Doesn't sound like a bad concept to me at all. Who knows how well it's been executed, though.

I guess I'm sick of "bold reimaginings," especially when the synopsis sounds like the author just took some aesthetic hooks from the original work and then grafted a by-the-numbers fantasy novel onto them. Could be worse though.

" in For Freedom Towers Will Wallace is a troubled teen growing up in a Glasgow housing estate. An outsider to the solid citizens, he's a leader to the gang of misfits and ruffians who jokingly calling him 'Chief'. But everything gets serious the day Longshanks Property Development, Ltd. comes to town and sets it's sights on his beloved tower block..."

"Lenny D is the story of a young artist coming to grips with his burgeoning talent, unorthodox sexuality, and love of skateboarding..."

"The Bloodcurdling Slaughter at Styles is a dark journey into the deepest recesses of the crime-obsessed mind of a tiny Belgian..."

Unfortunately I'm an absolute sucker for "bold reimaginings." Give me some Angela Carter, show me Shrek and introduce me to the Lost Girls. It's all good to me. Given the hatchet job the Victorians (and later on - Disney) did on the world's fairy tales I'm more than happy to see Sleeping Beauty being represented as an innocent pulled into a world of Heroin and Tower Blocks.

A lot of it will be by-the-numbers rubbish fiction, but I love the fact that the old stories continue to live on in new ways.

*checks under bed for tiny Belgians intent on mayhem*

Never stray from the path, never eat a windfall apple and never trust a man whose eyebrows meet in the middle.

I have a copy of it, but I haven't read it yet.

I'm afraid I'm with seanyboy, PST. I love reimagined tales. I think reading The Mists of Avalon opened me up to new versions of old stories.

Is there some reason she had to use a title all but indistinguishable from that of a John le Carre novel?

Sorry, he.

To be clear, I think there's a world of difference between something like this and things like Lost Girls, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Wicked, Brian Lumley's Titus Crow books, Neil Gaiman's various reworkings, and so on. This sounds more like American McGee's Alice (and even that had some Carrolish moments, though they were moping and wearing vinyl pants). Making a YA fantasy novel complete with epic battles and lots of angst out of the Alice books seems to completely miss the point of why those stories have endured in the first place.

It's just possible I'm being a bit of a snob, though.