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WoGF Review: Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Guest Blogger, Allie McCarn (Allie), reviews science fiction and fantasy books on her blog Tethyan Books. She has contributed many great book reviews to WWEnd including several Grand Master reviews featured in our blog. Allie has just kicked off a new blog series for WWEnd called New Voices where she’ll be reviewing the debut novels of relatively new authors in the field.
Editor’s note: This review was submitted on the last day of May and counts for the May challenge poll.
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
Published: Tor, 1992
Awards Nominated: Nebula, World Fantasy, and Locus Fantasy Awards
The Book:
”The fairy tale Briar Rose held a special significance to Becca’s grandmother, Gemma. She told it constantly to her grandchildren, and it became clear that she considered herself the princess in the story. Though her telling differed in some respects to the commonly accepted version, Rebecca always preferred to hear the story from her grandmother.
When Gemma died, Becca and her family realized that they knew very little about her. Her life before she arrived in the United States during WWII was shrouded in mystery, to the point where her family didn’t even know her original name. Rebecca has few clues to work with, but she’s determined to uncover the mystery of her grandmother’s past.” ~Allie
I am kind of surprised that this book appears to be classified as fantasy, since I would probably have called it mainstream YA fiction. I think it will still count as genre fiction, though, since it has won several fantasy awards. Therefore, this is my May novel for the Women of Genre Fiction challenge at WWEnd, and also a review for the Once Upon a Time Challenge (fairy tale category).
