This was an almost unceasing delight! Clever, pointed, charming as all hell, satirically hilarious, and the kind of book I am very likely to return to again and again as a comfort read! It took me by surprise, and almost immediately wound itself into my heart as one of my two favorite books of this year so far! It took me back a little to happy childhood memories of reading The Princess Bride - I felt like it shared a similarly absurdist humour.

I came very close to a 5 star rating. For me, the final section fell somewhat emotionally flat, compared to the rest. And without spoiling, there were characters who I wanted to learn and grow, who didn't really do so. There were deserved apologies that were not given. But I also cannot deny that this was a retelling of a specific fairytale that was absolutely not originally about our main character. It had the beginning it had. It had the end it had. This was a retelling from a side-character's point of view. Wrapping it up the way it was actually makes sense to me in that context, despite any frustration I feel. That was kind of part of the point. Fairytales suck for having good guys and heroes who aren't really either of those things, and they rarely have people learning their lessons. They suck in how women are viewed and treated. That's very much what this book calls out - from the point of view of that "forgotten", discarded female character.

I also have to admit I had really bad pain and brain days in the end section of this book and it slowed my reading to a crawl, and my mood dropped to grumpy as hell. I can't wait for a re-read one day, to see how much that might have affected my reaction to the ending!

The queer and trans rep was beautifully woven in amongst gentle but powerful commentary on gender, and the boundaries it creates that bind us all to roles that lessen us, particularly for women and gender minorities. It was genuinely heartwarming.

There's an author's note at the end of the book about how this story came to be. I found it really fascinating (and predictable in history) to hear of the women who told the Grimm brothers these tales, whose names were never mentioned by them. I feel like a little of that was embodied in the scenes in the women's quarters, them telling each other fairy tale stories, their voices unheard on the outside.

"It should be noted that the Grimm brothers gave no credit to the women who told them the stories, although they are now known to have included Henrietta Dorothea Wild, Wilhelmine von Schwertzell, Marie Hassenpflug, Jeanette Hassenpflug, Amalia Hassenpflug, Dorothea Viehmann, and Jenny von Droste-Hülstoff, among others."

For once, this kitten has to admit to not adoring the cat in this story! 🤣 I sure did love to hate that muppet of a gender-essentialist lion though! 𓃬

⋆⭒☆⭒⋆

Content warning

The book has harm being done to animals by a sorceress, and it's honestly painful reading. Truly torturous, cruel acts. For me personally, it was the only aspect that really brought this one out of a "cosy" category (despite multiple murders being done to humans lol - I have odd boundaries for what feels cosy to me, I guess?).