On the plus side, the book is well-edited. There's nothing worse than a book full of typos and bad grammar constantly tripping you up.

I should also note that my criticism is based on an extract rather than the full work.

I loved the names of the characters despite having to learn how to pronounce a few, but here my praise stops. I guess I got so caught up in the title that I was expecting modern retellings of old fairytales with today's issues. Okay, so we do touch on issues previously ignored such as homosexuality. That said, having painfully struggled through 33%, I had to admit defeat.

The pace is slow. I kept monitoring to see if we were nearly there yet. The characters were...different, but dull. I didn't get a sense of fairytale though could tell from the language that the author tried.

I'm not sure who this title would interest. The characters and lands aren't relatable. The themes pitch it at an adult market but the style is more teenage. I just didn't get it!

All in all, I didn't enjoy the experience. 2/5 for great editing more than anything else.