L
Highly imaginative and rather dark
A collection of short stories very loosely based on fairy tales. Most stories have one main base tale, with motifs from other tales mixed in. The stories are all set in a modern day world (only one begins in some kind of historic past), and pretty dark, sometimes bordering on horror stories. Stedman incorporates the fairy tale motifs in a highly imaginative way, and the stories develop nicely towards some surprising revelations and twists. Still, I found them mostly fragmented, confusing at times. The stories (with one exception) never really came alive for me. Well-crafted, but not gripping.