Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales

Storytellers feed off of each other. Each generation of stories is inspired by or responds to the one before. Some truly great stories have emerged and endured by building on the foundations of old.

Rags & Bones is all about reinvention, as the top names in modern fantasy and speculative fiction come together to explore new takes on old stories. Whether it’s Kami Garcia’s tale of addiction and redemption inspired by “Rumpelstiltskin” or Neil Gaiman’s dwarf-infused adventure pitting Sleeping Beauty against a city-conquering curse, each author flavors their chosen tale with individual flair and style.

Unfortunately, I was a little underwhelmed by the collection overall. Some authors seemed too hampered by the shackles of their inspiration to truly shine, while others were so determined to make it their own that they overshot the mark. That being said, the ones that successfully threaded the needle showed that the spirit of creative reinvention is alive and well, introducing young readers to the classics while taking fantasy storytelling forward another confident step. Rags & Bones is a mixed bag, but one with some magic inside.