Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

White Cat, Black Dog, by Kelly Link, is a collection of seven short stories which take inspiration from Scottish Ballads or the Brothers Grimm, among others.

These seven short stories explore moral themes, as usually happens in traditional tales, with a twist. Thus, the stories are better suited for more grown readers. I was completely hooked by the book synopsis, mesmerised by the stories themselves, and in love with the whole concept by the end. Although I did not enjoy all the tales equally, I discovered new fables that I now hold dear to me.

I would recommend White Cat, Black Dog to anyone looking for a quick, very interesting read!

Thank you so much Netgalley and Head of Zeus for an advanced copy of White Cat, Black Dog.

This was such an interesting read. It is a collection of short stories, as someone who loved reading fairytales, specifically Irish ones growing up, this collection really reminded me of that. I devoured each story. I can't wait to re-read.

I was given a copy to review via Netgalley and Head of Zeus. My reviews are always honest and all opinions are my own. #WhiteCatBlackDog #KellyLink #Netgalley #HeadOfZeus #ARCReview #BookReview

White Cat, Black Dog is wonderful collection of seven short stories that focus on reinvented fairy tales taking inspiration from the Brothers Grimm, Seventeenth-century French Lore and Scottish Ballads. Link manages to twist and wind the tales in new ways blending realism and speculative, witty, empathetic but never predictable.

Each short story is memorable and unique. While Link’s style is clear I adored how it morphed depending on which character was narrating the tale. As a massive fan of fairy tales, myths and legends and a avid fan of the Brother’s Grimm it is wonderful to see the darker more surreal nature of fairy tales explored and brought to life in Link’s prose. Gritty and dark but with over arching themes of love, connection and finding a sense of purpose these capture the true essence of fairy tales as they are meant to be.

The best and equally worse part is that with these being short stories you can easily devour one (or two) in a sitting and then come back for another. I fully adored this collection but have to say my favourites were ‘The White Cat’s Divorce’, ‘Prince Hat Underground’ and ‘The Lady and the Fox’. That said each story stood out to me and I adored how Link’s work, like fairy tales of old, reflects the world we are part of including LGBTQ+ themes and protagonists.

All in all this is brilliant collection and as someone who had not read any of Kelly Link’s work before I will certainly be reading more of her work.

White Cat, Black Dog consists of seven fairytale retellings set in the modern world.

I was really excited to read this as I love the weird, the bizarre, the wonderful, the fantastical! I also really enjoy short stories and fairytales. Disappointingly, something was lacking in these stories. I wasn’t always a fan of the modern setting with a fairytale style of prose.

I did however, really enjoy The White Cat’s Divorce and Skinder’s Veil. These stories had me gripped, whereas the others were more hit or miss.

Review written for LoveReading.co.uk, please see site and link for full details. Chosen as a LoveReading Star Book and Book of the Month.

A collection of short stories, written in the style of old time fairy tales.

A mixed bag of stories, some really good, others not so much so.

The best, Skinder’s Veil, was definitely saved until the end, thought the first, The White Cat’s Divorce, and also The Lady and the Fox were good reads. Prince Hat Underground was ok until it became too silly and profane to enjoy. The others were too bizarre for my taste.

2.5* upped to 3*

Thank you NetGalley.

A year with a new Kelly Link collection is a good year - what a treat it was to read more stories from her. The first two didn't bowl me over, but then it was all postapocalyptic horror, dark creepiness and surprises. I only wish it was longer. I particularly enjoyed "The White Road", with its mounting horror and excellent worldbuilding, and "The Girl Who Didn't Know Fear", with that twist ending. But they're all strong, and not typical retellings of fables but rather contemporary stories taking bits and pieces as starting points.

This was a very enjoyable short story collection.
The course of each story meandered in weird, but attention-grabbing ways.
All of them were fun and, in my opinion, unique. I wasn't familiar with any of the tales - save from Hansel and Gretel - that these stories were based upon.
My favourites from the bunch were probably 'The Game of Smash and Recovery' and 'Skinder's Veil.'

Very interesting read, I loved all the different short stories with their characters and the plots. It had me guessing for each story. A great read.

**WARNING: this text may contain spoilers. A big thank you to Netgalley and PRH for allowing me to read this as an arc**

White Cat, Black Dog: 4 ⭐

BONKERS.
PECULIAR.
BIZARRE.
MIND KILLER.

I am in absolute awe on what I just read. These 7 short stories were spin-offs from the fables we grew up loving, such as Hansel and Gretel, for example.
My favorite short stories were The White Cat's Divorce, Prince Hat Underground, The Lady and The Fox and Skinder's Veil.
The White Cat's Divorce was just so confusing to me at first, like a cat that talks and cuts its head off to become a woman and keeps doing so to become younger, beautiful and different everytime. I was just like 😶‍🌫️
Prince Hat Underground we have a man who's in love with Prince Hat but he belongs in Hell. So, we literally see the ode this man takes THROUGH LITERAL HELL to get to the man he loves.
The Lady and The Fox was my favorite. It made me think of The Time Traveler's Wife, because the MC's meet when it's snowing and only when its snowing. Then, there's a Snow Queen stopping the man from being with his love.
Finally, Skinder's Veil 🤯 I have no words. I felt like I was actually living in Wonderland with Alice. Everything was so bizarre, so weird! Two ladies in one, a talking bear, a deer coming into the house and Death itself coming into the house. This was so allegoric, I can't!

I digged this book truly amazingly! It took me a bit to get used to the style and the horrorrific elements BUT I ended up really enjoying it! Would recommend!

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for sending me an e-arc for review.

I requested this on a whim really, and it turned out to really work in my favour because I've been in a huge reading slump, and these short, wild tales really helped! They were all very modern takes on fairy tales, and were such a bizarrely mixed bag.

I really enjoyed some of these tales, and others not so much. I'll give a small breakdown!

The White Cat's Divorce: brilliant opening story. Very weird and wild, quick paced and engaging, excellent.

Prince Hat Underground: whilst I didn't enjoy this quite as much as TWCD, I still really did like this one!

The White Road: this one went completely over my head, but I also struggled very much to engage with it. I may try reading this again, because the whole time I felt myself slipping out of the story with no idea what I'd just read.

The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear: this one was odd. There was a lot of build up and mystery and I was really intrigued... but I felt like it was too final with no real answer. The vagueness sort of ruined it for me.

The Game of Smash and Recovery: as above, I felt this had real promise, and I was invested, but again the vague details left I'd say, too much to the imagination. I might revisit during daytime hours when I'm less tired to see if I enjoy it more!

The Lady and the Fox: I fairly enjoyed this one. Was softer than the others, and a nice read. Whilst it still left much to the imagination, it was overall fleshed out enough to be satisfying.

Skinders Veil: my absolute favourite of the collection, and a brilliant number to end on. Creepy and suspenseful and weird, I actually felt true unease in some moments, which is a rarity for me! It was wild and intricate and full of smaller stories, and I just thoroughly enjoyed it!

The 7 short stories are:
- The White Cat's Divorce
- Prince Hat Underground
- The White Road
- The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear
- The Game of Smash and Recovery
- The Lady and the Fox
- Skinder's Veil

These fairy tales are for adults, combining the modern world and fantasy. This is a nice, casual read.

This is my first time reading a collection of stories like this. Very unique and thought provoking stories. Some I would rate 5 stars and others 3. But over all a wonderful read and well written. I would definitely read more by this author!

This is a evocative little collection of reimagined fairytales.
I appreciate that the stories reimagined were not the usual offerings and that each was dissimilar and unexpected to those around it. I loved the combination of the everyday with the magical realism. There were moments of great sweetness and others of pretty incredible creepiness.

I enjoyed less the very specific voice of the collection. It is … pithy? And dispassionate. And it just didn’t move me. I think that an omniscient and even, dispassionate, voice can work with fairytale retellings, but I think the fact that this collection is fairly well saturated in unlikeable characters and rather absurd (in a good way!) imagery… it just left me feeling cold throughout the reading. But, that may just be me. Still, it’s written with confidence and intent and it’s motivated me to try and read more Kelly Link, just maybe when I’m in a pithier mood of my own.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very strange, intense, and lyrical read. I picked it up vaguely remembering having enjoyed Pretty Monsters a long time ago, and while I don't remember much of it, I do remember Link's unique style, which feels half in and half out of reality. Not all of the fairy tale-inspired stories here worked for me - at times I felt some of the modern elements were too obtrusive - but the last two stories in the collection were engaging and thought-provoking enough to leave me happy overall. Great for those looking for a very arch, modern, literary, and slightly weird take on fairy tales.

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link is a collection of modern fairy tales with inspiration from the classic, well-known fairy tales and other old lore. The stories sometimes blend our modern world with the magic we come to expect with the words “fairy tale”, and sometimes it’s a completely new world we’re entering, like in “The White Road”, which was one of my favourites.

It is no secret that I love, love, Love fairy tales! Especially the ones that are kind of dark and eerie. Short stories, queer themes, and magical realism are some of my other favourite things, so it was no surprise to me that I would end up absolutely loving this book. The stories all pulled me in and I just had to finish one before I could put it back down. And when you finish one short story, the other one is just on the next page – we all know how that goes. But I could ramble on about everything I liked for way longer than I have time for, so I’ll point out my top three favourite elements (in no particular order) and leave it at that.

First off, the writing style. While it changed a bit from story to story, depending on who the narrator is, of course, it was always descriptive enough to satisfy my urge to know more, and fast enough that there was never a stale moment. For those who’ve been following my reviews, you know how important a good (in my opinion) writing style is to my enjoyment, so this was a big plus!

Secondly, the stories themselves. They were original, interesting, and fairy tale-y enough that I could find familiar literary elements in them. I especially enjoyed “The White Road”, as I’ve already said, as well as “The Lady and The Fox”, and “Prince Hat Underground.” They were beautifully written and moving and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.

Lastly, the themes. Themes in books are great, they really tie the whole thing together, and while my level of education caps at high school (for now), I genuinely like searching for themes in the books I read. And there was quite a bit to find here. So if you’re like me, and finding themes and motifs, and all that, is like a treasure hunt with highlights and tabs, this book is perfect for you!

As you could probably guess, I give White Cat, Black Dog five out of five stars. I’ve already put the physical copy on my wishlist and I highly recommend that You do the same!! The book will be released on the 28th of March, this year!

As always, thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Kelly Link for an ARC, I greatly appreciate it!

I was offered a copy of White Cat, Black Dog as an ARC by NetGalley and am often a fan of retellings of older tales. Whilst Link's writing was good and there were some interesting premises to the stories in here, I was left a little cold and struggled to really engage with any of them. On reflection, I think that the excessive use of profanity and references to sex were just not for me. I am far from a prude (and definitely swear far too much in real life) but do try to tone this down in my writing. I am sure there are probably other people who will love the far more modern take on the seeds of the traditional tales.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus, Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book for providing me this book in exchange for an honest review*

This book confused me. I The seven stories are really confusing. I believed it meant to be fairytales in real world but I failed to understand that from the plot. I don't know maybe it wasn't my cup of tea. Would I reread it? No. Would I recommend it? Probably no.

Kelly Link's White Cat, Black Dog was my first adventure into short form fiction. The seven stories within the collection are all unique and well developed.
They kick of quite strong with The White Cat's Divorce, and personal favourite and end leaving more questions than answers with the powerful Skinder's Veil.
Some stories leave an unsettled feeling within (The White Road & The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear), while this wasn't necessarily bad, some time to decompress between stories was needed.
Overall this was a varied read that is definitely worth adding to your bookshelf.