Second Hand Curses

by Drew Hayes

When your fairy godmother threatens to enslave you with a curse - when a malevolent piper solves your rat problem but steals your children - when you seek revenge on the prince who turned you into a frog - who can you turn to in your hour of need? The band of scoundrels known far and wide as the Bastard Champions - the swashbuckling trio who travel a world of legend, seeking adventure and righting wrongs - as long as there's enough gold to be earned. They are Jack, the seemingly unkillable leader whose ever-present grin belies a dark past; Marie, who fights with fury but battles more fiercely to control the beast within; and Frank, the master of logistics, whose cloak hides horrific scars that are far more than skin-deep. As they slash and scheme through kingdom and village alike, the Bastard Champions uncover tantalizing clues to their ultimate the powerful Blue Fairy, who has made each of their lives a living hell. Second Hand Curses adds a dash of sly wit and a heaping portion of action to the fairy tales you thought you knew.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Fiction, Humor, Magic, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fairy Tales

204 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2017

Reviews

[Gergana]

This is it, guys! THIS is the future of audiobooks! Absolutely brilliant voice acting, different narrators for each of the main cast, wonderful jo~ oh, wait...I'm supposed to talk about the book as well.

Second Hand Curses is.... entertaining, hilarious, action-packed, dark and, although I've seen novels using fairytale characters before, this one is so well-thought-out that it definitely stands out! Nevertheless, it wasn't enough for me to give it a 5-star rating, but I would definitely give it around 4.

PROS include the:
-Awesome setting (imagine a mix between the fairytale stories and a dark fantasy world, like The Witcher or something) all fairytale heroes and villains come alive, from Cinderella to the Frankenstein monster, and it's up to our heroes to solve mysteries, kill witches, save children from evil pipers and help damsels in distress (all for the fair price, of course).
-Three compelling, mysterious protagonists whose juicy past is slowly revealed as you go on. It's great to see three people who are so different from each other manage to work together.
-AUDIOBOOK - IT'S SO GOOD!!!
-The Main deity is called The Narrator

CONS...maybe?:
-Structure - Each chapter, for the most part, focuses on one fairy tale story and how our heroes resolve the problem in it. The result is, although we learn a lot about the world, it takes a long time until we find out more about the main characters and relate to them.
-Rushed ending

CONCLUSION
I can't believe that something as childish and innocent as fairy tales could be turn into a dark fantasy adventure with a great world-building and interesting twists to the classic stories, but Second Hand Curses is a pretty good attempt.
Is it one of the most amazing books I've ever read - far from it. But for what it's worth, it's entertaining and worth checking out the sequel.
Would I recommend to a friend? Hmmm...if you're an audiobook fanatic like me, then yes. Otherwise, I would recommend checking out more reviews ;)

Happy Reading!

[Lucy Dosch (EBookObsessed) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved everything about this Second Hand Curses: the characters, the story twists, the way the story unfolded, the narration. It was creative and entertaining, and I hope there will be more to come.

This story was a treat to find. I am a fan of author Drew Hayes and I follow him on Twitter and on Goodreads so I was quite surprised to see Second Hand Curses come up on my Audible recommendations. I hadn’t heard anything about this Audible Original story, and I am so glad I didn’t miss it.

Let me tell you about all the great things about Second Hand Curses. The twisted fairy tales follows the trio known as The Bastard Champions: Marie, Frank and Jack. I am going to tell you as little as I can about them since part of the fun is uncovering exactly who they are in this world of fairy tale fiction. But I shall tell you that they are a considered “cursed monsters” but have learned to use their curses to help others for the right cost. They consider themselves scoundrels and live by few rules but they are loyal to each other and never turn on a client once they take on a job.

These Bastard Champions are on a quest to kill the Blue Fairy. All fairies known by a color are dastardly and untrustworthy. Actually all fairies are evil but the ones named for colors are the worst and the Blue Fairy needs to be taken down. Marie, Frank and Jack know that the Blue Fairy might be too powerful for them, but they aren’t deterred, even after they come to realize that the Blue Fairy has been laying a trail for them to follow and begin to fear they are walking right into a trap.

Along the way, they can be hired to help, for the right amount of gold. You didn’t read the fine print and after helping win the Prince’s heart, your Fairy Godmother is now coming to collect an unbelieveable price; call the Bastard Champions. A swindler with a pipe wants you to pay the an exorbitant price for rat removal and makes off with the town’s children; The Bastard Champions can help. You kiss a frog who promised to be a handsome prince and now you at stuck sitting on a lily pad; who you gonna call? That’s right, The Bastard Champions.

All the little vignettes are creative twists on your standard fairy tales and make great stories of dastardly deeds that require the help of the Bastard Champions. There are additional stories blended in where we learn more background of Marie, Frank and Jack and which are part of their quest to kill the Blue Fairy. And it isn’t fate which controls this world, it is The Narration. There are points in the story where our main characters are aware that things have lined up a little too conveniently and that The Narration must be at work.

The overview of the story given in a narrative while the individual characters are each voiced by a different narrator which brings a nice dimension to the story. For example, Marie was narrated by Tavia Gilbert through the entire story and this was much better than in the audiobook version of Six of Crows where each character’s chapter was done by a different narrator who gave a different voices to the separate characters.

I know that not all of your are fans of audiobooks, but this is an Audible Original and therfore, only available as an audiobook. If you have hestitated to give audiobooks a try, this is a great choice since it was a great presentation of a very clever and entertaining story.

I would HIGHLY recommend you give Drew Hayes and Second Hand Curses a try.

[Anna lost in stories *A* · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly the kind of story I love :) a fantasy book with dark twists on familiar stories, in here we follow three main characters who form a group of Bastard Champions and are going around different places taking on weird and dangerous jobs… throughout the book we slowly learn a bit more about each of them but be prepared that not all of your questions will be answered… it’s a great adventure and some of you might prefer a bit more of closure at the end, but I adored it to pieces… it was fast paced and action packed with some great humor :) we have complex and morally grey characters and even though there is not a lot of world building, it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the story :) the audiobook was phenomenal and I highly recommend this gem for all :)

XOXO

A

[Kater Cheek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Swashbuckling adventures that are lighthearted and funny with a nod to classical fairy tales. Gosh, how I wanted to like this audiobook. Audible is pushing its own creations pretty hard, and they feel a little like Netflix, where they first ask "what do people want" and then find someone to write something to fill the niche. This should have been my thing. They put a lot of effort into it. There are several different narrators doing the voices, and I liked all of them except when the female narrator did the super-high pitched voice (which many men find incredibly sexy but which I just find irritating.) I should have liked it. I just finished a swashbuckling fantasy heist novel last month, and I've read a huge number of fairy-tale based stories. And yet, when all is said and done, it only totaled up to "it was okay." Good enough to finish, but just barely.

Since I didn't like the book very much, I've thought very hard about what didn't work for me. The book is arranged in chapters, most of which are each their own story. The first chapter is the team trying to help Cinderella get out of the agreement in which she's beholden to be a slave to the Fairy who gave her all the magic to go to the ball and fall in love with the prince. By the terms of the contract, as soon as the prince finds her, Cinderella's contract will be completed and she'll be whisked away to a life of eternal servitude. Since the protagonists of this book are scoundrels rather than heroes, they don't mind that they're essentially helping Cinderella renege on a contract. Also, they all hate fairies. This is a great premise, though I remember hoping that the Cinderella thing was a one-off and that the author would not mine public domain work for all the inspiration.

Alas, it was not to be. Every single character in this book is inspired by (ie. ripped off from) public domain work. Using a common story can be done well (see: Gregory Maguire) and even using someone else's characters can be done well (see: Jean Rhys) but it's thin ice. When it's done well, the author enriches a beloved story and makes it deeper, adding missing backstory and complexity of character. When it's not done well, the author basically rips off public domain work out of laziness, to avoid having to create new characters or come up with something original and sell it to readers. It's like the difference between a well-crafted historical fiction and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. It's forgivable if it's funny.

This book isn't funny. I don't know if it was trying for humor, but if it was, it missed it. Yes, they are scoundrels, but they sure do murder a lot of people without a shred of remorse. The scene where little red riding hood shows up and it turns out she and Jack are old sparring partners was clearly trying for humor, but it just seemed like a rip off of a scene which wasn't plausible the first time I saw it as a child in a badly done adventure movie. Most of the people the scoundrels murder are faceless and nameless guards, but even that had its own problem, which I'll get into later. At one point, the guy who is supposedly the one with the kindest heart tortures a guy by slowly cutting off his leg with a saw. I get that swashbuckling scoundrels kill people when they live in a harsh and bloody world, but torture is not cool bro, not cool. Even if it's done to save children, it's still a step too far. Because this is a magical world. If you can have a dead guy who is seeing out of a dragon eye, you can invent a truth potion.

Most of the worldbuilding is nonexistent. The few details that aren't ripped straight from well-known children's stories are generic McFantasy land. It reminded me of watching a fantasy-themed television show or movie from the 90's, and not a comparatively good one like Willow, but one where you only forgive the fact that the producers didn't have a budget for extras because there wasn't anything better. There's not much complexity. There are villages and castles, dark forests and ... I think that's it. I think the only element I hadn't seen before was a museum for tourists within the shoemaker's house that talks about how he made his fortune (omitting the help the elves did.) That was kind of cool, though the fact that there were tourists made the world feel even more Disney and less real-world. McFantasy land is familiar and comfortable, but I've spent a lot of time there, and when I read (or listen to) a fantasy, I'm hoping for a little original spin.

One of the few truly original ideas in this audiobook was the concept of "the Narrative." This is like a hand of god that tips the story into favor of those who deserve it. For example, when a girl is kidnapped by a witch and manages to escape, taking some gold with her, she's the good guy. When the townspeople, motivated by greed, go to rob from the witch, the narrative works against them because they're in the wrong. The magic of "the Narrative" makes it so that if a person is royal (and so many of them are) everyone else is pretty much beholden to help them. If a person is a king or a prince, only a knight or other royal can kill them. You can't kill fairies without a super magic weapon, and only a knight or royal can wield a super magic weapon. As scoundrels, the protagonists fall between the cracks. They can't do some of the things the narrative's typical good guys can do, but they also aren't held by the same laws. I've read books (Redshirts) where breaking the fourth wall like this was used to good effect, but here I'm not sure how successful it was. Marie, one of the main characters, says at one point that talking openly about the Narrative made her uncomfortable, that it was taboo. I think I agreed with her. It was a nice idea, but it heightened this book's weakness--that of a lack of realism. Reminding me that this was a story in such a blatant way just pulled me further away from caring about the characters.

The plotting was the best thing about this book, but even that was kind of mediocre. There's the whole thing with the Blue Fairy. She's not even mentioned until halfway through the book, and then their motivations for finding her are kind of malleable. Halfway through the novel, we hear about how they're on a quest to find the Blue Fairy and apparently they've been on it for a while? It was jarring, as if the author decided midway through the book that they needed a main plot and put it in, but forgot to go back and revise the first half for consistency. In one scene they decide to follow a rider because they think there might be a job attached to it, and then in the next chapter no, they're hunting the Blue Fairy because they think she's behind that kidnapping, and then they're hunting her because they want her to fight other fairies? Or maybe they want vengeance for something? Later, Jack supposedly wants the Blue Fairy's help in undoing his mother's curse, but his mother didn't seem cursed, just manipulative and abusive. (The scene where that was showed actually gave Jack a teeny bit of depth. I didn't care that much about him still, but at least the author tried.) The motivation for finding the Blue Fairy seemed to change chapter by chapter. My guess is that the chapters were written each separately and then strung together into a single piece of work and the author just didn't bother to do enough revision and editing. The backflap summary says she made each of their lives a living hell, but she hasn't done anything to any of them. Marie's curse came from her birth, Frank owes his existence to a dead scientist, and Jack's mom is just a b**tch because of the strain of raising a child on too little money with a ne'er do well father. So they're hoping for ... what exactly? It's the only overarching plot in the entire book, and it's not adequately explained. Oh, and they never do find her. I guess that's to set up the sequel. I will not be listening to the sequel. They had just enough of a teaser to let you know that they're going in a new direction by stealing from the 1001 Arabian nights mythos.

Some of the plotting in the individual chapters was well done, and some of it was less well done. The chapter where they free the elves from the shoemaker's bond is the best one, second one is the ending scene where they free Marie from the wicked king she's about to marry. I'm not going to hide this under a spoiler tag, because if you've ever seen a single movie or television show in your entire life you'll see the plot coming from a mile away. It's cool to see how the Bastard Champions get out of scrapes ... for a while. But after a few chapters, I noticed that they never seemed to have any real setbacks. They never really felt afraid that they weren't going to succeed. And there's the little fact that I just had a hard time thinking of any of these characters and real or worth investing in emotionally.

Which brings me back to the main flaw with this novel: the characters. The main characters are Jack, Frank, and Marie. Jack is Jack the Giant killer, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. He's supposedly mad (saw no sign of it) very fast, a good swordsman, greedy, he's loyal to his friends, and he grins. Oh boy how he grins. We're told he grins about twenty times. Every time he's mentioned, his grin is mentioned, how it hides his true nature, hides is madness, hides his dark past (doesn't really have one) blah blah. He's the most well-crafted character in the story, and he's really quite shallow.

Frank has the second-most-developed character. He's a flesh golem who does his best to help people, especially children, to atone for a child whose parts were used to make him. Did I say flesh golem? Oh how I wish he were just a flesh golem. But no, the author doesn't trust that you will be bothered to hear about someone who isn't famous. No, he's Dr. Frankenstein's monster. Sad, right? We're told he has a good heart nearly as often as we're told that Jack grins. We're not shown that through his actions, but we're told it often as if by force of repetition we will come to believe it. The characters felt like sit-com characters that had only one trait or a common one-liner that they trotted out to make us all feel like we were in on the joke. Except I didn't find any of it funny. It just wasn't clever enough, or maybe I'm too jaded, having read too many fairy-tale spinoffs to find this fresh. Frank is good at inventions, and makes hang gliders and gunpowder on occasion. I wish they would have used that more. Taking this in a Renaissance/steampunk direction could have added some fun novelty. He covers his face with a hood most of the time, and people are pretty much universally revolted by him unless the author wanted to demonstrate that the person meeting him was a good person. It would make sense that a worldly person would be less revolted and an innocent child would be frightened, even if the child turned out to be good, but there isn't room for that much complexity here.

Marie is the third character, and at first I thought she might actually be an original. She's a princess in hiding who is cursed to hulk out and turn into a "beast" when she's angry. She's worked on controlling it, but she's basically the muscle of the threesome. That's pretty much the extent of her personality. Later we find out that not only is she not really an original, the author made her the daughter of Belle and the Beast, and didn't even bother to change Belle's name from the Disney version or alter the fact that the servants used to be furniture. I kept hoping that she would redeem the lack of originality, but she disappointed me too.

Basically this whole novel felt like expecting a delicious meal made from scratch and being served luke-warm Spaghetti-o's with a sprig of parsley on the side. If all you know are Spaghetti-o's, maybe it seems good, but if you have better taste, you won't be fooled. It's derivative with a capital D. Everything is stolen and rehashed from better-known works. I understand that there must be people who love remakes and reusing famous characters, because it seems that every movie out these days is a half-baked reboot of something we've seen twice, but to me it's just lazy crap. I want something new. I want originality, and a "new spin" on an "old classic" has to try pretty hard to work. I thought the fairy tale would be a launching point, not a blueprint for every scene. Even a brilliant author with a fine wit and deft sense of humor would have had a hard time with it. Tepid world building, weak characters and a broken plot make me not recommend this book. But at least the production values were good. The voice actors did a professional job. I really thought the female narrator was two people.

[Valyssia Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inelegantly derivative.

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~]

DNF @ 17%

An interesting concept ruined by tedium and lack of world building.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining fantasy listening 🎶🔰

A number of will written fantasy world 🌎 haunting horror ghost 👻adventure thriller nursery rhyme short stories changed into haunting horror stories. I would recommend this novel and author to 👍 readers looking for something different in novels 👍🔰. 2023 😀😯👒😡🏰👑🐶

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Executive Summary: I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected to. It wasn't as fun as his NPCs series but given that I'm not a big fairy tale fan, I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun he made it.

Audiobook: I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the 3 narrator approach, but it seemed to work well. I'm not sure which of the male narrators was the primary, whoever voiced Jack, but they did a good job with the overall narration beyond just reading Jack's parts. Both other of the others did a good job as well. If Mr. Hayes writes a sequel, I hope they hire the same three again. It definitely worked well in audio.

Full Review
I really enjoy Drew Hayes NPCs series, but I haven't read any of his other stuff before. There has been a bit of a trend to write modern fairy tales, or to repurpose traditional fairy tales. I've read a few and I enjoyed the show Grimm, but it's not something I was really itching for reading more of.

I mostly picked this book up because it was on sale and a bit on the strength of his other books I've read. The majority of this book is episodic. Each chapter uses a classic fairy tale and puts a (often humorous) twist on it. I recognized most, but not all of the stories, but as I said fairy tales aren't really my thing.

I tend to prefer a bigger story than something episodic like this, but it really seemed to work well, and he did still manage to build a pretty compelling glue story connecting them all together.

My favorite part was learning the backstories of the three main characters. I had kind of guessed two of them, but one of them took me by surprise. It's possible if I knew fairy tales better, I'd have been less surprised but it's hard to say.

Overall this was a pretty fun/light read and I'd definitely pick up another if he wrote it, but if not it ended in a pretty decent place.

[Narilka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good fairy tale retelling. Second Hand Curses by Drew Hayes takes many well known and loved fairy tales and nursery rhymes, turn them on their head, adds a dash of sly wit and a heavy dose of action. The combination is often hilarious, with a touch of darkness, and pure fun.

The story is told in an episodic format, with each chapter being it's own story within a story, typically focusing on a specific fable or two. These all combine together to provide a cohesive, overarching whole, with interesting background details of the three main characters worked in. It was a lot of fun puzzling out with fairy tale Jack, Frank and Marie came from and attempting to predict how their personal run ins with the Blue Fairy brought the characters to where they are today.

I listend to the audio book narrated by Scott Aiello, Marc Vietor and Tavia Gilbert. The three narrator format works quite well as each voice actor brought to life one of the main characters and a whole host of side characters. I especially loved whoever it was that voiced the story's narrator.

The author has stated on his website that this book is a stand alone story with no plans for a sequel. I hope Hayes changes his mind and decides to write more in this world some day. I'd love to read more of Jack, Frank and Marie's adventures.

[Panda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The format failed a good author

I picked this up since I'm a big fan of the author. Sadly the sample to this one was honest to the content, I should have trusted it more.

The good first.
Characters flushed out and actions are suitable to the setting.

My main problem was how the concept was handled. The book is exactly what the blurbs says it is. Jack and his group of mercenaries go from one fairytale to the next to give them the happy ending they crave... for money.

Usually with well known tales like Cinderella and such the authors would go for an angle to spice it up. Wither it was setting the thing in the 30th century where Cindy is a cyborg or the "misunderstood villain" cliche where she was the demon with the angel's face tormenting her step family. Something different.

Instead the book follows a kids cartoon format where a bunch of adventures go from classic fairytale to the next giving them their endings for a fee... and treating the reader to some gore along the way.

I'm stopping the audio at the three hour mark as none of the stories seem to have any underlying personal connection to Jack and his gang. It's too much of a cartoon -all be it a shade darker than what disney is comfortable with- to be interesting. I don't know if the book changes later on but this close to the half way point I just can't bring myself to care about Cinderella or the Pipe piper when I know things will go just as they did without this group's interference.

For those into this kind of thing, pick up a grimm book or something.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you loved SHREK but found yourself thinking: “this is too highbrow and could do without the humor”, look no further than SECOND HAND CURSES for your next read.

It takes a bit of doing to out-Disney Disney, but by taking the brilliant step of hiring the Hallmark writers to spruce up his dialogue, Hayes has taken fairy tale wit and originality to the next level.

If you want light reading, this is it. Light enough to toss a fair distance, given a sufficient tailwind, which I urge you to find.

One star out of one, for a perfect score.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a bit but I really enjoyed this story. Fariy tale re-imaginings can be dull but Drew Hayes doesn't surprise me with this book. I mean excellent author, creative writing - so fun story to be expected. You'll hear about Jack's smile quite a bit, it threw me early on but towards the end I adored it. Jack the Nimble, Jack the Quick, Jack did what with the candlestick?! He's just pure adventurer. He does seek coin at any turn but deeply values his friends. Anything more would be spoiling. Marie I looked forward to the most and I can always appreciate strong female characters who aren't romantic sub-plots (thank goodness!). She was everything I hoped for in the end. And Frank you kind of want to give a hug to, which is probably not the reaction I was meant to have as he is supposed to appear rather monterous. He is intelligent and a great moral backbone of the group.

My only curiousity was that was left - what they do with their gold? For being such active scoundrels, where does it all go? We get bits of info later where Jack might use some of his, Frank likely spends his on science materials, Marie no clue. But I couldn't tell if they went through all they get quickly or what. It is a very very minor point though, so you should be able to tell the story wraps up sooo well.

[Quinn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three people who call themselves the “Bastard Champions” live in a world of fairy tales, and help those in need - for a price, of course.
Every time I find out Drew Hayes is writing a new story; I feel giddy with anticipation. His books are filled with characters who live in the grey and change over the course of his story. Those are my two favourite parts of any novel, and he does it so well that it’s no wonder I devour everything he writes. The thing that always strikes me though is that they are so entertaining, so filled with adventure and playfulness, that instead of savouring them, I read them in a frenzy, in one sitting until I’m done and have a massive grin on my face. Second Hand Curses is no exception to this rule. This book was such a delight to listen to - all I hope is that it becomes a series so we can continue to follow the characters.

[Huda Al-Mossalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

Listening to this was such a delight

It has everything I love
🔥 Full cast to voice each character and narrate
🔥 fairytale retellings with dark twists , I liked that it got grim but not gory.
🔥Very well written characters, their backstories sprinkled throughout the book, and the funny dialogue was soooo fun.
🔥And I loved the layout of the story, the chapters were different stories but there’s also an overarching plot for the whole book.

This is a book that I’ll definitely reread, it has the perfect feel to it. A fun fast moving story, that makes me laugh and gasp.

I also love the characters so much, I wish there’s more of them but happy with what I got none the less.

[Satomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended by someone I know. I found the book in Kindle Unlimited, but I was told that this was written for audible. Okay, I downloaded the audible, too.

It was impressive how a lot of fairly tales were interblended! I think I might have missed some characters and stories... the original stories were bent a little, which I found most interesting.

It was fun to guess who the main characters are!

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I expected going in to this book but it turned out really entertaining and well written. This is heavy on the action and does rely on knowledge of the more popular European fairy tales and nursery rhymes for the entertainment to come through. It's chock full of action but does manage to pack in some pretty impressive character development for a book that doesn't seem apparently concerned with it. The ending seems to set things up for a sequel so I'm hoping that will happen.

This book takes on the structure of a series of fairy tale and nursery rhyme retellings, but told through the perspective of a band of scoundrels called the Bastard Champions who go around taking up jobs for coin (getting Cinderella out of a disadvantageous bargain with a fairy godmother, for instance). While it may look like a collection of unconnected short stories, these stories actually take place in chronological order as the Bastard Champions plod their way through the land attempting to track down the notorious Blue Fairy. The action of the book is not sanitised either and can be fairly graphic and violent, although the tone is always pretty light-hearted and never too grim.

We follow fearsome trio Jack, Frank, and Marie in their journeys across the land, each of them harbouring their own curses and secrets. I enjoyed how we plunge into the action first and see the scoundrel state they've all landed up in in the present time, but slowly the adventures become a pretext for us finding out more about each of their backstories, peeling their characters back layer by layer.

Just like its main three characters, the book does have a core of fairy-tale optimism and naivete, despite its external facade of cynicism and violence. Instead of your whole "happily ever after", we get the sense that book truly believes in the strength and power of friendship against all odds.

A short and fun read that I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys fairy tale retellings with a dash of adventure, action, and a charismatic trio that we can get behind at the center of it all.

[Hulda Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

*minor spoiler*
Really loved it! One thing I'm a bit confused about though is why Jack would, of all things, choose to sacrifice an eye. The spell only called for "flesh", he could have chopped of his left pinky finger or I don't know, a nipple or something. Something useless. He's a swordsman so depth perception is pretty important to have! I don't know, it bothered me. Aside from that a great book and I wish there was a sequel!

[Samm | Sassenach the Book Wizard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rtc

[Michael Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this a bit skeptical. The whole realistic twist on old fairy tales isn't exactly a new concept, but this was book was so entertaining!? All of the main characters were well fleshed out, the plot moved quickly but was paced nicely, you could see the outline of the old fairy tales, but it wasn't like reading something I had already read with slight changes.

The narration was also incredibly well done for such a small and lesser known book. Each Main Character had different narrators, and it worked wonderfully. I hope there's a sequel, because this was the perfect light read(especially after having just trudged my way through Anna Karenina).

[Christa Schönmann Abbühl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it slightly less than NPCs (by the same author), but it was still very entertaining. And I am into books that play with fairy tales.
Great performance by the audio cast.

[Cookie M.]

I want to review this, but it won't go through.

[Flora · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.7 stars from me!
I really enjoyed the fact that each chapter is a mini adventure of our three main characters, and that throughout the book we learn more about them, but there is still an air of mystery sourrrounding them. That last short chapter was ... wow. I most definitely did not expect that last minute plot twist. A quick warning to the faint of heart: the book does contain a fair amount of violence, even though the harshest parts of it are left to the imagination of the reader, aka not discribed in detail by the author.

[Anafenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha gustado un monton, es la vuelta de tuerca a los cuentos clasicos, dandoles mas oscuridad y diversión, los protas son unos truhanes encantadores y la narración con mil voces y dramatizada es una gran plus.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightfully silly book.

[Wing Kee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of ideas from other books come together into a fun little tale.

World: The world building has been done before by many other people, the play on fables and fairy tales reminds me of Bill Willingham's 'Fables' series and the rogue group reminds me of all the other thief and bounty hunter books I've read from Scott Lynch to Ari Marmell to many many other authors. The world is fun, the pieces that are used is clever, it's just not that original, but it's well put together.

Story: The story reads and is paced like a tv show, each chapter is another job that is linked together to a larger job. The book moves quickly and ties into the character's background and plays with fable and fairy tale tropes and has fun with it. It's an enjoyable read, the beats are expected and fun and the banter is pretty great.

Characters: The three mains are fun, they are well realized and their personal voice distinct and fun. The play on their book counterparts is a nice one and Jack follows a lot of the tropes that Bill Willingham established with his Jack character.

A fairly standard and done before fantasy humor book but it's well written and it was a fun read.

Onward to the next book!

[Giselle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Scott S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. The author has said there won't be a sequel, which is too bad because I would listen.

Great narration.

[Snarktastic Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first fairy tale retelling I've actually enjoyed. The narration was delightful. The story was interesting. The development of the characters was surprising.

Each chapter is a story within a story - but the book is a whole, cohesive unit. This is NOT a collection of short stories, but rather a series of short stories.

Really fun. Highly recommended.

[KatieV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection of twisted fairy tales with a similar found-family, unlikely heroes, and feel good vibe as the Fred the Vampire Accountant series.

[Bighomer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely story set in a world of fables and fairytales.

Drew Hayes excels at writing stories based on a cast of lovely rogues, and this loose retelling of popular fairytales has a decent plot progression on top of the usual fun.