{"id":945,"date":"2009-02-02T20:18:19","date_gmt":"2009-02-03T01:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=945"},"modified":"2021-09-22T16:55:42","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T20:55:42","slug":"the-stepsister-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/945","title":{"rendered":"The Stepsister Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stepsister Scheme<\/a><\/em> (2009) Jim C. Hines<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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<\/a>, and Sandman<\/a>, and Hellboy<\/a>. Authors who work myth and characters from folklore into their works.<\/p>\n

So when John Scalzi<\/a> had Jim C. Hines on for his Big Idea post and it was about The Stepsister Scheme<\/em><\/a>, I immediately added the book to my wishlist.<\/p>\n

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?)<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Which is how Danielle meets Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.<\/p>\n

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.)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I also liked Danielle’s doubts and fears and how those doubts and fears and her past tempered her actions in the present.<\/p>\n

If you like Fables, then you will definitely want to check out The Stepsister Scheme<\/em>. And I’m not telling you whether there’s a happily ever after. :)
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Stepsister Scheme (2009) Jim C. Hines 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2,6,291],"tags":[522],"class_list":["post-945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-fantasy","category-folk-fairy-tales","category-paper","tag-vertigo-comics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-ff","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1591,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1591","url_meta":{"origin":945,"position":0},"title":"The Mermaid’s Madness","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Mermaid's Madness (2009) Jim C. Hines 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/mermaidhines.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3496,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3496","url_meta":{"origin":945,"position":1},"title":"Happily Ever After","author":"Michelle","date":"January 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Happily Ever After (2011) John Klima Not sure how I missed this when I first came out, but this anthology is full of things I love: authors whose books I love, stories based on folk and fairy tales--lovely! The only thing I didn't like, is I wish the anthology hadn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Happily Ever After","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/happily-ever-after.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":68,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/68","url_meta":{"origin":945,"position":2},"title":"A Wolf at the Door","author":"Michelle","date":"April 14, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"A Wolf at the Door (2000) edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling I love folk tales and fairy tales, and I love the idea of stories that have been told and retold, and then finally captured on paper. The problem of course, is finding an author who is good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/a-wolf-at-the-door.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":293,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/293","url_meta":{"origin":945,"position":3},"title":"Swan Sister","author":"Michelle","date":"August 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Swan Sister (2003) Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling I don't think I've come across a short story collection put together by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling that I didn't like, and Swan Sister is no exception to the rule. The stories are fairy tales retold, by a variety of authors--many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/swan-sister.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13618,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13618","url_meta":{"origin":945,"position":4},"title":"Valor: Swords","author":"Michelle","date":"November 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Valor: Swords (2015) edited by Isabelle Melan\u00e7on and Megan Lavey-Heaton Fairy tales do not inform children that there is such things as monsters. Children already know that there are monsters. What fairy tales really teach is that monsters can be transformed or destroyed. \u201cPrunella\u201d By Isabelle Melan\u00e7on And Megan Lavey-Heaton\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Valor Swords","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Valor-Swords.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2366,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2366","url_meta":{"origin":945,"position":5},"title":"Folk Tales from the Russian","author":"Michelle","date":"May 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Folk Tales from the Russian (1903) Verra Xenophontovna Kalamatiano de Blumenthal I love folk tales. I have two shelves of them, and discovered when I got my Kindle there are lots of collections available out there FOR FREE. Free, of course, means the books are from the public domain, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/folk-tales-from-russian.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}