I started this book with high hopes and expected to like it. But, I found that it was not for me personally. Instead of possibly giving a bad review just based on my preferences, I choose to not review this book. I am giving it 3 stars because a rating is necessary and I don't want to mark it as a bad book per se.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

I have enjoyed Jane Yolen's past work. I was expecting to like this book more but since the Night Circus has really ruined all other circus books for me, I just didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of short story collections and always have hard time with deciding how I will rate them cause some stories amazed me and some I just wanted to skip. This once again showed true for me cause here I found some books that made me want to buy the book and read those stories to my future children but also maybe 2/3 were just fine.
My favorites were Andersen's Witch and The Bird, which was a wonderful surprise for me cause at first I expected just to see a retelling of fairy tales. My least favorites were The Gift of the Magicians, With Apologies to You Know Who which felt very silly and Lost Girls which tried to push feminist message but ended being a bit boring and unbelievable.
Still, all in all this book deserved at least 4 stars and I would recommend it to my friends who love collections of short stories and seeing well known tales from different angle.

I love short stories, and I love the retelling of classic fairy tales. I'm a big fan of this book! It has an interesting premise that I enjoyed, especially having never read this author before.

“Welcome to Neverland,” Peter said, as if this were supposed to be a big surprise. Darla took her hand away from his. “It’s smaller than I thought it would be,” she said. This time she looked right at him.”

“She would not let herself get lost in the past, making it somehow better and lovelier than it was. She'd never liked that in old people when she was young, and she wasn't about to countenance it in herself now. The past was a lot like Wonderland: treacherous and marvelous and dull in equal measure. Survival was all that mattered - and she was a survivor. Of course, in the end, she thought, there is no such thing as survival. And just as well. What a clutter the world would be if none of us ever died.”

Such an amazing book.

I am not normally a short story reader, but this collection included stories from some of my favorite childhood reads, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Overall this was a mixed hit for me. Some of the stories I really enjoyed, and others were more meh. They range in genre and style and each refer back (albeit vaguely) to some fairy tale, legend, myth, or fantasy story. Some of them are very clever, and I was left impressed by the author's creativity; others were just ok.

I would say that if you like short stories, and you like myths and legends turned on their heads, you will probably enjoy this book.

I don't have the best of luck with short story collections. Starts out great, ends with a little whisper. This was no exception. Some stories were awesome, others I didn't care less about.

I keep coming back to this book!

I have put it down a couple of times, but I always pick it back up. To me, that's the best part about a collection of short stories. You can absorb them in small doses, and you can always come back without feeling like you've put it down for too long.

It was so easy to jump back into after a break. I love fantasy, and I love circus tales. This collection checked off both of those boxes, so I was sold pretty quickly. The retellings are imaginative and captivating. I am always willing to give re-tellings a lot of leeway and don't necessarily need them to be solidly tied to the original. I enjoy creativity, and Yolen did a great job. I will definitely be revisiting these stories over the years and sharing them with my friends/audience.

I absolutely love short stories and the fact that Holly Black did the intro was enough for me. Each and every story was SO GOOD!!! Such new takes on fairy tales. A breath of fresh air for sure.

I've loved Jane Yolen's books since I was a kid which is when I read a lot of them and this is why I chose to request this one.

I'm a sucker for fairy tales and old folklore stories so I was attracted to this book immediately. Thankfully it did not disappoint. I absolutely loved Jane Yolen's style and the re-tellings of the stories. It's charming, adventurous, and enjoyable for not only YA but older readers as well. It's the perfect book if you're looking for magical short stories that are able to take you to another land in less than 30 minutes.

Could not really hold my interest, I was really hoping that it would be better but I really lost interest quickly.

Loved how whimsicle and weird these stories were. This is the kind of book I can see returning to again and again, because each time you'll pick up something new. So many nuances hidden in each tale.

Eh, I am always hit or miss with Jane Yolen, and combine that with a book full of short stories this is a solid three. There were elements and stories I liked and ones I didn't. The cover is beautiful, makes me wish I had this is a physical copy.

I have to admit that before picking up this book i had never heard of Jane Yolen. Turns out she's an acclaimed writer with many fascinating books. Another thing I have to admit is that I love short stories. I know how hard it is to tell a whole story on a limited number of pages. Some of the stories in this collection were entertaining, some were not. The problem that I had with Emerald Circus was that once the story was over I forgot about it. Unfortunately I cannot name a single story that stood out for me, All I remember about this book is that the stories were retellings of old fairy-tales. But wait, there's one more thing that I remember and it's that Emerald Circus was a very well written book. Fantastically well. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read good writing. And if you like old fairy tales with new twists and turns, then this book is for you.
Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

I was excited to read Jane Yolen stories and was not disappointed. For a collection, this one was well balanced. Loved her take on Wendy and Neverland.

I have never read any of Yolen's work before picking up her collection of short stories, The Emerald Circus. The Emerald Circus is a short story collection that takes fairy tales and beloved stories and completely reinvents them. My favorite story in the collection is "Lost Girls" where a young girl becomes Peter Pan's newest "Wendy." She is forced to clean and take care of the Lost Boys along with the other Wendys and she can never go on adventures. So what does she do? She decides to go on strike with the other Wendys. I ended up thinking of the original story of Peter Pan in a whole new way. I would definitely recommend this collection to fans of fairy tales and fantasy novels.

I received this book for free from Netgalley and Publisher/author in exchange for honest review.

Ever since I have read Caraval and Night Circus, I can not get enough circus related books. This one did not disappoint. It is filled with of short stories. Her version of fairy tales. I have never read a book by this author but I truly enjoyed the writing style. This book was just amazing.

The author did a great job translating this story.

This collection of fairy tale and other story retellings is imaginative and well written. I really like Jane Yolen's stories so this would be a great addition to any fantasy collection.