Dark Novella: The Story of Red and Her Wolf - Coda Languez

📖 Book Information

Title: The Story of Red and Her Wolf

Author: Coda Languez

Year: 2022

Publisher: Independent

ASIN: B0DVC48M3H

Pages: 64

Version: E-book

📚 View on Goodreads

One more retelling from the Brothers Grimm collection that is dark, brutal, and, well, erotic.

65/100

Blurb

A young boy makes a perilous escape from his life in a town he calls 'Hell'. When freedom seems only one more humiliation away, Death as a rabid beast savagely rips freedom away from the boy's desperate grasp.

Until a mystery hunter cloaked in blood red slays her prey, saving the young boy. Now his life has taken a different form of imprisonment, for the now dead beast has cursed him, and Red, the hunter, gave him a bleak sentence;

"In 30 days, you will die."

"In 30 days, I will kill you."

Will the young boy, thrust into the Deep Woods with his executioner, survive his imprisonment? Is Red only a hunter, or another soul that has some deep scars woven in their flesh?

Review

When we talk about Western literature, we usually refer to Europe, America, and perhaps Canada or Australia. However, Coda Languez is Puerto Rican—still part of the U.S. commonwealth, yes, but not your typical white writer. So it makes sense that he writes main characters with tan or dark skin, and in The Story of Red and Her Wolf, he emphasizes Red Riding Hood’s curly hair. The Wolf remains evil, even more vicious, portrayed as a monstrous bringer of infection. There is no grandmother or hunter figure; instead, we follow Tristan, a young boy trying to escape his abusive mother.

This alone makes it no less dark than the Brothers Grimm version, as it highlights child slavery—not only physical but also sexual—and interestingly, Tristan is male. This shows that sexual violence can also be experienced by men, and indeed it does happen, even if less commonly talked about than cases involving women. Thus, there are several sexual scenes mentioned, both during Tristan’s time with his mother in town and later as Red’s captive in the forest. Coda even includes intimate illustrations of Red and Tristan toward the end.

In terms of writing style, I feel there are a few small issues, such as missing particles like “the” and similar words, though I suspect this may be intentional, so I’m unsure. Regardless, Coda certainly understands English far better than I do, and everything remains readable. As for typos, I didn’t find any, though of course strong language like “fuck” is present.

Conclusion

Because of its explicit content, Coda Languez’s Red Riding Hood retelling is very much aimed at adults who enjoy dark and bloody stories, and it is indeed slightly heavier than A. A. Warne’s retellings of Snow White and Cinderella. Personally, I’m just not too interested in the included illustrations because the text alone is already stimulating enough—and frankly dangerous for me.