The Snow Song by Sally Gardner

The Snow Song by Sally Gardner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 384

Publisher - HQ Stories

Source - Gave to by a fellow blogger

Blurb from Goodreads

Women imprisoned by superstition, chained by guilt.

Perched on a mountain in a land of ancient forests is a village, rife with secrets. Cut off from the outside world it is run by the elders, men to whom tradition is all.

Edith lives alone with her alcoholic father who is forcing her to marry the village butcher. But she is in love with a shepherd who promised to return to her.

As the village becomes isolated in a sea of snow, Edith loses her power of speech. And it is this enchantment that will have far-reaching consequences, not only for Edith but for the whole village.


My Review

A cult like village, men are the be all and end all, money, fear and power rule the town. When Edith meets the love of her life, an outsider Shepherd she is willing to risk it all. An agreement is made, if he returns she can marry him, if he doesn't she WILL marry the power wielding cruel older butcher as promised by her alcoholic dad. As the small village is cut off and snowed in, Edith is forced to follow tradition, that which is expected of her. She loses her voice as her enforced wedding day looms and it seems everyone is hell bent on tradition and what it demands rather than Edith or what is right.

Guys, I haven't read a book quite like this, it has stories from "gypsy" traveller folk tales, told by the Shepherd or Edith as she heard them from her elder female relative. Some of the stories within the book itself have very fairytale style vibes. We have horrific abusive male characters that will enrage you by the way they treat and think of women. I did like how none of them had names but rather labelled by their professions. The female characters also provoke angry responses too and I would have liked to have slapped and shook some but we also see some personal growth, some!

The book is thought provoking, enchanting at times, dare I say almost magical at some points, not like Harry Potter type but more the stuff in fairytales, evil, good, shady questionable humans and their behaviours. How a strong female can make such a change/impact but also the old saying it takes a village to raise a child well this village shows just how bad things can be/accepted hence the almost cult like reference. Women subservient to males, except the Shepherd, he is such a nice and good soul, women being treated badly, used even by their so called loved ones, actions and consequences, it is a mixed bag. I think some people could take it to a really deep level, I was absorbed by it and a bit of rollercoaster of emotions, 4/5.

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The Silvermoon Storybook by Elaine Gunn

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Silvermoon by Elaine Gunn, this is a #LoveBooksGroupTours.




About the author




Elaine Gunn has been writing more or less constantly since she first picked up a pencil in primary school. Years of unpublished literary genius languish in handwritten journals, high school English portfolios, corporate banking reports and various awful pitch documents full of impeccably-written digital marketing jargon. Her first published work, The Silver Moon Storybook, is a collection of feminist fairy tales, written as an antidote to the passive princess culture that she became horribly aware of when her children started watching telly. Elaine is also a reiki practitioner and Dr. Hauschka esthetician; you can check out her website at http://somethinglovely.scot.

Twitter

About the book

What darkness lies in the past of a little witch, cursed into the shape of a giant? Who will save a magical unicorn, imprisoned for generations in the castle of a tyrant? As the silver moon rises in the sky, an enormous clown and a powerful siren join a humble weaver and other enchanting characters in these haunting tales of illusion, discovery and love. An exquisitely illustrated bedtime story for the age of #MeToo, The Silver Moon Storybook transforms themes of modern feminism into touching fables full of the magic and shadows of traditional fairy tales.

Buy link HERE

For my stop I have my review.

The Silver Moon Storybook by Elaine Gunn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 221

Publisher - Indy

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

The Silver Moon Storybook is Elaine's first published work, a collection of modern fairy tales that weaves contemporary, progressive values and messages into seven magical stories.


What darkness lies in the past of a little witch, cursed into the shape of a giant?



As the silver moon rises, who will save a magical unicorn, imprisoned in the castle of a tyrant, or befriend an enormous clown who roams the world alone? Can a humble weaver find the courage to face a terrible monster? And what will be the fate of a powerful mermaid, at war with the world above her ocean? Join them and other enchanting characters in these haunting tales of illusion, discovery and love.



An exquisitely illustrated bedtime story for young readers (and perhaps some not so young), The Silver Moon Storybook weaves progressive and modern themes into touching fables full of the magic and shadows of traditional fairy tales.


My Review

A collection of short stories, seven in total. The Little Witch, The Weaver, The Enormous Clown, The Changeling, The unicorn, The Strong Man and The Sea Queen. I am not going to break down each story as the risk of spoilers would be too high. However each offers something that can be enjoyed by young adults and adults alike.

Protection, self preservation, friendship, love, bravery, morality, greed, selfishness, corruption, strength and life lessons wrapped in magical tales without preachy overtones. The stories reminded me of old school fairy tales with a more modern fresh feel but still encapsulating the magic we grew up with.

The writing itself wraps around you and pulls you into the pages, enveloping you in the magic and vesting in the characters. I think this is testament to the authors writing abilities as I am not a huge fan of short stories because I generally find you are just getting into it and the story ends. With these I slipped into the stories with ease and didn't feel short changed or left hanging which sadly I get when reading short stories which is why I normally avoid them.

Some of the stories have a wee bit of cross over which is a cute we touch, Master King does this with his books which are lengthy. A bit harder to do with short stories but Gunn managed it. I would love to hear more about these characters and see a book two of tales, this book is going to be a keeper for me. The cover is beautiful, a deep blue with silver which pops the design and writing, it looks good in the photo, far more beautiful in your hands. Then there are the illustrations!



Throughout the book there are illustrations that you can colour in or if like me you don't want to mark your pristine copy, the author has added some to her website you can download/print to colour in. They go with the stories and every second page has at least one. A fantastic wee book and many thanks to Kelly of LoveBooksGroup for bringing it to my attention. You can check out the authors website and see the downloadable colouring illustrations at http://somethinglovely.scot. oh and the last few pages of the book, well the version I have, is lined paper for my notes which is a nice wee add on, 4.5/5 for me this time.

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