Tag Archives: Fairy Tale

The Lost Sunday

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Ileana Surducan, Oni Press, (72p) ISBN: 9781637157756. Graphic Novel, read 23/03/25, eBook ★★★★★

The Lost Sunday

The Lost Sunday

Again I chose to ask for this on NetGalley because of the beautiful artwork on the cover, and the story sounded really interesting.

Both didn’t disappoint, the artwork is glorious throughout and has an energy and life that really makes you embrace the storytelling full-heartedly, exploring each page for all the lovely detail that expands the story from the words to much much more.

The story takes us to the world of Nina, a world where there is no free time only drudgery, each day is full of work, but work that is never satisfying or completed. There are always mistakes or ways of making more work.

and most importantly of all there is never a Sunday, a day to rest, a day to relax, a day of frivolity and food in your best clothes.

Nina sets out to find what has happened to Sunday and see if she can restore this to the town.

Full of wonderful characters which support Nina there is a strong fairytale feel to this story, to be more precise a Slavic influence, especially in dress and the Wolves but this there is also a strong thread of this in Germanic storytelling.

I wolfed this down and had to go back and read it again immediately, this is also a book I’m going to have to buy for myself as a keeper, loved it!

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Salt Grows Heavy

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Cassandra Khaw, Titan Books, (128p) ISBN: 9781835413517. Horror Fantasy, read 11/03/25, Paperback ★★★★★

The Salt Grows Heavy

The Salt Grows Heavy

A dark retelling of the Little Mermaid tale, as dark as the oceans abyss.

I’m really enjoying all these dark retellings of fairy tales and this is one of the best so far as it takes the whole idea to another level and adds in the threads of other tales with a distinct Slavic feel of bones and death.

It is a tale of two souls who’ve been transfigured by their makers, moulding them into what they desired rather than letting them be who they were. The plague doctor and the mermaid, the marionette and the siren.

Fleeing the destruction of her prince and his kingdom the mermaid and the plague doctor come up a village of children and saints, playing games of blood and immortality.

It is a bleak story, with great writing that pulls you into the mind of the mermaid, into those depths of her lost past and her gradual desire to be herself once more, but in doing so we see her actually take on some of the dressings of the old tale as she falls in love and is willing to sacrifice the ocean for that true love.

The saints were really well developed characters that explored the cost to others of powerful men desiring infinite power, and how it dehumanised those who searched for that power. It also looked at the cults that can grow up around that search for power, though those who worship will never share in the power if ever found.

This is the second Cassandra Khaw novella I’ve read recently and both were really good and took their subject and played with the tropes of those traditions and found something new and chilling to say. Looking forward to reading more from Cassandra.

The Butcher of the Forest

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Premee Mohamed, Titan Books, (128p) ISBN: 9781803369464. Horror Fantasy, read 09/03/25, Paperback ★★★★☆

The Butcher of the Forest

The Butcher of the Forest

I’d followed Premee on Bluesky for quite a while now but never had read any of her work.

Thought I would change that with the first physical book read of the holiday.

and what a cracker to start off with, a dark brooding fairy tale of hope and redemption.

A Tyrant, lost children in a dark wood, a reluctant hero, we have a lot of traditional form to this tale but it is so well written these forms work really well together, especially with the emotional depth Premee brings to Veris.

The forest has it’s rules and inhabitants, not all terrible but all different. I especially loved the creatures at the house and how the Lord of the Forest viewed them.

The Tyrant wants Veris to find his to children and will burn her village to the ground and slaughter her family if she doesn’t, he wants this as Veris has, to his knowledge, successfully rescued a child from the forest before. But that is a secret that eventually unfolds.

Dark trades and dark memories help Veris throughout, but will it be enough?

A dark twisty tale, as dark and twisty as the forest itself, really really enjoyed this novella and looking forward to reading more of Premee’s work.