Snow White and Rose Red ~ 4 stars

I’ve been a Patricia C. Wrede reader for several years now. She wrote a few Star Wars novels and I've also enjoyed her Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I’ve always liked the spicy, distinct characters in her books, so when I saw she had also written a retelling of the old fairy tale about Snow White and Rose Red, I thought I’d give it a go.

It wasn't quite what I expected from Patricia C. Wrede. I was used to reading her more recent publications, but Snow White and Rose Red was one of the first stories she had published, and her writing has changed a lot since then. Snow White and Rose Red follows the original fairy tale closely enough that I could see where the parallels were, but the characters had changed enough that the story was obviously "wearing new clothes" as I like to put it. It had been fleshed out and made more intricate. All the leaps of logic, typical of old fairy tales, had been ironed out and explained.

Patricia C. Wrede's Snow White and Rose Red is the story of two beautiful sisters, Blanche and Rosamund, who live with their widowed mother near the border of the world of the fay. When a half-fay, half-mortal man called Hugh is subjected to human magic and forced to take the shape of a bear, kind Blanche and Rosamund try to do everything they can to return him to his original shape. This means taking the considerable risk of being discovered and tried as witches by suspicious neighbors. In the end, they need the help of Hugh's brother John, another half-fay, to break the spell. In so doing, they discover that Hugh's transformation was the result of a plot to tear the human world and the world of the fay apart. 

The story concludes with the classic fairy tale ending: the fair maidens wed their new sweethearts, the half-fay Hugh and John. Usually I don't like these kinds of endings, because it makes the romances very unrealistic, but Patricia C. Wrede did an admirable job of making the relationships between the characters real enough that I could see them getting married.

I found Snow White and Rose Red to be a fairly entertaining story. It was written with a more reserved, strict style than other fairy tale retellings that I’ve read. It doesn't have the very personal style that most novels published in the past 5 or 6 years have, but this is mainly because Snow White and Rose Red was published in 1989, before that style of writing became popular. In fact, the style of Snow White and Rose Red is great for that story, because it makes it read more like a fairy tale and adds grace and elegance to it. I also enjoyed the way the original fairy tale was restructured for Wrede’s retelling, and I think that her revision of it added a lot of appeal to the story.

The biggest thing that I noticed about Snow White and Rose Red was the language. Wrede uses ‘thee’ and ‘thou’, in addition to the usual ‘you.’ Other changes to the language, such as some of the more archaic forms of words (forsooth, seemth), and even the use of ‘an’ in the place of 'if' in some cases, all make the language a little more challenging to less experienced readers. To me, these things just added to the unique style of the book, since it hearkens back to an older way of speaking. But for other, less patient readers, this might make it too difficult to be interesting. My twelve-year-old sister Jo also read Snow White and Rose Red, and although she enjoyed it, she did say that the language was sometimes an impediment.

So, in the end, I would just say this.

"An thou can read and understand it, thou’lt know why I sayeth that it seems a goodly book."

Link to author website: http://pcwrede.com/

The Spook's Apprentice ~ 3 stars

Book 1

     I don't like lots of horror and gore in books. The Spook's Apprentice series by Joseph Delany has both, so I actually didn't expect to find them at all appealing, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed them. I would classify this series as being a thorough blend of some of the most frightening, bloody writing I've found in non-adult literature and some great characters and themes.

     The Spook's Apprentice books center around Thomas Ward, the apprentice of the local Spook, Old Gregory. As an apprentice Spook, it's Tom's job to deal with the things that go bump in the dark: ghasts, ghosts, boggarts, witches, and other denizens of the dark. They're a terrifying bunch of villanious creatures, and it takes a special kind of person to be brave enough to face them. Tom is a seventh son of a seventh son, and this makes him specially suited to fighting the dark, but even so its not an easy job. He regularly depends on the experience and skill of his master, Gregory, to help him, as well as the abilities of his friend Alice, the daughter of a witch.

Book 2

     Without spoiling the story too much, since there are many unexpected twists and turns in the plot, here's a summary of the series. Throughout the books, the dark is gradually growing strong, and it's almost more than a Spook and his apprentice can keep at bay. To make things worse, the Fiend, who is said to be 'the dark made flesh', has been summoned to the world. The only thing that is keeping him from destroying the world utterly is the fact that Tom's mother has hobbled him, binding him to several conditions. If he kills Tom, he will only be able to remain in the world for a hundred years – a mere blink to a powerful being like the Fiend. But if he can convert Tom to the dark or get one of his children to kill him, his reign can go on forever, unbroken and unhindered. To banish the Fiend back to the dark forever, Tom, Gregory, Alice, and other allies they make along the way are going to have to find a way to kill him. And a being like the Fiend isn't going to be easy to kill.

Book 6

     Hopefully that little summary doesn't give away too much of the story, but did tell you enough to possibly interest you in giving this series a try. Beyond just hinting at the plot, however, I have several things to say about the books themselves.

     Like I said, this story has a lot of elements in it which I would classify as horror. Delaney never lets you forget how close many of the characters are to a really horrible death for extended periods of time. He also describes things in vivid detail, and combining that with plenty of heart-pounding moments for the characters can give readers a shock if they don't have nerves of steel. This is not a comfy story where the heroes eventually win – it's a story where the heroes are going to win in the long run, but lots of them are going to die along the way. And that's not always appealing to every reader.

Book 8

     Also, the gore level of the Last Apprentice is very, very high. I'm not joking when I say that blood, bones, and death is mentioned on every three pages, at least. In particular, the witches of Delaney's story are quite gory and disturbing. It takes a reader who isn't easily disgusted to hang on during the first few descriptions of dead witches and blood-drinking boggarts. You'll have to be the judge of the blood and guts aspect of The Spook's Apprentice yourself. My advice is to at least read the first book and give it a try. You might find it extremely disturbing, or it could be appealing to you. Or you might be like me and enjoy the extra layer it adds to the story while not trying to imagine how incredibly disturbing the story would be in real life.

Book 10

     But just because The Spook's Apprentice can be horrific and bloody in places didn't turn me off. I actually found that although it was a gory story with creatures that wouldn't be out of place in a horror film, it was still a good story. Delaney handles horror and gore without becoming repulsive and revolting. Also, his characters have heart and substance – Tom in particular. Really bad things happen to them, and they get more of a fright than I do, but they're still great, three-dimmensional, extremely unique characters. The books wouldn't be the same without them. Also, Delaney has a wonderful narrative voice. The flow of the story is very natural, even in the most disturbing passages.

Book 13

     In the end I find myself two minds about The Spook's Apprentice. On the one hand, it's got great characters and Delaney is a very good writer. But on the other hand, the series currently contains thirteen books, and Delaney hasn't finished his story yet. And in my opinion, he's sacrificed some of the aspects of his story that I liked along the way to getting to thirteen books. I'll finish the series, but I was not pleased with the turn the series took. So in a few days, I'll follow this review with a breakdown of what I thought of Delaney's continuation of The Spook's Apprentice story. It's going to be full of spoilers, so don't read it until you've gotten to book thirteen. Please don't. It'll ruin half the surprises in store for you.

Link to author website: http://www.spooksbooks.com/