Reading this book was like a journey back to my childhood...what a treat. When is the last time that you read a true fairy tale...for me, I just finished one yesterday. This collection has 2 tales that I'd read before...The Princess and the Frog and The Twelve Dancing Princesses. There are also 2 new tales...The Stolen Princess and The Hunting of the Hind. All four are just lovely reads and I enjoyed every page.

30 April 2020: $1.99 on Kindle

I’m just not a short stories girl. But everything by Robin is incredible.

This book contained four short stories. Two were retellings of classic fairy tales, and two were originals.

I have two general issues with this book.

First, I think the author's style of writing in this book is best described as self-indulgent. The lengthy and complex sentences were not improved by their length or complexity; this went beyond the descriptive pros style that works well in this type of storytelling. Typical lengthy paragraphs were made up of only two or three sentences. I frequently got lost in particular sentences. Consider the following example:

"And the soldier, as he bought himself meals and a hayloft to sleep in by doing small jobs for the people he met-- and he found, however slow the last twenty years had made him, that his hands and back still knew how to lift and heave a pitchfork, how to back a skittish horse to a plough or wagon-- he found in him also a strange and rootless desire to leave the mountains for the first time in his life, to descend to the lowlands and go at last to the King's city at the mouth of the river, and see the castle of the man for whom he had worked, nameless, all the years of his youth." Location 1603 of the ebook

While an occasional meandering sentence like this can have its place stylistically, for the majority of sentences in a book to be like this was extremely cumbersome.

Second, I felt as though in the original stories, the author was too vague or too mysterious, creating plot holes. The stories seemed to jump from one major event to another so quickly that I wondered if I had missed a page filling the gaps.

All things considered, I think the author's stories and retellings were creative, but could have been written in a way that more effectively told her stories.

I didn't like the first story, something that seems common among other reviewers. Too many things left unexplained or too or too convenient. The second one, The Hunt and The Hind, like the first, gave me the impression that I was missing critical pieces to a larger story. The other two stories were great. It looks like the first two stories were McKinley originals and the last two were retellings of The Princess and the Frog and the The Twelve Dancing Princesses. That surprises me that the two I didn't enjoy as much were Mckinley's because I usually like her work. I did like her twists on the retellings. Another one of her works down.

I was in the mood for something short and easy. I’m in the middle of two exceptionally long books and feeling restless. This fit the bill. This book includes four short stories — two original and two classics — that are straight out of the classic fairytale genre. I generally struggle staying engaged with short story collections. I breezed through this one easily though. Some days, some weeks, some years... just cry out for a spoonful of sugar. These fairytales are an elixir for the 2020/21 blues. This book provides rapid fire happy endings.

The Stolen Princess - 2 star, This reminded me of Stardust. There's no 'villain', therefore the characters seemed to have no agency.
The Princess and the Frog - 3 star, Quite interesting with likeable MCs, but felt too short and the final confrontation came too soon.
The Hunting of the Hind - 3 star, I liked that the neglected and underestimated princess got to save the day.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses - 5 star, The hero was a well-deserving dedicated ex-soldier.
First time: ebook version. Second time: audiobook version.

Robin McKinley is the queen of modern fairy tale writers, and "Door in the Hedge" is an impressive addition to her works. DITH is McKinley's second published work, after "Beauty", and contains four fairy tales -- two originals ("The Stolen Princess" and "The Hunting of the Hind"), and two traditional tales retold ("The Princess and the Frog" and "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"). As always, McKinley's use of language is flawless. Many recent retellings of fairy tales seem to bend over backwards to include modern language, as if looking for a hook for the reader. McKinley's uses her words as a paintbrush, so that the very vocabulary and sentence structure create the stories' atmosphere, as much as do her descriptions and narratives. The stories in DITH are lovely and compelling, and while the book is a quick read as a whole, the mood created lingers long after the stories end. Highly recommended for anyone new to the works of Robin McKinley, as well as anyone who loves well-written fantasy. Magical and unforgettable.

Beautifully, dreamily done - as all her books are. McKinley gets around not naming most of the characters in these short stories without the narratives getting confusing or the descriptors feeling boring/repetitive, which is a feat.

I think I prefer her novels to her short stories, because there wasn’t enough time for her to develop surprises in these short stories - which is totally fine for light, angst-free reading.

McKinley has a fine writing style, elegant. But to me, it was, well, fluffy. A lot of beautiful words strung together that made me want to shout, GET TO THE POINT ALREADY! The retelling of the Frog and the Princess was a highlight for me. Otherwise, the rest of it was just fine.

This book consists of four retellings of fairy tales. They follow the standard storylines, and are all told in a traditional fairy tale style. If you want a more modern, or subversive version, these are not the retellings for you. But they are lovely and lyrical and a tiny bit magical.

I especially liked "The Princess and the Frog" which is short, by surprisingly sweet and lovely.

Very traditional but also very lovely, would be a good summary of the book.

This is a collection of longish short stories, all with a fairy-tale feel.

The Stolen Princess - In the last mortal kingdom bordering the realm of the faeries, children go missing relatively often. When a princess is stolen, the balance begins to change between the two countries. This has a familiar setup, with a bit of a twist on the conclusion.

The Princess and the Frog - I liked this take on the princess, the jewels she drops, and the frog himself. It sets the tale in a more concrete kingdom, and brings in a seemingly unstoppable evil, and gives the princess more to do with the ending. It is a bit confusing, though, why the frog actually turns back into a human. It doesn't seem what happened would have been something to break a curse.

The Hunting of the Hind - This one also takes elements of several fairy tales and weaves them together. A golden hind which drives men mad has struck down the prince, who vowed to stop it from affecting his people, and his little sister steps up to save him.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses - This is probably the best-known fairy tale of the set, and there aren't any huge surprises here, except for the challenger being an old, retired soldier instead of a young and handsome prince. I liked this one best, because of the way the old soldier approaches life, and how he's not swayed by the young and beautiful in quite the same way as everyone else. He feels more sorry for the princesses than anything, and even wonders if they want to be saved from their enchantment.

As much as I like these (and I have read this set before, though I can't think if it's been more than once), I don't feel the same draw to them as some of the other books McKinley wrote. These are interesting stories with beautiful language, but they also leave me feeling like I'm done when I finish, rather than feeling like I want to go back and read them again.

Overall, though, it's a quick read, and worthwhile if you're at all a fan of fairy tales. I rate this book Recommended.

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