This is a very enjoyable collection of fairy tales, with the original bloody and disturbing endings! I loved reading this book, especially with the art throughout. This would be a wonderful gift for someone who loved fairy tales or horror fans alike!

I knew this was going to be my kind of weird the moment I saw the title. This book is exactly what it says: fairy tales stripped of their cute edits and dipped back in the darkness where they came from. It doesn’t rewrite them—it just reminds you how horrifying they already were.

It’s more fun facts and creepy folklore than full-on horror, but I ate it up. Perfect for bedtime stories you probably shouldn’t be reading at bedtime. If you grew up on the Disney versions and are now a grown-up horror fan looking for context, this one’s worth a flip-through.

Morbid fairy tales. Always nice to read the grim tales. Always recommend and I liked the order these went in. I read them out loud to my boyfriend before bed.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read these agian. I needed that.

The Scary Book of Fairy Tales is an anthology of dark fairy tales from around the world. From Grimms to the Japanese folk tales and even more awesome tales worldwide in between.

I knew most of them already, and I would have been more hooked with less known tales and more rare or unknowns tales but I still liked to reread most of them.

If you like the Grimms' Tales and also the darkish well known slavic (like Baba Yaga), you should be pleased to discover more dark fairy tales and folklore in this edition coming from all over the world.

The illustration are also awesome.

Not my favourite collection but a good start for newcomers in the dark world of fairy tales and dark lores.

The Scary Book of Fairy Tales: The Haunting Endings to 50 of Your Favorite Stories by Tim Rayborn, Neil Evans (Illustrator)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Have you ever read real fairy tales that are far from Disney's version? This is it. Most of these stories were familiar to me, but since they are short, I didn’t mind reading them again. The illustrations were hauntingly beautiful and very fitting for the theme. I wished there had been more of them.

Recommended to any horror fans who want something easy and fast to read. It is also interesting for anyone who hasn’t read the real tales and is interested in them. This has a nice selection, and it is easy to read them all.

Thank you Cider Mill Press for providing this book for review consideration via @netgalley. All opinions are my own.

#netgalley #bookreview #TheScaryBookofFairyTales

This book wasn't anything new for the fairy tale genre, a cute little selection of stories but we have heard them before. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

🌌 Hauntingly Beautiful & Historically Rich
A Must-Have for the Vibe & the Art
Okay but the vibe and illustration inside this book make it a must-have!
I love, love, love the introduction:
“Well these kinds of fairytales were often intended as teaching tools for young children.”
“The world had plenty of its own very real dangers… Cloaking these dangers in fantastical stories only made them more meaningful.”
The introduction points out how early male anthropologists dismissed these vital folk tales as “fairytales” in a condescending way, downplaying their cultural importance. And it makes you wonder: how much have male storytellers and anthropologists contributed to reshaping (or diluting) these stories over time?
💡 In many of these originals, girls are capable, independent, and able to save themselves. Sometimes their motivations are wildly different from what “Disney” or modern retellings tell us. (Example: in The Little Mermaid, she wanted to see the world and gain a soul so she could go to heaven, not for the prince per se. The prince was just a side note.)

🩸 Not Always as “Scary” as the Title Suggests
While the tales do include gruesome details, the title oversells the horror. Many aren’t particularly scary, even considering the age of the children they were told to. I personally prefer the originals because they hold rich lessons, especially around community, family, teamwork, and survival.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience
The audiobook was enchanting. The narrator’s accent when pronouncing names and story origins was spot-on. At normal 1x speed, it works perfectly for younger or older listeners. Each story is short (2–6 minutes), making them excellent bedtime (?) tales.

🖤 The Art: Gothic, Macabre, Stunning
Every story comes with an illustration that’s a standalone work of art. Even “happy” endings are paired with gothic, macabre visuals that perfectly fit the haunting tone. I wish Neil Evans has more credit and we learn more about him than just on the cover of the book.

💭 Final Thoughts
I love that the originals weren’t afraid to be honest: incest, corrupt priests, abusive parents, greed, cannibalism, terrible husbands. Life’s ugly truths were woven in. It’s sad how retellings normalised domestic violence and diminished women’s and girls’ abilities to achieve and survive without a male saviour.
These mostly European folk tales deserve a place back in storytelling, though maybe with some adjustments for the most gruesome acts (looking at you, parents chopping off their kids’ heads and hands). We coddle children now, but the world is still dangerous. Stories can be softened without losing their power as tools for teaching resilience.

Thank you, NetGalley and Cider Mill Press, for the ARC and ALC.

I absolutely love this! I was able to find so many versions of stories I was told (from memory) as a child and it was great to read them and get to have that moment of nostalgia

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I will certainly recommend it to others. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

This collection was a fun read. It was fun seeing the scary side of the fairy tale we have grown to love over the years. It’s perfect for those who are spooky lovers. The only reason it’s not a 5 star was because some of the tales fell a little short for me. But this was definitely a fun read. And I would definitely recommend to any horror fans and spooky lovers. I would have to say that I really liked the Little Mermaid one and the La Llorona one. I would like to read more one La Llorona. I would love to have this in my physical collection so I can reread it.

This is a good compilation of fairy tales with their actual horror endings. I've found not a lot of people actually know that fairy tales are quite dark. That being said, these are not the fairy tales in their entirety. At least not the German ones. These are more of a Spark/Cliff Notes version of them. I grew up listening to the original German fairy tales from the Grimm Brothers in German from my Oma. We had this innocent-looking book with the German fairy tales in all their horrendous glory. I loved them growing up. I would have her read me one or two every night. So kinda dissappointing that these are just the shortened versions. The main jist is there so it gets the point across, but I felt it is lacking.

I also enjoyed the other fairy tales like some of the Russian or Japanese ones. I'm not familiar with those ones so I honestly can't say how much they were shortened or if they were. Overall, this was a quick read and the graphics do convey a horror feeling.

The Scary Book of Fairy Tales edited by Tim Rayborn is an eclectic mix of the familiar and the novel, the spooky and the strange, combining as it does well known and much loved tales like Snow White or Rapunzel with folk tales from around the world like Tatterhood from Norway, The Enchanted Pig from Romania, The Daughter Who Married a Skull from Nigeria or The Boy Devoured by a Stone from the Philippines. The stories are very brief, almost too much so in some cases, it feels like reading a summary rather than the whole story, especially when it comes to the familiar tales I love so well from childhood. In his introduction Rayborn describes how many of the tales have been sanitised over time so that this book takes them back to their darker roots, but I have to say for most of the tales these were the versions I heard growing up, whatever that might say about my parents. I really enjoyed revisiting the old childhood favourites but one of my favourite things was being exposed to stories from other cultures and seeing how many of the themes were universal. I also need to take a moment to praise the beautiful illustrations by Neil Evans, brooding and atmospheric they were perfectly in keeping with the tone of the book and I think they will look spectacular in the print edition.
I read an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

For fairy tales this is an interesting book, I really enjoyed reading all my favourite fairy tales but in horror form, it’s a take that has always interested me. While brothers Grimm do it so week, I really enjoyed this because it included the brothers Grimm, I highly recommend this as a palate cleanser if you need it. I liked it

Honestly, this collection brings nothing new to the table. It's merely a selection of fairy tales that can already be found in existing anthologies and are well-known enough (most of them) that it's not really new that they have a more violent ending than the children's versions. I think the label of Horror is also mis-applied, and readers of the genre will find it objectionable as most of the tales don't really belong in the genre.

(Full review in link.)

The stories were very short and I already knew about a lot of them, but I did enjoy reading about them!

The main thing that I really loved was the illustrations!! I loved looking at them, it was definitely my favourite part of it.

There were some stories that I had heard of but had never actually looked into them, so it was very interesting to learn about them.

A collection of fairy tales from around the world with illustrations. This was a great collection of stories. some I know and some I didn't. a great short read.

Thanks to Netgallery and Cider Mill Press for this ARC.

This is such a fun and dark book about fairy tales and folklore from around the world, showing us that fairytales aren't always light and sweet or for kids.

This is the type of book you cozy up to a fire and a comforting drink. I was delighted to jump into these short stories and see what twists Mr. Rayborn would take me. It was nostalgic to re-read childhood stories that we all grew up on. Only with these stories with an adult twist of morbid. Easy read to jump in and out of and sure to catch you!

Great telling of the classic fairy tales with the gruesome endings and all. Tim is able to bring these tales back to life and keep you on the edge of your seat for a short quick read. These are stories from all across the world and are the authentic versions of the classis we all know and love. Look forward to seeing more of his work.

I loved reading the true endings to these fairy tales. I had read some of the previously, but many of them were brand new to me. Obviously, these are less cheerful than those we grew up on, but they're incredibly interesting.