Happy June! It is Sleeping Beauty month over on Fairy Tale Central and to celebrate I’m kicking this month off with a review of an utterly delightful Sleeping Beauty anthology.

I have been following along with Rooglewood’s fairy tale anthologies ever since the first one came out. I adore these anthologies of five novellas from five different talented authors. It’s so thrilling getting so many different takes on one specific fairy tale.

Shamefully, I only just recently read Five Magic Spindles. I’ve read all three other anthologies, but this one got put on the backburner for absolutely no reason at all. And now that I’ve FINALLY read it all I can say is: WHAT TOOK ME SO LONG??? This one may be my favorite of all! (Although that’s really hard to say, I have favorite stories in each of them.)

The imagination these five authors took to shape this well-known tale into something utterly new and unique is just outstanding. I seriously fell in love with every. single. story.

MY REVIEWS FOR THE OTHER COLLECTIONS:

And finally my review for this one. Let’s get to it!

Synopsis

Awaken the Magic

Emma, a good-hearted midwife, rushes to warn a neighbor about the hired gunman headed to his ranch but can’t prevent the catastrophe in store for his daughter.

Palli, the prophesied daughter of a king, is fated to rescue her people from the destruction called forth by a vengeful priest.

Roselee, a ghost with a faulty memory, flits through the halls of an insane asylum in search of the mortal boy who can help her save the day.

Arabella, a living spirit trapped in her own comatose body, helplessly watches from the realm of dreams as her usurping cousin plots to destroy her once and for all.

Tanza, a tomb raider on a distant planet, struggles to make a living and doesn’t need a long-lost prince to complicate her difficult life.

One way or another, these beauties have no intention of sleeping away their problems.

AMAZON | GOODREADS

THE MAN ON THE BUCKSKIN HORSE
by Rachel Kovaciny

The Man on the Buckskin Horse tells the tale from the viewpoint of Emma, a no nonsense, middle-aged midwife who rushes to the aid of her neighbor and his daughter when she hears rumor that a hired gunman if after them. But the gunman, a quiet man on a buckskin horse, may not be all his title suggests.

Confession: I don’t really like westerns. I KNOW. It is shameful. Just the whole setting and feel of westerns tends to turn me off. They’ve never really excited me. So when I heard the first story of this anthology was a western, I went in a little wary.

HA.

It took all of two sentences of Rachel Kovaciny’s snappy writing to hook me, and by the end my heart was utterly stolen by this rollicking story.

Everything about this story is so unexpected for a Sleeping Beauty retelling, and yet it WORKS. Brilliantly. First of all, the story isn’t told from the princess’s OR the prince’s POV, but instead a midwife who serves as the “good fairy”, as it were. Secondly, there’s no magic to speak of. It’s all very historically accurate. And yet so much of the original tale is woven within the plot, including a spindle and a “sleeping curse” in a vague sense of the word. I loved the cleverness of it all!

The true genius of this tale is the witty, snappy writing style and Emma herself. I was giggling all the way through at this blustery, pragmatic woman who don’t take no nonsense from no one. Being in her head was a RIOT, let me tell you.

Rosalind, our “Sleeping Beauty,” and her father Victor were also PRECIOUS. I loved Rosalind’s quiet grace and the sheer stubbornness of Victor. Between the three of them, they were a FORCE.

And then there was the man on the buckskin horse himself and…well, I won’t say much because #SPOILERS but he was spectacular. Absolutely spectacular.

I loved literally every second of this high-action, hilarious, witty, western take on Sleeping Beauty. My hat off to Rachel Kovaciny for making me genuinely adore a western. I have no complaints. It was a rollicking good time from that first sentence all the way to the end.

. . . 5 stars . . .

GUARDIAN OF OUR BEAUTY
by Kathryn McConaughy

Palli, the daughter of the king, is prophesied to be the one who will save her kingdom from a terrible curse wrought upon it by a vengeful priest. But determined, kind Palli feels like she needs to do more than just, well, sleep for a hundred years.

Prince Neriya has a mark on his face that labels him as bad luck, thrusting him as the outcast in his own family. So when a phantom girl appears and asks for his help to save her kingdom, he jumps at the chance to, at last, prove himself worthy.

The second story takes a very different turn, as we’re now in an ancient, magical, Near Eastern world of prophecies and mythical beasts and misguided priests.

If I had to choose one word for this tale it’d be: GORGEOUS. The writing style, the world, the utter enchantment of it—it all came together into one utterly breathtaking story. The ancient Near East culture was so alive and made for a delightfully unique, beautiful setting for a fairy tale.

I love how in this one the princess knows about the curse, but she is the one prophesied to break it, not necessarily be the only one cursed. And what a precious princess Palli was! I loved her childlike wonder of the world, her determination to save her kingdom, her willingness to help anyone in need…even if they’re a big, scary mythical beast. Because YES. This tale took that fairy tale trope of finding hurt animals along the way and helping them, only for them to return later and help the protagonist as thanks. I LOVED that. This happens in sooooo many original fairy tales, and it was delightful seeing it take place in a retelling.

Later in the story we meet Prince Neriya, who is just as much of a cinnamon roll as Palli. His willingness to go to immense lengths to save a kingdom he didn’t even know existed was so admirable.

I also adored the subtle but powerful theme of the “God Who Answers”.

This was the shortest story in the collection and I felt like it did suffer from that a bit. It felt a little too fast and I think Neriya could have had a little more motivation. But overall I was utterly enchanted by the captivating writing style, the beautiful setting, the stirring themes, and precious Palli and Neriya.

. . . 4 stars . . .

THE GHOST OF BRIARDALE
by Grace Mullins

Franz is crazy. At least, that’s what he’s been labeled, and now he’s being shipped off to the infamous Briardale Asylum for the Mentally Infirm. But what is supposed to be a mental institution turns out to be a castle full of impossible people and Roselee, a ghost girl who claims Franz is her last hope to free Briardale from its ancient curse. But Franz is just a mortal boy, not a True Hero. How can he possibly fight curses and swamp beasts and witches? Maybe he is going crazy…

THIS STORY. THIS STORYYYY. This was, without a doubt, my favorite of the collection, and one of my favorite Rooglewood fairy tale retellings PERIOD.

I do so love me some quirky, lighthearted, comedic fantasy, and boy did this one hit the mark. Where do I even start??? How can I possibly convey my love for this hilarious, clever, utterly delightful tale?????

Let’s start with Franz, our “prince charming” who is merely a regular boy who gets sent off to a mental institute for claiming he saw a ghost. Oh poor Franz, my cinnamon roll child. Awkward and completely unsure of himself, he does not feel cut out for the task when a ghost girl tells him he’s the one who will free the princess from her sleeping curse and save Briardale Castle, especially when so many other “True Heroes” have tried and failed before him.

Then there’s Roselee, our scatterbrained ghost girl who is Trying Her Best™ but falls short time and time again. Oh my gracious, I LOVED these two disaster children. So, so much.

And there were MORE characters to fall head-over-heels for too. Like Crete the gentle giant and Eidor the short-tempered dwarf. Or the three fairies who got themselves in quite the pickle. Every single character was just so dang LOVEABLE.

That’s what really made this story shine. So often novellas just don’t allow enough time to really develop the characters and story, but this one was different. I truly felt like I got to know every single one of these ridiculous characters and experienced a long journey with them. And WHAT a journey!

This story was both side-splitting hilarious and full of heart, with some unexpected twists along the way and brilliant takes on well-known fantasy tropes. Like what it means to be a True Hero.

I could go on and on and on but I don’t want to spoil it. You just…you need this story and characters in your life. Period.

. . . 5(billion) stars . . .

SPINDLE CURSED
by Michelle Pennington

It’s rather hard to find true love when one is forced to spend their life asleep, but as Arabella’s treacherous cousin seeks to take over the kingdom, this sleeping princess knows she can’t keep sleeping for much longer.

Edmond’s quest to awake the legendary sleeping princess becomes more dangerous than he bargains for when the princess’s cousin sends knights and a dragon to end his quest. But if Arabella does not wake, both hers and Edmond’s kingdoms could fall in terrible danger. Can they possibly fall in love fast enough to save the day?

You gotta love a good classic fantasy, and this one hit the mark brilliantly. I’d say this one follows the original Sleeping Beauty story the closest, while still throwing in some fantastic twists on the tale.

Edmond is truly a knight in shining armor. When his not-so-pleasant father sends him out to uncurse Princess Arabella for selfish reasons, Edmond takes it upon himself to thwart his father’s plans and uncurse the princess for, well, unselfish reasons. Although when Lady Rhoswen, the princess’s cousin, discovers his plans, things get messy.

Meanwhile, Arabella watches the outside world from the window of her dream world, fearing the fate of her kingdom. Her only companion is her fairy guardian, Lona, who has spiraled into insanity from years of solitude.

AWK. I just LOVED these characters. Edmond and his determination and bravery to do the right thing. Martin, Edmond’s sassmaster of a guard. Arabella and her quiet grace and unshakable strength. Lona and her precious quirkiness. They were just so FUN and courageous and perfect for a high-action, classic fantasy tale.

I did feel like some of the story fell into your standard hike-through-the-woods, fight-some-guards cliché-ness. BUT there were enough unique twists to shake it up, and I loved the characters so much, it kept me perfectly engaged.

And can we talk about the romance??? Edmond is able to visit Arabella in her dream world, but he can’t break the curse with True Love’s Kiss unless, ya know, they’re actually IN LOVE. Watching their relationship grow and their determination to choose love just *CLUTCHES HEART* It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. They may be my favorite couple in the collection.

Oh, and did I mention there was a DRAGON? Need I say more?

. . . 4 stars . . .

OUT OF THE TOMB
by Ashley Stangl

Tanza, an alien in a futuristic world, makes ends meet by raiding tombs. When she breaks into one particularly old tomb, she thinks she hits jackpot. Until she discovers this tomb doesn’t hold treasure and a dead person, but a very much alive person. A person who just happens to be the long-lost prince. This was not she treasure she bargained for.

This seemed to be the fan favorite out of the collection, so I was super anxious to get to it and HOO BOY. THIS STORY. Though The Ghost of Briardale was my personal favorite, Out of the Tomb came as a VERY close second.

First of all, this was a sci-fi tale and I’m actually not a huge sci-fi person??? So when the story opened up with a bunch of “techy jargon”, I became worried. But NO FEARS. The worries evaporated fast as I was plunged into an uproariously fun, gender-flipped Sleeping Beauty  story set in a fast-paced futuristic alien planet. Talk about UNIQUE.

This is another one where the character wholly and completely stole my heart and won’t give it back. #rude I love how Tanza isn’t even human. It’s so rare we get a protagonist who’s the alien and finds human things kinda weird. It was great! Also, Tanza was so perfectly FLAWED. I mean, she’s a tomb raider for goodness’ sake. She’s determined to stay on her own two feet, no matter what questionable actions she must take to do that, but you also KNOW there’s a heart in there, and her arc was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Also, the snark. Her snark was LIFE.

AND THEN AUREN. AUREN MY PRECIOUS BOI. Auren is actually our “Sleeping Beauty” and I just adored the genderbent take on the tale. Poor Auren wakes up to a whole new world…and not exactly a better one. And all he’s got is a sassy tomb raider to help him settle back into the world after being mysteriously lost for the past 100 years. But he takes it all in stride. I just love how NICE and calm and…I don’t know, childlike he was. He finds wonder in everything, brings out the good in everyone around him, but still has a good enough head on his shoulders to act quickly when danger comes.

These two were so opposite but so perfect and AKJLSJDFLJSLD. I LOVED THEM. *sobs*

This story was another one that didn’t feel like a mere novella. It had such a grand scale to it. You really feel immersed in the world, from the culture, to the technology, to the history, to the politics. It all felt so real and natural and alive. I don’t know how Ashley Stangl fit so much into so few words but, man, did she do it brilliantly.

The world was so engaging, the characters were PERFECT with such realistic, beautiful arcs, the plot kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through, and all the Sleeping Beauty elements woven in were so clever. I loved it I loved it I loved it.

OH. And there was also some King Arthur threads snuck in and just YES. Actually, at the very beginning of the story I was thinking how very Arthurian Legend-y it was, and then later there was some blatant King Arthur references. I was THRILLED.

And did I mention Tanza and Auren are perfect and I want to hug them forever? Yes? Yes. Just making sure.

. . . 5 stars . . .

If it’s not obvious at this point, I LOVED THIS ANTHOLOGY. And the lovely thing about it is there’s something for EVERYONE. From a western, to a quirky fairy tale, to gorgeous fantasy stories, to a riproaring sci-fi, this anthology will surely have a story anyone will fall in love with.

CONCLUSION

I absolutely adored the sheer imagination put into each and every one of these stories. Sleeping Beauty cannot be an easy story to retell, being as how, you know, the heroine is ASLEEP for 100 years. But, by golly, these girls took this fairy tale and twisted it into something GENIUS.

As I whole, I absolutely give this anthology a solid…

. . . 5 out of 5 Stars . . .

LET’S TALK

Who’s read this anthology???? (I feel like everyone has but me until now. I KNOW. I DON’T KNOW WHY IT TOOK SO LONG.) If you have, which is your favorite story? If you haven’t, which one appeals to you more? Give me all your thoughts!

And don’t forget we’re featuring Sleeping Beauty all June long over on Fairy Tale Central! We’d love for you to join in on celebrating this classic fairy tale!