Review: Fairytales Slashed #5 by Jaime Sulllivan

Reviewed by Fehu
Fairytales Slashed 5 by Various Authors
Less Than 3 Press
Novel: 579pgs
4 Pants Off

Blurb:
Five tales, familiar and new, where nothing and no one is precisely what it seems, and where it will take more than determination and magic to set all to rights again …

Part of Your World is the tale of a man adrift, his dreams of music all but lost, and his only solace found in taking his boat out to sea for a few hours. Deep beneath the water, the lonely Ren looks up at the surface he is not supposed to breach …

In Beast, the very last thing Beau expects to land on his desk is the story of the year: the location of the missing scumbag rockstar Gabriel Fletcher. Eager for the chance at a story that could make his career, he heads off immediately for the remote mansion where Gabriel is rumored to be hiding. But the questions he seeks to ask bring answers he never could have expected …

The Heart of Evil is the story of Kallum: depressed, broken, his magic burnt out. All he wants is to recover in peace and quiet, an opportunity he hopes he'll get when he agrees to look over his aunt, comatose for the past five years. But his first week in town, Kallum is pressed into service by Nathaniel, who needs his help fighting an evil wizard. And there's Ash, who seems to be anything but the harmless librarian he claims …

Matters of Perception is the tale of Nathaniel, a young apprentice wizard still trying to get the hang of his powers, worried about his sister and jealous about the relationship between his master and his former brother-in-law. But all that is set aside when he falls into a magical garden from which there is no way out, and his only companion the garden's mysterious caretaker …

In Memories Lost in Forgotten Time, a broken pocket watch and a shop full of junk are all that Colin has left of his lover, Quentin. Behind on the rent, tormented by his landlord, he knows he should sell everything and move on. But memories are not so easily discarded—or trusted.

The Power of a Wish is the tale of a boy forbidden to cut or otherwise alter his hair until he turns twenty-five, on the orders of his strict grandmother. But when he returns home and reunites with an old friend, a seemingly harmless prank goes horribly awry …

And in The Blind City, Charley, a lowly librarian's assistant, never expected to be sent out on a quest with the most famous knight in the country. Sir Thaddeus Constantine is strong, honorable, a legend told in countless stories. To spend time with him is a dream come true, especially when Charley realizes that the man behind the knight is far more fascinating than stories …


Review
Anthologies are always a mixed bag and this one is not different, but fitting for Christmas this collection was a delight to read and it has some surprises!

What I loved was how fairytales which seemed similar had a different approach and I was impressed with the constructed worlds in this one, also not all of them were set in a fantasy world. I liked the urban fantasy ones as much the ones with knights, that one reminded me a bit of the Arabian night’s cartoons.

I liked this fairytales collection a lot, with the exception of one story, which was just weird. The character set to repair a watch and traveled in time to see his dead lover and found out that his dead lover actually is not dead, but that they found a youth fountain and he himself de-aged too much. I did mention my confusion about this one right? First he was grieving for his lover and then he started travelling in time, seeing zombies, dead people, a war in the past, but he always come back and sees the nephew of his dead lover. He himself was a brilliant inventor, before his de-aging days.

My favorite stories were by Sandra Bart, The Heart of Evil and Matters of Perception. They are set in the same universe and were beautiful fairytales. One about a charmed house where it's always summer and which is sustained by a magical orb and is guarded by a beast. The other one was about a wizard who had to fight an evil woman to rescue his aunt and the villagers, she put in a coma.
I found both the story telling and the characters very charming. Both stories were 4 pants reads.

The Blind City- 4 Pants Off 
Also a very charming story about a librarian assistant and a knight, who searches for his brother and finds a lover instead, when they travel together into the lost city. The actual librarian was quite bossy and I think was having an affair with the king. I would have loved it if that one was longer and not wrapped so fast at the end.

Beast- 3.75 Pants Off
This one was about a rockstar, who had pretty bad bed manners and was therefore cursed to be a beast. I thought the ending was a bit funny, when the manager brought back the witch, since the solution to the curse was not the typical one, which is not true love. It was a bit of a refreshing remake of that particular fairytale.

Part of Your World -3 Pants Off
I know it’s a novella, but still I felt like it lacked depth. I liked the merboy, but it was just not explained well enough how he was able to learn to speak, if he was always alone and with fish. I know that it's fiction, but still. Also the end was wrapped up pretty fast and the villain defeated with ease. The whole story lacked details and the characters were behaving strange. I didn't feel the love between the main characters, since the selfish bastard, who is supposed to be the prince in this one, abandons his mute friend, as soon as a girl appears and only remembers him when he is gone.

The Power of a Wish  -3.5 Pants Off
I found that one to be an infesting take on Tangled. Here it is a guy who is not supposed to cut his hair and it's not because of some evil witch, so his mother might see her mother in law that way. He promised it to his grandmother, that he won’t cut his hair up to a certain age and the hair did come in handy in a fight for the live of his best friend/ love interest. The genie was a bit of a surprise to be sure and the sister was, let's just say strange.

4 Pants Off