Jim C. Hines
The Stepsister Scheme (2009)
As you may or may not know, I love folk tales and fairy tales. I also love things derived from folk and fairy tales, which is why I love Fables, and Sandman, and Hellboy. Authors who work myth and characters from folklore into their works.
So when John Scalzi had Jim C. Hines on for his Big Idea post and it was about The Stepsister Scheme, I immediately added the book to my wishlist.
Then I decided I really wanted to read it and just went ahead and ordered it. (Note to Amazon: If I am ordering something off my own wishlist, why do you force me to choose a shipping address? Why can’t you be smarter than that?)
Cinderella (real name Danielle) has returned from her honeymoon and is adjusting to life as a princess when a series of unfortunate events leads her to the discovery that she’s not the only princess hanging around the castle, and these princesses believe that you need to be able to take care of yourself.
Which is how Danielle meets Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.
What I enjoyed most about the story was how he drew upon the less familiar versions of those fairy tales, and didn’t hesitate to add his own twists to those stories. (His Sleeping Beauty seemed to borrow a good deal from Charles Perrault, but them diverged wildly, which did throw me for a loop at first. But it was a good loop, and made more sense than where Perrault went, actually.)
Additionally, these princesses have more in common with the princesses in Fables than with Disney (especially Cinderella)–they’re assertive (eventually) and stand up for themselves, and won’t sit by and allow someone else to control their destiny.
All in all, I loved the story. I loved the independence of the princesses, I loved the realm they inhabited (as unreal as it may be, hey, it’s fantasy), I love where the story went, and I really enjoyed the secondary characters.
I also liked Danielle’s doubts and fears and how those doubts and fears and her past tempered her actions in the present.
If you like Fables, then you will definitely want to check out The Stepsister Scheme. And I’m not telling you whether there’s a happily ever after. :)
Rating: 8/10
The Mermaid’s Madness (2009)
I thoroughly enjoyed The Stepsister Scheme, and so was looking forward to reading The Mermaid’s Madness. Snow (Snow White) and Talia (Sleeping Beauty) are again helping Danielle (Cinderella), this time to deal with a mermaid who has gone mad (hence the title). The mermaid in question is of Hans Christian Anderson’s tale, “The Little Mermaid” if you’re looking for the roots of the story.
As with the first story, we learn a little more about the pasts of Talia and Snow, and of course there is the take off on “The Little Mermaid”, and the characters are complex and multi-dimensional, with their own quirks and faults, so there was plenty there for me to like.
Except that I simply had a hard time getting through the story. In fact, I put the book down for more than a month, grabbed it to take to an appointment, and was going to put it back down for something else when I realized I was almost finished with the book.
It’s not like a hated the book or the story, I just found myself having a hard time caring what happened. It’s possible I would have preferred another main character for the story–Danielle is perhaps too nice and too good. Snow and Talia seemed to have far more interesting stories, so the focus on what Danielle’s growth and maturity into her position as princess was just not fascinating.
And for some reason, the mermaid portion of the story never really grabbed my attention. There weren’t any gaping flaws or errors or anything that threw me out of the story, but it also seemed to lack the certain something that grabs me and keeps me in the story. Perhaps it’s because I have not had much interest in high adventure fantasy recently–I used to love it, but in recent years, it’s done nothing for me.
So, for me, a disappointing continuation of the series, bust I still recommend going back and reading The Step Sister Scheme.
Rating: 6/10
The Stepsister Scheme (2009), The Mermaid’s Madness (2009)
