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A review by shorshewitch
Carthick's Unfairy Tales by T.F. Carthick
4.0
'I have always found men more fascinating than mice'.... Thus starts Carthick's first Unfairy Tale, "Of Mice and Horses".
Moving far away from the age-old clichés, Carthick's Unfairy Tales present a fresh, alternate and intriguing take on 7 different fairy tales - Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Goldilocks, The Pied Piper, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the beanstalk and Rumplestiltskin.
The titles of the seven stories are inspired by titles of classic books. The author's ability to be lucid and philosophical at the same time is worth a mention here. There are many musings in there, there is a whole lot of satire, the humor is well placed and top notch, the writing is fluid and it absolutely doesn't feel like this is the first book of the author. He has mastered the craft quite thoroughly and his punches are so brilliantly put. I love straight-faced humor. I love humor which doesn't belittle. Satire is a weapon of the powerless. Like Terry Pratchett says
"Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it's not satire, it's bullying."
The author, in this case, has mocked his way through topics like misogyny/patriarchy, hunger, greed, human race and on his way has also philosophized about life and its workings.
The stories are told through several POVs including a rat, a city, hunger, a magician, a hobgoblin and a princess who is manipulated into kissing a frog. My personal favorites are forever going to remain the first two. The spunk of one princess and the naive selfishness of the other - these were such tantalizing plots. The princesses are not miss goody two shoes in these unfairy tales and the princes are not always kind-hearted and charming. All the stories reflect the fact that 'happily forever' is an absurd idea and that 'happily forever' is not happily forever for everyone in the story.
"The effects of substances were always easy to cure - it is the effects of ideologies that present serious difficulties."
Some quotes are extremely profound like the above and this:
"This was not one of those stories where everyone starts to live happily ever after. That privilege is reserved only for the princes and princesses. The rest of us are just mice, who carry on with their miserable lives."
And then this, the princess says -
"Knight in shining armor? Him? Isn't father getting the whole concept wrong? If anyone's been a knight in shining armor here, it was me!"
I loved the book. It never went overboard once. Like I said it is very hard to believe that this was the author's first writing stint. I am also heartily hoping that there is going to be a part two soonest. The author has immense imagination and the love for what he does shows clearly through what he writes.
Moving far away from the age-old clichés, Carthick's Unfairy Tales present a fresh, alternate and intriguing take on 7 different fairy tales - Cinderella, The Frog Prince, Goldilocks, The Pied Piper, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the beanstalk and Rumplestiltskin.
The titles of the seven stories are inspired by titles of classic books. The author's ability to be lucid and philosophical at the same time is worth a mention here. There are many musings in there, there is a whole lot of satire, the humor is well placed and top notch, the writing is fluid and it absolutely doesn't feel like this is the first book of the author. He has mastered the craft quite thoroughly and his punches are so brilliantly put. I love straight-faced humor. I love humor which doesn't belittle. Satire is a weapon of the powerless. Like Terry Pratchett says
"Satire is meant to ridicule power. If you are laughing at people who are hurting, it's not satire, it's bullying."
The author, in this case, has mocked his way through topics like misogyny/patriarchy, hunger, greed, human race and on his way has also philosophized about life and its workings.
The stories are told through several POVs including a rat, a city, hunger, a magician, a hobgoblin and a princess who is manipulated into kissing a frog. My personal favorites are forever going to remain the first two. The spunk of one princess and the naive selfishness of the other - these were such tantalizing plots. The princesses are not miss goody two shoes in these unfairy tales and the princes are not always kind-hearted and charming. All the stories reflect the fact that 'happily forever' is an absurd idea and that 'happily forever' is not happily forever for everyone in the story.
"The effects of substances were always easy to cure - it is the effects of ideologies that present serious difficulties."
Some quotes are extremely profound like the above and this:
"This was not one of those stories where everyone starts to live happily ever after. That privilege is reserved only for the princes and princesses. The rest of us are just mice, who carry on with their miserable lives."
And then this, the princess says -
"Knight in shining armor? Him? Isn't father getting the whole concept wrong? If anyone's been a knight in shining armor here, it was me!"
I loved the book. It never went overboard once. Like I said it is very hard to believe that this was the author's first writing stint. I am also heartily hoping that there is going to be a part two soonest. The author has immense imagination and the love for what he does shows clearly through what he writes.