📚’A time travel #fantasy adventure with a strong fairy tale theme’. Rosie’s #Bookreview Of Grimm Diagnosis Matt Golec. #BookTwitter

Grimm Diagnosis by Matt Golec
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

Grimm Diagnosis is a time travel fantasy adventure with a strong fairy tale theme.

After an accident at a TV studio Rob finds himself in a strange land reminiscent of medieval Germany. Rob seems to accept his new home and is able to use his modern medical knowledge to treat the sick, while he hasn’t missed the fact that most of the people that he meets resemble folks from well-known fairy tales.

Also in this strange world is Rob’s cousin Zev; he too ‘fell’ into this world after he went in search of Rob in the wreckage of the TV studios. One day the duo discover a can of Red Bull, which fills them with dread; someone else from their world is also nearby, and they fear what this might mean.

The plot gets quite complex when their two worlds collide; the author had a lot of fun mixing the modern ways that seeped through to the medieval realm, and some of them were amusing indeed. As the ending grew near the pace of the story increased, culminating in a grand battle which veered away from the parallels with Grimm fairy tales and made me think more along the lines of Middle Earth.

I thought that this story had a lot of good ideas and the fairy-tale theme worked well to a point. I would have liked to see more femininity for the main female characters; they are currently all either old crones or rather ‘butch’ and aggressive, slipping into now dated stereotypes with a few ribald jokes about their appearance and behaviour. I winced several times while reading descriptions of some of the women. I would suggest a little characterisation updating so that this book would appeal to current readers.

So, overall, there was much to like about the storyline, but a bit more thought was needed about the target audience.

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Book description

After an accident strands Dr. Robert Henry Lang in a medieval land without surgical supplies, medicines, or even hot running water, all he wants to do is find a way home to present-day Seattle. But Rob can’t ignore the medical needs all around him, so he begins seeing patients.

Before he knows it, Rob’s services are in high demand.He hires an office manager, Hans, who never goes anywhere without his bag of bread crumbs. He negotiates a work contract with the Fair Godmother, the leader of the town’s professional guilds. And he falls for his bodyguard, a former hood-wearing redhead who still delivers baskets of food to forest-dwelling shut-ins.

Without meaning to, Rob makes a home for himself in this strange place shaped by Grimm’s fairy tales. But as threats from Rob’s old world creep into this new one, he’ll be asked to make choices that could upset not just his own life, but the lives of everyone around him as well.

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