As the title suggests, this is a dark re-working of Hans Christian Anderson's frivolous and amoral tale, 'The Tinder-box'. Gardner's version is a much more harrowing account told by a traumatised young soldier, Otto Hundebiss, during the Thirty Years War. On his travels he encounters a beautiful young princess called Safire, werewolves, and the truly terrifying witch, ‘The Lady of the Nail’.
Princesses, werewolves and witches, oh my!
Indeed, there are no dogs with eyes as big as teacups here. What attracted me to this book was the large white wolf on the cover (yes, yes, I know you shouldn't judge a book and all that...). Instantly, my Angela Carter radar was up, and then as soon as I read the blurb and saw it was a fairy tale - well I knew this was love at first sight.
And Gardner did not let me down. Her dark, poetic prose definitely stuck me as Carter-esque, and as I listened to the audiobook, I got completely lost in the rhythm of her words. Another similarity was the idea that the worst wolves are hairy on the inside - the real monsters in this book are those men that torture and rape and slaughter in the name of war.
And they all lived happily ever after
Erm, not quite. This isn't a fairy tale for small children, this a fairy tale for young adults, written as a stark warning about the terrible, traumatising effects of war. In an interview with The Independent, Gardner said of her novel, "I’d love it to be an anti-war book and make young men think twice before going off to ruin their lives. I don’t think war is glorious. I think it’s one of the biggest disasters of mankind and nothing to be celebrated. It does and always will do exactly what it has always done out of the cook book – it only makes one recipe, which is torture, murder, mayhem, disease and disaster". Whereas Anderson's protagonist literally gets away with murder, Hundebiss, for all his youth and naïveté... Well, you'll just have to read it to find out how things work out for him!
Is it any good?
I certainly think so. In terms of fairy tale, werewolves, coming of age, creepy villains, magic and ritual, this book ticks all my boxes, and I adored Gardner's lyrical language. As with Carter though, I can also see how this may not be for everyone - the rich description, the fanciful content, and the emotional roller-coaster of a lovesick child soldier may make for a pudding that is “excessively egged” to some palates.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Since finishing the audiobook, I've now discovered that the print version has over one hundred black and white illustrations, with the occasional gory flash of red, sprinkled throughout the tale, which I think must add a great deal to the overall tone and atmosphere. Needless to say, I shall definitely be acquiring a 'real' copy, as there's only one thing better than a book, and that’s a beautiful one!
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| Otto and Safire |
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