Enter Three Witches starts out like a very typical fairy tale, with three overworked, unappreciated sisters living in the woods, with a sense of destiny hanging over their lives. From there, it begins a long, slow slide sideways into weirdness, of a kind that can only happen in fairy tales. And I mean that in the best possible way.

The premise for Enter Three Witches is to retell old fairy tales in a very unique way: by weaving old favorites (and some rather obscure tales as well) together into a tapestry, with events or elements from one fairy tale leading inevitably into the next, and the next, and so on. Of course, the tales never end the way you expect them to, and sometimes the character might be the villain rather than the hero. It was surprisingly enjoyable, and kept me very entertained as I waited to see what would come next.

Likes: The story starts well and maintains momentum, I never got bored, and I always wanted to keep reading on to the next chapter. The writing was solid, the descriptions good without being too wordy and without slowing the story down, and the dialogue was reliably believable and sometimes quite humorous. The characters were very distinct, true to themselves, and they have continued to grow and evolve as events impact them. Not once did I stop and say, "Why would she do that?"

While I have ended up choosing favorite characters in the story, it became pretty clear to me that the author didn’t. Or at least, she liked them all but was perfectly willing to deal them harsh blows, and let them be slapped around by the consequences of their own actions. This was a big bonus for me, as one of the things most likely to annoy me about a story is when the hero or heroine is coddled by the author, always saved in the nick of time, or generally let off easy. This author was perfectly willing to beat her characters up or let them fail, which won my respect for both the characters and the writer.

Dislikes: While I’ve enjoyed reading all the chapters to date, I’m beginning to wonder if there is an overreaching plot arc for the three sisters, or if it is merely a collection of their various (mis)adventures. There have been hints of an overall plot, but nothing has really begun tying together yet. This is a small complaint however, since it still feels like the beginning quarter of the story, even at thirty or so chapters in, and there is still time for the author to begin unifying the stories together into a larger picture before my patience as a reader begins to run out. I will have to withhold judgement for now.

While most of the details of daily life, routine, emotion, reaction, and interaction of the characters are pretty realistic, some of the fairy tale elements are . . . well, fairy tale elements and not at all realistic, so it can be a little jarring here or there when they pop in. One in particular comes to mind, but I don’t want to add any spoilers, so you’ll have to read it and decide for yourself if you agree. All the same, these elements are the gimmick and frankly the fun part of the story, to keep the reader guessing, so they’re easy to forgive and enjoy. It just took me a little getting used to.

Conclusion: This is fun, quirky fantasy with a few dark twists, meant to entertain and not be taken very seriously, which is not my usual choice in reading material, but it is done well. If you ever had a favorite fairy tale, or read Grimm’s books when you were young, I’d recommend Enter Three Witches. I will certainly continue to read the story as it’s updated.

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