I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This is a beautifully put together book of poems told in a story type format about the brothers grimm fairy tale about the twelve dancing princesses.
This book is very well thought out and poetically written to tell a version of the fairy tale after the music stops.
This is a retelling in poetry form and I thought it was very beautifully written.

What a crazy twist on the fairy tales! Super twisted as expected. Super enjoyed it and would suggest to anyone who enjoys the fairy tales. Super quick read! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I love retellings and this retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses did not disappoint. Any fan of retellings will enjoy this.

I found this copy on Netgalley and was super intrigued to read it! Definitely not disappointed. Every page was magical describing the twelve sisters, the powers they hold and how each have a different way about life after the entrance was sealed with an iron door to the magical underworld. One sister learned how to poison and alchemy, the twin sisters began stealing, another sister simply chose a life surrounded by books while another found comfort exploring the love of baking and then falling in love with the cook and sharing warm evenings together. I would say that these are not poems but more like short stories. I would love to see this expanded into a larger novel since there are so many fantastic possibilities that can emerge! The author's explanation in the end was a very nice finishing touch over viewing parts we may have missed or what the author wanted us to take away from the story.

Twelve is a poetic retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." I enjoy when retellings breathe new life into a fairy tale. Twelve presents a fresh take by exploring the question of what happened after the magic dancing came to an end.

After the entrance to the underworld was sealed by an iron door, the princesses began to live vastly different lives back in the ordinary world. Each claimed a power and embodied it -- all told through beautiful, yet haunting vivid imagery. We find the eldest daughter’s quiet fury at being wed to a stranger as she fights back with poisons and alchemy. We find another princess choosing a life of stillness and solitude surrounded by ink-splotched pages and the smell of leather bound books. Another princess finds comfort in the tangle of cloth and warm kisses while another is haunted by the souls of the dead and begins stitching all their sorrows into cloth hoping to collect and contain and mend through needle and thread. Twelve packs a lot of emotion into so few pages. This is the sort of idea that I would love to see expanded into a full length novel and/or series.

Twelve is a good place to start for the novice of poetry. Before I begin reading a retelling, I will pull out my Brothers Grimm and Andrew Lang’s books that I own so that I can read the actual fairy tale and have the original tale fresh in my mind. Most fairy tales have multiple variations and this is no exception. It’s fascinating to learn how different editors made subtle changes which were inspired by the era they were living in.

5 stars

I received an e-arc from NetGalley for review.

OBSESSED.

I loved this now I need to read other retellings of one of my favorite fairy tales. Nostalgia but at the same time so new and her own. I cannot rave and recommend this more.

And Blythe’s author note at the end I would not mind just reading a book where she talks about fairy tales honestly. She is very poignant and I appreciate the look into the sister's thoughts and feelings individually Like she said what happened after the wedding and the supposedly “happy ever after”

This a great way to introduce poems to readers that expect and do not like the verses and rhyme. The wording is easy, so readers can concentrate on the images it provokes. I liked the Forth Sister is probably my favorite. I can see myself reading that poem aloud and sharing my thoughts about it. I think the whole book can be a great addition to a book club, there is a lot of things to discuss here. I just want to mention the book’s illustrations, I thought they went well for each of the poems and they do not overwhelm the stories. I very much recommend it for lovers of poetry, or fairy tales, or classics. Just read one poem (the 4th sister) and you will want to read the rest.

I love fairytales. Since I was a kid I loved the kind of magic, and sometimes happy, thoughts that they evoke. As the title implies, 'Twelve' is a poetic retelling inspired by the famous Brothers Grimm fairytale called 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'. Before the book, I was barely aware of what the fairytale talked about - only my fault. But during the read I could understand better about the princesses and their story. Another great fairytale on my list of favorites.

An interesting structure inspired by old folklore — always a favorite of mine — that has some really wonderful gems. There’s imagery of a pregnant princess perhaps growing not a baby but an apple tree in her belly; another princess sewing her ghosts into a quilt so the pain can be folded up and put away. These fragments are strong and lovely, and I so wish the entire work was as memorable and compelling. I like where the author seemed to be going on a number of occasions - I just wish it went the entire way.

Modern day women can feel a pressure to detach themselves entirely from everything they admired about fairytales when they grow up; to feel that striving for a happy ever after is unrealistic and just a product of the world they were brought up in. Andrea Blythe's 'Twelve' is an accessible, enjoyable read that brings to life the wonder, mystery and nostalgia of the fairytale genre that all of our first favourite stories were built on and helps us reimagine them with a new feminist slant. They show us a new happy ending in a world where women don't compete but unapologetically achieve in being themselves, binding them as sisters by casting them as the protagonist in their own stories.

Each word of Blythe's chapbook is an ode to the girls and women who read them, reinventing each of their childhood facets: the dancers, the bookworms, the scientists, the rebels, the cooks and more. She brings the darkness of the Brothers Grimm with the hope and life of feminist readings we strive for today. She gives each originally faceless sister of 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses' and gives them personality, interests, hobbies, thoughts of their own.

For me, perhaps the most touching part was her author's note. That passing from writer to reader of the process, the choices, the vulnerability and honesty that remarks how her chapbook came to be. She admits her own relationship with the story and how she wanted to use her piece to offer the Twelve Sisters choices, choices that fairytales are usually known to strip all women of.

Blythe writes that, "The trap is when one ending is presented as the only true and meaningful ending," and it is the vast possibilities of the heroine's journey that evokes choice and, from what her stories tell us, life. Her short piece urges you inexplicitly yet oh so obviously to appreciate the lives of the women you know, to understand the different life choices they make compared to you and to respect that their heroic role of the protagonist lies simply in these choices. That it's okay if you choose marriage and kids, if you choose a career, if you choose love, science or books, or all of the above, but that you must do it remembering that you have the choice not to be trapped in one 'ideal' happy ending. You must respect the women around you for being able to make their choices and you should remember that each has their own heroic journey each and every day.

Twelve will be published on September 7th 2020 in paper form with a beautiful cover featuring artwork by Yana Germann.

I absolutely love twisted fairy tales, and this one was no disappointment. I actually just read the typical version of this to my kids not too long ago and found it for me slightly boring. This will be among my favorite twisted tales.

A tale of twelve dancing princesses, a tale retold the world over in many variants, from Russia and Bengal and Turkey and France, told in Armenia and Slovokia and India in versions with bits of magic and shoes danced to bits, a story that speaks of the feminine seeking escape and freedom from its expectations of servitude and strict behavior protocols, stay in your place or be punished.

Here is a retelling, again, but with a new empowering idea.

Retold in Grimm style with sisters reclaiming their power in ways of wielding magic themselves, instead of simply visiting a land of magical enchantment or being double crossed by an old magical woman who gifts the winning male his power to become victor. (What *was* that old version anyway?! The typical telling of female double-crossing females, dooming them to what society demands to "sit-and-look-pretty-then-get-married-and-serve" -- how did we not see this as children, these tales we read of feminine complete disempowerment, in this old tale the one strong old female dooming the young females to their servitude, ending their nights of freedom?!)

Here is a brief reimagining. But it is brief, I wish for more.

Here the sisters each claim a power and embody it. Here the feminine (mosly) rises.

I see this short poetry-short story as seed for more. Some author will take this idea and amend-expand to some epic that needs telling.

I rate this 4 stars because it must be read, but it feels an hors d'oeuvre. It clings to me, and that is a good sign, like something trying to grow. Grow it should. I'm glad to have read it. I think it good counter to fairy tales told every evening at bedtime the world over. Read this telling as parents to be seeded with ideas for retelling ALL fairy tales in ways to empower our daughters. Perhaps this telling here is not the story to tell your child, or perhaps it is, but it is a seed that can pollinate our own creative genius, to retell to our daughters what *must* be retold. For that I rate this a must read.

The author's note, if any part, is the must read. Wonderfully said Ms. Blythe.

Thank you to the author for such an intriguing telling. Thank you to the publisher and author and to NetGalley for an ARC.

As a kid, I was obsessed with the illustrated book of Grimm’s fairy tales that my mother read to me. As an adult, it’s a little insane to note that we read things this dark to children. I enjoyed this author’s lyrical tale on Grimm, usually from the princess or sister’s point of view. I was not as familiar with this particular fairy tale, “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.” I think you might want to read or reread the original tale first - I was intrigued enough that I will read it now. I also really enjoyed the author’s note which tied it all together and let me know I was not the only dark little girl who enjoyed these tales.

Thanks to NetGalley, Andrea Blythe and Interstellar Flight Press for this cool and piercing little book in exchange for my honest review.

Four stars for great writing - but I bet I might have given it five if I knew the original fairytale better.