A quirky and gritty apocalyptic take with beautiful and unique fairy tales interwoven throughout.

I'm a fan of all apocalyptic stories, and this one didn't disappoint. I enjoyed the "take care of Mother Nature" take on the end of the world, as well as some truly unique ideas (humanity going underground and all that means for what life becomes). The interweaving of fairytales that Jesse tells to his dog along the way of their journey were also unique and fun and truly brought an element of how we escape with stories to get through or to carry on.

While I enjoyed all these aspects, I did feel like I wanted a bit more characterization up front to Jesse and the others. Sometimes I found myself picturing them one way and then being thrown off when they were finally described another way. The writing was a tad jerky at times, but overall this was a fun and unique read that I would recommend for apocalyptic story lovers!

Breves produces a dystopian world, with, at both first and second glance presents itself as an unforgiving scape, while presenting a tale of existing, coping, and searching through this post-apocalyptic world.

The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales by Emily Brewes is a Fantasy Dystopian novel with the main character, Jesse who has been born in the world after the event, and is hiding with his family. I liked the concept where we get to read some fairy tales from Jesse's memory. But the book went by very fast without leaving any impact as such. A good one time read.
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Thanks to NetGalley and Publisher for eARC

Thank you to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

When climate change reaches extreme levels, the population must move underground to avoid its effects. Jesse’s family also try to adjust to life underground what was the city of Toronto. But when Jesse is alone again, there is nothing left to do but venture back above ground and try to reunite what is left of the family.

While I usually enjoy books with a post-apocalyptic setting, this one was not for me. I thought the whole setup was very weak. How could almost the entire population fit into existing underground structures, and how could they survive down there? But even if I suspend my disbelief about the setting, the characters and plot did not give me anything to care about either.

I enjoyed the short fairytales interspersed throughout the book. Even this element, however, is not explained or given any context on how it relates to the rest of the story. The main character is ambiguously gendered, which actually could have been quite an interesting choice if it was ever addressed. The plot basically meandered, and I found the ending unsatisfying.

You might like this book if you like unique post-apocalyptic stories, but it did not make sense to me.

Arc provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The doomsday book of fairy tales was a hard book to get into, but I don't like to leave books unfinished so I powered through, and suffice to say, I enjoyed it. This book was intense but an easy and enjoyable read. all the way through. The concept was very different from other books I have previously read and I do not have a single complaint. Seeing the young Jesse go into adulthood and slowly feel the change in the storytelling was something so well executed, I believe the change in tones was my favorite part of the story as a whole. I don't want to give too much away so I will say this was definitely a 4/5 and I'm glad I kept reading.

The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales by Emily Brewes is a dystopian science fiction fantasy. The main character in this one has grown up in his dystopian “after” world in which his family had joined others in hiding underground when the end of times came. However, one of the children runs away from the family and had never returned.

Jesse Vanderchuck is now grown and has determined that it is time for him to leave the home he has known growing up and go in search of his sister that disappeared from the underground years before. As Jesse goes on his journey readers are told the “fairy tales” by way of Jesse’s memory.

I have to say this was sort of a rather strange one as you go from the main story to each of the tales along the way. I found myself more caught up and wanting to know more of Jesse, his talking dog and his current world more so than enjoying the tales he told along the way and wanting a deeper story on that front. In the end I found this one to be an OK read that went by quickly.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

The world as we know it has ended. Humanity has retreated to underground dwellings and lived for decades in a dim half-life. Only the crazy people opted to stay topside. Until now, when Jesse Vanderchuck decides to leave the relative safety of the tunnels and make his way to the world aboveground.
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Thus begins the story of a man and his dog and a journey, a modern day fable of discovery and acceptance. Along the way, Jesse makes up stories to tell Doggo, to pass the time and to keep his mind from focusing too much on the difficulties ahead.

This story is a quiet hero's journey, a middle aged man's coming of age, a heartwarming and heartbreaking tale of loneliness and friendship, family and forgiveness.

The whole book had a hard to pin down quality about it, a magical feeling both dark and delightful. There are deep issues to unpack here, butted right alongside humorous and almost childlike moments.

Truly a wonderful and thought provoking story, strange and desperate and hopeful and brave.

Emily Brewes attempts to weave a surreal picture of a distinctly different post-apocalyptic world in The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales.

Jesse Vanderchuck has survived through the apocalypse of climate change and now lives in the underground tunnel homestead, like so many humans who tried to hide from the inclement weather changes. It's been a sad existence, where he (or she, this remains unclear) and his sister, Olivia, and mother have eeked out a poor semblance of a life. When his sister disappeared, his mother fell into depression, and her subsequent death was deliverance, in Jesse's opinion.

One day he finds a talking dog, whom he names Doggo, secreting him away in an environment where pets have become necessary meals. When he becomes ill, Jesse decides to leave the Underground and face the world above. Somewhere along the lines, he decides to track down his sister, who always wanted to return to their home and father.

Progressing through a world that is changed but not uninhabitable, he begins telling tales influenced by his past to pass the time. These brief segues from the arc are pleasant and far more fascinating than the time with Jesse and Doggo. There doesn't appear to be much of an overall arc, nor a hero's journey to follow.

There is a lack of doom in that those living in the Underground comes across as equivalent to people currently living in slums. Those living above ground might have a bit more to toil with, but this too harkens back to the pioneers' hardy lifestyle. Jesse's sickness and possibly impending death mean little to the reader. Jesse, as a character, holds no weight.

With no one to root for and a lack of worldly doom and distress, The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales is a poor vehicle for what otherwise would be a wonderful collection of modern fairy tales.

The Doomsday Book Of Fairy Tales is an eco-dystopian novel, set in a future where humanity's failure to change course has left Earth as we know it, nearly uninhabitable. Through a world in shambles, Brewes examines familial ties, community bonds, and human nature, while weaving in spellbinding fairy tales amidst the chaos.

She does all of this through the eyes of Jesse, who fled her Northern Ontario home for the Toronto underground with her mother and sister, in a desperate bid for survival. Thirty-five years pass from this exodus; thirty-five years of skyless existence, in which Jesse's sister ran away, and their mother died.
Her lonely routine for survival is interrupted without warning, when Jesse finds Doggo, a ragged talking canine. With his four legged companionship come consequences, and events conspire to connect her again to the outside world. Before long, Jesse leaves the subway-turned-city, with little but her stories, and her dog, on a fool's errand to find her sister, or die trying.

You need to be okay with unresolved endings to enjoy this book to the fullest.
Unlike many of the fantastical fairy tales told within its pages, there is no clear 'happily ever after'. It ends with more questions than answers, but these questions are beautiful and necessary:

Where are our ecological choices leading us?

Are humans intrinsically good or evil?

What is the greater threat to survival: an apocalypse or lonliness?

What is the sustaining power of story: both those we are told, and the ones we tell ourselves in order to step into a new day?

I adored this book, for its raw, dark beauty. If you are a fan of Station Eleven, The Book of M, or The Centaur's Wife, you might love it too.

The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales is another book where the cover was the first thing that caught my eye, and the synopsis pulled me. I was interested to see how the fairy tales were going to weave into the stories, and what this new world was going to look like. Mostly because not a lot of information was given in the synopsis, and I don't mind going into books blind. It adds to the excitement at the start of any book.

This was a weird one, and not just because in order to outrun the destruction of Earth people basically turned into mole people. It was weird because I never really got a sense of this who Jesse was, or if he really actually felt anything. When we first meet Jesse I assumed they were a teenager, but then you found out the character in his thirties. Okay, but then he'll say things, or act, like he's still just a kid despite the fact living in this Underground, and losing his mother, aged him. Then there's the lack of any real emotion when he finds Doggo, a talking dog. I mean, it's a talking dog. A talking dog?!

Then as Jesse and Doggo start their adventure on the topside we start to get a look at the Underground and the way people are living. This is where it got kind of cool seeing how people have adapted, and seems ways regressed back to old traditions, like a barber as a doctor. I really liked the fact they'd found a way to break down the human body into the mushroom patches to help feed those still alive. But, this is where more confusion hits because apparently there are trolls, or ogres, or some sort of creatures also leaving in the Underground.

What?! Full stop now I have questions, but there are no answers.

However, I did like the fairy tale part of this book. They are woven in very cleverly as a way to pass the time as Jesse and Doggo are walking.

I think the thing that annoyed me the most about this book is how it just sort of ends. Jesse goes on this weird adventure with no food or water, hearing the voices, and probably having seizures. They just walk toward the mountains and they have a moment and the book is just over. Meanwhile, I'm just sitting here like so what was the point of this entire journey.

So why three stars? Because despite the fact I'm not even a little sure what I read, the fairy tales were masterfully written, and there were some really amazing parts of this book. But, I'm just not really sure if what I read was the story of a man dying in a mushroom patch or the last adventure of a dying man. I honestly am not for sure. It is wonderfully written, and the fairy tales were my favorite part of this story. I also felt like this story had more potential if the book had been longer just under three hundred pages.

The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales by Emily Brewes is the story of Jesse and a talking dog in a post-apocalyptic world destroyed by the effects of humanity on the climate. The story was great, although I ave to admit that I enjoyed the added Fairy Tales more than the bigger story about the protagonist.

I feel like the timing may not have been the best for me to read this book. With the world in the state it is, reading about an apocalyptic world wasn’t exactly the best form of escapism.

That’s not really the biggest issue I had with the book though. The fairytale elements don’t blend as well as I wanted them too, and they were a big reason I was interested in the book. I had a hard time connecting with our main character, to the point where I was sort of reading just to finish it, I didn’t really enjoy it. By the time you really get a look into Jesse’s head it’s late into the story and I still sort of didn’t care.

There’s also a talking dog who is pretty gross. Didn’t enjoy that.

I won’t get into anything spoiler related but that’s because I don’t remember much. I read it, didn’t enjoy it. It just didn’t stick. It wasn’t that the writing was bad, it was fairly solid. It just wasn’t a story that stayed with me.

This book has an interesting apocalyptic world that feels very real to me because it's set in my hometown, but I feel like the characters and story of Jessie and Doggo isn't one that I care about in this world. I can totally picture the Underground and her family travelling there, but I didn't find Jessie to be my favourite narrator to take us into this world.
I felt like the incorporation of the fairy tale stories came in too late into the book. I wish that element was more weaved in right from the beginning.
I think Emily Brewes has an amazing talent for developing worlds and a way with words, but this particular story didn't hit the mark with me. I will be watching for more from her though.

Very relevant. One would say very nowadays, almost. Heavy and NOT fun, as it should be. Well written. Recommended to the lovers of dystopian genre.

I wanted to like this book. I really did, but it just never came together for me. The fairytales didn’t really go with the rest of the story or add anything to it. Two characters improbably find each other again and then one just decides to leave without the other. I don’t need a happy ending but I need one that makes sense.

A mournful exploration of a post apocalyptic world that blurs reality. Jesse's an unreliable narrator who is not exactly likable, but found his journey (interior and exterior) compelling all the same.

The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales first attracted me with its title. Then the description drew me in further (a talking dog? a set of fairy tales being told on a journey?). Unfortunately, my attraction didn't go much further than that. The telling is very uneven and there does not seem to be much focus, other than the narrator, Jesse Vanderchuck, ultimately seeking out his sister in a post-climate-apocalyptic world. But even that only gradually comes out: it's not until nearly halfway through the book that an objective appears; until then, it is Jesse wandering around, getting exiled from the underground society he lives in, and meeting a mysteriously speaking dog.

Once Jesse sets himself to find his sister, the narrative gains a little focus, but it is still not entirely clear where the narrative is going. It reads as if the author were trying to tell a different story, but decided to pick up and use the narrative structure of a post-apocalyptic world. Why, though? It truly felt as though the author were making this post-apocalyptic 'just coz'.

When Jesse finishes his journey to find his sister, we finally get drawn in to Jesse's psyche. For so much of the book, the reader (this reader, at least) is left trying to care about Jesse. We are actually made to care more about Doggo, the speaking dog, than about Jesse. It's only at the end that we really come to care about our narrator, but by then it is too late.

Even though the above might be a bit strongly worded, I found myself able to get to the end of the book and want to encourage the author to continue writing. This book showed potential but was ultimately lacking a firm editorial hand to bring it into focus.

The summary:
Overall, this book was not to my liking. I had difficulty connecting with any of it. I didn't feel much about the characters, the worldbuilding, or the plot. They felt very blah to me. I'm sorry to say, I was glad this book was over, just so I didn't have it nagging at me in the back of my mind to "finish me and write your review!" I've read worse things, but honestly, I just didn't want to DNF my first book from NetGalley.

The review:
This was a slough for me. I can kind of understand that the emotional and environmental stress that Jesse is under can lead to the blahs. I think after covid-19, most of us can understand how stress can turn into the blahs. Maybe that's why I didn't connect as much as I could have with this book. Maybe what feels like Jesse's blahs are my own or are just so blah that they're background at this point in history. I don't know. What I do know is that the characters and world felt at best one dimensional. The plot? The character's on a journey to find their lost sibling. They decided to take this trip after stumbling across Doggo, who gives them something to live for and something else to hide from their community, so they kinda are scaring two birds from the bush with one stone: keep Doggo safe from the community and while they're at it, might as well look for their sister that jumped ship a long time ago. Jesse tells stories during the trip. Honestly, you've basically now read the book, baring some things that I can't delve into here because of spoilers.

The description of the book (which you can also see it at https://www.dundurn.com/books/Doomsday-Book-Fairy-Tales) is not bad. It is, in fact, a credit to the marketing department of Dundurn Press. As is the cover, which I really do like.

Why do I say that's a credit to the marketing department? Well, to be blunt, for me, this book was not an astounding tale, about a dangerous quest, nor in an eerie world. Jesse did fight illness. The world above and Underground was hostile, I guess, but it felt like it was hostile in the same way that hiking in the true wilderness can be hostile, like the funny posts that were making the rounds a while back about how aliens would react to life on Earth and how we deal, interact, and live in it (like https://www.boredpanda.com/humans-are-weird). The hostility of both above and Underground is, as you probably won't be the least bit surprised to see, also is rooted in interactions with humans and human society. Again though, that doesn't feel like a new level of hostility and I couldn't feel any newness or hightened hostility from what a lot of people feel every day, either when faced with too much human and society interaction or too little. It wasn't even the hostility that Stephen King was/is the top at incorporating, the low-level dread of things being "normal" but just off enough to trip your brain up and make your stomach clench. It felt like it was presented as a "oh, so all that's totally normal," and so while a concern, it's on par with walking into a spiderweb and trying to make sure the little house spider isn't now on you as opposed to walking into a spiderweb and finding you're now covered with giant, terrifying spiders who consider you a perfect meal. Even the climate disaster portrayed wasn't on par with Snowpiercer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowpiercer) but was shown as a few steps above what we have now. Not to minimize the climate changes we're seeing today, but it didn't set off "THIS IS HORRIBLE, HOW COULD PEOPLE SURVIVE?!?" bells. It barely even made sense, based on the description of the changes provided, why people would say "Screw this, I'm going Underground to be safe!" especially when later in the book, Jesse, their sister, and so most likely others, were clearly living above those Underground and while there was serious degredation to lifestyle, it honestly still sounded better than what pioneers faced.

As for the tale and quest, as I said above, they didn't do it for me. The fairy tales were nice and decently written, but as with so much else about this book, they were just there. They didn't seem more than vaugely (if even that) inspired by issues, dangers, or events during Jesse's journey and they didn't seem to add anything to anything. They didn't even seem to reflect the possibilitiy of what was offhandedly thrown in towards the end of the book, which I shall not discuss here, because spoilers. The "or die trying" bit of the description, while not a complete lie, seems to deal more with ... oooh, I almost gave into spoilers.

Maybe this is more of a reflection on me than on the book, but I didn't connect with the characters, their world, or the point of this story. At all. I barely even connected with Doggo and trust me, that should be ringing warning bells to you, if you know me. That Doggo became a kind of guiding beacon, a reason to do something besides give up and die didn't even really reach me on an emotional level, although I think a lot of dog or pet owners, myself included, can identify with that in our own lives. I won't delve into Doggo's other aspects or what happens to him, because again spoilers.

Can I just say that the denouement of this story really didn't do it for me? I can't get into it too much becase again, spoilers, but it was just so unrealistic to me, that I am ashamed I almost wrapped this review without mentioning it. To have [blank] just [blank-ity blank] out of all the [blanks] along the [blank-ity blank] possibilities is just not good. [Blank] might have been [blanking] around looking for [blank] but the probabilities seem just so miniscule that I honestly can't believe an editor didn't circle this in red ink with the annotation of "Really?! That's how you have [blank and blank] [blank]?!"

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Doomsday Book of Fairy Tales.

A story set in a post-apocalyptic world based on climate change you say and added Fairy Tales, while I am self-isolating due to a global pandemic... sign me up!

I think the book was great. I have to admit that I enjoyed the added Fairy Tales more than the bigger story about the protagonist, Jesse Vanderchuck. To be honest I didn’t like that fact that she was “telling” the fairy tales, coming from her for some reason I just couldn’t get it to fit. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of doggo, he was just so unnecessarily gross.

Overall, I did enjoy reading the book and I can safely say that this has been the most unique book I’ve read all year. I am looking forward to reading more from the author.

* 3.7

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is exactly as its name describes. It is a doomsday book of fairy tales. Set in the future in a world uninhabitable by humans Jesse and his family take to the underground in order to survive.

This book had a couple issues for me that made it difficult for me personally to get into....

The writings was very fanciful and descriptive however it made it difficult for me to feel any personal connection at all with Jesse. When he met the talking dog I was so excited but then the writing made the dog unnecessarily gross (like I finally have a character to bond with and then the detailed writing of some things was toooo far and I got grossed out again)...

The fairytales were interwoven throughout the second half of the book which was a bit more interesting. To me it seemed like Jesse was fabricating all these stories and adventures rather than actually going on them which was interesting to read.

Overall if you like dystopian post apocalyptic books this might interest you! I just personally prefer more positive emotional ties to characters. Like I need some good things to happen or some redeeming qualities to feel connected to the story and want to keep going. But this story is definitely unlike anything else I’ve read!