The Scary Book of Fairy Tales by Tim Rayburn is a collection that brings together well-known and lesser-known fairy tales from around the world, but sadly, it fails to live up to its intriguing title. While the idea of collecting fairy tales with a spooky twist sounded exciting, the execution was underwhelming. Most of the stories felt extremely rushed, trimmed down to the bare minimum, which made them lose their essence and magic. Classics like Rumpelstiltskin and Cinderella were included—tales that most readers are already familiar with. Unfortunately, even these popular stories didn’t offer anything new or eerie.

The more obscure tales, which had the potential to offer fresh chills, were the most disappointing. They were either too abruptly ended or lacked the haunting depth one would expect from a book marketed as "scary." Instead of building suspense or offering dark reimaginings, the stories felt like simplified summaries, more suitable for a very young audience. As someone who enjoys fairy tales with darker, twisted elements, I was hoping for richer storytelling. Overall, the book felt like a missed opportunity. It could have been a spooky treasure trove for older readers but ended up being more of a children's storybook in disguise.

This was an interesting little collection but didn’t go as deeply into the history and context of the stories as I would have liked.

Did not read as it was hard to read through netgalley reading app on my phone, would be good if there was a kindle version

Thank you to Tim Rayborn and Cider Mill Press for the ARC of this book.

3 stars, plus 1 star for the illustrations

This was a fun read - it reads more like a reference book than a story book, though. It does not waste time with much description or setting, but lays out the "facts" of the fairy tales in their original dark forms. While I wouldn't necessarily say this book was haunting, it was certainly not a book I would read to my young children before I was sure they were ready to smile about the macabre.

Some highlights for me:
- Herr Korbes
- The girl with red shoes as a delightfully predictable (i.e., laughable) cautionary tale about the *gasp* dangers of dancing and enjoying life instead of going to church
- The donkey that can poop gold being skinned to protect the princess from having to marry her father
- And many other insane tales that supposedly have a moral (that is difficult to find, more often than not)

All kidding aside, it was a bit of dry read. I will say that the second half of the book felt much more engaging, and I really enjoyed the broad range of dark tales from multiple cultures. I think almost every continent was represented, except for perhaps Oceania. The tales do tend to be Eurocentric, but when the Grimm brothers are the kings of dark fairy tales, that is hard to avoid. I appreciate the lack of frills, since the author's goal was to tell the stories as they were originally, but it did make it hard to read more than a few short stories at a time.

The illustrations of this collection were INCREDIBLE. I found myself wishing there were more. It bumped this book from a 3 star read to a 4 star read on it's own.

Overall, a job well done!

Out September 2nd, 2025
This is not your bedtime storybook—unless you enjoy sleeping with one eye open and a garlic necklace. This eerie anthology rips the rose-colored glasses off classic tales and plunges you into the original, blood-soaked versions whispered through generations. From the bone-crunching menace of Baba Yaga to the ghostly vengeance of Japan’s Teke-Teke, Rayborn curates 50 stories that make Disney look like a fever dream. Forget happily ever after—these endings are more “horribly ever haunted”.

Why read it? Because you deserve to know that Little Red Cap wasn’t just skipping through the woods—she was walking straight into a nightmare. Rayborn’s collection is a deliciously dark dive into global folklore, perfect for fans of horror, history, and the kind of fairy tales that make you question every creaky floorboard. It’s spooky, scholarly, and sinister enough to make you side-eye your childhood bookshelf. Read it with the lights on… or don’t. Your funeral.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cider Mill Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion of this book. I was a little hesitant to request this because I collect and have multiple editions of fairy tales-I was worried they would all be repeats. They weren't! I've never read The Three Army Surgeons or Botan Doro-The Peony Lantern and while The Three Army Surgeons was extremely weird and funny, The Peony Lantern became a new favorite. Unfortunately, quite a few of the stories I didn't recognize were traumatically violent rather than scary, with a lot of the violence/senseless death aimed at at children/infants. I go out of my way to avoid those kind of stories so some were hard to read. I'm not talking about the expected deaths like Little Red Riding Hood, either. A few stories were so devoid of some of the rich details I enjoyed in other versions that I was a little disappointed in the stories themselves.

However, the illustrations...I could spend the entire review on the illustrations alone. They are beautiful, captivating, and bring so much life to each of the tales. I teared up over The Snow Child simply because of the illustration alone. I would buy a print of The Little Mermaid and the Sea Witch because the detail in that picture was exceptional. The wolf from Little Red Riding Hood would have given me nightmares as horrific as the wolf from Lon Po Po did when I was a kid. I LOVED the Baba Yaga illustration. I don't understand why the illustrator's name isn't on the cover?

I did enjoy this book though I found it slow at the start but the more I read the more enjoyed reading it a good book

I do very much enjoy the original, darker versions of fairy tales.  The author's note at the beginning was appropriately informative for those not in the know, and I appreciated that the tales covered a wide variety of cultures.  I think, for myself, I'm just not entirely certain why more anthologies are necessary when they are already widely available? Either way you can tell the author/editor has a passion for storytelling!

Thank you to NetGalley and Cider Mill Press for the Advanced Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting range of fairy tales, some well-known, others not-as-much and then a dark twist to each.
The concept is great.
The execution and the stories themselves are solid 3 stars.

3 Stars

The Scary Book of Fairytales offers a fun and spooky twist on classic tales, perfect for readers who enjoy dark folklore with a lighter tone. Some stories were more engaging than others, and while the writing had a playful vibe, it sometimes felt a bit too simplified for older readers.

It’s a good introduction to the eerie side of fairy tales, especially for younger teens or those new to the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I loved this book! A lot of these I've never heard of or I've never heard those endings before, so it was a fun time. I'm glad we got fairy tales from all over, not just European fairy tales.

Thank you Tim Rayborn, Cider Mill Press, and NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this collection of fairy tales! I've never heard a lot of the Grimm's fairy tales and it was really fun to see the real endings to stories that have been made into sweet Disney movies. I knew that most of them were dark but some of them were just absolutely crazy! As for the book itself, it would make a really good coffee table book to display because it has beautiful artwork of some of the stories. The only thing that was iffy for me was that a lot of the stories seemed to be the same concept but I can't knock the author for that, they just compiled stories from centuries past. I would highly recommend for people wanting to read through some "spooky" stories!

Tim Rayborn's "The Scary Book of Fairy Tales" is a rather simple and enjoyable collection of classic fairy tales in their original, more sinister form, The myriad tales from around the world all contain some rather macabre elements to really bring home the moral of the stories. I was glad to see some of the fun, lesser known fairy tales that I can remember being featured on Jim Henson's "The Storyteller". The illustrations are also reminiscent of the illustrations in the original edition of "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark", adding even more macabre to the stories. Truly a fun read for tweens, teens, or adults. The only negative is that too often the stories are stripped down to their barest bones with minimal embellishments to add to the "art" of the story, making them more like Wikipedia synopses rather than full blown tales.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cider Mill Press for the opportunity to read this eARC.

First impressions really count, I love how the cover really sets the mood for the book. I really enjoyed the change between light and dark pages this format really worked.
Finding out the original fairy tales behind the lovable ones we all know and love is fantastic. Highly recommend this to anyone who loves the dark and macabre style stories...

📚I was able to read an advanced copy of title thanks to NetGalley, Tim Rayborn and Cider Mill Press📚
📚All reviews and opinions are entirely my own📚

I wasn’t expecting this to be as great as it was but wow, dark and creepy. Some of the most frightening and disturbing ways that well known fairy tales were actually written are highly entertaining but very questionable. The artwork in this book is great as well. Several of the tales are familiar but many are unknown. at least to me and it’s wild that in all cultures “scary” stories vary in how terrifying they can be. Some parts of the world cannibalism is absolutely not taboo at all and that is utterly terrifying. This is a great read, fairy tales for older teens, adults but not kiddos. Thank you so much NetGalley for this ARC

This was a quick and enjoyable read. Finished it in a couple of hours. It is just a collection of different fairy tales and some I believed he changed. I loved that it was fairy tales from so many different countries and places, not just the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. I had only wished there was more, but I know this author has other collections of stories as well that I plan to read. The pictures that were included added to the short stories being told. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Creative endings to some of your favorite fairytales. Decent job by the author in changing up the end of some classics and making them creepy!

The Scary Book of Fairy Tales is a thrilling dive into the darker, original versions of classic stories—far from the Disney-fied happy endings. With gorgeous, slightly eerie artwork and a textured page design, it sets a spooky mood that fits the twisted tales perfectly. Some stories are gruesome, others surprisingly bittersweet, but all feel authentic and gripping. Whether you want to revisit childhood tales the way they were meant to be told or discover lesser-known frightening folklore, this collection delivers. While the title is a bit too on-the-nose for my taste, this is a great read for fairy tale fans.

The scary book of fairy tales

This has a really fun old time art to the cover and sets the mood for some stories. The art is a strange set of slightly osbcured and almost pixilated drawings.

The pages have this paper texture on then and change from dark backgrounds to colored ones. A trend I"ve seen in other books. A few pages I had a hard time reading, I found my eyes were getting tired faster. It could have been just the digital copy I was reading on my computer and would look fine in real life.

I acutally have the Christmas collection of stories by teh same author! That's why the formatting looks familiar!

My favorite story was the Timbo Tree from Paraguay. I looked the tree up and it's a really cool one and the story that it inspired is short but really impactful.

Feel like the Brothers Grimm had something? Feel like you miss how The Little Mermaid suffered and died a horrible death – and that should have been how the Disney movie ended. Well, you will enjoy this one. The author has taken 50 of your favorite fairytales and given them gruesome, unhappy endings. Well, for some of the characters. I would argue that others have pretty happy endings in a twisted way. Gold stars to the ending of Hansel and Gretel. If you love scary things and fairy tales, this is for you.

On an aside, the artwork in this one is gorgeous and really brings out the macabre of the stories.