Review: Sweet but slow...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 11, 2012
Four travelling puppeteers and storytellers are braving a terrible blizzard when they come across a little cabin in the woods. Thankful to the strange but kind stranger who offers them lodging and food until the storm passes, they repay him by telling him stories - stories of dragons, fairiesThe stories were enjoyable and were very reminiscent of other stories I'd heard before but with new twists. Whilst I enjoyed reading them, I'm not sure that Beth and Miles stories added anything extra to the novel as a whole.Rolph's story was my favourite. I loved the vividness and descriptions of both the story and the characters.The interactions between Rolph and Tara were very cute. Attraction - at least on Tara's behalf - from the moment they meet and that continues on throughout the book. It was a very sweet story.My main negative about the story was the pace - it's very slow. Action wise, not much happens (until the very end) and there are times when it feels like the characters talk too much about certain topics. I didn't feel like there needed to be that many words spent in discussing travel and the vehicles they used (although I adored the term "mechanimal" for the mechanical horse) and all the details about the shopping trip that a few of the characters took into town. Sometimes less is more.All in all, a very sweet story and an interesting take on the old Beauty and the Beast story.