Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I'll admit it. I had never even heard of this book until I watched a movie preview for it, and was immediately intrigued. I've had a recent fascination with fractured-fairytales, and am a stout believer of always reading the book before seeing the movie; (minus one exception) hence I bought the book.




Red Riding Hood takes you to the superstitious village of Daggorhorn where we meet Valerie. Every month with the full moon, the villagers offer one of their animals as a sacrifice to the wolf. Since this has begun, the wolf has left the villagers relatively alone. Until now. Valerie's life becomes chaos as the wolf kills someone close to her, a long lost friend re-appears, and she is betrothed.




The village becomes a place of fear and chaos with the arrival of the blood moon, and a werewolf hunter arrives and tells them the wolf lives among them. Everyone is suspect.




Red Riding Hood is riddled with suspense, and mystery. The author does an amazing job showing village life through the eyes of Valerie as tensions rise, and even granddaughter and grandmother suspect each other.




I have only one complaint. There are a few moments of frustration when the reader is suddenly thrown unsuspectingly into the viewpoint of another character. It felt jarring to the flow of the story at times. That being said, I enjoyed reading this spin on Little Red Riding Hood and look forward to the movie.






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