This started out well but it felt rushed at the end, like the author may have been up against a deadline. After I read the acknowledgments, I liked the story more. Her reasons for writing the story are exciting, so I recommend reading her notes to give you a full picture of what she was trying to do. But I wish she had spent as much time developing the middle and ending of the story as she did developing the beginning.

http://carmengirl.tumblr.com/post/56073665704/raven-girl-by-audrey-niffenegger ( )

My feelings about this book are not really transferable to the rating system. I love Audrey Niffenegger's work, in all its book arts glory, and yet this one was too weird for me. Possibly because of the peculiar implied bestiality, it went places I did not want to follow it, for purposes I still do not comprehend. What, now? ( )

A short fairy tale, devised with dance in mind. It worked well. ( )

The Raven Girl, by Audrey Niffenegger, is a beautifully illustrated new fairytale. As the author states in her acknowledgement pages, “Fairytales have their own remorseless logic and their own rules. Raven Girl, like many much older tales, is about the education and transformation of a young girl. It also concerns unlikely lovers, metamorphoses, dark justice, and a prince, as well as the modern magic of technology and medicine. So here is the new fairytale...”

Fairytales teach us about love and loss, friendship and betrayal, lessons learned and unlearned, choices and consequences. Neil Gaiman said, “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

Fairytales, whether old and preserved or new and freshly hatched, remind us that magic exists in the world if only we know where to look for it. For many, it is the closest they come to encountering magic in their everyday lives. For others, fairytales serve as a reminder that magic is everywhere, especially between the pages of a book. Magic is alive in Raven Girl. ( )

A modern fairy tale about a young girl's transformation into her whole Self. Coming of age is never easy, but when you feel like an outsider, it can be a truly painful experience. The Raven Girl, however, seems to know exactly who she is and doesn't give up until the outside matches her inside.

Raven Girl offers much by way of discussion, especially with those who may be struggling with who they are in terms of their identity (ethnicity, race, gender). Lovely, dark, and hopeful.

4.5 stars ( )