These are the fairy tales that history forgot - or concealed. Tales in which gender is fluid and where queer stories can have a happy ending'

At 6th level, spirits provide you with supernatural insights. You can conduct an hour-long ritual channeling spirits (which can be done during a short or long rest) using your Spiritual Focus. You can conduct the ritual with a number of willing creatures equal to your proficiency bonus (including yourself). At the end of the ritual, you temporarily learn one spell of your choice from any class.This is a wonderful collection of fairytales from around the world, drawing on themes of queerness. It’s not a book of retold stories. Instead, Pete Jordi Wood has chosen a selection of tales that feature same-sex love, or explore ideas of gender. These are the fairy tales that history forgot – or concealed. Tales in which gender is fluid and where queer stories can have a happy ending. We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. I loved the idea that this book has ten short easy stories to read. Every short story has a different illustrator. Firstly, I love the concept of this book! Whilst new queer stories or lgbtq+ retellings are hitting the shelves (which is great!) it’s also awesome to see original stories dug up from history which celebrate queerness. I hadn’t heard of any of these folklore tales before, but the vibes fit right in with the well known fairytales I grew up with.

You can retain only one of these tales in mind at a time, and rolling on the Spirit Tales table immediately ends the effect of the previous tale. The stories feature transgender and gender fluid characters as well as male/male relationships. I would have loved to have seen some more identities featured such as lesbian, bisexual and asexual, but I assume these may have been missed out because they weren’t as prominently featured in the folklore tales the author was able to find. Still, all of the stories were interesting to read! My favourites were The Falcon In The Garden and A Princess And A Prince. Tale of the Runaway. The target can immediately use its reaction to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see. When the target teleports, it can choose a number of creatures it can see within 30 feet of it up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 0) to immediately use the same reaction. This little book is glorious! I really enjoyed the writing in these fairy tales; they’re a wonderful, positive interpretation of traditional stories that weren’t originally that positive about the characters who changed apparent sex or were in same-sex relationships. The relationships are often touchingly sweet and dedicated, beyond death in a couple of cases. At 3rd level, you can reach out to spirits to guide you and others. You learn the Guidance cantrip, which doesn’t count against the number of bard cantrips you know. For you, it has a range of 60 feet when you cast it. Spiritual FocusThis book has so many positive messages, each story is unique, has its own message, kindness, fairness, equality, acceptance, I could go on and on, but it’s just so wonderful to read so many different LGBTQ tales, where they are the main character and not just cast in a supporting role, they are gloriously and deservedly centre stage, and each one gets their HEA, in one way or another (no spoilers) These ancient stories, largely left out of the fairy tale anthologies, have been rediscovered and given new life in this stunningly illustrated book. These aren't just the tales of brave male knights and damsels in distress - in this collection of folklore spanning cultures and histories from all over the world, a non-binary warrior can find their true love, a transgender queen can rule the Dahomey kingdom, and a simple sailor and a bewitched prince can live happily ever after. The illustrations are amazing! I found them detailed and rich. The cover has a lot of little images from the stories that are fun to find when the stories are read. It’s so colourful and cheery. Tale of the Angel. The target regains hit points equal to two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and you end one condition from the following list affecting the target: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, petrified, or poisoned. The ‘gender reveal’ in the originals is often a bad thing, resulting in a punishment, but in these, the gender reveal is a choice that the characters make and if someone else reveals the main characters’‘real gender’, then the person who does the ‘revealing’ is castigated rather than the main character.

I loved each tale, there wasn’t one I didn’t love, although I do hold a special place in my heart for The Girl In The Market, The Falcon in the Garden and The Ivory City. This is a wonderful anthology for the middle grade reader , it’s target audience , but also for adults to read with their children, to read for themselves. This book is not just there for the LGBTQ children, it’s their for parents, friends, their whole community to help support them and give a connection. It’s truly a gift. These stories are an excellent reminder that queer people have always existed, and that we have existed in every culture around the world. The best thing about any fairytale, of course, is the happily ever after, and it’s wonderful to see queer characters get the literal fairytale ending that they deserve. Each tale are illustrated by a different artists and each were different and unique. Barring the names I mentioned up, we have Anshika Khullar, Ez Silva, Jenn So, Sasha Staicu, Sophia Watts, Zat Vornik and Pete Jordi Wood, with the cover illustarted by Harry Woodgate. I have a soft spot for the illustrations involved in the stories of Double-Flower Temple, The Soldier and the Peasant and The Ivory City (this is illustarted by Anshika Khullar). Thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic Tours for organising this tour and to Puffin UK for sending me a copy of this book. Tale of the Beloved Friends. The target and another creature of its choice it can see within 5 feet of it gains temporary hit points equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier

This is a groundbreaking collection and will be a welcome addition to many bookshelves for years to come. These stories were so beautiful and sad, let me tell you - yes they may have a happy ending in the end, but don't be fooled thinking it's your typical 'skips off into the sunset' happy ending - not for everyone. But the message is there, the message is clear to you as the reader, and it hits so much deeper when it's heart breaking and real.

Importantly, rather than being reinventions of heteronormative or cisnormative fairytales, the stories in this collection all already feature gay, transgender or non-binary characters, thereby showing that ‘ traditional folk tales about LGBTQ+ people are not a contemporary invention. They exist in every corner of the globe’. As Wood explains in his introduction, he has made changes to some of the stories, for instance to remove offensive slurs or to change stories which involve a magical ‘Shift of Sex’ into stories which ‘ highlight the journey of the characters from gender dysphoria to gender euphoria ‘. The result of Wood’s skilful and sensitive editing is a treasure trove of stories in which characters are able to find acceptance and love. For example, the Brothers Grimm’s ‘The Soldier and the Peasant’ ends with two men living together happily ever after, while in ‘The Girl in the Market’ from Benin, King Dadase’s betrothed Dausi becomes ‘ the most beloved of queens‘ even though her enemies have misgendered her by labelling her a man. I do have my fave stories in this collection - The Girl In The Market (illustarted by Mario Hounkanrin), Double-Flower Temple (illustrated by Xin Tang) and The Soldier and the Peasant (illustarted by Nontira Kigle), but all the tales were lovely to read.Pete Jordi Wood collected these stories, collected isn’t the word, he sought them out, travelled the world, it was his quest to find the stories hidden over time and intentionally by white western patriarchy, I am so grateful to him for this. I’m a heterosexual woman, I’m not the target audience of these stories, but I’m ecstatic that we can all have a happy ending, I don’t need to say representation is not only important, but essential and I hate that so many in the past and still are denied representation they are entitled to. I love that finally there are books like this that children will be able to turn to, see themselves in and relate to, when in the past this just wasn’t available. The author took 10 fairy / folklore tales and reclaimed them into stories of adventure, resilience and celebrating LGBTQ+ characters. Tale of the Dragon. The target spews fire from the mouth in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking fire damage equal to four rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. These are the fairy tales that history forgot - or concealed. Tales in which gender is fluid and where queer stories can have a happy ending. Many of the stories focus on themes of gender, and it’s so important in today’s environment to not just celebrate and uplift trans stories and trans joy, but also to remember (and I’ll say it again because it’s so important), that trans people have always existed. I hope that this book finds its way into the hands of those that need it the most, because I have a feeling it’s going to mean a lot to a lot of people.