Book Review: Grim

grimTitle: Grim
Author: Julie Kagawa, Malinda Lo, Ellen Hopkins, Amanda Hocking & More
Genres: Fantasy/SF
Pages: 474
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Review Copy: Purchased by Amazon
Availability: On Shelves now

Summary: Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today.

Review: Short story anthologies are becoming popular again, specifically YA, as many readers of series are now getting used to authors publishing short stories or novellas between books. These short stories allow readers to spend more time in the world the authors create, thus a market has been born in the YA world for short stories. HarlequinTeen realized this and gathered a group of authors together to write around a common theme – the stories by the Brother’s Grimm.

Unlike the Disney versions of Grims Fairy tales, the short stories in this anthology are anything but fluffy. Some very dark themes are explored such as incest, death, dark magic, and deals with the devil. There is even a story about skin eaters, which…was quite gross. Anyway, it’s somewhat hard to review an anthology because there are some stories that I liked more than others, but overall the fun of reading these stories was how each of the author’s turned their Grims fairytale on it’s head. Sarah Rees Brennan’s “Beauty and the Chad” was a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” where the “Beast” was clearly a spoiled California surfer dude and “Beauty” was from a different time period. Their misunderstandings, and especially Chad’s characterization, had me giggling. Julie Kagawa’s “The Brother’s Piggett” was the Three Pigs, but with a twisted ending that shocked me. Let’s just say, I really felt for the wolf. “Untethered” by Sonia Gensler” was a beautiful story about death and moving on. My favorite, however, was Saundra Mitchell’s “Thinner Than Water” that just knocked me in my gut but had me cheering for the main character at the end. Many of the stories in Grim delve into the darker parts of the human psyche and explore the murky aspects of humanity much like the original Grimm stories did. I love that in all of these stories, made for a YA audience that is usually coddled, do not hold back on the darker themes that teens experience. While these are re-tellings of fairy tales, they did not seem “Disneyish” in the least.

My only wish for this collection, and other anthology collections such as the dystopian anthology titled After, is that it had more diversity in it. First, there were only 2 authors of color represented, which is disappointing, and with the opportunity to rework Jacob’s & Wilhelm’s immortal words, very few authors decided to build diversity into their worlds. To know that there was potential here for authors to stretch themselves, make one of the princess or even the princes a character of color, or set the world in a non-European historical period, is disheartening. All of these authors are excellent storytellers, do not get me wrong I enjoyed all the stories, it’s just I wish in 2014, a book that is all about the re-imagining of classic fairy tales, was reflective of the diverse lives of its readers.

Recommendation: I’m not too sure. If you like short stories and fairy tales, Grim is one to pick up. If you don’t then borrow it.

3 Replies to “Book Review: Grim

  1. It’s disappointing (but not surprising) to hear about the lack of diversity, but I’m going to check Grim out despite that (I just placed a hold at my library). I mostly enjoy fairytale retellings, and short story anthologies are great because if one story isn’t holding you, you can just move onto another.

    PS When you wrote Hans and Christian did you mean Jacob and Wilhelm?

  2. Oh gosh! Thanks for pointing out my mistake. Where was my brain? I’ve corrected it.

    Despite the lack of diversity, I did enjoy the anthology. All the stories were excellent. You’ll enjoy it.

    1. It’s a totally understandable mistake!

      I’m pretty excited to get my hands on this one.

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