My Favorite Fairy Tales in At Midnight: 15 Beloved Fairy Tales Reimagined edited by Dahlia Adler
Title: At Midnight: 15 Beloved Fairy Tales Reimagined
Edited by: Dahlia Adler
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publish Date: November 22, 2022
I received an ARC from the publisher for reading/reviewing purposes only. The following review is my opinion and hasn’t been influenced by any other party. Thank you so much Flatiron Books for sending this ARC copy!
First off, can we take a moment to appreciate the cover? Everything about the cover for At Midnight speaks to me. I love the branches connecting everything together, and I am LIVING for the color scheme. As a graphic designer (yes, my day job is a graphic designer), it makes my heart happy. It's so aesthetically pleasing and I've just found myself starting at when I should be reading it (oops).
I've been really big on mood reading with the seasons this year, so when At Midnight showed up in my inbox, I had to say yes. It was perfect for the spooky season. And it's a collection of fairy tales so they aren't very long whatsoever. I loved the representation included in this collection - we have LGBTQ+ representation (including trans rep), lots of drag, Muslim representation and lots of others. At Midnight has great inclusion of diverse reads to add to your TBR.
While they were all mostly enjoyable (and a few I wasn't the biggest fans of), there are a few that stood out more than the rest. Here are my thoughts on my favorites:
In the Forests of the Night by Gita Trelease, Inspired by "Fitcher's Bird"
I have never heard of Fitcher's Bird before, so I went into this one blind. Right off the bat, I noticed it was longer than the other ones I had read so I was a bit nervous about it. I think In the Forests of the Night was my favorite of all of the reimagined fairy tales. Everything about it was perfect. The build up set the stage perfectly for the ending. I don't want to spoiler but I had no idea where it was going to go, but I wasn't expecting that. The ending did get a bit confusing at times. I had to reread multiple paragraphs to understand what was going on. But I loved the main character and the portrayal of her strength. This is definitely one you should check out.
Say My Name by Dahlia Adler, Inspired by "Rumplestiltskin"
Say My Name was so incredibly clever. I loved the setup for this one. I do know the story of Rumplestiltskin, so I was eager to see where this story was leading. The plot and ending were so unexpected, I literally cackled when reading Say My Name. Dahlaa Adler took the general idea of Rumplestiltskin and ran with it in the best possible way.
Sharp as Any Thorn by Rory Power, Inspired by "Sleeping Beauty"
This was the most disturbing one included in this collection. Again, I wasn't sure what direction this was going in, it seemed somewhat normal BUT THAT ENDING. I started to get uneasy about midway through the story and kind of guessed what was going on, but I still had to take a break after finishing Sharp as Any Thorn. Be mindful of the trigger warnings, but this is definitely one worth checking out.
Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Hafsah Faizal, Inspired by "Little Red Riding Hood"
Again, I loved the cleverness of this one. It was such an entertaining read and I kept cheering for Red. I would have loved more, but I know that defeats the purpose of fairy tales. I also loved the Muslim representation and how it was connected back to the lessons of the fairy tale.
Be sure to check out At Midnight when it releases later this month! The modern retellings were the perfect twists on these old fairy tales, and I think I found a few new favorite authors to check out. Also, this collection includes the original fairy tales at the end of the book, so you can go in blind, like me, and then check out the inspiration.
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