Kater, Paul: Hilda – Snow White Revisited (Hilda the Wicked Witch) (2010)

I am going to say it again. Grimhilda is the most adorable wicked witch I have ever come across. She is wicked, but she is wicked in a proprietary and warm manner.

Paul Kater’s writing conveys humour in spades. Some of it is innocently raunchy and some of it simply funny while the violence is quite innocent. My advice about age appropriateness is the usual one – check the story out yourself first and then decide.

Dandh (review below) said:

If you have any imagination, you can easily forgive the ‘unprofessional’ writing and enjoy the story. Many people expect too much from Kindle free books. This is a venue for amature writers to get their stories published. They don’t have editors and teams of people working behind them. The stories are pure and unedited, that’s what makes them great.

My favorite part of this story is the part where Hilda gets visited by door-to-door salespeople trying to sell her a broom. I wish I could do what she did to some of the salespeople that turn up on our doorstep.

Snow White is your classic airhead that somehow seems to survive unscathed all the horrors that are thrown her way. With Hilda as her own “semi-godmother” she has a bit of supernatural protection. But all is not horror in the life of Snow White. No, indeed it is not. I liked this version of the seven dwarves.

We also get to meet Baba Yaga. For some strange reason there are people out there who seem to think that Baba Yaga originated with Terry Pratchett. Just to clear the record, she does not. Baba Yaga and Grimhilda are great friends who love to prank the other witches.

Some on the witches that are pranked by Hilda and Baba Yaga are the three witches of MacBeth (the Weird Sisters). I guess you could say that Kater’s similarity with Pratchett lies in using some of the same sources as Pratchett does. Paul also employs humour to get whatever message he wants across to the reader.

Paul’s obvious love for his craft is what allows me to look beyond editorial problems. Sometimes a writer’s talent shines through whatever limitations are placed on him.

—————————

Reviews:

—————————

Published: Sep. 06, 2010
File Size: 326 KB
Words: 45,350 (approximate)
Print Length: 139 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Language: English
ASIN: B00551DEM0
ISBN: 9781452326436

—————————

My review of Hilda, the Wicked Witch

3 thoughts on “Kater, Paul: Hilda – Snow White Revisited (Hilda the Wicked Witch) (2010)”

Interesting how many takes there are on the Snow White story. Any idea why she’s revisited and refreshed so much?

LikeLike

humanitysdarkerside says:

2013-09-13 at 11:47

Perhaps this is why:
“Snow White contains many of the archetypal elements of a fairy tale,” says McHugh, creator of graphic novel heroines Roisin Dubh and Jennifer Wilde, “Cruelty to an innocent, loss of home or status, the discovery of allies, trial of courage and the final triumph over wickedness.” It also has “jealousy, wealth, passion, attempted murder and power games,” says Pinborough, whose Poison puts a surprising (and sexy) new spin on the story. In other words, it’s a fairy-tale that ticks all the boxes.
Neil Gaiman, whose short story Snow, Glass, Apples draws an unexpected if logical conclusion from the way Snow White returns from the dead, finds “Disney’s Snow White gave it charm and meant that it was absorbed into childhood… Snow White went global in a way that other fairy tales didn’t. Which means that it’s become one of those tales that are easy to retell and mess around with: we’re familiar with Snow White and her story, so we can look at it through a number of different prisms and see what it shows us.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10052318/Why-we-cant-get-enough-of-Snow-White.html

LikeLike

Reply