• Grim Tales Tarot
• Author and Artist: Fiona Edgewood
• Published by: Llewellyn, November 2025
• RRP: US $26.99 / GB £29.99
• ISBN: 978-0-7387-7910-2
• Reviewed by: Melissa Stratton-Pandina

The Grim Tales Tarot is a melancholic and darkly beautiful deck. I had expected it to correspond to the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, but instead it only takes inspiration from them, and weaves a tale of the Grimms seeking magic instead of just stories. It is a Rider Waite inspired deck, but strays from the original quite a lot, making it a harder deck to jump into blind.

The art is, simply put, gorgeous. It seems to be a digital collage. It layers hand written notes with Gothic Victorian imagery. The cards are dark and low chroma, creating a misty moody effect. They are dense with details, making reading each card easy. However, they lack the traditional and deeper symbolism that some readers will truly miss. My biggest frustration with this deck is that the images stray so much from the RWS imagery. This is no RWS clone, which some will love,  while others, like me, will find an issue. Nevertheless, one of the treats of the deck is that the card characters are multi-racial. This deck varies a fair bit from card to card; from animal-people to angels to Victorian people, yet still feels cohesive. The deck, also, fully realizes all the pip cards.

Grim Tales features several standout images. On the Temperance card, an old woman pours liquid into a jar of eyeballs. It is creepy but beautiful, and leads to so many questions. I also loved the Wheel of Fortune card. Here an overly pale child mends a spiderweb, while a spider looks on. Again, it’s such a good story telling image, and I really resonate with fate and spiderwebs being connected. My final favorite card is the Queen of Swords. Here, a tattooed woman sits on a bird, who in turn sits on a castle. It is impossible to tell where the woman starts and the bird ends. This card feels like it fell straight out of Grimms’ Fairy Tales, but like the rest of the deck it doesn’t necessarily illustrate one of their stories.

This deck has some of the best card backs I’ve ever seen. It is a flying monkey with a lantern repeated twice. Because of its subtle coloring, even though it is an interesting image, it is not distracting.

The guide book is very pretty. The first chapters are so well written. Don’t skip the intro, as it sets a wonderful mood. The extra spreads are delightful, adding to the usefulness of the deck. However, where the book falls down, is in the card descriptions. They are well written but generic. For instance, I wanted to know if the images were referenced in any way in Grimms’ stories, or, more specifically, why the Hierophant is a praying mantis. It is a pet peeve of mine when decks don’t add context to the images. Unfortunately, this guide book does not provide any more detail than generic card meanings.

On the other hand, I love the packaging. It is a little magnetic box, fully illustrated, and with a little ribbon. On a practical note, its small size keeps the cards perfectly safe and doesn’t take up a lot of space. From an aesthetic angle, between the filagree and the two created card images that are printed on the insides, makes it like a little altar box. This all give it an air of mystery, and makes opening the box feel like a ceremony.

But here’s the question – is it readable? That truly depends on how you read. If you read just from the image on the card and from the feelings you get, this would be a great deck for you. However, if you are looking for visual clues to the deeper correspondences, then you will find this deck hard to work with. Since it is not a RWS clone, it takes a bit of getting used to. I found it readable after awhile, but it is a little closer to a really good oracle deck than a Tarot deck.

Grim Tales is for those seeking a beautiful Gothic-style deck. If you like the aesthetic of the TV series Wednesday or The Addams Family films then this deck is for you. While not the easiest to read with, Grim Tales Tarot has so many details and is so moody that it lends itself to a good experience. But if you lean more into the esoteric, kabbalistic or astrological aspects, then buy it for its more storytelling aspects and pretty pictures.

About the Author/Illustrator

Fiona Edgewood is a mystic and artist, specialising in folklore and fantastical stories. Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, Fiona combined fairy tale imagery with traditional symbolism of the Tarot to create Grim Tales Tarot.

Grim Tales Tarot can be purchased here:

https://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738779102

And at any good online bookstores