Enchanted Kingdoms Review: Part 2

This is the second review in a four-part series. If you missed the first part, you can find it here. I completed the next five books in the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology and was pretty disappointed. Every single adaptation in this section went for the dark gritty reboot version of the fairy tale ala Fate: The Winx Saga instead of a creative contemporary retelling. They include vampires, ghosts, or werewolves, making these five fairy tales feel like Halloween horror on steroids instead of an enchanted world, as the title of the anthology would suggest. These stories encompass the rest of the ebook that is provided when you order this set on Amazon. The other ten books in the series are included in a download link that is provided at the end. Hopefully, those books will be more optimistic because dang, I thought I had turned cynical toward fairy tales, but I had nothing on these writers.

Enchanted Kingdoms Fairy Tale Anthology Box Set

Rumple's Revenge by Craig Halloran

This retelling of "Rumpelstiltskin" starts out pretty interesting by turning the focus of the story toward the king's lover, Luna, who is jealous of Felicia for taking her love away due to her alleged ability to spin straw into gold. The book soon spirals into a confusing mess involving vampires, failed murder attempts, and corruption. Felicia stops being a relatable character by the end of the story after she becomes selfish and greedy as a result of being forced to spin gold and marry the king. One thing I do like is that it gives a larger role to her father, who had gotten her into this situation in the first place by boasting about her nonexistent magical ability. The love triangle she has with Rumpelstiltskin reminds me of Stalks of Gold by Celeste Baxendell, but I thought that was a better adaptation overall because it didn't try to bite off more than it could chew.

Cursed Beauty by Stacey O'Neale

This "Sleeping Beauty" adaptation reminds me of Dagger's Sleep by Tricia Mingerink. Both stories feature a female protagonist who is chosen by birthright to awaken a sleeping prince who she harbored no romantic feelings toward in order to restore her kingdom. The biggest difference is that the main character in this book, Aurora, is a blood witch, who falls in love with a werewolf and must wake a sleeping vampire to save her coven. The sheer amount of horror archetypes in the book feels like the author was trying to complete a checklist of every stereotypical paranormal romance character out there, which takes some enjoyment out of the story. It is certainly a unique take on the fairy tale, but not one of my favorites.

City of Gold and Glass by Amanda Marin

This is my favorite book among the five I am reviewing today. It is a completely original take on L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz that is full of heart and creativity. The opening chapter threw me off because I didn't understand how a grim reaper named Imogen could possibly be related to Dorothy. Then I realized that Dorothy is actually represented by a young man on the cusp of death named Evander. Imogen serves as his guide through the world of the afterlife, Aeturnum, and does her best to help him return to his sick mother and little sister on Earth. For a story about death, it is filled with a surprising amount of hope. Evander teaches Imogen what it means to be human, while she helps him navigate the trials and tribulations of the afterlife. They share a beautiful relationship that I thoroughly enjoyed watching unfold.

The Ruin of Snow by Lacy Sheridan

This is by far the worst retelling of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" I have ever read. If anything, it has more in common with "Marigo of the Forty Dragons" than Snow White thanks to its murderous protagonist who is supposed to be sympathetic. Neyva Morningspell is a witch who was born into a family of heartless killers. She has killed many times for her mother and does so again for selfish reasons at the beginning of the book. When she is unable to complete the ritual every which must perform to surrender their spirits to the witch goddess, she is forsaken by her witching family, similar to Sabrina in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. She finds a group of seven friends who are cursed to turn into different animals at night and agrees to help them lift the curse in exchange for shelter from her vengeful family. What follows is a series of murders, morally questionable decisions, and LGBT romance. I had to force myself to get to the end of this book because it was quite long, and I didn't care about Neyva at all even though I knew she was trying to become a better person.

Scarlet and Shadow by May Dawson

At least this one was short. This retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" feels like a G-rated porno between a female hunter and a werewolf. It has vibes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith with the hunter and the hunted playing off each other's violent urges toward each other as sexual tension. Soon, they are forced to work together when Scarlet's friends betray her, and she and Shadow are placed a situation where they have to pretend to be lovers for their own survival. Are they just really pretending, though?
Click here for the next set of reviews!
I have always dreamed of being a writer and creating the next great fairy tale princess heroine. Princesses inspire us to be our best selves. While you're here, feel free to follow my page on Facebook, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and check out my books. I'm also on Instagram and Twitter.

Would you like to contribute to The Princess Blog? Become a patron, and you could pick the topic for my next post!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Princess Fashion

Image
I've been seeing several viral posts recently about historical fashion lately. One was  a gallery of women's fashion every year from 1784 to 1970 , and another was a video re-enactment of how women got dressed in the 18th century . These got me thinking about some of my favorite princess fashions. Though princesses are not known to be  historically accurate , their fashions drew inspiration from many different places, and history is one of them. If you take a look at the way fashion has evolved over time, you can get an idea of which parts inspired the princess movies and which parts were altered. Something that surprised me in the re-enactment was how many pieces were assembled on a woman to give the appearance of a single dress. Today, most dresses are a single piece, but historically, gowns consisted of a corset bodice and a large skirt with a crinoline underneath. This was something I also noticed about Disney's  theme park princesses . Though they look like one dr
Read more

One Hundred Princesses for My 100th Post

Image
Today is a major accomplishment for me. I started this blog 100 days ago, and I've managed to write a new post in it every day since then. Some of the topics were easier to come up with than others. I also had to go back and edit some after the fact due to poor proofreading. Speaking of which, I'm really sorry about the disastrous short story from my first Story Saturday post . The whole thing was written on my phone on the way to a Mermaid Art Show event in San Diego, so I was a little distracted. I promise to put more effort into future Story Saturdays, which should be easier now that I will no longer be writing new posts every day. Don't worry, though. I will still keep everyone informed of the latest princess news and review all the new princess movies and specials. Without further ado, in celebration of my 100th post, here is a list of 100 princesses with all of the posts I've made about them (in no particular order). Thank you so much for reading my blog. 1-11:
Read more

What It Means To Be a Disney Princess in the 2020s

Image
The first post I wrote in this blog was called "How the Disney Princesses Stayed Modern for 80 Years."  The answer was a combination of creating new princesses to match the times along with branded promotional videos, events, and merchandise that combine the old with the new. The latest example is this year's Ultimate Princess Celebration , which is an attempt to celebrate all of the Disney Princesses, including ones that may feel outdated by today's standards, by releasing imagery that makes it look like they're all friends. This is a wonderful method of keeping some of my favorite childhood characters relevant , but it is also a shield used to cover up a darker truth that many of these characters would not be deemed acceptable by today's standards. We have reached a point in Hollywood in which traditional feminine traits are considered weak or problematic . As such, characters like Raya  are considered the only acceptable way to portray a woman in the medi
Read more

Review: Time Princess - House of Horrors

Image
The latest visual novel in Time Princess is called House of Horrors, which sounds more like a horror movie than the fairy tales and historical novels that first attracted me to the game. In fact, it has been nearly four months since Time Princess released a story about actual royalty with Cleopatra , and the teaser for their next one is set in modern times. While House of Horrors may not have been what I was hoping for, I didn't find it as scary as the title would imply. The story is very linear and unveils an intriguing mystery piece by piece with beautiful Victorian-inspired gothic clothing. I think it came out a little too soon after Ghost Manor  to feel fresh and new, but the mystery aspect made it worth a quick playthrough. House of Horrors is one of few recent visual novels in Time Princess that acknowledges the enchanted storybook the protagonist enters to receive the memories of each character she inhabits. It is relevant here because when she wakes up, she finds that s
Read more

Review: Mermaid Magic

Image
It's been a bit of a wait, but Rainbow SpA  has delivered on their promise of an original animated mermaid show ! From the creators of Winx Club ,  Mermaid Magic  premiered on Netflix a few days ago with ten fun-filled episodes. Although the show didn't have quite as much underwater content as I was hoping for, it's a solid new Magical Girl series with beautiful animation and a female-empowering plot. I was thrilled to dive into the world of Merlinda, Sasha, and Nerissa and learn about their incredible powers on their journey to save Mertropia (originally called Mertropolis) pirates, witches, and toxic waste. The first season ended on a satisfying note with the potential for new adventures in future seasons. Merlinda is the sheltered princess of Mertropia who leaps into action when she overhears a conversation about her father using up his life force to protect the kingdom. If she can travel to the dangerous surface world through a magic portal and recover five Neptune Pea
Read more

The Burning Question: Is Mulan a Princess?

Image
Mulan  is a wonderful animated  feature that was released by Disney in 1998 . Showcasing a young woman who broke tradition by disguising herself as a male soldier and saved all of China in the process, it is, in my opinion, one of the most empowering films for girls on the market. Yet, with my reputation as a self-proclaimed princess expert, there is one burning question that people are always asking me: "Is Mulan a princess?" She was not born to a king or queen, nor did she marry a prince, so why is her visage so often plastered alongside the other royal heroines ? The short answer is that she's not a princess, but she is a Disney Princess. Why aren't the two mutually exclusive? The answer to that is a bit more complicated. When the Disney Princess line was launched in 2001 , it initially focused on the main six--Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine. However, since Jasmine was the only heroine of color in the line, it expanded shortly therea
Read more

Review: The Spanish Princess/White Queen Trilogy

Image
Yesterday, the Starz network  released the series finale of The Spanish Princess , concluding  The White Queen  trilogy of miniseries that began in 2013. Based on a book series called The Cousins' War  by Phillippa Gregory , the trilogy covers the women who stood behind the men in power in the English monarchy from 1464 to the 1530s, preceding the first two sovereign queens, Mary and Elizabeth. The White Queen , The White Princess , and The Spanish Princess  grant us a rare opportunity to see what life was like for medieval monarchs. Watching them reminded me of why I prefer the fairy tale versions of royalty. Those stories do not contain the gory deaths, gruesome births, and invasive politics that historical dramatizations like these exemplify. In fact, I had very little interest in watching the second season of The Spanish Princess until I watched some historical videos and learned that the king that Catherine of Aragon was married to was none other than King Henry VIII, who was
Read more

Review: Unicorn Academy (Netflix)

Image
As soon as I saw the previews for Netflix's new animated series, Unicorn Academy , I couldn't get over how similar it looked to Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders . Teenagers forming magical bonds with unicorns to save the world from evil? Yes, please! With a Jewel Riders graphic novel on the horizon, this is the perfect time to revisit that premise. Unicorn Academy is loosely based on a book series of the same name  that got picked up by Netflix and recently aired its first season. The premiere movie and successive eight episodes follow six unicorns and their riders on their quest to protect the magical realm from the evil Ravenzella, who performed reprehensible acts to previous generations, including the father of the main character, Sophia. The show contains a lot of teen angst and drama as well as rainbows, sparkles, and magic. Although Unicorn Academy features an entire school full of unicorn riders training to be protectors, it only focuses on the six students liv
Read more

Review: Time Princess - Alice: Ideal Wonderland

Image
The Time Princess app  recently added a new type of visual novel that has gotten a lot of pushback from players. Traveler's Notes stories are quite possibly the most unanimously disliked new feature in the game. These stories contain fewer clothing items and no companion relics, which have enhanced the player experience in Time Princess since it began. Although I played the first Traveler's Notes visual novel, I didn't bother writing about it because there was nothing in it that piqued my interest. The new one, Alice: Ideal Wonderland, is inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland , a story that is often considered a fairy tale and sometimes even a Disney Princess  story. Although it isn't one of my favorite fairy tales, the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland series  that it inspired in 2013 is one of my favorite television shows of all time. There are so many different ways to interpret this story that there's usually something in it for everyone. Like many A
Read more

Disney's Descendants Makes Even Less Sense Thanks to The Rise of Red!

Image
I have never been a fan of the Descendants franchise , which was originally created by Disney to take down Mattel's semi-successful Ever After High line of dolls, books , and webisodes. It succeeded in this endeavor thanks to  Disney brand recognition  despite being an inferior product. Coming out nearly a decade after the original , we have a fourth Descendants movie entitled The Rise of Red . This movie introduces a new generation of fairy tale offspring with countless changes to the classic stories, most of which are for the worse. Its only redeeming factor was a heartfelt tribute to Cameron Boyce , who played the son of Cruella de Vil in the original films. The Descendants franchise had very little working in its favor from the start, but it at least had a leg up over The School for Good and Evil  by basing the backstories of the Disney characters on their films instead of superimposing an artificial school setting where they learned to be heroes and villains. This film retcon
Read more