Some Kind of Fairy Tale

"Graham Joyce's new novel "Some Kind of Fairy Tale" is one of the most impressive fantasy books we've read in ages.... Graham Joyce has obviously steeped himself in fairy-tale lore, and his attention to detail (and to the significance of those details) is pretty astonishing. But what really makes "Some Kind of Fairy Tale" stand head and shoulders above most other fantasy novels I've read lately is the strong focus on the characters. Joyce's slow, careful narrative style draws you in to a story that's as much a family drama as it is a magical adventure.... Joyce takes a steady, masterful approach that explores one simple story from every angle, holding it up to the light until we see the hidden images revealed by each separate facet. Joyce has written a brilliant book that will make you think about the meaning of fairytales in a new way."
--io9.com
"Ultimately, it isn't Joyce's clever self-awareness that pushes "Fairy Tale" into the stratosphere. It's the way he weaves these twisty ideas into a straightforward, achingly resonant story of a broken man who's found his long-lost sister. His prose and dialogue, even more than usual, are carved with balance, clarity, and subtlety. As a writer, Joyce is often praised as "unsentimental." That couldn't be further from the truth. Sentiment underscores everything in "Fairy Tale," from Tara's struggle to establish her sanity to the heartsick people who loved who she was--and are trying to love what she's become. That sentiment, though, is rarely precious, and it never comes cheap. As its title trumpets, "Some Kind Of""Fairy Tale" meditates on the nature of what it means to tell stories. But wisely and hauntingly, it does so through a spellbinding story of its own." (grade A)
--A.V. Club
"Joyce's fiction is an unusual--and unusually satisfying--hybrid. He's interested in all the things that preoccupy literary novelists: finely drawn characters, the beauty and sadness of life's inevitable transitions, famil