Of Swords and Parasols

The Door in the Hedge is a collection of four novellas, two adapting well known fairy tales, two with new stories in traditional fairy tale format.

The first story, The Stolen Princess is about a kingdom whose people’s daughters are semi-regularly taken by the fae. The first girl was taken and then returned two days later, but the others aren’t returned. The current queen’s twin sister was taken on their seventeenth birthday, and she grows nervous as her own daughter, who is determined to live alone, approaches her own seventeenth birthday. I liked this one, but wish it had been longer so we could see more of the characters and their relationships. It has many elements of traditional fables, but the actual story is fairly new.

I’m less fond of The Princess and the Frog. I usually like adaptations of that story, but this was pretty much “cursed prince saves damsel from evil usurper,” and didn’t have much to do with the original.

I did, however, love The Princess and the Hind about the oft-ignored daughter of a king’s second wife, who’s only ever been noticed by her much loved half-brother, who adores her. When he’s injured hunting a hind, she goes off to find the hind and break the curse surrounding it. My reasons for loving it should be obvious.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses follows the traditional version, but with a slightly darker bent. This is one of my favorite fairy tales, even though most adaptations (this one included) leave me wishing more of it was from the perspective of the title characters. I did, however, like how the soldier’s motivation was social reform in the army, and his reactions to palace life, such as fear of the giant bathtub.

Nothing particularly groundbreaking, but a pretty enjoyable read.