Once Upon a Time Update: Fairy Tales

The last genre in the Once Upon a Time challenge is Fairy Tales. Being that I have already read one novel, one play, and one non-fiction books, I decided that I would choose a graphic novel. By reading all different kinds of books as was as different genres, I have explored deeper into this "Once Upon a Time" theme and have been able to witness it from various literary positions. Therefore, I chose the graphic novel Castle Waiting by Linda Medley.

Castle Waiting brings together a diverse collection of fairy tales from all of the traditional authors such as the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, etc. The story centers around the traditional tale of Sleeping Beauty, however, the reader soon experiences some twists that leads the reader into other fairy tales and their characters. When Sleeping Beauty arises from her hundred year slumber, she finds her prince and runs away with him instead of staying in her own kingdom. Her parents died the same day in a carriage accident which leaves the entire kingdom without a ruler and causes it to fall into disrepair. When a young pregnant woman flees her own kingdom, she decides to seek refuge in Castle Waiting (the dilapidated kingdom from Sleeping Beauty). On the way she meets fighting horses, talking bears, dwarfs, gypsies, thieves, evil witches, and magical badgers.

As a graphic novel, it reads more like a comic book. The drawings are interesting, but not as intricate or meaningful as those of other graphic novels. The inter connectivity of the traditional fairy tales and their characters make for a great story. However, at over 450 pages, the novel is about twice as long as it should be. The reason for this could be because it was originally published in serials and was recently reprinted in one bound collection. Still, the story begins to lag at times and the enchantment of the fairy tale is not as captivating as it could be. Of course, this is no reason to abandon the graphic novel. It still sheds a unique light on fairy tales and the comedy of some of the graphics make for a humorous twist.

I would recommend this to any fairy tale "junkie" who loves anthologies of the great fairy tales. I, personally, found it interesting to see traditional characters pop up in various places. In addition, the story is geared more towards young adults and adults and not children. For this reason, some of the characters that are one-sided in the traditional tales (such as the wicked witch) are given a bit more development. If you are a fan of retelling of fairy and folk tales, then you will be pleased with what Medley has done

-DLP