The Wicked Wolves of Windsor: and other fairytales by Byrd Nash – Review by Anantha Rusum

The Wicked Wolves of Windsor: and other fairytales by Byrd Nash
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book caught me by a pleasant surprise. I did know that it had a dark twist to the fairy tales, so I assumed it to be more in the lines of the movie Snow white or Maleficent, where the plot is given a dark twist and the characters are made more intense. I was prepared to see Little Red Riding hood taking on the wolves bare handed or may be turn evil trying to kill her own grandmother and the good wolf comes to the old lady’s rescue. But what I did not expect is that this book is actually a series of unique fairy tales with a slightly dark twist. The novelty of the stories took me by surprise. There are witches, wolves, ravens, unicorns, knights and princes, each of them unique, though you can remotely relate them to some fairy tale characters you knew. This book is a real gem with some brilliant authentic fairy tales. There is no grandeur, but a dash of authenticity and simplicity in them which makes it so endearing.

A girl tending to a farm is actually a beautiful witch suppressed by her step mother, a fair queen seeks justice from her evil husband, the fierce king with an aid of a beautiful horse which talks to her, and a faithful knight who believes in her. A witch teaches a vain prince few good principles in life in her own way.

The book is mainly set in the regency era, except one story which is set in the more modern timeframe. The settings change from a farm to deep woods to a quaint town to a city so deftly that the reader is unaware of the switch from the fairy tale to the modern world. The characters do have a dash of “wickedness” and “darkness” in them, but when I finished one story to move on to another, I always did with a smile and content of a reader who’s just relished a good “dark” fairy tale.

I loved this book and would whole heartedly recommend to anyone to read. Kudos to the author and looking forward for more!!

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