"The phrase 'fairy tale' gets bandied about a lot in this book, which I suppose is why I requested it from LibraryThing Early Reviewers in the first place. The problem is, that when you purposefully try to create a fairy tale, to join the canon created by the Brothers Grimm all the way to L. Frank Baum and C.S. Lewis, you're more than likely to fail. In fact, the approach here is so obvious and cynical to me, in how it took parts of Oz and Wonderland and Narnia and Phantom Tollbooth, and overlaying a (possibly original) meta story on top of it. There's nothing in the book I found to be unique to the world, and nothing sparked my imagination. Despite it being only 200 pages, I found it hard to get through. And it's not that it's badly written, it's just rather lifeless and uninspiring."

(Read the rest here.) ( )

I received this book for Early Reviewers but I found it very difficult to get into. The introductory material is very dense and written in a faux scholarly style which slowed down the start of the actual story. I think there are the seeds of a good story lurking in there but the writing style is rather overwrought and the narrator got in the way of the narrative. I think this could have used a good strong edit. ( )

This book *sounds* like something that would be perfect for me. I love fantasy in all forms, and elaborately made-up worlds, and fake footnotes, and fairy tales, and imperfect protagonists. But really, this was just disappointing. It was poorly thought out, and the "subtle" morals of the story are beaten over your head again and again and again. Not only that, but there is no proof for the morals, just the whining of the "author" of the footnotes. To cap it all off, I didn't even agree with some of the morals (such as that cities and city life are bad). The footnotes consisted entirely of the "author" discrediting his equivalent academics on the opposing side of their civil war, but only using statements such as "Professor Dumb-Dumb argues X, but everyone knows that Y is really true."

The plot itself was just weak, and tended to contradict itself. At one point Snotty, who is stated to be about 12, has a tete-a-tete with the tempting bad guy during which they stop for a MARTINI BREAK. Like it's the usual thing they do, not as if it were a temptation Snotty had to overcome. Also, who names their main character Snotty? Who is this book for? Not me, that's for sure. I would discourage any child from reading it, and won't recommend it to anyone. ( )

As a big fan of fairy tales, acdemic study of said fairy tales, and footnotes, I was already predisposed to like this creative fairy tale of an academic study of a fairy tale, and I was not disappointed. It is both more and less complicated than it sounds and gives you a lot to think about.

The detail in the book is excellent. There are nice illustrations and even fictional publication info and fictional bibliography to add to the immersive atmosphere of the book. The volume is pretty slim, but nothing feels rushed or left out. It has real depth from working at multiple levels. The story started off kind of cute (and more than a bit strange), but it didn't take too long to become unsettling and rather disturbing. But I think it shares this quality with other true time-honored fairy tales which often give you an ominous feeling in your stomach when you stop to think about them carefully.

I just finished it and I'd already like to reread it. I feel that there is even more hiding in here than I could get in a single reading. If I were still in English class, perhaps I'd write a paper on it... (oh the meta!) ( )

This quirky little book operates (quite overtly) on three levels. At the base level, it is a slightly bizarre fairy tale set in a parallel world in some ways much like ours and in other ways not; one level up, it purports to be an academic presentation and examination of that fairy tale (still within the alternate world), complete with preliminary discussion and copious footnotes; at the topmost level, it is of course a fiction aimed at a real readership in our world. And, as I say, all three levels are openly operating at all times.

The base fairy tale is written, as a fairy tale should be, in language and style apparently aimed at children. It opens, however, in a decidely non-idyllic world: Snotty, a disgusting prepubescent child, resides in a slum where broken glass litters the sidewalks, living with a gross mother whose life is limited to simultaneously drinking beer, watching tv, and scratching her butt till she passes out in a drunken stupor on the couch. Snotty, an enterprising child, has made himself into a drug lord, picking it up wholesale at the docks (supposedly acting for his non-existent father) and distributing it to retailers in bars around town (supposedly as just a courier). Snotty's idea of a friend is someone naive enough to be easily manipulated. All this is disclosed to the reader rather quickly; then--as befits a fairy tale--Snotty falls down a rabbit hole (more or less literally) to a sort of Wonderland.

Here, the reigning power is a band of gnomes, ugly inside and out, who worship power and conquest, and needless to say, Snotty admires and falls right in with them. After that comes the fairy-tale-traditional series of transformative events and adventures that ultimately change Snotthy in ways both expected and not. The transformation is doubly unsurprising: first, because that's how fairy tales operate; second, because the academic writer presenting the tale to us has made it plain from the outset (as indeed the very title of both the real book and the nominal fairy tale indicate will happen). Snotty meets the expected series of good-guy companions--animated teddy bears, a living rocking horse, the loyal dog--as well as representatives of the darker side, till we finally reach what Professor Tolkien has called the "eucatastrophe", the explosively wonderful sudden turn of events to a good outcome.

The base fairy tale, published just as itself, would be poor reading, because it is after all in children's language, and is ultimately somewhat saccharine. But that is where the author's wit intervenes, by placing the tale in the invented "academic commentary" framework, which allows us to see it as a parable with adult overtones. Considering it from the topmost level, us actually reading the package, we have what a good fantasy should be: a retelling of some important (if familiar) truths in a manner entertaining enough for us to mind them and absorb them anew. This book amy not make anyone's "All-Time Best 100" lists, but it is an engaging and rewarding read: recommended. ( )