Briar Rose by Jane Yolen-- Review

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen is a retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty. It is a story of survival set in World War II poland. Becca has collected mementos from her jewish grandmothers death. There is very little known about her grandmother other than she came into the United States as a refugee. Her family even assumes that she came before World War II.

Becca receives a wooden chest as part of her inheritance. In it are some papers and a gold ring with a black stone. She goes to investigate her past. She finds that her grandmother came in with very little information other than that she came from Kulmhof.

Throughout the book at the beginning of each chapter there is a bit of the sleeping beauty tale. However, there are some slight changes. the wicked fairy wears black boots and two silver eagles on her hat, and the thorns around the castle are sharp as iron. It is an interesting effect.

Eventually, Becca makes it to Poland where she travels to different places and eventually meets up with a different kind of prince, a prince who escaped Sachhausen and joined the partisans. He tells a tale of how her grandmother was saved by him during World War II and eventually escaped using his identity papers to get to America.

This is a different kind of novel. It mixes history with a fairytale to speak about and uncover thoughts that are hard to express in any medium. The story is quite interesting. We keep this book in the young adult section in our library. There is some fairly dark material in this book which is tastefully written about. This book is a Mythopoeic award winner. It is the third book which I have read from the Mythopoeic award winners list. It is very high quality myth fantasy.

The end of the book includes a list of recommended for lovers of high quality fairytales.

The Book of Ballads-- Charles Vess Illustrator with Neil Gaiman, Charles De Lint, Jane Yolen, Jeff Smith, Emma Bull, Sharyn McCrumb, and Others

Arthur Rackham illustration for the Twa Corbies.

The Book of Ballads , Charles Vess Illustrator, with Neil Gaiman, Charles De Lint, Jane Yolen, Jeff Smith, Emma Bull, Sharyn McCrumb and others is a collection of ballads translated into graphic stories. First the ballad is illustrated in comic book form, then it is written out as a poem. The ballads are of English, Irish, and Scottish origin and have a wonderful fanciful quality to them.

All of the illustrations are by Charles Vess. Vess has a beautiful black and white illustrative style. The style reminds me of a cross between P. Craig Russell and Hal Foster. There are hints of Virgil Finlay in the use of light and dark, and Aubrey Beardsley in the use of lines and some of the sensuality of the images. Charles Vess runs Greenman Press http://www.greenmanpress.com/

The book is a real delight to look at. Each ballad is scripted differently by each writer. There are 13 ballads. I will list them. The False Knight on the Road by Neil Gaiman, King Henry by Jane Yolen, Thomas the Rhymer by Sharyn McCrumb, Barbara Allen by Midori Snyder, The Three Lovers by Lee Smith, Tam Lin by Elaine Lee, The Daemon Lover by Delia Sherman, Two Corbies by Charles De Lint, Sovay by Charles De Lint, The Galtee Farmer by Jeff Smith, Alison Gross by Charles Vess, The Black Fox by Emma Bull, and The Great Selchie of Sule Kerry by Jane Yolen.

The contributors are some of the finest fantasy writers of myth fantasy around. Most of them take traditional myths and legends and translate them into fantasy novels.

I especially liked three of them. Thomas the Rhymer travels to Elfland with their queen where for seven years he remains silent and serves her in exchange for the gift of truth and site. He can predict the truth of what will happen to people.

Tam Lin is told differently than the other tales. It consists of one page of dialogue translated into modern english juxtaposed next to a single picture on the next page. It is quite striking to look at.

The Great Selchie of Sole Kerry by Jane Yolen is a classic fairy story of what happens when a mortal woman lays down with with a fae creature. It is tragic both for her husband son.

All of the stories have an air of magic, revenge, or trickery about them. Many are about fairy creatures and places. The ballads content is often bloodier, trickier, and more beautiful than many modern fantasy novels.

This graphic collection is an excellent read if you are interested in myth fantasy, folklore, legends, or fairytales. It will introduce you to a number of authors who write in these genres. It might not quite fit with people who like regular tales of sword and sorcery.