A Feast of Sorrows by Angela Slatter

This book is really dark, really twisted, and all around amazing. A Feast of Sorrows is a collection of short stories. Some are based on the fairytales we know, such as 'Bluebeard's Daughter'. Others are original but contain elements of fairytales. Many of them are twisted and quite adult (even if there are no explicit scenes). Do expect coarse language too, which is a roundabout way of saying that all of these tales feel more like the original Grimm fairytales than the Disney version, or darker so please don't give them to your kids or younger teenagers to read.

All the stories take place in the same world, and while there is no direct continuity, the stories in the second half reference each other fairly frequently. A few of the same characters pop up, though the first such story (St Dymphna's School for Poison Girls) didn't captivate me because I had no idea what was going on. I like a little mystery in the backstory, but too much and I just get lost.

The last part of the book would be the author talking briefly about how each story came about. I wasn't particularly interested in this, but I'm generally not interested in backstories.

I don't particularly have a favourite story because I like almost all of them equally.

If you're a lover of the darker and more twisted fairytales, you'll enjoy this book.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.