What would happen if an author went back to the darker themes of the original fairy tales for his plots, and then crossed the Disney princesses with Charlie?s Angels? What?s delivered is The Stepsister Scheme?a whole new take on what happened to Cinderella and her prince after the wedding. And with Jim C. Hines penning the tale readers can bet it won?t be ?and they lived happily ever after.?
The Stepsister Scheme (PRINCESS NOVELS)
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About the Author
Jim C. Hines has been a paid juggler, earned a black belt in two different marital arts, performed yo-yo tricks at the top of the Eiffel Tower, and lived with a brain-damaged squirrel. (Only three of those are true.) One of his earliest stories earned first place in the Writers of the Future contest. He’s published more than forty short stories as well as numerous fantasy novels, including the humorous Jig the Dragonslayer trilogy, the Princess series, which re-imagines traditional fairy-tale princesses as butt-kicking action heroines, and the Magic Ex Libris series, about a centuries-old secret society dedicated to the use and control of book magic. In 2012, he won the Hugo for Best Fan Writer. Jim lives in Michigan with his wife, two children, and an unstable number of pets. He can be found online at www.jimchines.com.
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More About the Author
Jim C. Hines' latest book is LIBRIOMANCER, a modern-day fantasy about a magic-wielding librarian, a dryad, a secret society founded by Johannes Gutenberg, a flaming spider, and an enchanted convertible. He's also the author of the PRINCESS series of fairy tale retellings as well as the humorous GOBLIN QUEST trilogy. His short fiction has appeared in more than 40 magazines and anthologies. Jim lives in Michigan with his wife and two children. He's currently hard at work on CODEX BORN, the second book in the MAGIC EX LIBRIS series. Online, he can be found at http://www.jimchines.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 53 people found the following review helpful
By C. Vandehey
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Danielle De Glas, aka Princess Whiteshore, aka Cinderella, is having a hard time adjusting to palace life. She loves her prince, Armand, but going from the life of a slave to that of princess isn't easy. To complicate matters, three months after her wedding, Danielle is attacked by her stepsister, Charlotte. The assassination attempt fails, but Charlotte escapes - after telling Danielle she'll never see her beloved Armand again.
This is the set up. Danielle, along with two other princesses (Snow White and Talia, aka Sleeping Beauty), must rescue her prince. Along the way, the true histories of all three princesses are revealed, vs. the "tales" circulating about them. Hines makes excellent use of the darker versions of these fairy tales, rather than the dressed up happily-ever-after versions we are more familiar with.
I love fairy tales, retold fairy tales, and twisted fairy tales - and this book tops my list. Unable to put it down for long, I finished it in one day, and at the end, I turned the last page hoping for more. Very real, well drawn characters draw you in to the story, and fantastic descriptions, world building, adventure, and emotion keep you glued to the pages. At times, I was reminded of movies like Labyrinth or the Dark Crystal (for setting). Shades of Ever After, as well, but I say these only as a passing feeling of nostalgic warm fuzzies (all movies I liked or loved to one degree or another). This book stands completely on its own. Touches like Snow's snowflake "throwing stars" or Danielle's glass sword are unique and perfect for the story Hines is telling. I kept turning pages, not only for the story, but to see what lovely little bits of scenery Hines would include next.
Not quite as funny as his Goblin books, but then, this is a different kind of story (and goblins do, briefly, make a small appearance.) But there's still plenty of humor (three fairy tale princesses kicking butt and taking names!) The world felt fantastically real, and so did the characters. Each princess has a unique personality, partly shaped by the events of her story, as our experiences shape us. Well done, Mr. Hines, and may I say, I sincerely hope this isn't the last we'll be seeing of Danielle, Snow, and Talia.
I eagerly await the next in the series, Mermaid's Madness, and highly recommend The Stepsister Scheme. It's quite different from anything else out there.
Edited to add: Mr. Hines has confirmed that Danielle, Talia and Snow are the main protagonists of the series!
This is the set up. Danielle, along with two other princesses (Snow White and Talia, aka Sleeping Beauty), must rescue her prince. Along the way, the true histories of all three princesses are revealed, vs. the "tales" circulating about them. Hines makes excellent use of the darker versions of these fairy tales, rather than the dressed up happily-ever-after versions we are more familiar with.
I love fairy tales, retold fairy tales, and twisted fairy tales - and this book tops my list. Unable to put it down for long, I finished it in one day, and at the end, I turned the last page hoping for more. Very real, well drawn characters draw you in to the story, and fantastic descriptions, world building, adventure, and emotion keep you glued to the pages. At times, I was reminded of movies like Labyrinth or the Dark Crystal (for setting). Shades of Ever After, as well, but I say these only as a passing feeling of nostalgic warm fuzzies (all movies I liked or loved to one degree or another). This book stands completely on its own. Touches like Snow's snowflake "throwing stars" or Danielle's glass sword are unique and perfect for the story Hines is telling. I kept turning pages, not only for the story, but to see what lovely little bits of scenery Hines would include next.
Not quite as funny as his Goblin books, but then, this is a different kind of story (and goblins do, briefly, make a small appearance.) But there's still plenty of humor (three fairy tale princesses kicking butt and taking names!) The world felt fantastically real, and so did the characters. Each princess has a unique personality, partly shaped by the events of her story, as our experiences shape us. Well done, Mr. Hines, and may I say, I sincerely hope this isn't the last we'll be seeing of Danielle, Snow, and Talia.
I eagerly await the next in the series, Mermaid's Madness, and highly recommend The Stepsister Scheme. It's quite different from anything else out there.
Edited to add: Mr. Hines has confirmed that Danielle, Talia and Snow are the main protagonists of the series!
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
To be honest, I'm always a bit wary of books that take fairy tales as source materials. Too often, I've found, they fall into a few typical traps. One is they become enslaved by the structure of one cute explanation/cute twist per each plot point of the original fairy tale, so that the twists themselves become predictable: beat one, two, twist, beat one, two, twist. Another is they become so enamored in the humor aspect of their "humorous retelling" that they lose sight of the "telling" aspect--so the plot is unoriginal and dull. Another is that they think the reader brings the character to the story so they don't need to bother with actual characterization.
I'm happy to say that Jim Hine's new book, The Stepsister Scheme, sidesteps all these pitfalls nicely and is a thoroughly enjoyable and intelligent novel, one that returns to the darker roots of fairy tales rather than the later "prettied up" versions. The story opens soon after Princess Danielle (Cinderella) has wed her Prince (currently off on a trip). One of her stepsisters, wielding unexpected magic, tries to kill her but is prevented by Talia (Sleeping Beauty), whose birth gifts of fairy graces has turned her into a perfect warrior (if not a particularly cheery one). Before escaping, Danielle's sister lets her know that her husband Prince Armand has been kidnapped. Soon, Danielle and Talia, joined by Snow White wielding her evil stepmother's mirror magic, head off to Fairyland, where it seems Armand is being held. Fairyland is a dangerous place for mortals though, despite an uneasy truce signed long ago when the two races nearly fought each to extinction.
Throwing the three women together was a masterstroke, allowing him three times the material to play with. It also lets him show different possible readings/incarnations of the same old passive fairy tale "heroine". Talia is sleek and killer cold, and at the start it doesn't seem like there's much beyond that, though of course there is, and hers is probably the richest characterization. Danielle begins the book in her Cinderella mindset, figuring out what best removes stains from her clothes for instance (something her servants are for), and must round out into a queenly stature by the time all is said and done. The movement is realistically slow and back and forth. Snow is presented as curvaceous and flirty (and flighty), though like Talia there's more beneath her surface; though her characterization isn't as rich or subtle as the other two, it's still nicely three-dimensional, especially toward the end.
Plot-wise, Hine's first smart decision was to dump the idea of treading over age-old material by having his story take place after "and they lived happily ever after". We do, of course, get the backstories that fill in Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella's fairy tales, but by withholding that information and dribbling it out in flashback form, Hines is forced to come up with an immediate and original plot, along with strong characters, to hold the reader's attention. And those backstories are startlingly different, as well as darker than one might expect. Hines isn't simply playing "fill in the blank" with the stories we know so well; he's using them to reveal the origin's of character--a much more interesting choice. The story itself is pretty straightforward but never clichéd: fairyland is the mix of beauty and cruelty, order and capriciousness that one imagines it must be when it isn't Disney-fied. We meet a troll who is actually troll-like rather than troll-lite, evil stepmothers and sisters who actually are evil and not just temporarily mean, and the story encompasses defeats as well as victories. As well, it takes time, and though time passes quickly in the way a writer can make it ("it had already been three weeks . . . "), Hines at least makes time pass--the quest isn't a weekend jaunt.
The Stepsister Scheme, as seems required in fantasy nowadays, is the beginning of several books, though at least this one stands completely and happily on its own. As wary as I am of fairy-tale books, I'm even more wary of a series of them as it's so easy to go to the well too often. But skeptical as I might be, I'd be happy to try the next one based on how pleasantly surprised I was by the first. Happily recommended.
I'm happy to say that Jim Hine's new book, The Stepsister Scheme, sidesteps all these pitfalls nicely and is a thoroughly enjoyable and intelligent novel, one that returns to the darker roots of fairy tales rather than the later "prettied up" versions. The story opens soon after Princess Danielle (Cinderella) has wed her Prince (currently off on a trip). One of her stepsisters, wielding unexpected magic, tries to kill her but is prevented by Talia (Sleeping Beauty), whose birth gifts of fairy graces has turned her into a perfect warrior (if not a particularly cheery one). Before escaping, Danielle's sister lets her know that her husband Prince Armand has been kidnapped. Soon, Danielle and Talia, joined by Snow White wielding her evil stepmother's mirror magic, head off to Fairyland, where it seems Armand is being held. Fairyland is a dangerous place for mortals though, despite an uneasy truce signed long ago when the two races nearly fought each to extinction.
Throwing the three women together was a masterstroke, allowing him three times the material to play with. It also lets him show different possible readings/incarnations of the same old passive fairy tale "heroine". Talia is sleek and killer cold, and at the start it doesn't seem like there's much beyond that, though of course there is, and hers is probably the richest characterization. Danielle begins the book in her Cinderella mindset, figuring out what best removes stains from her clothes for instance (something her servants are for), and must round out into a queenly stature by the time all is said and done. The movement is realistically slow and back and forth. Snow is presented as curvaceous and flirty (and flighty), though like Talia there's more beneath her surface; though her characterization isn't as rich or subtle as the other two, it's still nicely three-dimensional, especially toward the end.
Plot-wise, Hine's first smart decision was to dump the idea of treading over age-old material by having his story take place after "and they lived happily ever after". We do, of course, get the backstories that fill in Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella's fairy tales, but by withholding that information and dribbling it out in flashback form, Hines is forced to come up with an immediate and original plot, along with strong characters, to hold the reader's attention. And those backstories are startlingly different, as well as darker than one might expect. Hines isn't simply playing "fill in the blank" with the stories we know so well; he's using them to reveal the origin's of character--a much more interesting choice. The story itself is pretty straightforward but never clichéd: fairyland is the mix of beauty and cruelty, order and capriciousness that one imagines it must be when it isn't Disney-fied. We meet a troll who is actually troll-like rather than troll-lite, evil stepmothers and sisters who actually are evil and not just temporarily mean, and the story encompasses defeats as well as victories. As well, it takes time, and though time passes quickly in the way a writer can make it ("it had already been three weeks . . . "), Hines at least makes time pass--the quest isn't a weekend jaunt.
The Stepsister Scheme, as seems required in fantasy nowadays, is the beginning of several books, though at least this one stands completely and happily on its own. As wary as I am of fairy-tale books, I'm even more wary of a series of them as it's so easy to go to the well too often. But skeptical as I might be, I'd be happy to try the next one based on how pleasantly surprised I was by the first. Happily recommended.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
For those who don't know, Jim C. Hines's previous "Jig The Goblin" series (starting with Goblin Quest) is one of the best sendups of fantasy roleplaying games ever. If you have ever played any D&D or the like, you must read them. But ... The Stepsister Scheme is NOT the same sort of book at all.
That's not to say it's not funny, because it is. However, it's not a fairytale parody. Instead, it's a full-on action adventure that reimagines the fairytale world and characters. The closest thing to it that I know of is actually Buffy The Vampire Slayer (the series, not the movie). The humor abounds, and the irony even more so, but the book itself is "played straight".
If you only know the Disney version of these fairytale princesses then you may be a little surprised by some of the details revealed about their "true" stories. However, cruising even something like Wikipedia will reveal the older and darker tales that Hines uses for backstory. For instance, the original Sleeping Beauty was named Talia, and yes, the king that found her asleep did a bit more than just kiss her awake.
So don't expect the book to be as lighthearted as the Jig stories. Instead, you must expect that there are some painful and emotionally challenging scenes. But there is also a lot of fun and adventure, with swords and spells flying back and forth freely. And the kiss of a true love can still break the evil enchantments. It's just that you might not be expecting who the true loves end up being....
This is not, by the way, a book I would recommend for young kids. Teens should be fine, but it's really aimed at the adult audience. Again, I would compare it to Buffy TVS in this respect.
It's worth reading, and I look forward to the next two already-announced books in the series.
That's not to say it's not funny, because it is. However, it's not a fairytale parody. Instead, it's a full-on action adventure that reimagines the fairytale world and characters. The closest thing to it that I know of is actually Buffy The Vampire Slayer (the series, not the movie). The humor abounds, and the irony even more so, but the book itself is "played straight".
If you only know the Disney version of these fairytale princesses then you may be a little surprised by some of the details revealed about their "true" stories. However, cruising even something like Wikipedia will reveal the older and darker tales that Hines uses for backstory. For instance, the original Sleeping Beauty was named Talia, and yes, the king that found her asleep did a bit more than just kiss her awake.
So don't expect the book to be as lighthearted as the Jig stories. Instead, you must expect that there are some painful and emotionally challenging scenes. But there is also a lot of fun and adventure, with swords and spells flying back and forth freely. And the kiss of a true love can still break the evil enchantments. It's just that you might not be expecting who the true loves end up being....
This is not, by the way, a book I would recommend for young kids. Teens should be fine, but it's really aimed at the adult audience. Again, I would compare it to Buffy TVS in this respect.
It's worth reading, and I look forward to the next two already-announced books in the series.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
worthwhile
I'd been meaning to get around to reading this author, ever since I saw him taking on female character poses from science fiction and fantasy book covers. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Angie
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
From my blog On Starships and Dragonwings
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines is a fresh spin on what happens after the happily ever after of various Grimm fairy... Read more
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines is a fresh spin on what happens after the happily ever after of various Grimm fairy... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Anya
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than I could have expected
I have never read Jim Hines before - and I have avoided this book on the cover alone - but then, once reading a review without the cover photo it sounded interesting and by... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Joe
5.0 out of 5 stars
A really nice fairytale
This is the kind of faytale I want my children to read: feminist, non-heteronormative, enjoyable. The story kept me reading over and over. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Maria Clara
5.0 out of 5 stars
An adult fairy tale - how awesome!
Jim Hines has taken a great stand on a classic tale. Nice to see something that is not the same old same old! Read more
Published 3 months ago by MishVMD
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boring for young adults
Not realistic for our princess's snow white a sorceress, sleeping beauty a kung fu artist, and then the main character - Boring
Published 4 months ago by pamela case
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fresh romp
A fun blending of familiar tales that offers a glimpse at the dark side of fairy gifts. Immensely enjoyable, though I was dissatisfied with lingering loose ends. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Gina S
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fresh take on fairy tale retellings, 3.5 stars...
I adore fairy tales, and am always on the lookout for fairy tale retellings that seek to breathe fresh life into the bones of a classic, well-known tale. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ruth Anderson
4.0 out of 5 stars
A twist
Pretty good plot line with a really cool twist on the three fairy tale princesses pasts. There is some nice humor and the plot is pretty good.
Published 5 months ago by Steven Bennett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great take on old classic heroines
I loved the way Hines portrayed the princesses I grew up watching in a new and very entertaining way. His take on them and the world he created was fantastic!!! Read more
Published 6 months ago by Christina Leigh Pritchard
