I'm not a fan of fairy tales, especially not the modern, cleaned up Disney versions of them. Princesses make me gag, and I want to kick most Princes in the taint. They're filled with women who are either evil witches, twits, or seductive enchantresses. It's hard to find a solid, sensible female character in the lot of them. (In all fairness, it's hard to find a good character in them, period.)
I am however, a fan of modern fairy tales, particularly those written by Neil Gaiman. In my definition, a fairy tale is a story that is over the top and filled with fantasy, but has a lesson hidden at the core. It's usually obtained through a test or trial. Of his fantastical stories, Coraline and Star Dust are my favorites, but I chose Coraline for this challenge. I was disappointed that the movie version was softened and weakened a bit to put in a male filler character. The book version will always be first in my heart.
I need to read Neil Gaiman. I have only seen movie versions of both Coraline and Stardust and came out of those thinking that the novel versions had to be SO MUCH BETTER. It was easy to tell that they were based on much more complex and intriguing stories that had to be distilled for the cinema. Once I'm done with my current reading material, I think I know what I'll read next.
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