Just finished reading Red Riding Hood which is tied into a new movie by Catherine Hardwicke due for release shortly and is a retelling of the old fairy story about Little Red Riding Hood.

I was looking forward to this book because I really enjoy books that have a fairy tale feel or reinvent the old stories (for example John Connolly’s Book of Lost Things) but unfortunately this book didn’t really hit the spot for me for a number of reasons. I suppose I was expecting the writing to be more atmospheric or to feel more like an old-fashioned story.   Also, I thought the characters came across a bit flat.  They seemed to lack any depth or emotion and I didn’t really connect with them or get to a point where I particularly cared about what happened to them and I didn’t particularly find the romance gripping or realistic.  I also thought it read more like a take on The Village than Little Red Riding Hood.

The above being said I didn’t skip any pages and I did finish the book – or at least I tried!  Unfortunately the book doesn’t have an ending – if I understand this correctly the ending will be available via the internet to coincide with the release of the movie.  Now perhaps I’ve misunderstood – I mean after all you read plenty of books that don’t have an ending but this is because there is another book to be released or a series of books – but I didn’t understand this to be the case here.  Frankly, if I buy a book I expect it to be complete and lets face it this book never will be – even if I do read the ending on the internet!  Not really happy about that.

Anyway, ranting aside, even though this one wasn’t for me I’m sure it will appeal to some, it just wasn’t what I expected but I think the movie could be really good as this story should translate well into that medium and hopefully be dark and foreboding.

Rating: D

Red Riding hood