Catching up with reviews that have caught up with me. 
A great collection of poetry, would reread. 
Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a free copy to review.

What a great collection of poetry from Andrea Blythe. I am a big fan of retellings and this is the first time I've read a poetry collection of retellings and I will definitely be looking for more. 
A powerful collection of showing society and the way in which it treats women. Blythe does an amazing job with the language to depict and emote feeling and emotions throughout their work. 
I think the flow and pacing of the work was done impressively with each story ending in a way that gives you time to think and also wanting to read on to see what happens to each of the Princess. 
Would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the original fairytales or retellings. 
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the concept of this – I'm a big fairytale nerd and have read dozens of retellings over the years. The use of language is beautiful at times, and I enjoyed the variety in the narratives. This fell short of love for me, though, as there just didn't seem to be enough to hold it together.

I'm a big fan of fairy tale retellings in all forms. When I first heard about this I knew I had to read it, especially when I saw that it was written in poems. "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" is one of the Grimm fairy tales that I read later in life than others but it is one of my favorites. I would recommend reading that before you pick this up, just so you have a background.

I really enjoyed this continuation of the fairy tale. Each princess gets their own poem and it was so interesting to learn about them all. They all have such distinct perspectives on what happened. Seeing how they were affected by the dancing was also intriguing. Some were just so amazing. My favorites were probably the third and fourth sisters. It was great to get the story focused on them and not anyone else. We got to see their interests, hobbies, and personalities.  

Also, definitely read the author's note at the end.

What happens after the "happily ever after" is a very adult question and in fairy tales we rather not ask it... But, not this time, now we know what happened to the 12 dancing princesses and how that can be a greater lesson to us.

In this, short story, the author teaches us that that "ever after" holds a dark side, not only as part of the rapture between the real and the fantastic worlds, but also in a very female empowering way.

Twelve, shows us in a very fluent and "tale-ish" way, the destiny of each of the dancers, taking in to account the effect of the trauma that their situation brought and each personality trait, making each destiny a very different story.

A great way to provide a moral on how our decisions, habits and strengths can lead us to a self-destructive, isolationist or traumatic result.

A story I would like to reread many more times!

An e-ARC of this book was kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

Blyth crafted her small book around the Grimm folktale of the “Twelve Dancing Princesses” (also known as “The Shoes that Were Danced to Pieces”).  It’s the tale of 12 sisters who sneak off at night to dance with the fairies. Each day they return with their shoes worn out.  The King imprisons them and proclaims that any man who can uncover the mystery can marry one of his daughters. If the suitor fails, then it’s off with the head!  The sisters drug the men so they can’t be followed. But a soldier (with help from an old woman) finally solves the puzzle.  The story ends with him marrying the older sister.  

This is where Blyth’s prose poems pick up the tale. For each sister she creatively envisions her life after the bliss and intoxication of the otherworld.  She weaves stories of rage and guilt, addiction, and mayhem. Ultimately, it is the tale of women who experienced freedom only to be later confined as the property of men. (And yes, there is a feminist cast to her prose.)  I’m sure each reader will have a favorite sister with her over the top solution to living a life no longer of her own choosing.

Each story is filled with poetic ideas, and beautiful imagery. Each story answers the question of what happens after “happily ever after.” Best of all, Blyth includes “Author’s Notes” that discuss her thoughts on the folktale and how she came to her retelling.

**I received an e-copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

I liked this book, however it does not read as poetry to me. It seemed like mini-stories. One-three pages on what happened to each of the 12 sisters. I liked that the author explored what happened to each sister and felt like looking at the many paths women take in their everyday lives. Some became wives, mothers, lovers, explorers, hunters, loners, etc. Some followed convention and others made their own path. It was a cute read and would recommend to those who enjoy fairytales with strong women characters.

Twelve is a really intriguing and insightful retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" which is one we are not necessarily all familiar with. It's a really well-assembled book and despite the poems being separate and standalone, they flow beautifully. 

I'd be really interested in what Blythe will offer audiences in the future!

~*Review*~ 5☆ 

Twelve is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale, Twelve Dancing Princesses but written instead, in prose. It tells the stories of what happened to each princess after their secret was revealed and the fairy land was sealed so they could never return.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses was always my favourite fairy tale and this book put a beautiful and haunting spin on it that I absolutely adored. My favourites were The fifth sister, the eight and ninth sisters, and the tenth sister, their stories were so unexpected but beautifully written and I will definitely be rereading this whenever I can.

Somewhat Feminist Retelling of Grimm Fairy Tale

This is a modern re-visioning of Grimm's fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. While not written in traditional poem lines, this book is a collection of prose poems, each for one of the 12 Dancing Princesses (though two are featured together). Even though this is meant for adults, I think having illustrations would have been fun. I wasn't that wild about this book because it seems too violent and otherwise malevolent in places. We adults sometimes forget that fairy tales can have very dark aspects to them. I think this was, perhaps, exploited too much in this book. I did enjoy the heightened language. The words did ring in my ear like fairy tales of old. I just wish I liked the characters and the storyline more.

I was kindly sent an e-arc of this through netgalley. 

This book is a poetic retelling of the Brothers Grimm story “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”. I haven’t read the original story but I really enjoyed this regardless. 

Each poem or ‘chapter’ captures one of the twelve sisters lives in a dark and twisted way. One married and attempting to poison her husband, one seemingly pregnant, one has disappeared, one haunted by ghosts of the men who failed to help their father find the truth of their ruined shoes and the others in similar rubbish situations. None of the twelve dancing princesses seem that happy or content with their fathers discovery of their secret lives and their future at all.

Thanks to Interstellar Flight Press and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.
I am not really sure that I would describe these little vignettes as poems, but they certainly have a poetic quality to them.

This collection tells the individual stories of each of the Twelve Dancing Princesses best known from Grimm’s fairy tales. I have always liked that story and I tend to love a good fairy-tale reimagining and this book was no exception. The main sense I got from this collection was one of feminine anger. Anger against the sister’s father and anger against the restrictions placed on them by the patriarchal society in which they live.

This book goes to some surprisingly dark places and the feeling of simmering rage and resentment is ever present throughout. This feeling resonates with modern dialogue relating to feminism and the “Me Too” movement and despite its traditional grounding it felt quite modern. I am not familiar with the author’s other work, but the first thing I did upon finishing this collection was to look up what else they have done as I found her voice so intriguing and compelling.

The short afterword that follows the collection of stories explains the author’s motivations in more detail and the connection is made between the problematic aspects of fairy tales whilst also highlighting their unique sense of female centeredness. 

I was selfishly left wanting more but the brevity of each story was what made them all the more tantalising and exciting. A top class work.

*I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review *

"There is power in the fact that they enjoyed pleasure for pleasure’s sake and never apologized."

I'm already a fan of Andrea Blythe's work, and I've been meaning to preorder this (which I will now be doing promptly, as the layout and section art is very attractive and I prefer my poetry chapbooks in print.) However, seeing it available as an ARC, I couldn't wait to get a sneak peek. 

A few months ago, I'd read a compilation of short fiction called Trolls Eye View, which contained a 12 Dancing Princesses story, so this fairy tale was fresh in my mind and I was eager to see how Blythe handled the tale. Blythe is a talented writer, but nowhere does her talent burn brighter than her work in the realm of revisionist, feminist fairy tales. 

From poisoner to mother to adventurer to ghosts of their own making, the word I'd use to thread together these vignettes is "haunted" -- how do you return to a life of obligation that you never chose, knowing the pleasures that exist when you are given (or take) the option of choice ? 

The same way the sisters chose to dance in the fairy realm -- so do they choose their own wildly divergent lives after the dancing ends. I favored the Third, Sixth, and Tenth sisters tales -- take from that what you will. I think every reader will see some fraction of their own tempestuous spirit -- and how it might react to its freedom being taken away -- in at least one of these vignettes. 

I call them vignettes because they're not quite poetry and they're not quite prose either, so maybe "proems" is the word to describe these tales. In a way, it reminds me of the structure of Gayle Brandeis Many Restless Concerns, in that it brings a life to a woman who's never been given a name, and exists in the liminal space between poetry and prose. 

I love the art that introduces each sister, and the Author's Note was a fascinating read that honestly, I wish had been longer. I love the idea of an essay that corresponds to a themed creative project. 

Andrea Blythe's work never disappoints me, and it makes me eager to read what her next project will be.

This collection was just want I wanted. We follow each sister of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" in the aftermath of their discovery. It had been years since I've read the fairy tale, but Blythe gives a rendition in her prologue. I loved how unique each sister's tale was, and you really got a sense of how each was their own independent individual. Often in fairy tales women/sisters often get lumped together as a homogeneous group, in this collection Blythe gives them all their own voices.

First things first; these aren't poems. They are poetic, but they're not poems. They're short stories, each only one or two pages long.

Second things second; they're beautiful. Absolutely wonderful, a really clever look at how the twelve sisters might have moved on from their brief freedom and the ways they might try to recapture it as adults. I can't say too much, because I don't want to spoil them, but they are amazing.

Although it'll help if you're familiar with the original story, it is recapped at the start, so you won't be missing too much. (And Andrea, I've read versions where he chose the youngest as well. Always written so that she was simperingly happy with being chosen.)

I'm loving all the new versions of fairytales where marriage is not the end game, and this book will sit proudly with them.

4. 5 stars

Many thanks to the publisher, Interstellar Flight Press, for gifting me with an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my impartial review.

This was a short, beautiful, and important feminist take on The Twelve Dancing Princesses, a Brothers Grimm fairytale. My first encounter with The Twelve Dancing Princesses was when I watched the Barbie remake as a kid. 

I loved that it wasn't just a retelling, but in the vein of Kalynn Byron's "Cinderella is Dead", it took the readers through the aftermath of the events of the fairytale. Many times this story has been retold, and many times the 12 princesses have been lumped together as one character. Here, however, Andrea Blythe has written each princess as an individual sister, with her own story and path post the revelation of their secret. As a result, we're able to get an in depth look at each person's personality, story, and interests. They are women who love books and writing, love the Sciences and alchemy, even cooking and baking - women who do whatever they want. 

There were so many parts I highlighted while I was reading, because the texts were so great. There were a lot of feminists themes all over the book, and it's so beautiful how they were woven into the story by the author. 

It was really great and I recommend it to everyone. It's such a must-read!

Before talking about this book, I’d request you, the reader, to read a few versions of this fairy tale. The more versions you read, the more insight you’ll have for this one and the more you’ll enjoy it!
It is no secret that the fairy tales we know and have always known have been women centric for the most part; they’ve been about queens and princesses and about orphan girls who grew up to be queens or crossed paths with the past and realised they are princess. The most important things they taught us young girls was that a prince will come to save their lives and one way or the other, every one of those tales ended in marriage.
The original version of this tale is no different. 12 princesses sleep into the night and wake up with damaged shoe soles as if they had been dancing. Their father, the king, wants to know what they do. And he (instead of asking his daughters what they are upto; geez they are just dancing) offers their hand in marriage to the male who solves the mystery in three days or he’ll end up at the hands of the executioner. 
I liked how this book focused on the individuality of each sister rather than refer to them as a collective group. I mean there were 12 of them and all were different in age. How did they have the same demeanour and behaviour? I also liked how their stories showed them to be powerful, from being lost in the realm of books to using alchemy to trying to go back to being scared of the past, each sister is shown with a different story and its actually relatable and realistic. 
Though, I did wonder why there was no talk of the Queen or the witch who told the soldier how to uncover the sisters’ secret. Or how the sisters supported each other during all this. I wish that was shown too.
It was an amazing read and a nice twist to the fairy tale we grew up with. I like this one better than all of them.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Andrea Blythe for an e-ARC in return for an honest review.

Twelve is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” in poetry form. The stories or poems follow each sister and their rebellion against their father.

I really liked the atmosphere of the collection. It felt truly magical and eerie. And I loved the feminist undertones. What I actually liked the most though, was the author’s note and to hear Blythe’s personal investment in the research and story.

“The heroine’s journey is vast with possibilities, the roads fork and then fork again. The power comes in the choosing.”

Twelve is a poetic retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” by the Brothers Grimm. I would recommend this one for readers at an elementary school level, but I would not consider the chapters to be “poems.”

Oh how could I not become enchanted by Twelve: Poems Inspired by the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale.
Each of the twelve sisters finds her own way to rebel against her father, the king. 

The king, wanting to know the ways of his daughters, the reason why their shoes are so quickly destroyed, issues a decree. Any man that can answer the question within 3 days will get to marry his choice of the daughters. The men that are unable to answer in the 3 day time period are sentenced to death. Let the games begin. 
 
The king's daughters are formidable, beguiling, and charismatic. Even though the secret is revealed, the daughters betrayed by one of their own (a woman), they continue to be feminists, rebels in one form or another.
And the oldest daughter....the one chosen to be wed....she continues on with murder in her heart toward the
man that rightfully (or not so much rightfully) won her hand. 

What a wonderful retelling. I am very happy I was able to experience this read.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and Andrea Blythe for an ARC in return for an honest review