Book Review: A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz

A Tale Dark and Grimm very much lives up to it's title, in that it is dark, gritty, and stays very close to the original Grimm tales. My expectations for this book were not high, mostly due to the fact that it is a children's novel(silly me, always being a book snob. Luckily, this book proved me wrong). I was so worried that Gidwitz would downplay the fairy tales and make them more "child appropriate" (*cough* like Disney *cough*), however he didn't do this at all, this book was bloody and gory, and had all of the gruesome elements that the original tales had. The writing, however, is not for everyone, at times the narration can be intrusive, which doesn't bother me at all, but it might get on some people's nerves. To me, Adam Gidwitz's writing felt very similar to Lemony Snicket's, sometimes sassy, sometimes morbid, but still separate from the story at hand, which makes it feel more like the story is being told to you (which I love). Honestly, this book was almost perfect for me, and would have received 5 stars, but the ending wasn't quite what I wanted, but I suppose it can't be perfect all around. I think this book would be perfect for any fairy tale lover who would like to see some of the more obscure Grimm tales adapted to a new setting.