“Goldilocks and the Sorceress” is an inventive reimagination of the Goldilocks story. A grown-up Princess Goldilocks runs away from an arranged marriage, only to end up in the hut of an evil sorceress who was spurned by the king, Goldilocks’s father, long ago and still harbors a grudge. Coira, the sorceress, assumes Goldilocks’s identity and takes her revenge.

I always enjoy these retellings of classic fairy tales, and I particularly liked the idea of making Goldilocks an adult (sort of) and of telling the story through the eyes of a villain, especially when that villain is an evil sorceress. The source material is used cleverly, especially at the beginning, when Goldilocks comes to Coira’s hut. However, I thought that this short story would have done better as a longer novella. As it is, Coira is a fairly undeveloped villain and I felt it hard to empathize with her, which reduced the dramatic tension I felt as her reign runs into problems. That being said, I think the story has a lot going for it, and is certainly worth checking out for fans of the reimagined-fairy-tales genre.

I received a free copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.