Wednesday, March 4, 2015

TBR Pile: A Grimm Warning

A Grimm Warning is the third book in Chris Colfer's The Land of Stories series. If you haven't read my reviews of the previous two books in the series, they're located here.


(picture taken from Goodreads;
jacket art by Brandon Dorman)

First Impression: So far, I'm questioning some of the realism of Conner's experiences (in the real world, not the Land of Stories)--his teacher riding first class on the airplane while her students are in second, for example. And Alex's sudden attachment to the farmer boy and her confidence in Red kind of bug me. It's hard to explain. I'm curious to see how the beginning with the Grimm brothers will play into the rest of the series. Although pieces of this book are bugging me, Colfer always has fun, original ideas, and I'm curious where he'll take the series in this one.

Conclusion: I've enjoyed The Land of Stories series so far. Chris Colfer's writing style seems to be improving, but the increased complexity in his topics counteracted this somewhat. I don't like Alex's character as much in this one. Maybe it's the teenage girl aspect of everything, but it was a bit annoying. Also, I don't really get the state of things between the fairies and the elves, although Empress Elvina is a promising character. Colfer did a really good job with the French Army. I was a little disappointed with the ending. I did enjoy the story, but it's not quite as good as the first two in the series. Not sure if I'll read the next book or not.

Recommendation: If you've read the first and second books in the series and really want to know what happens next for Conner and Alex, this is the book for you. As for unique takes on traditional fairy tales, I think the first two books in the series did a better job of that. Also, a lot of things won't make sense if you haven't been reading the series, so don't skip the others to read this one.

A Grimm Warning is the fourth book toward my 2015 TBR Pile Challenge.

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