DNF'd @ 36%</b>

I really wanted to enjoy this YA retelling of Hansel and Gretel, but unfortunately I couldn't get into it. Nothing much happened and none of the characters interested me enough to keep going.

This book was sooo good!! I love the characters, world building, and the overall pacing of the plot. It didn't lag for me and I enjoyed every second of my time reading it!!

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Not your ordinary fairytale retelling this adrenaline inducing read is quite horrific; in this version the 19 year old twins are given the option of staying in the village and being burnt to death for practising witchcraft or being thrust into a dark, twisted forest where the ‘Shrike’, a witch, reigns supreme.
What adds to the horrific elements is the abuse of power by the local ‘holy man’ who makes the witchcraft accusation after Gretel rebuffs his ‘attentions’ I.e. sleep with me for as long as I want and live, or die. Unfortunately he isn’t the only male character who is unlikeable as Hans is basically, a total jerk.

The Shrike (a witch) preys on the small village of Krume, stealing men away and ripping their hearts out once finished with them, who becomes enamoured with capturing Hans. She lives in a dark, twisted forest, filled with creatures forced to do her bidding and which is drenched in the dead men’s blood.

Gretel is a strong character but faces insurmountable odds to rescue her undeserving brother from the Shrike’s clutches; Barin becomes her ‘love interest’... yes, there is romance and plenty of sex in this very adult, twisted fairytale.

3 1/2 stars.

Gah. That was not at all what I was expecting. If you are looking for a dark Hansel and Gretel retelling this might be what you are looking for, but I wouldn't classify this as YA. There was so much breast sucking for just no reason for anything.

This was not a horrible book, but it was not for me. All the characters were very unlikable, the plot was pretty weak, the backstory was rushed over, and it was so slooowwww. So much of this book is just walking through the woods while Hans acts like a total ass.

I'm assuming by the ending that this is going to be a series and I think that's probably the problem. Not enough happened in this book and it only got interesting in the last 10% I wish 3/4 of this book was cut out and we got the full story now. This feels like less than half a story.

However, all that said, I do want to find out what happens with Hans, Greta, and Barin now. I don't even know how that happened. How can I book I struggled to get through make me care about these characters?!

I knew this was a darker retelling of Hansel and Gretal, but I didn’t realize just how dark it would be. Like stepping into horror dark. I’ve been wanting to try reading horror books, so this was a nice foray into the genre.

Even though it was gruesome at times, I still loved the dark and terrifying atmosphere. However, I’m not sure what genre it is. I was assuming it’s young adult, but there are sexual themes and sex scenes, so if anything it should be new adult.

The storyline was a little slow at times, and the characters seemed to just be wandering around the forest, but the forest is the setting and it’s basically a character in itself, so I didn’t mind it too much. Each character had to deal with the effects of the forest and the Shrike itself in their own way.

I was hoping that Hans and Greta’s relationship would have been more of a good thing. I understand that Hans changed not of his own accord, but I was just hoping they would be able to work together more, instead of Greta having to save him again and again.

Barin was endearing, but I felt the romance was a little too fast. I was fully expecting this to be a standalone novel, so when things weren’t happening quick enough at the end, and then it left things unresolved, I realized that it’s setting up for a sequel.

In the end, this was a fairly good novel. Nothing major that I didn’t like, but also nothing that I really liked. But if you like dark fairytales, give this one a try.

Thank you to Netgalley and The Parliment House for an e-arc to review.

(Link will go live 03/04)

A lot of fairytales have been retold a million different times in a million different ways. And I, being the sucker I am for fairytale retellings, am more than happy to read the millionth and one version of many of these popular tales. That said, it's always particularly exciting when I see a new book coming out that it tackling one of the less popular story. I'm sure I've read a "Hansel and Gretel" story in the past, but I couldn't think of one off the top of my head, so I immediately placed a request for this book. Unfortunately, this was not only a disappointment as far a new fairytale retellings go, but also, in my opinion, just not a very good book overall.

The village where Hans and Greta have grown up has long been haunted by an evil that claims the lives of its men, leaving their hearts on the doorsteps of the grieving families. It is under this constant threat that Greta and Hans have tried to make a life for themselves, praying each night that Hans won't be next. But when they are driven out of the only home they've ever know, the two siblings find themselves alone in the very same forest in which lurks this evil force. Will they make it through this woods? And what waits on the other end?

I was really bummed to find that this book was such a miss for me. I seem to have had a recent run of either books I've really enjoyed or ones that have really, really not worked for me. I'm hesitant to make this comparison, but what first came to mind was that this book read like a bad fanfiction story. I saw this having read and enjoyed a good amount of fanfiction, some of which with writing as good or better than many published novels I've read. So this is in no way a ding against fanfiction as a whole. That said, this book exemplifies several of the pitfalls that poor works of fanfiction have been known to fall into: lackluster world-building, washed out characters, and, unfortunately, over use of sex scenes and trauma, seemingly to make up for a lack of real story at its heart.

The world-building is lacking and transitions from scene to scene are awkward at best and nonexistent at worst. I'd have a hard time describing much of anything about the world in which this book takes place. In the beginning of the story we have a scene with Greta frantically searching for her brother. She runs around quite a bit, but was completely unable to track her movements. She's at one point in her cabin, then outside, then, I think, in a field. Shortly after that, she and Hans are in the village itself. This action takes place in the first few pages, but it is a perfect example of the lack of attention that went into setting the scenes for this story. There is no foundation upon which any of this happens, and the writing makes no effort to draw a picture in the reader's mind.

The writing didn't serve the story any better as far as the plot goes either. Early in the book there's a scene depicting an attempted assault (this comes out of nowhere, by the way, and was jarring in and of itself). It's a serious topic, but the way it is depicted is cartoonish in its villainy. The assaulter's lines of dialogue were cringe-worthy, and the villain himself was made up of only the broadest strokes of stereotypes without any effort to delve into the seriousness of the real-life history behind the power imbalance that was being described. Again, this was only an early example, but this writing problem continued throughout.

Hans and Greta were also difficult to care about. While the writing seemed a bit better equipped to handle these two main characters, they still often felt flat at times. Hans, in particular, was very hard to sympathize. Greta had the stronger moments of the two, but as the story was split between them, this wasn't enough on its own to balance out Hans.

And then there's the sex scenes. As I mentioned, there's an attempted assault that comes out of nowhere within a few pages of the start of the book. There's very little build up to this, and, overall, it doesn't feel handled particularly well. I'm not in the camp that says every book that has scenes like this should have an overt trigger warning on the cover. Mostly this is because a strong writing will build to an event of this nature in a way that allows readers time to decide whether to read the event or not. But with weaker writing, these scenes are a bit trickier. And from there, once our characters are in the woods, there are still numerous sex scenes. I enjoy romances here and there and am not a prude about scenes like this in my book. But the sheer volume of them was off-putting, not to mention the jarring juxtaposition of these scenes against the story's effort to build up the horror and threat of their travels through the woods. Like I said, kind of like bad fanfiction.

I didn't enjoy this book. I'm not familiar with either of these authors, so I'm not sure if this is indicative of either of their other works. But on its own, this wasn't a strong story. I had a hard time connecting to the characters, and the world-building was so superficial that I couldn't describe much of the book if you asked.

Rating 4: Very disappointing, "Hansel and Gretel" deserve better.

**I was provided with an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

Chantal Gadoury and AM Wright come together in the Hansel and Gretel retelling The Shrike & the Shadows. Hans and Greta's tale is a dark and twisted version of the fairytale with a warning for sexual content.

I was very much excited by the concepts presented in this story. Loved the werewolf/witch of the woods flair. Was all in with the mythos of the Shrike. The story was very atmospheric and the writing worked well with the overall aesthetic. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the execution.

My main complaint is that I really, truly wish this novel had been a novella. There was so much repetition that I grew impatient with the story out of desperation for plot progress rather than more Greta chasing Hans. Hans jealous of or defending Greta. Repeat. Repeat again for good measure. Without all of the repetitive nature, this story easily could have been three stars at least.

I also felt the sexual content was a bit gratuitous. Particularly given Hans and Greta's ages being around 16/17-ish if I recall correctly. Technically still children. And were referred to as children by various characters. I understand that plenty of people have sexual experience at that age, but would simply prefer not to read that content. Especially with Emory's attempt to approach Greta with their age difference. And Borin too, if I'm honest. Age gap as adults is one thing. Age gap with a child and adult is another.

Overall, well-written, but distinctly not for me.

Before we get into this review, I'm going to list a trigger warning for sexual assault. I feel like it's important to mention this.

I absolutely love retellings and I was highly intrigued by this being a Hansel and Gretel retelling.

The Shrike is a terrifying witch who lives in the woods. She only kills young boys and men and she leaves their hearts on the doorstep. Greta and her twin Hans have grown up hearing stories of the Shrike and Greta worries that Hans will always be next to be taken.

This story essentially revolves around Hans not being able to keep it in his pants. He is charming and the girls in the village flock to him. The Shrike decides she wants him and she keeps trying to lure him (via his dick, which is how I'm assuming she's snatched all the other men). While Hans is trying to follow the Shrike (not realizing who she is) Greta rescues him, which pisses the Shrike off.

I thought the woods they were in was creepy and the story itself was delightfully creepy and is fairly gruesome, which just adds to the scary/creepy factor. Hans and Greta are banished to the woods and as they keep trying to find their way out, they find they can't seem to leave.

Honest moment, I sincerely dislike Hans. He's pretty narcissistic and uses Greta to benefit himself. He doesn't listen to Greta and thinks he knows best, The way he's depicted, he's got a lot of issues to work on and he doesn't really make much, if any, growth in this book.

That said, I loved Greta, although she's entirely too trusting given some of the encounters she's had with people.

I have some plot related questions that didn't feel well fleshed out to me while reading this. We get some background story on the Shrike and how she came to be, but when I thought about it, we didn't really get any answers. We learn who she is, but now how she was changed. Was it the woods? Like what the heck happened?

I also have some plot related questions regarding Barin, but I realized in typing them out that they could be seen as plot spoilers so I'm not going to post about them. But I do have some questions about him as well, basically one in particular.

Overall, I thought this book was intriguing and a very dark retelling of Hansel and Gretel. It's definitely not a YA book, as it has some steamy moments but nothing overly graphic (at least in my perspective).

The Shrike & the Shadows gives us different version of Hansel and Gretel than we may be used to. Twins Hans and Greta are orphans living in the village of Krume. Their mother died from going into the woods, and their father died shortly after. The village thinks Greta is a witch and they are eventually cast out in to the woods for her 'crimes'. The downside? There is a mysterious woman called 'The Shrike' that torments men in the village by seducing them and ripping out their hearts to put the outside their family's house. The woods hold terrors the twins can't even imagine, and the ending will be surprising.

I have never been a huge fan of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, and I didn't like it much more in this book. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the characters were more interesting and redeemable. Hans screws Greta over from start to finish and Gretel is a doormat. She lets everything happen to her and her 'innocence' feels more like blank slate. I think her character should have been fleshed out more.

There was a level of dark and twisty to this book that was refreshing. It didn't pull punches in that way and the terrors that Hans and Greta experience were interesting. Overall, this book wasn't quite for me but if you like Hansel and Gretel, retellings, and dark & twisty than definitely check this out!

I received an advance ebook copy of The Shrike & the Shadows from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks to netgalley and the publishers!

I didn't love this book. The description sounded right up my alley - a dark fairytale retelling? I'm in! I was disappointed to find it more like a bodice-ripper harlequin romance than a fairy tale. If that's what I had been expecting or wanting to read, then I may have enjoyed it more!

Yes, it was dark. Some I didn't love (I found the whole sexual assault plotline awkwardly written, though the actual events don't seem unrealistic for a timeline where witches are burned). Some of the horror scenes were quite good, though! Unfortunately, they were only vaguely connected together by a lacking plot. And by plot I mean a variety of sex scenes, some more disturbing than others. I think sex was more of a baseline for this book than Hansel and Gretel.

Hans was a boring ass. Greta had good moments, but about 60% of her character was "where are you, Hans??". Barin had an interesting backstory, but kind of fizzled. I think Brugg was actually the only character I was interested in reading more about.

The writing was decent, but needs a bit of editing. Some wordings were awkward, especially near the beginning. One example off the top of my head was a Greta perspective:
"She thought of her brother Hans,"
Uh, yeah, the same Hans from the whole first third of the book that was speaking to you a couple pages back? This reads like a brother that hasn't been introduced, or that left at the beginning of the story.

It almost felt like the writers had gotten better near the end, but hadn't gone back to tweak the beginning. I also hated some of the passages, like:
“Ah, well you might imagine for the sake of knowing that the change is less like twisting your ankle and more like breaking your bones. Though, as a girl, I suppose the discomfort you felt might have been similar.”
Okay, dick.

The cover is absolutely beautiful and the premise is great, but maybe read it if you're in the mood for a(n overly) sexy horror story, not a dark fairy tale retelling.

DNF

I for the life of me, could not get into this book. I'm an unapologetic mood reader and this story seemed to go nowhere.

It had a great opener and the premise sounded promising, with it being a retelling of Hansel & Gretel and all. But majority of the time it felt like all Gretel was doing was looking for her brother for multiple pages with nothing actually happening.

Really enjoyed this book and the walk back through a fairy tale we’re all familiar with. I loved that the story threw us straight in from the first sentence and just kept building and building. Would definitely recommend to anyone who’s wanting a fairytale retelling to read!

The Shrike & the Shadows gives us different version of Hansel and Gretel than we may be used to. Twins Hans and Greta are orphans living in the village of Krume. Their mother died from going into the woods, and their father died shortly after. The village thinks Greta is a witch and they are eventually cast out in to the woods for her 'crimes'. The downside? There is a mysterious woman called 'The Shrike' that torments men in the village by seducing them and ripping out their hearts to put the outside their family's house. The woods hold terrors the twins can't even imagine, and the ending will be surprising.

I have never been a huge fan of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, and I didn't like it much more in this book. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the characters were more interesting and redeemable. Hans screws Greta over from start to finish and Gretel is a doormat. She lets everything happen to her and her 'innocence' feels more like blank slate. I think her character should have been fleshed out more.

There was a level of dark and twisty to this book that was refreshing. It didn't pull punches in that way and the terrors that Hans and Greta experience were interesting. Overall, this book wasn't quite for me but if you like Hansel and Gretel, retellings, and dark & twisty than definitely check this out!

This was a cool book. I think that the characters where interesting. There was a time the plot got a little out of there but overall I enjoyed it.

I feel bad about leaving a review as I didn’t finish it. I marked this as DNF at 40%.

I love retelling, especially when they are darker versions. But this one just didn’t catch my attention longer than the blurb.

The Shrike & The Shadows is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel that had some interesting twists and turns but fell short on its potential. I felt like there were a lot of slow, drawn-out parts in this book. Unfortunately, I struggled to stay interested in the story.

I love fairy tale retellings and I was really excited to read this one! I really liked the concept of a dark Hansel & Gretel retelling and the eerie atmosphere that is established in the beginning of the book.

Sadly I just didn’t feel particularly interested or connected to the characters. The writing is decent and the plot is interesting but there was nothing captivating for me. I do think that many readers will like this story but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and The Parliament House for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A new take on the Hansel and Gretel fairytale with the horror and eerieness amped up. It has a flavour of the Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. I enjoyed reading this and look forward to the next one in the series.

I was drawn to this title pitched as a dark retelling of Hansel and Gretel, though I'd say it's includes a definite likeness to Red Riding Hood too.

The story is told from multiple perspectives of Hans, Greta and Barin but truth be told all the narratives sound the same. We also flashback to separate stories of the deaths of twins Hans & Greta's parents, as well as Barins previous life.

The Shrike & The Shadows opens well with the village of Krume suffering another loss courtesy of the Shrike. Unlike the witch gobbling children in her gingerbread house, the Shrike compels men and boys to follow her before ripping out their hearts and eating them. There are no sweet houses in this tale, instead a twisted tree of death and a pack of undead wolf creations.

After the truly heinous villain Emory banishes Hans and Greta the story becomes dull and repetitive. We follow the twins journey through the woods in search of a new home with the Shrike hot on their heels. Unfortunately not a lot really happens for a novel this length and the run-on sentences, empty dialogue and repetitive description made it a slog to read.

The origin of the Shrike is never fully explained, Hans is an absolute pig of a man and Greta is the most whiny, pitiful female I've ever come across in fiction. Adding to this an abrupt ending with a cliffhanger I have no inclination to follow up, I'd be hard pressed to reccomend.

The cover is beautiful, the premise interesting and the Shrike herself was a fantastic character but this doesn't balance the mediocre writing and desperate need for edit.

What draw me first to this book was the cover. Covers are important. When I saw the cover of The Shrike & The Shadows, my first thought was that this book was going to be dark, creepy, gritty. Witches, monsters, magic are the things I love reading about and this book has them all.

The story is a journey to madness. Hans is getting more cruel, more selfish as they go deeper into the woods, as they are going nearer to the Shrike. It was fascinating to watch as Hans changes, as he struggles with these changes. Greta is also going through a change, a self-discovery really, she starts to think about what she needs, what she want for the first time in her life.

The story is a little slow from time to time though.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.