I was a little bit skeptical about this book when it was first released. It all goes back to my dislike of short stories – I like stories with a lot of character development, and I don’t always get enough of that in short stories. I have to admit that I was also a little bit worried that I wouldn’t enjoy this as much as I loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. But, after reading so many good reviews, I couldn’t pass up on it.

The short stories included in this book are all fairy tales – whether retold or original. Some of them include characters from Jonathan Strange (including Jonathan Strange and the Raven King), but most of them deal with completely new characters. My favourites in the collection were ‘The Ladies of Grace Adieu,’ ‘Mrs Mabb’ and ‘John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner.’ In each of these stories, those who are considered to be “weaker” of all the characters are the protagonists of the stories. In ‘The Ladies of Grace Adieu,’ it is mentioned a few times how it is public opinion that there are no female magicians – yet these three women do practice magic. In ‘Mrs Mabb,’ an ordinary girl ends up outsmarting a fairy and rescuing her lover. ‘John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner’ tells the story of how the Raven King was got the better of by a not-so-smart peasant who asks for help from various deities.

The story I liked least was ‘Mr Simonelli of The Fairy Widower.’ As far as I can tell, the only reason I didn’t enjoy it as much as the others was because it was written like a journal, and I find that it is rare that I really enjoy stories and books written in that format.

One of the things I liked about this book was how each story had such a different voice. They didn’t feel like they were all written by the same person, and have reminded me of how talented Clarke is. Speaking of how talented and wonderful Clarke is, the first two paragraphs of the first short story (‘The Ladies of Grace Adieu’) had me hooked immediately:

Above all remember this: that magic belongs as much to the heart as to the head and everything which is done, should be done from love or joy or righteous anger.
And if we honour this principle we shall discover that our magic is much greater than all the sum of all the spells that were ever taught. Then magic is to us as flight is to birds, because then our magic comes from the dark and dreaming heart, just as the flight of a bird comes from the heart. And we will feel the same joy in performing that magic that the bird feels as it casts itself into the void and we will know that magic is part of what a man is, just as flight is part of what a bird is.

Something else that made the book enjoyable was the illustrations. The book was illustrated by Charles Vess, and they definitely evoke a feeling of the magical in them.

Lastly, a cool random bit about reading this book: I learned a little bit of info about my favourite font. There was a blurb in the back of the book along with the “A Note on the Author” and “A Note on the Illustrator” blurbs – “A Note on the Font”. Yay for Caslon. ;) *cough*YesI’mAGraphicDesignGeek*cough*