Hansel & Gretel (Down the Rabbit Hole) Anthology – Review by Jennifer Gordon

Hansel & Gretel: Down the Rabbit Hole by Autumn Sand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this anthology a fascinating read, it includes seven different stories retelling the Hansel and Gretel fairy story. The stories are written by seven different well known authors and each story in this multi genre anthology will either, “tantalise you, scare you, or titillate you”. Each author gives you a version of Hansel and Gretel that has never been told before. The following stories are Hansel and Gretel reimagined by the various authors. “Come and join us…Down the Rabbit Hole!”, The Witch in the Woods by Amy Allen, The Surface by CeeCee Elaine, The Sweetest Day by Debra Parmley, Hazel and Gretchen by Erin Lee, The Reaper Within by Jess Bagnall, Shadows that Move by Lorah Jaiyn and, The Dragon and the Phoenix by Rachel Pudsey.
I enjoyed all seven of the stories and liked how different each one once and that the anthology covered many different genres. For example, in Debra Parmley’s, The Sweetest Day, Harry and Greta become lost in the woods and remember their Grandmother telling them the fairy story, Hansel and Gretel. Determined not to make the same mistakes they are reminded not to take candy from strangers and not to enter gingerbread houses.
Having reached a house that is not made of candy and are invited in by a lady telling them not to eat sugary foods they except. However when they wake up with magic shackles on their ankles after having tea and a muffin they realise they have been tricked. Nearing Harry’s eighteenth birthday six years later the witch must eat him soon or he will be unpalatable, and Greta is now addicted to the sugar the witch gave her to plump her up. Can they both escape before the witch cooks them, no spoilers as I recommend reading the story as I was hooked from the start.
In Hazel and Gretchen, Erin Lee tells a twisted and contemporary version of the fairy story. Hazel and Gretchen have been locked away by horrible parents and are now running out of bread and milk. The light outside the locked door is also fading stopping the sisters from returning to the real world, will they escape or be stuck for eternity. Again no spoilers, and again I was hooked from page one.
Lorah Jaiyn’s retelling, Shadows That Move had me gripped from the start. Daphne had heard a warning her entire life following her mother’s unsolved murder, “Don’t look for movement in the shadows, watch for the shadows that move”. It never made any sense to Daphne until she got lost in the forest and then the shadows came for her.
Each story had me fully immersed in its storyline and had well developed and engaging characters. I liked reading the short stories by the seven different authors and found that it gave me an insight into each of the writers and their varying styles. I would recommend all seven of the stories and was amazed at how many ways the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale could be retold, each story was unique and original.

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