welcome. As with most short story collections, it’s a mixed bag, but I mostly enjoyed my experience. I think the premise of giving fairy tales a modern day spin is stretching it a bit though, as most of the stories here take names and place inspiration, but not much else.

The White Cat’s Divorce (The White Cat) – 3/5, I actually knew a variation of this story from Japan, told there as The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, but I thought this was a nice take. Kinda drug/pot-heavy, but still a nice tale.

Prince Hat Underground (East of the Sun, West of the Moon) – 4/5, I don’t know the source material for this one, but I thought this managed to be both dark and light-hearted at the same time. I appreciate the lengths Gary was willing to go to get his Prince Hat back.

The White Road (The Musicians of Bremen) – 5/5, very little to do with the Musicians of Bremen beyond some names, but still manages to be one of my favorites of the collection. Very dark, creepy, with an expected/unexpected conclusion. Wish more was discussed about what it actually was, but as this is meant as a short story, it’s understandable.

The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear (The Boy Who Did Not Know Fear) – 3/5, There was so much build-up in this one that I was all about, but in the end I’m not entirely sure what the story was about. Unsettling to me, but not much else.

The Game of Smash and Recovery (Hansel and Gretel) – 4/5, Another unsettling one where I’m not sure who won and who lost, but I loved the sci-fi ride. I wasn’t expecting the ending we got, for sure.

The Lady and the Fox (Tam Lin) – 3/5, Cute and warm and fuzzy, very Christmas-y. Kind of felt out of place with the rest of the stories in this collection though, just based on tone. Unanswered questions in this one as well, I think the lack of answers detracts from the story in this one though.

Skinder’s Veil (Snow-White and Rose-Red) – 5/5, woah. Easily the weirdest/creepiest one of the batch. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the characters. Anything I could say further would spoil the ending, but I wasn’t expecting it.

So overall, an out-of-the-ordinary pick for me, but I actually really enjoyed the experience. They definitely hit the mark as being modern-day fairy tales, but they aren’t super faithful to the originals, which is fine. If you’re looking for authentic retellings, this isn’t your book, but otherwise if the premise sounds interesting, give it a go.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.