Review: Dark!  Good variation on an old story but could've been better edited
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 20, 2011
If you like Gregory Maguire (Wicked, Mirror Mirror, Son of a Witch) then this book may interest you.  Don't be fooled by the cover, either.  Despite the pretty boys this is not a remake of "Twillight" and though there are mythical and magical creatures galore in this book, they're far from the sparkly, glamorous vampires that populate modern YA books.Kudos to the author for putting an original "voice" to the old fairy tale, Rumplestiltskin. The author maintains a lot of the original story (poor miller father, daughter who spins straw to gold, evil dwarf who wants her baby) and manages to "add in" characters to enhance the story.  There is some backstory (we meet the young Rumplestiltskin) but I appreciated how the author didn't rely on "fill-in-the-blank" method where we can see the story ending from a mile away.  Suffice to say I was even surprised by how smoothly the author fit in the original storyline elements without us being bored or having the "we know this already" feeling.But I agree with the other reviewers that this book jumps around too much with the timeline.  The first chapter doesn't make sense until halfway through the book.  I am not sure how the author could smooth out the chapters better aside from warning the reader by putting dates into the book.  Instead, the reader has to decipher on their own what time period/era we are looking at based on the narrator of the chapter (and worse, when we're firsr "introduced" to that person, we don't have any idea who they are or when in time they are).Also agree with the reviewer who noted that one character, Elizabeth MIller, narrates in the first person, but all other chapters are told in third person.  Why?I felt the book could have ended without the last few chapters...but the last adventure didnt offent me that much.  I would read more from this author.P.S. anyone else catch the little fun the author had with the country names?  spell them backwards.  It fits with the theme of gold as well as the on-going war between the countries.