Book Reviews

review; the enchantress returns

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The Land Of Stories: The Enchantress Returns
by Chris Colfer

After decades of hiding, the evil Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty is back with a vengeance.

Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress has kidnapped their mother! Against the will of their grandmother, the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from the greatest threat it’s ever faced.

Review:
Coming back to the Land of Stories with Alex and Connor was a treat. I had thoroughly enjoyed The Wishing Spell, and to once again delve back into the lands where fairytales are alive with the plucky heroes of the first book was bound to be entertaining.

I will admit, there were moments when reading that I had to pause and think to myself – was the writing in the first book as simplistic as this? Because I remembered it differently. I suppose that comes from being older than the ages of the target audience of the novel.

However, even the simplicity of the language was engaging. There were new descriptions that had me chuckling to myself, and everything was refreshing and entertaining. It may have been more childish than I had thought it would be, but it was a fun sort of read. It appealed to the child in me, and played about with my fascination with fairytales and magic and fantasy.

Re-visiting characters from the first novel, like Goldie, Jack, Froggy and Red Riding Hood was like re-meeting old friends. I am particularly fond of Red Riding Hood, so there were times when I wanted to tug at my hair in frustration over their treatment of her in the book. I get that she is meant to be a flighty character, and we are meant to sympathise with Goldie and Jack more than with Red, but I enjoyed the realistic-ness of her reactions towards danger and their adventure.

Overall, I will definitely be picking up the third novel when it comes out, and join as Connor and Alex embark on another adventure in the Land of Stories together.

I’m Ara, a Southeast Asian writer who someday hopes to have published a novel, and who is currently losing herself in the worlds created by others. I love books and food and television and blogging and I get distracted and sidetracked easily.

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