3 and a half stars. novella. should have been right up my alley, given the mix of fairy tale versions, but i don't know, it seemed to me like it was just going through the motions, so it never really grabbed me. ( )

When I picked up this short novella I had no idea it was a third in a series called Hunting Monsters. However, the other two seem to be short stories and this one being the only novella can stand on it’s own. I wasn’t confused about the world building and characters or anything.

I listened to this on audiobook and Nancy Wu was a pretty good narrator that kept me engaged.

This is a story about Rosa (Red Riding Hood) and Hou Yi the Archer. In this story they are both old ladies and Hou Yi is a trans woman. They are friends and married to other women that are mentioned in flashbacks. The plot is about what happened in these characters past that made them who they are while they go on a quest to stop the sunbirds ravaging the countryside.

I really like that the main characters are middle aged and I like the fairy tale retelling aspects. In this world there are human-cursed grundwirgen that are similar to animals and that puts a new spin on the well-known tales of Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Beauty and the Beast. However, I wish this book was longer so that the plot could be expanded and slower paced and that the character could be more fleshed out.

The writing style is simple and this is a quick read with some interesting characters so overall I enjoyed it and I will probably reread it in the future. ( )

Two complicated women who aren't entirely protagonists on a literal and metaphorical journey together. What starts as monster-slaying turns into rather a lot of plumbing of emotional depths for a novella. Rosa's past is full of fairytale-ish flashbacks: red riding hood, goldilocks and the three bears, beauty and the beast, puss in boots, rose red...

A quick and compelling read. I loved reading about two lesbians who have wives and families and don't ever develop romantic/sexual feelings for each other. Lesbians can be friends, yay!

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review for a trade outlet. This is not that review ;) ) ( )

As soon as I first saw this cover, I knew I was gonna read it because just look at it - it’s absolutely gorgeous. I love the colors and all the elements within it, which made even more sense once I read the story. And I was ecstatic when I got the ARC coz I never thought I would.

The one good thing I did was read a couple of reviews before I started, and realized that it doesn’t have as much action as the blurb implies - it’s just not that kind of a story. And once I set my expectations right, then this was a beautiful stunning story. Owing to its very short length, we don’t get much detail about the world but we do understand the context within which the story is told, so I can say that the exposition was just enough. I also loved how seamlessly the author manages to combine multiple fairytales, crossing the bridge between Western and Eastern storytelling perfectly, overall creating a very believable narrative. The pacing is slow and contemplative, but it never feels boring or less engaging.

This is a story about two women (possibly in their late middle age) who are brought together by circumstances on a quest to save innocents, but the truth is that they are running from their past actions and their grief. The guilt they feel about what they have done is what forms the emotional core of this tale, and it was very interesting to get to know their backstories as well as how they are dealing with it all. It’s about them helping each other not only to realize their faults, but also to encourage the other not to give up hope, and maybe do something to overcome their guilt to move onto a better future. I love how the author was able to show us the flaws of both Rosa and Hou Yi clearly, but also make us empathize with them and want them to find peace.

To conclude, this is an intricately woven tale about different kinds of love and families, grief and loss, and how guilt can eat you alive. It’s an introspective story of two women finding their path back to their humanity, after years of thinking themselves incapable of it. If you love such very personal stories with queer BIPOC protagonists, then don’t give this a miss. ( )

This is a fun fairy tale retelling mash-up, which combines Western and Chinese fairy tales into one fantastical universe. If you don't know the Chinese legends referenced here (namely the Legend of Chang'e and archer Hou Yi) you will not get half the references in the story. (I highly recommend Googling that legend before reading this novella. You can get the basics at least from a quick search, and you'll get a lot more nuance from the novella that way.) Most readers will already be familiar with the Western fairy tales retold here (Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty & the Beast, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears with a dash of Puss in Boots) and that could lead to a very unbalanced understanding of the characters.

I love that the characters are nuanced older women with more depth to them than you usually get from fairy tales. This has been pitched as a sapphic book, so I had expected a romance between the two main characters, and was pleasantly surprised when I realized I was wrong about that. (I just think it turned out better this way.) I also had not anticipated the ending, but like the book's result better than the one I had predicted. ( )