Fairy Tale Friday - a tale review and DRAGONS! Lets talk about dragons

Oh, this is not a meme or something, I just like the sound of it. Fairy Tale Friday. It actually sounds so good, that somone has probably made it in a meme. If so, sorry, it just came to my mind and it sounded cool, I didn't mean to get into anyone's memes. Sooo one of the many challenges I joined is the magical Fairy Tale challenge hosted by Tif Talks Books 
One of the tasks there is to read original fairy tales. For myself, I decided to either check some of the classic-classic storytellers like Grimm for example, in their original form; or to reread some of my fav bulgarian fairy tales. For me, they're way more classic than Show White or the Red Riding Hood. Oh off course I know and love them! But same goes for the others. So in the end I decided to present you some of my favs and most popular bulgarian fairy tales. I'll pick one from the collections of three of the most famous fairy tale collectors, one from each book.
Now I'm staring with my all time, most beloved one:

The Dragon Bride

For this challenge, I read the tale as told by Nikolay Rainov, but as I kid I was told a slightly different variation of it, that I like better, so I will stick with it the way I remember it

So it's a tale about dragons. I love dragons. Oh, c'mon, who doesn't love them.And in this story, he's even the good guy. Well actually it's not exactly a dragon, but a zmey. Our local dragon you may say. Apart from being all snake-dino- likey as all dragons, zmeys can manifeste themsleves as storms, or as young people. How cool is that?

The story starts with a widower with three daughters, who decides to get married again. With his new wife, he has yet another girl child. As most fairy tales go, the stepmother is mean and cruel to the elder girls, and loving only for her own child. They're forced to do all the work around the house, while the father doesn't dare to say a word to his second wife.
One day, while the eldest girl is working outside, it gets dark as if storm is coming, and a young  man, handsome and noble, appears, all in silk and gold, and asks if she would marry him. The girl agrees and he takes her away. Soon after this the same happens to the second dauther, and only the youngest of the three sibling is left.
The furious stepmother gives her the hardest time until one night the third zmey appears. The stepmother tries to hide the girl away and present her own daughter to the noble, but in the end he departs with the youngest of the three. He takes her to his castle where they live happily for some time, surrounded by lots of treasures and servants. The only thing that bothers the young dragon bride is that every day her husband goes to fly over his lands in his dragon form.
After some time passes, the girl forgets who badly she was treated at home, and starts to miss her father. After many perssuasions, her husbands lets her go. She merrily goes with lots of presents, but her jealous stepmother and sister can't be happy for her. They tell her, that if she wants her husband to always stay at home, and never turn into zmey again, all she needs to do is find his dragon skin and burn it while he's asleep in his human form.
The story revoloves around the youngest daughter. She is the most kind hearted - as she doesn't bear any bad feelings, and is the only sister who misses her family. But she is also very naive and follows the other peoples too easily. Here we have one classic fairy tales element, that I find fascinating. zmeys, faes and other creatures turn into humans by removing their skin or their shirt. But it still is part of their self, and if something happens to it, they suffer too. 
The young woman does as she's told, but the moment she throws the dragon skin into the fire, her husband wakes up from burning pain. He gets the half burnt skin and flies away. On his wife's pleas he answers, that she will find him again only if searches for 9 years, goes through 9 kingdoms, pass 9 rivers and 9 mountains, wears off one pair of iron shoes and breaks one iron cane.
We got lots of 9s and 3s here, and in school they looooved getting in our heads how important those numbers are. The "through 9 into the tenth" narration is often used in many tales too
After 3 years (and 3 kingdoms and so on, you get the picture) our heroine makes her way to where her eldest sister now lives. At first the sister gets a little angry at her foolishness, but promise the help of her husband. However, even if he flies  with all the winds, he never heard of the whereabouts of his brother-zmey. The dragon bride is desperate, but her sister gives her 3 golden apples and tells her not to lose hope. Three years later, similar situation with the second sister, DH couldn't help. Before she leaves, she recieves as a parting gift a golden spindle.
The 9 years pass, the cane breaks and shoes wear off, but the desperate bride still can;t find her dragon husband. In the tenth kingdom she stops to help an old woman. As a thank you she recieves a little bird with a beautiful voice.The old lady tells her to beware the evil queen who takes whatever she wants. 9 years ago a hurt dragon came to the palace, the queen used her potions and now he follows her every order without remebering who he was,
The bride instantly sees that this is her husband. Using the golden apples, the spindle and the sweet-voiced bird she makes her way in the castle. The moment she touches her dragon, the magic breaks. All is good and forgiven, they get back to their kingdom and live happily ever after, Yay!!!
As I said, this is one of my most beloved fairy tales, and one of the few I know with "good dragons"Zmeys are kinda assosiated with the wild and somewhat destructive sides of nature. They tend to fall in love with human girls, and are often selfish in their love. In most cases "to be loved by a dragon" is treated like a curse and sickness that can be cured only by the true love of a mortal man.And of course, the cases when the dragon simply wants to have a snack with the maiden.
This tale also has lots of symbols, that I don't plan to get into. I think it's a beautiful tale about love, about growing up and never giving up.
There are several other variations of this tale that I know of. In one she asks the sun, the moon and the wind on her way and recieve the items from them. In the Raynov's variation I just read, it all begins with a baby-zmey who is brought up by human parents; and also, his tale goes on with another story line that I know as a separate story.

Do you know this story? Maybe in a different way? Fairy tales like to travel and change on their way. And what about dragons? You love them, right, right?!? Do you have any classic dragon tales from where you live?

Hosted by Tif Talks Books

Едно от многото читателски предизвикателства, в които се навих да участвам, е за вълшебни приказки. И класически, и модерни, че и филмчета даже. Кой не обича приказки :)) Много се чудех какви да подхвана, дали да не потърся оригиналните варианти на някои от класиките на Братя Грим (от онези, страшните), но в крайна сметка реших да си припомня някои от любимите си български приказки.

И започвам с най-най-най любимата си, Змейова невеста
Сигурна съм, че като цяло приказката я знаете :)))
Сега прочетох този вариант по Николай Райнов, който обаче се различава от този, който аз си спомням и най-много си харесвам.
В моите спомени, Змейовата невеста има общо три сестри - две собствени и една доведена, като другите и две собствени сестри също се омъжват за змейове. След като доведената сестра я подлъгва да изгори змейската кожа, при пътуването си през 9 земи в десета, тя получава помощ от тях. Иначе пак по същия начин намира мъжа си и се промъква в двореца със златните ябълки, хурката и птичето...  и историята свършва, след като развали магията на змея. Събират се, и живеят дълго и щастливо. А май за пръв път останалото го виждам залепено за тази приказка. Иначе историята за момичето, което когато се усмихва, трендафил цъфти на устата му, а когато плаче, рони бисери, си я знам.

Сега докато пишех горното на английски, и си мислех колко са готини нашите змейове. Много си падам по разни истории с дракони, а нашите змейове са даже по-готини. По мултифункциални са :D  Кеф ти динозавър, кеф ти гадже, кеф ти хала. Хм, като цяло тези три характеристики и у други герои могат да се намерят накуп.
А вие дракончета обичате ли :)))

А поне вицове за змейове?
Връща се змеят късно у дома и булката му го почва от вратата:
-Къде ходиш бе, гиди горянино, пак ли си висял по кръчмите!?! Я ми дъхни!
Накратко, глупава, нелепа смърт...

[Book Review] The Replacement

You remember, some time ago I told you that I'll be writing some book review as part of the book challenges, and asked you wether you want them here or I should keep them hidden in the Shelfari? Well noone objected (and now is too late mwahaha) and some people even said "bring it on". But before I start, I want to point some things out:
*The majority of books I read are translated. A credit should be given to the translator, as a good translation can add a lot to a book, and a bad wan can ruin it
* Many of those books are written originaly in English. I read them in Bulgarian. And now you'll be reading  my thoughts about it again in English. I'll try to do my homework and check for names, places and such, but as I usually don't have a copy of the original, some things may get lost. When talking about books more than ever I compare the thngs I write in English with the one in Bulgarian, and the English version often seems a little plain, like in places you just can't find the right word, and it annoys me. But again, I'll give you my best
*I've never tried to make a book review "for real" , even if I like to read various book blogs. Also, I'm terrible about spoilers. You read that? BEWARE there might be SPOILERS! I just don't know my measure. I don't know if there's a proper way to do things, but I guess a step in the right way would be to stob babling this and start typing the actual thing.

Original title: The Replacement
Author: Brena Yovanoff
Genre: teen horror, YA, urban fantasy, supernatural
"One of the best teen horror books for 2010" says the cover

And this is the story of...

                                ...Mackie, who is a replacement. Sixteen years ago, the real Mackie Doyle was taken and a fey child was left in his place. The replacement from the underworld lives and grows up among the humans, but slowly dying in this world. Mackie is constantly wary of iron, of blood and of consecrated ground. And of people who may find out what hides behind his impossibly black eyes. Because nothing good awaits those exposed as replacements in this town where cildren dissappear, people keep amulets and bells at their doors, don't like to go out at dark, and pretend everything is perfectly all right.
     So all that Mackie wants is to keep it low. But with his sickness going for the worse, and the baby sister of his classmate dissappearing , he will have to brace up and go under the hills, where dark creatures await and crave for worship and blood


First impressions:
     I spotted the cover of this book on the internet back in 2010 and loved it.  And I loved the title too, which is more important, as it matters more to me than the cover when choosing a book. Unfortunately, it wasn't published here yet, so I more or less forgot about it, but kept the mental image of the book, and when in the beginning of this year I spotted it on the bookshelves, I made a squee sound and promptly bought it.

And now after I read it...
     I am left a little dissapointed, because I think the storyline had way more potential. It is more definitely a teen novel. Gee, not that I'm acting old or something, but I think that if I had read this in the second year of high school and not the seconf year of university, I'd be more excited about it. It has it strong points. An old legend with a modern twist, something I always like. I liked how the Underworld was divided to the House of Mayhem ruled by Morrigan, who I can imagine in all her creepiness, and the House of Misery, ruled by the Lady. I liked the relationship between Mackie and his best friend, Roswell and also between Mackie and his father and especially  older sister. I think it was a very good call for his friends and family to accept him from the beginning to the end even knowing/suspecting who he is. And the thing I liked about the ending was that he's allowed and excepted in both worlds (without the Hannah Montana song in the background please!) without having to chose
    as for the things that didn't win me. This being a teen novel, the romantic story line is obviously a must, and here it was in my opinion, quite poor. Both romantic interests of Mackie - Alice - the pretties girl in the school and so on bla bla bla - and Tate - the sister of the missing child, which instantly qualifies her for the role of the real love, were both quite flat characters. Didn't enjoy it. I'd rather cut out that attempt for a love triangle at one place and replace it more explaining of the relationships between the two Sister Houses and between the Underworld and the World above. About how everyone was dealing with the situations. Also, the conclusion. Just like that? The girl beat the Cutter with a metal rod, and Mackie stabbed the lady with a kitchen knife. Where's my epicness? There could have been more to it.

Wow, am I being a mean reviwer? I hope not. I'm giving the Replacement 4 stars out of 5. And I want to add that if this ever gets filmed and with a good director, it can make a great movie, especially as I think there is a lot to show on visual level (at least in my head, it is so)


Thanks for reading, and if this book has crossed your way, I'd love to read what you think of it.

I read this book as part of the Horror/Triller reading challenge at Sweeping me  Where, just btw, you can always find book giveaways too.

Edit: This book also goes to the following challenges:
The fairy tale challenge - for the modern fairy tale category because it uses the fairy tale basis of fae stealing children and replacing them with their own kind
YA challenge
Book in Translation  - tanslated form English to Bulgarian
New Authors - first time reading Brean Yovanoff
Immortal Reading challenge - goes to the fae books


Now I will have my cup of tea, watch the Grimm episode I missed last night, and the write a translation of all the above. But first tea, and hopefuly, Monroe

After the ep: and so this episode gave the final unmistakable proof that Nick and Monroe are now best friends. Nick calls in the dead of night and asks him to bring a shovel. Monroe doesn't ask stupid questions and just proposes they pack the heads and send them via air mail.
~~~~~

След кратка почивка за чайче и последния епизод на Грим, цялото словоизлияние отгоре ще бъде преведено, честна блогърска! Само първо чайчето, и по възможност, Монро.
              

  И така.. след като последният епизод даде неоспоримо доказателство, че Ник и Монро вече са най-добри приятели - среднощното повикване да дойдеш и да носиш лопата винаги е било доста точен тест, можем да се върнем към първоначалната тема. Преди известно  време бях предупредила, че във връзка с няколко предизвикателства тук ще трябва да се  появят малко ревюта на книги. И така, без да имам каквито и да било претенции, че ме бива в ревюирстването, който глагол пък измислих преди няколко часа, ето го и първото, посветено на следната книга (но се пазете от СПОЙЛЕРИ)

Подмененият
от Брена Йованоф
Жанр: тийн хорър, янг адълт, мистерия, свръхестевено

Накратко, това е историята на...
                                           Маки, който е подменен. Преди 16 години истинският Маки Дойл е бил изнесен през нощта, а на негово място съществата от долния свят оставят едно от своите. Този подменен Маки остава да живее и расте в света на хората, макар от година на година тайнствената му болест да става все по несъвместима с нормалния живот. Той трябва да бъде непрекъснато нащрек за желязо, за кръв, за осветени предмети, както и за хора, които могат да накарат тайната му да излезе наяве. Защото нищо добро не чака тези, изобличени като подмени, в град Гентри, където изчезват деца, хората окачат подкови и звънчета по вратите, страхуват се да излизат много по тъмно и се преструват, че всичко е наред.
      Единственото, което Маки иска, е да остане незабележим. Но когато болестта му става все по-явна, а сестричката на негова съученичка е подменена, на Маки не му остава друго освен да слезе под хълмовете, където тъмни твари живеят от почит и кръв.







Първи впечатления

Тази книжка ми привлече вниманието със заглавието и корицата си още през 2010 някъде из интернета. Най-вече със заглавието, макар че и корицата си е интересна. Тогава още не беше издадена тук и я позабравих. Но си остана в някое задно кътче от съзнанието ми, и когато по-рано тази година я зърнах, веднага я награбих и я отнесох долу на касата



След като я прочетох...
     останах малко разочарована, защото според мен историята имаше повече потенциал. Определено си е тийн роман - хич и не напирам за възраст, но ако я бях прочела втората година от гимназията вместо втори курс в университета, сигурно щеше да ми допадне доста повече. Има си добрите страни. Стара приказка в модерен прочит, нещо, което винаги ми допада. Интересно ми беше как конфликтът е не толкова между горния и долния свят, колкото между двата Дома - на Яростта предвождан от Мориган, и на Мизерията, в който властва Господарката. Изобщо описанията и случващото се в Долния беше почти винаги интересно, за разлика обаче от описанията за горе. Харесаха ми отношенията на Маки с приятелите и семейството му, особено Розуел и голямата му сестра. От тях той е приет, въпреки че от началото още знаят или подозират за произхода му. А също така ми хареса, че накрая Маки бе приет като част от двата свята без да му се налага да избира _(макар че това се очакваше, но да не би да трябва да е все неочаквано, за да се хареса?)
     Някои неща от книгата обаче определено не ме спечелиха. Тъй като си е тийн история, ясно беше, че ще се върти и нещо романтично. Тук обаче тази сюжетна линия беше доста зле. И двата любовни интереса на Маки - Алис - най-хубавото момиче в училището и т.н- блаблабла - и Тейт - която пък е сестра на изчезналото момиченце, което моментално я прави кандидат за истинската му изгора - и двата персонажа ми стоят едни такива скучни, недовършени... А пък опитът за любовен триъгълник с удоволствие бих го разменила (както и още сцени от горния свят, равняващи се на поне 40-50 страници), за още сцени долу, или за вътрешна информация за отношенията между двата дома, между долния и горния свят. А пък завършекът. Пребиха мъжа на господарката с железен лост, а нея с кухненски нож. Е, и после с единия нокът. Ама се надявах на нещо по-така.




  
                  И така, не стана много представително ревю, но след полунощ са се появявали много по-непредставителни неща, и със сигурност с по-лоши правопис и пунктуация. А на "Подмененият" давам 4 звездички от 5. Защото си беше интересно, бързо четиво. А ако мозъчето ми не правеше непрекъснато паралели с една от многобройните сюжетни линии от "Американски богове", може би щях да му добавя още няколко стотни отгоре. Но за Нийл Геймън някой друг път.
А между другото, мисля, че с кадърни сценаристи и режисьори, от това би могъл да излезе хубав филм, особено на визуално ниво, защото според мен има какво да се покаже (или поне в главата ми нещата стоят така)

И така, благодаря за вниманието , дами и господа :D А ако тази книга някога ви е пресичала пътя, и имате нещо да кажете по въпроса, с удоволствие бих го прочела :)