👍By James Riley
4RBooks: 4/6, grades 4-8
Amazon rating: 4.8/5, grades 3-7
Good Reads: 4.33/5
Common Sense Media: not rated or reviewed
340 pages
Synopsis:
May is still trapped in the alternate universe of fairy tales come to life. She had her new friends Jack and Prince Phillip are trying to outwit the evil queen as they search for May’s true identity. They could use the help of the fairy queen, but the fairy homelands are under a sleeping spell and dragons are on the way to destroy their realm.
The three friends, who bicker like brothers and sisters but are truly loyal to each other, set off on another adventure. This time they are headed to Never-Never Land, the Kingdom Under the Sea, and different prince’s castle. They will do battle with pirates, mermen, goblins, ogres, and fantasy monsters of various sizes and shapes. The goal, to find the Sea Witch who can dissolve the sleeping spell over the fairies in time to protect themselves.
During the trip, Jack will be aided and hindered by “Eyes,” special forces of the evil queen while trying not to let the prophecy come true about Philip and himself. “One will join forces with the queen, the other will die.”
Parental Guidance: low
Fairy tale violence.
Recommendation:
This is the second book in a trilogy of fractured fairy tales in the spirit of Shrek and Into the Woods. Characters from different stories leap in and out of this tale, sometimes obvious who they are and sometimes, not so much. It is fun seeing new twists on these tales and characters in an adventurous story which weaves them all together. This is a typical second book in a series, a connection from the beginning to the end, but it holds its own as a separate tale. All readers should find reasons to enjoy this novel, but especially those who read, and remember many of the classic fairy tales.
The only complaint I have about this book is the bickering between Jack, May and Philip can become tedious after a while. I think parents will agree that there is a time limit to listening to children argue with each other.
Over a year ago I read and reviewed Half Upon a Time. If you start this series, I would not recommend waiting that long between books. It was hard to remember all the secondary characters and the events of book one that are still important to the story here.
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