Anthologies have always been difficult for me to review, which is why I will rarely request one from Netgalley. How do you rate an anthology? I suppose I took the lazy way out by simply looking into the number of stories that I really enjoyed, and I’d say it was about 3.5/5 of the book, so this gets 3.5 stars.

I will, however, tell you what I loved. In no particular order, I really enjoyed Godmother Death, The Foxwife, Brother Hart, Sule Skerry, The Woman Who Loved a Bear, and Wrestling with Angels. I gasped at the ending of Snow in Summer, teared up at Allerleirauh, felt awe for Slipping Sideways Through Eternity, giggled at The Green Plague, and rooted for the underdog in Sleeping Ugly. I didn’t feel much for the other tales, unfortunately, although none of them are bad.

My absolute favourite has got to be Once a Good Man. It’s a story about, well, a good man, who is allowed a wish from the Lord. He decides that he wants to see heaven and hell. I won’t spoil the end of the story, but I had somehow never heard the original folklore. I see in the notes that this was originally made for a children’s book, and I have to say, I would totally tell my future children this story. I cried, I read it again, and then I read it out loud to my fiancé. It will stay with me a long time.

I’d like to thank Tachyon Publications for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

#HowToFractureAFairyTale #Netgalley

I’ve always loved Jane Yolen’s work. This collection of fairy tales retold was excellent. It covers mythology from around the world and puts an entirely new lens on time honored stories. I also enjoyed the poems at the end that went with every story. I look forward to recommending it to anyone in the mythology section, especially since it can be enjoyed by a large age range.

I will start by saying I love fairytales which is why the title How to Fracture a Fairy Tale enticed me. However, I feel like the book was more author notes than it was actual poems or stories of fairytales. I feel like something should have been done to make the poems stand out more especially since this is the first time I have ever heard or read anything from this author.

For my full review check out my blog at https://bookgirlreviewsbooks.blogspot.com

3.5 stars

I've been a fan of Jane Yolen since I was a teenager in the 1970s. I am now (much) older than she was when I first starting reading her. Many of the books and authors I thought were brilliant as a teenager have not held up... this is not the case with Yolen, whose brilliance cannot be mistaken.

Some of these stories are funny, some are sad; some are old friends, some were new to me, but all were wonderful. Yolen is just a treasure, that's all.

I liked the stories, but I had to take a break every couple of stories.
These stories are short and very nice to read

Jane Yolen tackles both well-known and more obscure fairytales in this new book. A new spin on the usual stories makes them new and exciting, though there are a few that fall flat.

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I was drawn to this book, because I love Jane Yolen and will always go for the chance to read some of her fairy tales. She has the ability to create such unique perspectives in stories that I just couldn't pass it up. My favorite "fractured fairy tales" in this collection include: a Rumplestiltskin retelling, a Three Billy Goats Gruff retelling from the perspective of the bridge, and a story about Death.

This collection includes stories with poems to go with them and a brief description of Yolen's process for fracturing and reworking the story for herself. I really liked learning the background and history of some of these stories, so I found this fascinating and well worth the read. Anyone who is interested in the writing process will enjoy these additions. However, I did find myself enjoying the stories much more than the poems, but the poems were short enough and fairly interesting that they weren't a great detractor of my enjoyment of the collection overall.

What I most appreciated is how Yolen reworked some of these stories to relate to today's world, and others are just timeless. I found each story to be moving and speak to something universal about our world, which is what fairy tales, at the end of the day, are supposed to be for. As usual with short story collections, some stories spoke to me more than others, but there wasn't any story that I felt was a letdown; I enjoyed them all.

I highly recommend How to Fracture a Fairy Tale to any fan of fairy tales, but I especially see a lot of value in using this as a teaching tool for writing and studying fairy tales.

I received a copy of this book from Net Galley for an honest review. While I really enjoy Yolen's writing I found this collection much more hit and miss. Some of the stories I loved. I found the Cinderella re-writes especially interesting. My favorite was The Moon Ribbon. Her use of symbolism and character descriptions always move me. Some of the tails were not as much to my liking, but my favorite thing is at the end of the book she goes into little descriptions of each story. Learning the thought process or the idea that sparked the story is a fascinating to read. And I'm so glad she included these extras.

I was really rather disappointed in How to Fracture a Fairy Tale. I'm a long-time fan of Jane Yolen, so had high hopes, but found this book of short stories and poems very uneven. I hadn't realized when I requested it from NetGalley that it was a compilation of stories from her long career. There were several that I enjoyed very much, but also several that I found rather pointless. Many thanks, nonetheless, to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for the opportunity to read the advance copy.

Wow. This was a little bit of magic. I am a huge fan of retellings and loved the new perspectives of old fairy tales. I think Granny Rumple might be my favorite. Or Godmother Death. Heck they all were wonderful. I loved how Yolen broke these classic tales and breathed new life into them. I cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy so I can read it over and over again for years to come.

Full review will go live on my blog two weeks before the release date.

I liked this a lot! As usual, I rated each story in the collection, and averaging those ratings you get 3.5 stars. I'm rounding that up to 4 stars for the official rating, because some of the ones I rated only one or two stars were super short and so didn't really drag down the collection, plus I like that the book includes some short commentary by Jane Yolen at the end about why she wrote each story and what she chose to change. Honestly, I wish these explanations were longer! I didn't really care about the poetry that was also included with the short commentary, so I wish they'd used that space for more talking about the stories.

As a Jewish fantasy nerd, I love that she fractures some of the fairytales with a Jewish slant (it's always nice to find Jewish representation where you didn't even expect to — although I should have remembered that about Jane Yolen!) Also, from the short commentary in the back, Yolen just seems like a super cool person.

In general, I just think this is a good collection. These retellings sit in that perfect cross-section of twisting without resorting to shock value, and there's a variety of stories, from serious with shades of violence or real societal problems to silly with wordplay or whimsy. I approve, and I should definitely read more Jane Yolen.

This collection of twisted fairy tales was exactly what I was hoping it would be. Unique and inventive with a touch of the stories I've heard retold again and again. There is something to be said for the ability to twist stories so well known and this collection makes it clear why Jane Yolen is considered to be one of the best! I enjoyed both the stories rooted in beloved stories and the ones I had no knowledge of. This is the perfect addition to any fairy tale lover's collection.

I have always enjoyed fairy tales as a child. And last year I tried to read some fairy tales from different places in the world. So I was very curious about this fractured fairy tales. I loved some of them, enjoyed others and a couple fell flat to me (maybe just in comparison). Some of them where so good in the fracturing process that I couldn't recognize the original story behind it. In others the tale behind the story was clear from the title itself but the new twists were fresh and original and clearly directed to a more adult audience than the classic fairy tales.
My favorite ones were The Foxwife, about an angry Japanese student and his mysterious wife, Granny Rumple, a religious take on Rumplestilskin tale, based of the true history of medieval Europe, and Godmother Death, because it's always good to read an origin story different from the others.
The only problem was the one I always find in short stories collections: the level of the stories isn't always the same and the reading experience is like going on a rollercoaster: you can reach incredibly high points, and there the stories are really, really good, and then go down and, in that point, the story is a little bit boring or predictable. Fortunately in this book there were more very few low points.
I really liked Yolen's style, for me it was clear that she had time to hone her craft and that there was so much study behind this process of fracturing classic fairy tales.
I think many readers could enjoy this book, maybe reading one tale at the time instead of all of them together.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fairytale retellings are one of my favorite reads. Finding a collection of it felt like I struck gold. Yolen's How To Fracture a Fairy Tale offers a large variety of fairy tales and folklore, both famous and infamous ones, that make readers reminisce and rediscover their love for old, classic stories.

This is my first time reading Jane Yolen's book and I can honestly say that I am impressed. Overall, the collection is a delightful and entertaining read. Some of them are really fast and short, while others are quite long. It is worth mentioning that in the book's introduction, the author describes her method and creative processes in writing these retellings. I was fascinated that it provided us, readers, a glimpse of how Yolen cleverly created her narratives.

Moreover, it is apparent that the writer really knows how to "fracture" a story. Each story has their own twists which give a feeling of familiarity and newness at the same time. I also like how every story has a different tone and mood as well as writing styles. It almost felt like I've been reading a collection of stories written by different authors. Also, just like the original tales, some of the stories aren't suited for the young audience because they contain dark and mature elements.

I enjoyed reading this book. If you are looking for retellings with dark, unique clever twists, I recommend reading this gem.

I loved this book! The full review will be posted soon at kaitgoodwin.com/books! Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity to connect books to their readers!

Thank you Tachyon Publications and Net Galley for the free review copy. I love fairy tales, fractured or otherwise. Yolen is a master at fractured fairy tales, and her related poems add a little something extra to the stories. The wide range of fairy tales and creativity with which they're altered kept me reading. I couldn't put it down, and I was sad to reach the end of the book. There's something for everyone in this collection, from sad to humorous and everything in between. I definitely recommend this book!

I was thoroughly impressed with this writing. What a fun collaborative of writing. I love how the author made the stories included come alive.

Janet Yolen is one of the most prolific writers of our time and one of the things she handles best are fairy tales. In her new book How To Fracture a Fairy Tale, Yolen gathers fairy tales and changes them in ways that are often a bit on the dark side. 

The stories sometimes deals with concepts like child abuse or the end of the world. Others are small pieces of pure joy. One even tells the tale of The Billy Goats Gruff from the perspective of the bridge itself. Like most short story collections, some are a delight to read and some are just a quick read until you get to the next. If you like unusual stories with a touch of the familiar, this book is highly enjoyable. A few of my favorites are "Snow in Summer" and "The Moon Ribbon."

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale is now available from Tachyon Publications.

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale is an interesting retelling of many fairy tales, some that we know of, others that we don't. Jane Yolen recreates some of the most well-known fairy tales like Cinderella or Snow White and creates a completely new one. Unlike normal retellings, Yolen truly fractures the fairy tale and makes it an almost original one. I did find it really interesting to read stories that I know and love in a completely different way and to see it in a new light. There is a variety of stories from around the world and from different cultures that I've never heard of. It was really fun reading them, though I wish I had read the original before reading the retelling so I knew how it was altered.
All in all, How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen is an amazing compilation of retellings of legends and stories around the world. As an avid retellings fan, I found it an enjoyable read.

This is a fun book of short stories. The stories are all kinds of fairy tales retold. I wish some of them were full length novels because I feel like they'd make really epic books. This was such a fun read.