CompleteMartialArts.com - Fitcher's Brides (Fairy Tales)
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List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $14.35
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Manufacturer: Tor Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780765301956
ISBN: 0765301954
Label: Tor Books
Manufacturer: Tor Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2003-12-01
Publisher: Tor Books
Studio: Tor Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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The tale of Bluebeard, reenvisioned as a dark fable of faith and truth
1843 is the “last year of the world,” according the Elias Fitcher, a charismatic preacher in the Finger Lakes district of New York State. He's established a utopian community on an estate outside the town of Jeckyll's Glen, where the faithful wait, work, and pray for the world to end.
Vernelia, Amy, and Catherine Charter are the three young townswomen whose father falls under the Reverend Fitcher’s hypnotic sway. In their old house, where ghostly voices whisper from the walls, the girls are ruled by their stepmother, who is ruled in turn by the fiery preacher. Determined to spend Eternity as a married man, Fitcher casts his eye on Vernelia, and before much longer the two are wed. But living on the man's estate, separated from her family, Vern soon learns the extent of her husband’s dark side. It's rumored that he's been married before, though what became of those wives she does not know. Perhaps the secret lies in the locked room at the very top of the house—the sin-gle room that the Reverend Fitcher has forbidden to her.
Inspired by the classic fairy tales "Bluebeard" and "The Fitcher Bird," this dark fantasy is set in New York State’s “Burned-Over District,” at its time of historic religious ferment. All three Charter sisters will play their part in the story of Fitcher's Utopia: a story of faith gone wrong, and evil coun-tered by one brave, true soul.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Eh....
Comment: This is a retelling of the folk tail of Bluebeard, a man who married and murders two sisters-until the third saves the day. Set in the 1800's with bluebeard being cast as a preacher who supposedly knows the date for the rapture this is a slightly haunting shallow fantasy novel.
I have no strong feelings about this book. It was ok, not great, not terrible. The plot was ok, the writing quite good, and the story well paced and played out-but still there is something quite different about this book.
This book reads like it is a short story. There is no real character development; a lot of major issues go unresolved in the story and the fantasy elements of this book are very vague. Much more could have been done with them, and with the crimes of Fitcher-the bluebeard. Because there is so little development early on it feels like the last 50 pages in the book were just jammed full of the info and hints we should have been getting since page one. The effect is that the ending is abrupt, and does not have any where near the closure it needed.
Long story short-it's an ok book. If you really like short fantasy stories or vague and dreamy books then you'll probably like this. For me, it was just ok.
Three stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disturbing
Comment: I'd like to start this review off by saying that "Fitcher's Brides" was extremely well written. Mr. Frost definitely has a way with words and the scripture passages included were on the dot. However, I found the story to be extremely morbid and disturbing. Even now I have a hard time pushing the gory descriptions from my mind. Having never read either "Bluebeard" or "The Fitcher Bird" I cannot say as to whether or not "Fitcher's Brides" is a good retelling. But, if you enjoy reading about the devil posing as a most holy reverend and preaching that he knows the date of Judgment Day and killing his wives for succumbing to Eve's curiosity and in the end good somewhat triumphing over evil..then this is the book for you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Gorgeously Dark Masterpiece
Comment: This amazing story is based on "Bluebeard" and "Fitcher's Bird", two dark fairy tales that teach the reader about the most evil sides of human nature.
The story here centers around three sisters who live with a harsh stepmother and extremely gullible father, both of whom have fallen under the spell of an evangelistic preacher and obey his every word. When the preacher, Reverend Fitcher, claims that the world will soon end, the three unhappy sisters are forced to move with their family to a new home in a secluded town where, according to Fitcher, they will all await the end of the world together. For a while, things seem to go well: the sisters adjust to their new life and begin to appreciate the seemingly peaceful community that Fitcher has created. Then one night, Fitcher announces at a community meeting that he wishes to marry and he chooses Vern, the eldest of the sisters, for his wife. Vern's parents are thrilled at the honor, of course, so the arrangements are hastily made and the marriage takes place shortly afterward. At first, Fitcher seems to honor and trust Vern; he gives her a ring of keys to every room in the house and tells her she may enter all except one: the room in the attic. For a while she resists the temptation, until her husband's strange behavior prompts her to take matters into her own hands and explore the forbidden room. There, she discovers her husband's true nature, horrors beyond her worst nightmares... and her own terrifying fate.
Reading this incredible story was like looking into the deepest part of evil's black heart; it is the most unbelievable book I've ever read. I highly recommend it to anyone that loves retold fairy tales and/or horror stories. Be warned, though: if you don't usually read horror books, I don't recommend you start with this one. It is incredibly dark and, love it or hate it, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Brides of Death
Comment: A widower, with a little help from his cold-hearted new wife, has fallen under the spell of Elias Fitcher, an apocalyptic preacher who predicts the world will end within the year. Packing up all his earthly belongings, and his three daughters--romantic Vernelia, neurotic Amy, and practical, skeptical Kate--he and his wife move to a tiny village in upstate New York to await the end of days. There, the charming, charismatic, and utterly horrifying Fitcher takes a shine to Vernelia, and sweeps her off her feet in a whirlwind courtship.
It says on the very cover that it's a Bluebeard story, so I'm not spoiling much to say that Vernelia goes mysteriously missing, and Fitcher then marries Amy. When Amy, too, vanishes, it's up to Kate to find out what has happened and stop Fitcher's horrible spree. There's a storm brewing, of course, and the plot goes from atmospherically creepy to nail-biting as the storm rises to fever-pitch. I could have sworn I heard thunder when I discovered Kate's middle name, when she stood up to him as no one had previously done, when she raced against time to stop him from adding her to his collection. Does she survive? Read and see.
Gregory Frost here gives us an unforgettable rendition of one of our darkest fairy tales, a heroine to root for, and a truly terrifying villain. An added bonus is Terri Windling's introduction. Her introductions are always a treat, but she's getting even better, as evidenced first by the fascinating one for White as Snow, and now by the essay she wrote for this novel. She points out, most interestingly, that Perrault's famous version blames Bluebeard's murders on his wives' curiosity and disobedience, but that the older version give us heroines, like Kate, who save themselves by their willingness to question authority and look for answers.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Fallen Brides
Comment: Firstly, let me say this. The book really isn't all that bad. It just really didn't end up as one of my favorites. I thought that was rather too bad, because I was excited about reading, one of the less retold fairy tale stories
I thought the story was slow passed and I didn't like the fact that abuse was such a key plot line in the story.
I honestly don't mind such stories, but I just didn't really care for the way that it was represented.
I found it very little entertaining and thought the writer switched writing sequences quiet a bit.
Not the worst retelling fairy tales that I have ever read, but not the best either.
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