The Asylum For Fairy-Tale Creatures

As a fan of fairytales and renditions, and of course everything insane and mental institutions - how on earth could I pass up the opportunity to read this book . Everything from the title and cover picture to the blurb screamed an awesome and funny yet intriguing book and readers this book was totally cool. The Asylum for Fairy Tale Creatures starts off with the introduction in each sort-of short story with a fairy tale creature and how they ended up being carted off to the mental asylum from the three blind mice who became serial killers after running around and chopping the toes off farmer's wives to Cinderella who ended up so delusional and in her head that she actually believed she was wearing a beautiful dress instead of smelly old rubbish to Little Red Riding Hood who was convinced by the Doctor's and those around her that she had made up the wolf and in fact she really was the one to kill her Grandmother. The creatures are then carted off to the Asylum where they meet the Dr. Grimm and read as they plan their escape from the Asylum as they aren't "really" crazy just misunderstood - right ? Nope , wrong - this book isn't called The Asylum for Fairy Tale Creatures for nothing. This book is also one that I could really see being made into either a TV series or a Movie.

This novella is super short and super creepy.

The Asylum For Fairy Tale Creatures takes the already pretty dark Grimms’ fairy tales and twists them even more, making them so horrific it’s no wonder the characters go mad. The main story being told is that of the traumatic experiences of Blood Red Riding Hood and her companions and their subsequent incarceration into an asylum with other fairy tale characters. This journey is used as a thread, weaving together several other tales, those of the asylum’s other fairy tale inmates and employees (though it’s hard to tell which is which at times), making this sort of a short story collection as well.

Despite the cheery cover, this book is not for the faint of heart or the easily squicked out – it gets pretty dark. How dark does it get, you wonder? Well, to give a particularly gruesome example, someone is murdered and skinned (though the murder and skinning take place off the page), and someone else wears that skin. Also, there’s a child made out of body parts collected from dismembered children who plays a pretty big role in the story. And yet, for how creepy it sounds, the writer someone manages to make it humorous and kind of, well, cute? (That little patched together child I mentioned is actually a really adorable little girl) Which only makes the whole thing more disturbing.

Uniquely creepy and disturbing, The Asylum For Fairy Tale Creatures is not for everyone, but I actually found myself liking it. If you like Grimms’ fairy tale retelling, the scarier and darker the better, then you’ll probably enjoy this book.