Review: Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff

Posted April 27, 2013 by Michelle in Review / 1 Comment

It’s like an obsession, if it’s a fairytale I love it, but if you change the story a bit and make it sort of new or a new telling of it, I am all in.

I’m starting to see a pattern with what I read. Don’t get me wrong I do love to read a lot of different types of books but I realize I would drop every thing to read a fairy tale re-telling story.

A couple months ago I saw this book on Goodreads and since I watch Once Upon a Time it was a sure thing I was going to read this.

Call me crazy, go ahead I don’t mind, but on Once Upon a Time I find Mr. Gold to be very….sexy I don’t know why maybe it’s the accent but something about him is sexy (when he’s Mr. Gold not Rumpelstilskin) don’t judge me, just assume I’m crazy and move along 😉

Any who….I couldn’t wait for this book and as soon as it was released I downloaded it immediately.

I found this to be such a unique re-telling. I have seen and read a few but I thought this was so original since I have never seen anyone tackle to story of Rumplestilskin.

Rump:  
The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin
by Liesl Shurtliff

In a magical kingdom where your name is your destiny, 12-year-old Rump is the butt of everyone’s joke. But when he finds an old spinning wheel, his luck seems to change. Rump discovers he has a gift for spinning straw into gold. His best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right. With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse

To break the spell, Rump must go on a perilous quest, fighting off pixies, trolls, poison apples, and a wickedly foolish queen. The odds are against him, but with courage and friendship—and a cheeky sense of humor—he just might triumph in the end.



Cover: A whimsical cover, I love how it shows the tower and the two kids watching. Very eye catching even my 8 year old said he really liked the cover, Never really gave a reason why just said “That’s a really cool cover I like it maybe you can read it to me” Sounds good to me. This time its good to judge the book by its cover 🙂

Characters: This is so hard to explain. I really loved the story but it took me a long time to connect with the characters and I’m not sure I ever did, I liked them but I didn’t feel a strong connection with them.

Story: Unique and Fresh, completely original. Loved everything about it, it had a lot of humor in it and the rhymes were great. Which is why I don’t know why I had such a hard time connecting with the characters but loved the story. (I’m fully aware how strange that sounds and how strange I am, I’m ok with it).

Rating: 4/5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s completely original, I have never read a book that takes the story of Rumplestilskin and gives you a fresh “True” story . It starts with Rump as a young boy who lives with his grandmother because both of his parents have passed. At a young age they work in the mines looking for gold to trade with the Miller for food rations. The Miller wasn’t a far man so it could take a lot of gold to get any good food. Nothing had a name only people because “in the Kingdom your name isn’t just what people call you. Your name is full of meaning and power. Your name is your destiny”.

So Rump wasn’t very happy with his name cause he felt it was half a name not a full name. Since his mom died before she can tell him the whole name he was known as Rump.

“My mother named me after a cow’s rear end”

He finds his mother’s spinning wheel and is drawn to start spinning straw into gold. This causes him a lot of problems besides trading for rations word gets out someone can spin straw to gold and chaos ensues.

Rump is in search of fixing the problems he had created and finding his full name. You get a behind the scenes look at his life and the journey he goes on to find his destiny.

The journey is fun and whimsical where he meets a family of trolls (that may or may not eat you), witches (of Wool), is beaten up by a bunch of pixies (never wake a pixie) As much as I had a hard time connecting with the characters by the end of it I was very happy for them and was very pleased how it had ended. Its really not what you think 🙂 

The Story was easy to read and very funny, such a wonderful story. I loved all the rhymes in the book. They were so witty and so much fun (I kept stopping to read them to my kids who laughed and made me read them over and over again) 🙂

“Wash your hands, wipe your feet, give me a kiss, sit down and eat”

Rump learns a lot about himself and what a name and destiny really is. This is a great book for anyone who enjoys a Fairy tale re-telling. Regardless of my issues with the characters this is really a good book not to pass up. It is totally worth the read.

“Maybe destiny isn’t something that just happens.
Maybe destiny is something you do”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

until next time…
Have a great day
and
Happy Reading!!!

About Michelle

I am a mom to two pretty amazing kids, four pretty cute fluffy children and a wife to one adorable husband. I am a gamer, reader and a graphic designer with 20 years experience. I recently started my own business "Limabean Designs" to help other bloggers, authors and anyone else create amazing things that they would be proud to show off. I have been reading since forever and started blogging because I love sharing all the awesome books this world has to offer. I am also the co-host for the COYER Challenge, Reading Assignment Challenge and the Bookish Resolutions Challenge. I try to create a warm welcoming environment on my blog where authors, readers, and bloggers will have a great time. Let’s chat books, games, blogging, recipes, design, or family over a cup of coffee and a glass of wine!

Tags:

Divider

Want more awesome posts like this? Subscribe to my blog via email!

One response to “Review: Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff