Kel McDonald

Kate Ashwin

"Explores some of Europe's most famous fables and lesser known favorites, from sly humor to dark fireside tales and everything in between"--

The Nixie of the Mill-Pond and Other European Stories

Briar's Reviews

For one thing: The cover is INCREDIBLE. It's spooky yet detailed and grabs all of my attention.

I absolutely love fairy tales, so seeing them in graphic novel form is an absolute delight. I was more than thrilled to be able to pick this book up because it's just fun seeing different authors and illustrators ways of recreating fairy tales. Plus, I grew up pretty heavily on fairy tales so it's like a blast to the past for me. To add to this awesome sauce, this collection includes fairy tales from various European countries (and I haven't heard of some of these before so this is wicked cool!). 

Included in this collection are (with my star rating, of course):
1. Jack and the Beanstalk - "I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ENGLISHMAN" - 3 stars

2. The Singing Bone - - 4 stars. I had never heard of this story before, so that was wildly amusing!

3. Puss in Boots - "Oh great, a weirdo that puts clothes on his pets." - 5 stars. This was always one of my favourite fairy tales.

4. Tatterhood - 4 stars. Yet another I hadn't heard of before! 

5. Rapunzel - 5 stars.

6. Kid Brother -3 stars.

7. The Nixie of the Mill Pond - 4 stars.

8. Bisclavret - 2 stars.

9. Hamelin's Piper - 3 stars.

The illustrations are very much comic book and 90s after school cartoon inspired and I am digging it! It made these stories more fun for me. 

These include some of the lighter tales, but also some of the darker. I think YA and up would be the general age group for these stories (but hey, middle graders have seen a lot worse too). 

Four out of wild boar five stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Iron Circus Comics for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.