The story opens in Agrabah when Aladdin is a young boy. We have the opportunity to meet his mother and learn a little more about how he came to be a street rat. Fast forward to Aladdin rescuing Princess Jasmine in the market just as depicted in Disney’s animated movie, but, as the title suggests, the tale gets twisted. If you saw the movie, you might be pleased to note that most of the initial dialogue is the same. I could definitely hear Aladdin’s voice as he asks Jasmine, “do you trust me?” Read More »

Rocco is the only one in his village with wings but they cause him to stand out in a negative way. His wings are huge, blue and they glow at night. One afternoon the village bullies set a trap for Rocco but he manages to break free and fly away as they are still earthbound. Before he realizes it, he finds himself at the escarpment where his Mother has warned him never to go. Thinking he is out of Read More »

Welcome to the Isle of the Lost: the place where all of the fairy-tale villains have been banished. On an isolated island far away from the kingdom of Auradon, the inhabitants are forced to live inside a dome which blocks all magic. Malificent rules the island and is determined that one day she will have her revenge. Read More »

This is the third installment and the conclusion of the Scarlet series. Scarlet has been moved from one prison to another as Prince John tries to keep her location a secret. When he finally reveals his plan to kill the King and end her life, Scarlet finds a friend in one of the guards and manages to escape. Her Grandmother, the Queen, is telling her that the only way to escape with her life is to leave the country. Her heart is torn between leaving to ensure her safety and the safety of her beloved Robin, and returning to the only man she has ever loved. Will she return to Nottinghamshire and bring the wrath of Prince John with her? Read More »

Everyone knows the story of Peter Pan. So many of us have fallen in love with the boy who never wants to grow up and his band of lost boys. We have been led to believe that Captain Hook is an evil, treacherous pirate who fights with children. Perhaps there is much truth in that, but we only know one side of the story. Read More »

I grew up on fairy tales. Even as I get ready to enter the fourth decade of life, I still embrace their magic, and cherish the life lessons available in these old stories of magic and perseverance against the ugly and dark aspects of life. I appreciate reading an author’s reinterpretation of the old fairy tales, which was why I looked forward to reading this volume. It started very strong with an impressively innovative introduction by Bill Willingham, in which he is faced the consequences of a life of writing fantasy, and making some powerful and otherworldly enemies in the process. Read More »

Witches with the Enemy, the riveting third installment in the Mist-Torn witches series, begins just a few months after the events of book two. After a period of calm, dealing primarily with physical complaints from their apothecary customers, sisters Celine and Amelie get called to the castle to see Prince Anton, their benefactor, for whom they also work as seers when needed. Upon their arrival at Read More »

A day that should have been one of happiness for Ember, the start of a joyous life as a new bride, results in tragedy when her new husband is consumed by the wedding fire as they jump over it to celebrate their vows. It seems that Fire, one of the five ancient powers, has rejected Ember’s choice of a husband. He claims that she belongs only to him, and that she must come to him. And until she does, he will take fire away from everyone. Read More »

In legend and stories the Fey are separated into two groups: the Seelie and the Unseelie. Though many believe the Seelie stand for goodness and the light and the Unseelie stand for darkness and evil, both courts are known troublemakers. A Chimerical World: Tales of the Unseelie Courtcontains nineteen short stories by various authors that will entice and shock you. We get a glimpse of the depravity that darkness can hide, plus we learn that sometimes being associated with the dark does not always equate to evil. Read More »

I have not read the previous three installments and there are eighteen books total in the series. If you love the 1980s science fiction/fantasy novels, then surely A Cat of Silvery Hue will be your cup of tea. I enjoy fantasy and love action and violence scenes, and A Cat of Silvery Hue had these in plenty. What I wanted more of was the evolution of the characters, especially the main characters. I felt that I did not know them at all-how they thought or why things were done. Read More »

Rayden is among the bravest and fiercest warriors from the North, and she is a woman. She is fearless with her ax and sword, never failing to protect those she encounters who cannot fend for themselves. Intent on returning to her homeland, Rayden’s friend, Ammanus, finds a caravan with camels they can join that is headed North. Read More »

More than 3,200 years ago, the King of Dwarfs called a meeting of his savants because he believed their doomsday was fast approaching. He predicted that the world they knew would cease to exist and the dwarves along with it. However, the three Fate Goddesses ordered the King to carry out an important mission. One dwarf must be pricked with the Sleeping Thorn and hidden in a secret cave somewhere on Earth until the designated time comes to be released from slumber. His mission will be to research and record the history of the earth and the extinction of the Era of the Gods. Read More »

In the final book of the Rowan of the Wood series, the Freak Squad is desperately trying to make sense of Cullen’s inheritance, a text written in an ancient language. They know it provides the secret for not only separating Rowan and Cullen, but also defeating Fiana once and for all. Read More »

A reporter, who has a gift for seeing what others cannot, takes a journey through Europe, the Middle East and Saigon in search of dragons. Throughout his travels he catches glimpses of these amazing creatures and finds snippets of evidance to support his findings which he journals through beautiful illustrations. Read More »

Lynn Kurland’s newest arc in her Nine Kingdoms novel is incredibly fun. Dreamspinner introduces us to Aisling, a weaver from the isolated town of Bruadair, tasked with finding an assassin to overthrow the government. With only a book of Weger’s rules to guide her, she disguises herself as a boy and sets off for Wegner’s training fort at Gobhann hoping to find someone there suitable for her needs. However, she must find an assassin within a fortnight or a terrible curse kill her, and the same might happen if she touches a spinning wheel. Read More »

Karigan finds herself in a different time, her world completely turned upside down. Torn from her own time, Karigan must maneuver through a world mostly devoid of magic and thus her abilities do not work. Relying on the generosity of a high-ranking member of society, Karigan slowly begins to develop a plan to try and get home. Read More »

Karn Korlundr did not want to be hauld (leader) of the family, and especially did not want to spend his time working on his father’s farm or trading at the local market. All Karn was interested in was the strategy game he excelled at, called Thrones and Bones. He refused to think of anything else, even to the point of trading three oxen for one small barrel of fish, because he was mulling over game strategy and not concentrating on the trading. He was able to challenge the trader and make the deal more equitable, but it was still an embarrassment to Karn’s father, the hauld. Read More »

“There came a day when everyone’s eyes were turned to the sky, to the exclusion of all else. Those who couldn’t see with their naked eyes, turned to their televisions, their computers or even their radios. They watched in helpless, disbelieving horror as Read More »

Elementary: All New Tales of the Elemental Masters includes 19 short stories all woven around of themes of elemental magic-–Earth, Fire, Air, Water. The timeframes of the stories range from early Greece to Great Britain’s steam-age. Read More »

One is imprisoned in his own body from a witch’s curse. One is imprisoned in a dungeon waiting to meet an executioner. Erik Trevayne, seventh lord of Hawksbridge, is turning into a beast. His wife and child died on the birthing bed and her mother, calling him a “rutting beast,” laid a curse on him that he would slowly and painfully turn into a beast. The only way for the curse to be broken is if his dead wife forgave him. A school-teacher’s daughter, now orphan, Kristine Arrington is awaiting the executioner’s noose for the murder of a Lord who tried to take her innocence. Read More »