The Sleeper and the Spindle

I love when Gaiman does Fairy Tales. He takes what we know, studies it, and builds something new and beautiful. It's never ham-fisted like say making Cinderella into a girl power tale about the French revolution while (stupid revivals) or overdone (look... another Alice and Wonderland epic battle scene), and it's never exactly what you'd expect. One of my favorite short stories of his is “Snow, Glass, Apples,” a vision of a very differen Snow White through the eyes of the queen.

This is (luckily) not the Snow White of that story, but a new creation who then steps out of her epilogue and into Sleeping Beauty's. She is referred to only as “The Queen” and is a strong, stalwart queen without slipping into character. Essentially, the book follows her choices which mirror the big choice of returning to her castle and sleepwalking the rest of her life or fighting off a land of eternal sleep. It's all the stuff of dreams, and that is Gaiman's wheelhouse.

I read the story before when it was collected in “Trigger Warning,” but I highly recommend the Chris Riddell illustrated version. The pictures add a depth and elegance to the story, and I found myself staring at even the tiniest illustrations noticing all the little details snuck into each panel. Riddell is a master illustrator and his collaborations with Gaiman are becoming some of my favorite.

If you like new twists on old stories and are tired of the same twists over and over again, you can't go wrong with this one. Even if you have “Trigger Warning,” you'll probably at least want to keep this version on your shelf. It's just too pretty to not appreciate.