Anyone who knows me KNOWS that this should have been the perfect book for me. Fairy tales? Check. LBGTQ+ & diverse characters? Check. Fantasy settings? Check. Gender exploration? Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Because it DOES do all of those things and that's something I'll always appreciate about a book like this. Short stories that make characters like that 'the norm' in stories, instead of the usual straight, white, middle-class girl you normally find in most literature. Why then have I given it three stars only? Well, there's more to story-telling than ideas. They have to be well-formed. Sadly, I didn't quite get that here.

Let's start with the positives of Reed's stories, mainly revolving around the idea behind it. The book was split into two parts, one half being firmly rooted in the real, contemporary world that we know and re-imagining the likes of 'Cinderella', 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Little Red Riding Hood'. I loved the imagination that went into these, especially in 'Sleepwalker' where the sleeping curse is actually a metaphor for Depression. These were imaginative ways of integrating well-loved fairy tales into the modern world. Even more so, I loved part two! LGBTQ+ characters in a Fantasy setting being taken seriously is not something easily found, let me tell you. Reed did a great job of making their inclusion feel normal, not shoe-horned in and I particularly enjoyed 'Seventh Son', 'The Reluctant Peasant' and 'The Wolf & The Ward' for this. What fantastic stories to explore sexuality and gender in a different way.

Sadly, this book just did not feel like it had the depth that I wanted. Without fail, EVERY story disappointed me because of it's lack of real ending. Reed would build up the world, explain the situation, draw you in, and then BAM end with a 'then some other stuff happened and they all lived happily ever after'. What?! Where's the well-formed conclusion? I was devastated because I wanted to adore these stories. Reed's writing is mediocre at best, it didn't feel like it had a whole lot of personality and I fear that the imagination, ideas and message were the best it got. No real character depth was explored, and settings were normally very generic school or fantasy settings. A great idea and a wonderful project to promote, but the content needs to be there.