Skip to the content Skip to the main menu
MuggleNet Book Trolley
  • Home
  • Book Reviews
  • Blog Tour
  • Giveaways
  • Interviews
  • MuggleNet
  • Bookshop.org Shop
  • Amazon Shop

Ask Madam Pince

Recent Posts

  • Book Review: “All the Hidden Monsters” by Amie Jordan May 9, 2025
  • Book Review: “The Last One” by Rachel Howzell Hall December 5, 2024
  • Author Interview: Randy Ribay, Author of “The Reckoning of Roku” July 23, 2024
  • Book Review: “The Reckoning of Roku” (“Chronicles of the Avatar” #5) by Randy Ribay July 23, 2024
  • Book Review: “We Shall Be Monsters” by Tara Sim June 29, 2024
  • Book Review: “The Cursed Rose” (“The Bone Spindle” #3) by Leslie Vedder February 6, 2024
  • Book Review: “Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth” by Natalie Haynes January 8, 2024
  • Book Review: “The Blood Years” by Elana K. Arnold November 17, 2023
  • Book Review: “Check & Mate” by Ali Hazelwood November 7, 2023
  • Series Review: “Catwings” by Ursula K. Le Guin, Illustrated by S.D. Schindler October 24, 2023
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Bookshop.org Shop
  • Amazon Shop
  • Home
  • Book Reviews
  • Blog Tour
  • Giveaways
  • Interviews
  • MuggleNet
  • Bookshop.org Shop
  • Amazon Shop

Ask Madam Pince

Recent Posts

  • Book Review: “All the Hidden Monsters” by Amie Jordan May 9, 2025
  • Book Review: “The Last One” by Rachel Howzell Hall December 5, 2024
  • Author Interview: Randy Ribay, Author of “The Reckoning of Roku” July 23, 2024
  • Book Review: “The Reckoning of Roku” (“Chronicles of the Avatar” #5) by Randy Ribay July 23, 2024
  • Book Review: “We Shall Be Monsters” by Tara Sim June 29, 2024
  • Book Review: “The Cursed Rose” (“The Bone Spindle” #3) by Leslie Vedder February 6, 2024
  • Book Review: “Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth” by Natalie Haynes January 8, 2024
  • Book Review: “The Blood Years” by Elana K. Arnold November 17, 2023
  • Book Review: “Check & Mate” by Ali Hazelwood November 7, 2023
  • Series Review: “Catwings” by Ursula K. Le Guin, Illustrated by S.D. Schindler October 24, 2023
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Bookshop.org Shop
  • Amazon Shop

Book Review: Book of Enchantments by Patricia C. Wrede

[button color=”black” size=”big” link=”http://affiliates.abebooks.com/c/99844/77798/2029?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fisbn%3D9780152055080″ target=”blank” ]Purchase here[/button]

This book includes an original story from the Enchanted Forest as well as 9 other short stories from every stage of Wrede’s writing career, most of them previously published. The stories represent an entertaining mixture of styles, and the author’s note gives an intriguing explanation about how each was written. Lovers of fantasy and fairy tale, as well as aspiring young writers, really must read this book.

The first story is “Rikiki and the Wizard,” written for an anthology by various authors about a world called Liavek. It takes an irreverent, silly poke at stories about parents who try to get their daughters married off. In this story, the luckiest wizard in the world meets his undoing in a god who happens to be a blue chipmunk.

“The Princess, the Cat, and the Unicorn” is a slightly cracked fairy tale in which the unicorn is so full of its own beauty that the princess can’t stand it, and in which the only people who end up unhappy are those who take fairy tale conventions seriously.

“Roses by Moonlight” is a take-off on the famous “Parable of the Prodigal Son.” One twist is that the “sons” in this tale are daughters. Another twist comes when a mysterious woman offers young Adrian a choice of dreams-come-true.

“The Sixty-two Curses of Caliph Arenschadd” is an unusual combination of a werewolf story with an imitation “Tale from the Arabian Nights.” It is funny, scary, and wistful all at the same time.

“Earthwitch” is a somewhat purple, romantic story about a king who risks a terrible sacrifice to save his people from a ruthless enemy. Only both the destruction of the enemy and the resulting sacrifice take alarmingly unexpected forms.

“The Sword-Seller” was Wrede’s contribution to a Tales from the Witch Worldanthology. Here an honorable mercenary refuses to accept the gift of a strange, old sword from a strange, old sword-seller; this refusal has unexpected results when the mercenary gets caught up in a strange, old conflict between good and evil.

“The Lorelei” explains how a witch, whose singing used to lure boats to their doom along a rocky stretch of the Rhine, gets her jollies with a busload of rambunctious, American high-school students.

“Stronger Than Time” is a heartbreaking story that poses the question: what if the prince didn’t come to rescue the Sleeping Beauty?

“Cruel Sisters” explores the tragedy of a well-known folk song about one sister who killed another for the love of a man, through the point of view of the little-known third sister. It also leaves you wondering…did the murder really happen?

“Utensile Strength” revisits our old friends, Queen Cimorene and King Mendanbar of the Enchanted Forest. How do they find the warrior who is fit to wield the, er, Frying Pan of Doom? Why, by holding a bake-off, of course!

An added bonus is the winning recipe for “Quick After-Battle Triple Chocolate Cake,” helpfully transcribed from the original Barbarian, with added directions for using modern baking gear.

  • Post date
    February 3, 2006
  • Posted by
    Robbie
  • Posted in Book Reviews
Previous post: Book Review: Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce Next post: Book Review: Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies

Related Posts

Book review: “Going Postal” by Terry Pratchett

  • Post date
    January 1, 2013

Book Review: “The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea” by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

  • Post date
    May 7, 2020

Book Review: “Matilda Bone” by Karen Cushman

  • Post date
    January 1, 2013

Book Review: Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

  • Post date
    October 20, 2004

Theme by Anders Norén