Upon a Once Time

this was a great anthology, each story works well together and the book has a great flow. All the stories flow together and there wasn't any weak one in this anthology.

Upon A Once Time
Editor: Todd Sanders
Genre: SFF Anthology

The description of this book on NetGalley says:
"This book gathers twenty-one authors who have brought new focus to fairy tales by combining two well known stories with a literary genre of their choice."

When you read this, your mind starts expecting a Neil Gaiman-esque fictional + fantastical bonanza. And the book does deliver to a great extent.

The fairy tales used for this anthology range from the popular ones such as Beauty and the Beast, The Pied Piper and Little Red Riding Hood to totally unheard ones (unheard at least by me! 🤭) such as The Arthurian Cycle and The Caliph Stork. But whether I was aware of the original fairy tale or not didn't affect my comprehension, nor did it impair my enjoyment.

Unlike what you would assume, not every tale here is a fantasy fairy world retelling. You have a wonderful mix of science fiction, dark fantasy, humour, horror, steampunk, cyberpunk... The stories take a unique approach to the traditional fairy tales and in most cases, they leave you stunned with their unusual spin on the original.

Almost every story in the anthology is a pleasure to the senses! Of the 21 stories in the collection, I thoroughly enjoyed 16. Some of my absolute favourites were Six Rusalki, Little Tom's Reality, Strings that ought to be pondered even in urgent times, Taketori Momogatari, Gell who makes, and A dark path through the forest of stars. But I do wish the writers would rethink some of the story titles; they are quite a mouthful!

Overall, this is a really interesting, eclectic collection and would be a great choice for all SFF lovers.

I'm always a sucker for fairy tale retellings, especially ones that go against expectations. This collection delivered everything I wanted and then some! Opening with a dark tale of vengeance of six rusalki sisters, I knew this was going to be my kind of anthology. The second entry telling of space-hopping sentient worms was definitely a departure from anything I'd read before, and by the end I was fully invested. One entry ("Taketori Momogatari") was so bizarre I couldn't tell if it was told earnestly or meant to be a fully humorous commentary on society, but that weirdness and sheer "wtf??"-ness was still completely delightful.

I ended up loving every entry, but the standouts to me were definitely "The Rabbi's Daughter and the Golem" (in just a few short pages Alex Langer encapsulated so many elements from the philosophical question of "what makes us human", the original Beauty and the Beast tale, and Jewish culture and tradition while delivering an utterly charming and wonderful tale of acceptance and love), "The Forest Magic Protects Its Own" (a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin set in Appalachia from author Jamie Lackey, whose novella "The Forest God" I am also very much in love with), and the final story "Where the Earth Meets the Sky and the Sea Meets the Sky", which is actually a combination of stories that I won't spoil, just know that it's so fluffy and sweet I ended it filled with warm fuzzies.