konpaku: Random Poison Abridged

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Im Bann der zertanzten Schuhe (Under the Spell of the worn-out Dancing Shoes) by Janna Ruth.

What is it about?

Even after two years  the war still has its hold on Jonas and nightmares and visions are his constant companions. As he one day wanders through a new town he reaches the DeModie and stumbling out of it is the cheerful Sophie who unexpectedly enchants him with her liveliness. Shortly after he learns that the job he’s applying for is from her father who wants to hire him to know what his daughter is doing every night. As Jonas soon finds out is the former ballerina off to dance with her prince, Luca, in the DeModie, an enchanted realm right within the nightlife.

The worn-out dancing Shoes with less princesses, but even more magical by the Märchenspinnerei.

The reading experience

For this one I as well wrote down some thoughts in the Reading Group on Facebook (Magical Book Reading) and also kept track of them on Goodreads, so most things might sound familiar.

The story is told in turns from Jonas’ and Sophie’s perspectives, but not in first person. The chapters are much longer than the ones from the other Märchenspinnerei books and it’s a nice change. Every chapter title uses a phrase and silhouette from ballet, as it is an integral part of Sophie’s life. Where Sophie’s chapters are mostly magical and phantastic, Jonas’ brings a more realistic view to the page and it’s a great contrast to see things through their very different eyes. At one point we even get to see a scene from both their perspectives, something I always enjoy in different media. The story itself manages to switch between very soft, quiet passages and energetic climaxes, just like in a good ballad. :D

[...]

At the core of it, the book is a love story and therefore has the necessary elements: A girl with rose-coloured glasses, a lover’s oath and instant affection. Some of it is explained through the characters situations and characteristics, but for someone like me, who’s not that much into romance it’s hard to take serious. Still, it doesn’t get too much attention and is integrated nice and naturally – especially the reactions in some situations. In general are the interactions between the characters and their respective reactions to certain turns of events very natural. Thus it doesn’t feel like your just reading a book, it feels more like you’re following their journey by their side.

[...]

The characters

[...]

As I’ve mentioned before are the interactions between the characters very natural, which makes following their story so much easier. You can see this interaction especially with Jonas and Sophie: They motivate and help each other without wanting anything in return. What’s best about the characters is that all of them are [...]

General Opinion

I know I’ve been repeated myself over and over how great I found certain aspects, but I just can’t help it. I write reviews the way I see stuff and this book really was something special that certainly put me under its spell (pun intended ;) ).

The more I thought about it, the more I believed that I didn’t read a book but a written composition. The language of the dance crossed over into the telling of the story and turned the flow of reading into a reading experience that varied between fast, exciting main themes, emotional climaxes and slow interludes.

[...]

Stuff I’d like to add

Continue Reading: Janna Ruth: Im Bann der zertanzten Schuhe

Interview mit der Autorin: Märchenspinnerei im Interview: Janna Ruth

Der Märchensommer läuft noch und man hat weiterhin die Chance einige tolle Preise zu gewinnen!

Für mehr Informationen zu Preisen und Punkte sammeln, schaut hier vorbei: Märchensommer

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Im Bann der zertanzten Schuhe (Under the Spell of the worn-out Dancing Shoes) by Janna Ruth.

What is it about?

Even after two years  the war still has its hold on Jonas and nightmares and visions are his constant companions. As he one day wanders through a new town he reaches the DeModie and stumbling out of it is the cheerful Sophie who unexpectedly enchants him with her liveliness. Shortly after he learns that the job he’s applying for is from her father who wants to hire him to know what his daughter is doing every night. As Jonas soon finds out is the former ballerina off to dance with her prince, Luca, in the DeModie, an enchanted realm right within the nightlife.

The worn-out dancing Shoes with less princesses, but even more magical by the Märchenspinnerei.

The reading experience

For this one I as well wrote down some thoughts in the Reading Group on Facebook (Magical Book Reading) and also kept track of them on Goodreads, so most things might sound familiar.

The story is told in turns from Jonas’ and Sophie’s perspectives, but not in first person. The chapters are much longer than the ones from the other Märchenspinnerei books and it’s a nice change. Every chapter title uses a phrase and silhouette from ballet, as it is an integral part of Sophie’s life. Where Sophie’s chapters are mostly magical and phantastic, Jonas’ brings a more realistic view to the page and it’s a great contrast to see things through their very different eyes. At one point we even get to see a scene from both their perspectives, something I always enjoy in different media. The story itself manages to switch between very soft, quiet passages and energetic climaxes, just like in a good ballad. :D

[...]

At the core of it, the book is a love story and therefore has the necessary elements: A girl with rose-coloured glasses, a lover’s oath and instant affection. Some of it is explained through the characters situations and characteristics, but for someone like me, who’s not that much into romance it’s hard to take serious. Still, it doesn’t get too much attention and is integrated nice and naturally – especially the reactions in some situations. In general are the interactions between the characters and their respective reactions to certain turns of events very natural. Thus it doesn’t feel like your just reading a book, it feels more like you’re following their journey by their side.

[...]

The characters

[...]

As I’ve mentioned before are the interactions between the characters very natural, which makes following their story so much easier. You can see this interaction especially with Jonas and Sophie: They motivate and help each other without wanting anything in return. What’s best about the characters is that all of them are [...]

General Opinion

I know I’ve been repeated myself over and over how great I found certain aspects, but I just can’t help it. I write reviews the way I see stuff and this book really was something special that certainly put me under its spell (pun intended ;) ).

The more I thought about it, the more I believed that I didn’t read a book but a written composition. The language of the dance crossed over into the telling of the story and turned the flow of reading into a reading experience that varied between fast, exciting main themes, emotional climaxes and slow interludes.

[...]

Stuff I’d like to add

Continue Reading: Janna Ruth: Im Bann der zertanzten Schuhe

Interview mit der Autorin: Märchenspinnerei im Interview: Janna Ruth

Der Märchensommer läuft noch und man hat weiterhin die Chance einige tolle Preise zu gewinnen!

Für mehr Informationen zu Preisen und Punkte sammeln, schaut hier vorbei: Märchensommer

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Kein Schnee im Hexenhaus (No Snow in the Witch House) by Susanne Eisele.

What is it about?

Hansjörg and Margarete are lost in the woods. Eventually they get picked up by the police, but everything goes downhill from there. Due to their repeated drug abuse their parents send them to a reformatory in the middle of nowhere. There they meet a real witch, monsters and poisonous plants.

But at least they are together and this way it’ll be easier for them to escape; or so they think…

Hänsel & Gretel are facing their drug problems in this adaptation by the Märchenspinnerei.

The reading experience

For this one I as well wrote down some thoughts in the Reading Group on Facebook (Magical Book Reading) and also kept track of them on Goodreads, so most things might sound familiar.

The story is told in different chapters that start with low page beginnings and in a mixture of outside-look and Hansi’s/Gretel’s-perspective. Towards the end there is a great perspective change to a different character, that I truly enjoyed as it felt much more mature and coherent than anything the youths’ brains could come up with…
Even if it starts off and ends with the typical Fairy Tale quotes the narration itself feels like a report of what happened. At first the chapter beginnings irritated me a bit, but I’ve gotten used to it. The perspective change was strange too, but what bugged me most, was the combination of teeny-slang-speech with high, sometimes even seemingly contrived language.

[...]

The characters

[...]

What I liked though were the names as someone really had fun with naming troublesome children: Hansjörg, Kevin, Serena…they already paint a fitting picture. :D
But the other names were chosen just as well:
Frau Hag, the witch; Waldmann (Forestman) for the Woodchopper-family; Krude (crude) the slimy social worker and the fairies Tinky (Tinkerbell) and Ali (Galadriel), even the Bodo, that I associate with a wiener dog. :D

[...]

General Opinion

An alternate version I enjoyed to venture into. An interesting take on the original stuff, with many great ideas (Bodo, the detox, the roles of witch and children), that portrays many important topics (e.g. drug abuse, co-dependence of siblings). Unfortunately did I not like the linguistic realization in some passages and the characters stayed pretty superficial…
It still was fun to follow the events and be carried by the paranoia. :)
And there were too few moments with Bodo. ;)

Stuff I’d like to add

Continue Reading: Susanne Eisele: Kein Schnee im Hexenhaus

Interview mit der Autorin: Märchenspinnerei im Interview: Susanne Eisele

Der Märchensommer läuft noch und man hat weiterhin die Chance einige tolle Preise zu gewinnen!

Für mehr Informationen zu Preisen und Punkte sammeln, schaut hier vorbei: Märchensommer

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Kein Schnee im Hexenhaus (No Snow in the Witch House) by Susanne Eisele.

What is it about?

Hansjörg and Margarete are lost in the woods. Eventually they get picked up by the police, but everything goes downhill from there. Due to their repeated drug abuse their parents send them to a reformatory in the middle of nowhere. There they meet a real witch, monsters and poisonous plants.

But at least they are together and this way it’ll be easier for them to escape; or so they think…

Hänsel & Gretel are facing their drug problems in this adaptation by the Märchenspinnerei.

The reading experience

For this one I as well wrote down some thoughts in the Reading Group on Facebook (Magical Book Reading) and also kept track of them on Goodreads, so most things might sound familiar.

The story is told in different chapters that start with low page beginnings and in a mixture of outside-look and Hansi’s/Gretel’s-perspective. Towards the end there is a great perspective change to a different character, that I truly enjoyed as it felt much more mature and coherent than anything the youths’ brains could come up with…
Even if it starts off and ends with the typical Fairy Tale quotes the narration itself feels like a report of what happened. At first the chapter beginnings irritated me a bit, but I’ve gotten used to it. The perspective change was strange too, but what bugged me most, was the combination of teeny-slang-speech with high, sometimes even seemingly contrived language.

[...]

The characters

[...]

What I liked though were the names as someone really had fun with naming troublesome children: Hansjörg, Kevin, Serena…they already paint a fitting picture. :D
But the other names were chosen just as well:
Frau Hag, the witch; Waldmann (Forestman) for the Woodchopper-family; Krude (crude) the slimy social worker and the fairies Tinky (Tinkerbell) and Ali (Galadriel), even the Bodo, that I associate with a wiener dog. :D

[...]

General Opinion

An alternate version I enjoyed to venture into. An interesting take on the original stuff, with many great ideas (Bodo, the detox, the roles of witch and children), that portrays many important topics (e.g. drug abuse, co-dependence of siblings). Unfortunately did I not like the linguistic realization in some passages and the characters stayed pretty superficial…
It still was fun to follow the events and be carried by the paranoia. :)
And there were too few moments with Bodo. ;)

Stuff I’d like to add

Continue Reading: Susanne Eisele: Kein Schnee im Hexenhaus

Interview mit der Autorin: Märchenspinnerei im Interview: Susanne Eisele

Der Märchensommer läuft noch und man hat weiterhin die Chance einige tolle Preise zu gewinnen!

Für mehr Informationen zu Preisen und Punkte sammeln, schaut hier vorbei: Märchensommer

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Hollerbrunn by Tina Skupin.

What is it about?

Frau Holle meets Alpine legends (with a hint of The Snow/Ice Queen) by the Märchenspinnerei.

The characters

I never thought I’d find a version of Frau Holle where I [...]

General Opinion

I like the combination of Frau Holle with the idea of the Snow/Ice Queen and some Alpine legends, it just worked very well together. Also great were the twists on the original tales elements like the he whole baking and picking apples part (two of my favourite scenes), and the stepmother. [...]

Stuff I’d like to add

Continue Reading: Tina Skupin: Hollerbrunn

Interview mit der Autorin: Märchenspinnerei im Interview: Tina Skupin

Der Märchensommer läuft noch und man hat weiterhin die Chance einige tolle Preise zu gewinnen.

Für mehr Informationen zu Preisen und Punkte sammeln, schaut hier vorbei: Märchensommer

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Hollerbrunn by Tina Skupin.

What is it about?

Frau Holle meets Alpine legends (with a hint of The Snow/Ice Queen) by the Märchenspinnerei.

The characters

I never thought I’d find a version of Frau Holle where I [...]

General Opinion

I like the combination of Frau Holle with the idea of the Snow/Ice Queen and some Alpine legends, it just worked very well together. Also great were the twists on the original tales elements like the he whole baking and picking apples part (two of my favourite scenes), and the stepmother. [...]

Stuff I’d like to add

Continue Reading: Tina Skupin: Hollerbrunn

Interview mit der Autorin: Märchenspinnerei im Interview: Tina Skupin

Der Märchensommer läuft noch und man hat weiterhin die Chance einige tolle Preise zu gewinnen.

Für mehr Informationen zu Preisen und Punkte sammeln, schaut hier vorbei: Märchensommer

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Ein Mantel so Rot (A Cloak as Red) by Barbara Schinko.

What is it about?

 

It’s not enough that the war has taken its toll on the land, but when Zoyas husband Venko returns to her as a wolf she can’t fathom what misfortune will befall her and her village. Right away they call him a “Raging Wolf” and Zoya has to fear and fight for her love.

Will she succeed in breaking the curse?

Little Red Riding Hood meets a human wolf in a tsarist-era in this mature adaptation by the Märchenspinnerei.

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Ein Mantel so Rot (A Cloak as Red) by Barbara Schinko.

What is it about?

 

It’s not enough that the war has taken its toll on the land, but when Zoyas husband Venko returns to her as a wolf she can’t fathom what misfortune will befall her and her village. Right away they call him a “Raging Wolf” and Zoya has to fear and fight for her love.

Will she succeed in breaking the curse?

Little Red Riding Hood meets a human wolf in a tsarist-era in this mature adaptation by the Märchenspinnerei.

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Der Axolotlkönig (The Axolotlking) by Sylvia Rieß.

What is it about?

 

Fynn, a well liked musician, finds himself 20 centimetres tall and with strange outgrowth where his neck should be in an aquarium; with no idea how he got here.

But it seems it was quite on time, as his new room mate Leonie has not just lost the last connection she had had to her grandmother, but because of being bullied in school she also only sees one way out of this…

Can axolotified Fynn convince her that it’s a horrible idea?

The Frog King meets The Snow Queen in this Fairy Tale adaptation by the Märchenspinnerei.

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer/Märchensommer you get my review for Der Axolotlkönig (The Axolotlking) by Sylvia Rieß.

What is it about?

 

Fynn, a well liked musician, finds himself 20 centimetres tall and with strange outgrowth where his neck should be in an aquarium; with no idea how he got here.

But it seems it was quite on time, as his new room mate Leonie has not just lost the last connection she had had to her grandmother, but because of being bullied in school she also only sees one way out of this…

Can axolotified Fynn convince her that it’s a horrible idea?

The Frog King meets The Snow Queen in this Fairy Tale adaptation by the Märchenspinnerei.