The Inside Story (The Sisters Grimm, Book 8) (edition 2011)

Great series, but this one installment really meanders on and on through too many fairy-tale steps. I don't want to say more to avoid SPOILER, but this one particular installment is a disappointment and I've given all the other installments (1 through 7) 5*****. Still, stuff happens in here that's going to be necessary for the concluding volume, so it has to be read. ( )

The sister Grimm are on there last adventure or are they? Now they are chasing Mirror who has there baby brother. But they are in the everafter book and now they have to chase him down through the stores before Mirror takes control of the baby's body. They go through the stores of The Wonderful Land Of Oz, The Jungle Book, King Aurthur, Snow White, Aladdin, and Alice in Wonder Land. Soon they meat the author who keeps the stores from going out of line. Soon they get the baby back but at the lost of Granny. Puck has a crush on Sabrina but won't say it out loud. What will happen next in book 9? ( )

Okay - I started this series while trying to find something my 7 year old granddaughter would like to read and that would also challenge her a bit. I have really enjoyed the series up to this point. This episode seemed to really just go on and on without saying much or moving the story along that much. I will read the last one, (thank goodness there is only one more), but I will definitely borrow it rather than buy it. So sorry, Mr. Buckley, but sometimes we really all need to learn how to let things go. ( )

In the acknowledgments at the beginning of this, book 8 in the series, Michael Buckley comments that it was the hardest of all to write. And once I was reading it I could see why. The Inside Story starts off with Daphne and Sabrina, lost in a fairy tale in the book of Everafter. Puck, Mirror, Pinocchio and their baby brother are nowhere to be seen, and Sabrina is being plagued by indecision and small panic attacks from Mirrors evil revelation. If Puck hadn't appeared by the end of the chapter I might have been cruelly disappointed by book 8, but he did! And between him and Daphne they kept up the amusing banter that always has me laughing out loud and quickly recouped the story for me.

Puck, oh Puck....one of the greatest 11ish boys on earth...or at least in the realm of story characters. No seriously, I drive the hubby mad wanting to read all of Pucks lines to him. He kills me! For instance, wanting to keep the headless horseman's smelly rotten head for his mantelpiece, obviously it would be a conversation piece. Particularly funny in The Inside Story, is Puck's determination that marrying Sabrina won't be that bad, everyone needs a wifely slave, and he spends most of the book planning the wedding, a very Pucktastic wedding (as Daphne would say).

A slower book than The Everafter War, I still enjoyed it thoroughly (I did cruise through it in two days after all), though I noticed it had a definite added sparkle once Granny Relda showed up towards the end; I hadn't realised I'd been missing her up until that point. For a story which branches off from the majority of its usual characters, as well as it's usual location it's no wonder Michael Buckley found it hard to write, but he did a great job.

Now my only worry is the to be concluded at the end! ( )

The Sisters Grimm is a continuation about a mysterious family, that ties in with their ancestors the Brothers Grimm; which causes many problems in present day in a small town called Ferryport Landing. This story has many plots and therefore has many stories and twists. This book has many main characters, but the ones that this story revolves around are the Grimm family. The family consists of Sabrina Grimm the oldest sister, Daphne Grimm the youngest sister, Henry Grimm the father of the two girls, Veronica Grimm the mother of the two girls, “Granny” Relda Grimm the grandmother of the two girls and the mother of Henry Grimm. A small detail in this story is that all the characters minus the family are all fairy tale and story book characters. These characters are all called Everafters. This story takes place in Ferryport Landing, within the Book of Everafter, which is a book that tells the story of each and every fairy tale. Within the Book of Everafter, the setting is in different stories
I personally liked this book because it really brings together more loose ends then the last one. This book is the eighth and is the penultimate in the series. This book really looks more towards the family than the Everafters unlike the last seven. This story focuses more on the bond shared between Sabrina and Daphne, because the rest of the family has been separated from them. For example throughout the story, Sabrina was worried about making the wrong decisions, because all the incidents that have happened, she thinks were her fault because of the decisions she made, but Daphne sympathizes her every time. This shows that the sisters cared about each other.
In the book, what I didn’t like was the ending. I didn’t like ending because it just seems like the author only puts in half of the next story. The author ended the story with,”Sabrina nodded. ‘If we are going to stop Mirror, we’re going to need this town’s most powerful people. Because if we can’t stop him, it may very well be the end of the world’”. Maybe it‘s just me, but I just didn’t like that ending. The ending in most of the authors’ stories gives more of an insight on what the rest of the story is about, I mean that’s what should happen during his penultimate book.
In my opinion the theme of this book was to never lose track of your goal. Throughout this story the goal was to find their little brother Basil and rescue him from the evil enchanted Mirror. The girls went through a lot of trouble and broke a lot of rules just to rescue the little guy, but in the end they saved him. Which shows again, the focus on the family bond.
I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, and story book characters playing present day roles. This book is for anyone twelve and up. This book is a great young adult reader for those who just want to relive the old story book characters except more grown up. I would, however advise the reader to read the other seven books before this, otherwise the reader will be extremely confused and will have no idea what is going on, because of the many twists and turns and character differences. This was a great read to read and I liked it.