Two things. #1) Tanith Lee's reimagined fairy tales are excellent. #2) Tanith Lee's reimagined fairy tales are best taken in small doses.

Structured here by original source material -- retellings of Sleeping Beauty are grouped together, retellings of Rapunzel are grouped together, and so on -- these stories are every bit as dark, bloody, violent, and sexual as one imagines their earliest origins would have been before any Bowdlerization. Probably more so, as Lee certainly had a knack for turning subtext into text!

Due to the dark patterns in these stories, in particular rape and child abuse, I think they are best read a little at a time. Otherwise, they can get overwhelming, and can also start to run together a bit. Lee's prose is often sort of dreamy, though not especially purple. The style fits the content here.

Interesting book. Tanith Lee is a gem, and this book is not to be missed.

Tannith Lee is like an irresistible dessert. Rich, filling, and at times overwhelming. Yet I'm powerless to stop. Her words have a certain thickness to them, you don't just read them, they envelope you in their way. She doesn't tell a story, she paints it, adding in little hints of shadow and highlight, pulling your attention to the important details without being obvious about it. So often those important details aren't even the main focus of the art.

Every time I read one of her stories, I am pulled under by waves. Waves of emotion, of passion. I have yet to find a story teller that rivals this one. Even the stories I didn't care for as much were told in such a way that I was glued to the pages.

This is one of my all time favorite authors, and while I know that her style won't be for everyone, I firmly believe that this is one of those classics that shouldn't be overlooked.
~ George 5 Stars

Redder than Blood is a collection of short stories that are retellings of fairy tales. From Snow White to Cinderella to Beauty and the Beast and more, the tales in Redder than Blood are often dark and always with a twist. Most of the stories are sci-fi or fantasy, but there are a few that could be considered general fiction, horror, or straight up fairy tale.

The quality of the writing is good. The stories themselves are well written. Many of them have been published before. I can't say I liked each and every story, but I liked more of them than I disliked. There were a few that felt overly long, like the retelling of Swan Lake. My favorite is the last one in the book, a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. There was one story that is ostensibly a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but has elements of Bluebeard in it as well. There is a note at the end that pairs the stories with the original they are derived from.

Some of the stories would be trigger inducing for some people because they have issues in them such as child abuse. Remember though the original tales these are drawn from often had the dark and violent as well. They were not Disney stories. There weren't always happy endings and what happened along the way wasn't always pleasant. That pretty much sums up the stories in this collection.

I give it 4 stars out of 5. The writing is good quality and there is a good variety to the tales. I didn't like all of them, but I liked enough of them to give the anthology a healthy thumbs up. Redder than Blood was published April 4, 2017 from DAW.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

a reprint-classic Tanith Lee. Full of flowery prose, dramatics, and death and love.

This was not my type of read. These fairy tales were very dark, and I couldn't stomach it. Thus, this book is not for the faint of heart. I reccommend this to those who live dark fairy tales.

I have the author's Red as Blood, and was very excited to see this title. I enjoy the twists to traditional fairy tales, and although I had read some of these stories previously, I enjoyed them as much on second reading.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley an honest review.

Wonderful collection of new and past short story "fairy tales" by Tanith Lee. I was really pleased to see that one of my all time favorite stories "Beast" was included with this anthology. My only complaint is I would have liked a short summary before each story.

A great testimonial to dark and surreal short stories written as only Tanith Lee can. She will be sorely missed.

I really loved the blurb, but I couldn't get even 1 chapter into the story. I just wasn't connecting with the writing style. It wasn't ill-written, it just didn't "click" for me.