The Wishing Spell

3.5/5 stars
You can find all my reviews here.

The Land of Stories is the world I wanted to be real with all my heart when I was 10. Alright, who do I think I'm kidding, I still do. I was never a girly girl but I've always loved fairytales and that's something I won't outgrow.
Colfer's story is fun, whimsical even,while still managing to get across lessons the way fairytales originally intended. Biggest complaint for me is a tie between predictability and a writing style I didn't love. Predictability because halfway through the book I had correctly guessed 3 major reveals that came in the final chapter, granted I'm much older than the target age group. The writing style, while not my favorite, wasn't enough to ruin the book for me. Colfer show more had a habit of using short choppier sentences and telling emotions of everyone rather than conveying how they were feeling in other ways. But mostly no matter what calamity came their way they had it solved within 2 pages. Too much good luck and coincidence for my taste. Still, I found it to be a fun read and am planning on reading more of the series.
Ending thought: Holy crap Brandon Dormer can draw. I want him to come do a portrait on my bedroom wall, his art style is just, wow. Whatever he got paid triple it. Perfect choice of illustrator for such a fun middle grade book, it has one of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen. show less

Not a fairytale and not Harry Potter, the Land of Stories creates an intriguing mythology behind the familiar of children’s fiction, peoples it with almost fairytale characters plus the obligatory misfit children, and offers an interesting adventure with sensible goals and well-timed background revelations. It’s one of those books where the story is intriguing enough to carry adult and child readers eagerly forward without pausing for critique. The children and their real-world situations are sadly believable—neither sibling fitting in at school, but each using a different technique to overcome obstacles. The hidden world they discover is delightful with its slow reveals of secrets, the fun of discovery, and the enchantment of show more looking for more. I shall definitely look for more in this series, and I’m very grateful to the young boy in the store who told me “You have to read these!” Rumor has it, boys don’t like to read, but this young man clearly did.

Disclosure: A child recommended this to me, so I bought it, read it, loved it, and offer my honest review. show less

Il 12 giugno è arrivate nelle librerie italiane un romanzo per giovanissimi (età di lettura: 10 anni) molto particolare. Attesissimo dai più grandi, in quanto fan dell’ormai famoso Chris Colfer – attore nella serie televisiva GLEE, ormai alla sua quarta stagione, nei panni di Kurt Hummel -, e una piacevolissima sorpresa per i più piccini, The Land of Stories, si è rivelato fin dalle prime pagine un piccolo capolavoro fiabesco.

Cover originale
Seppur l’età di lettura di questa fiaba sulle fiabe sia dai 10 anni in su, sarà impossibile anche per un adulto non lasciarsi catturare dallo stile delicato e ammaliante di Colfer, nonché dalla sua incredibile bravura nel saper prendere, amalgamare e arricchire alcune fra le più belle show more e conosciute favole famose in tutto il mondo.
Biancaneve, Raperonzolo, Cappuccetto Rosso, Cenerentola, La Sirenetta, Il Principe Ranocchio, Riccioli D’oro, Jack e il fagiolo magico… Impensabile non lasciarsi letteralmente conquistare, pagina dopo pagina, da questa storia che ci permetterà di riassaporare il significato pedagogico delle fiabe, magari sbiadito negli anni, e scoprirne lati nuovi e rinnovati dalla fervida immaginazione dell’autore che ci farà conoscere lati e aspetti dei caratteri dei personaggi, nostri amici d’infanzia.
Biancaneve con il suo insano desiderio d’affetto per la Matrigna cattiva, Cenerentola con la sua dolcezza e fiducia nel prossimo e la Bella Addormentata con la sua infinita saggezza, dovuta dal lungo sonno dei 100 anni. E conosceremo la superficialità di una Cappuccetto Rosso viziata ed egocentrica, nonché il coraggio e la tenacia di Riccioli d’Oro, la fuorilegge, che combatte la Banda del Grande Lupo Cattivo a suon di colpi di spada in groppa al suo cavallo.

Clicca per ingrandire
Ma come è riuscito Chris Colfer a creare un’unica grande favola, che coinvolgesse tutti i questi personaggi, senza alterare, se non minimamente, la trama di nessuna delle storie originali? Tutto inizierà con Biancaneve che, in preda ai sentimenti, si recherà nelle prigioni del castello per parlare con la Matrigna Cattiva, chiedendole spiegazioni per il suo comportamento. Biancaneve desidera l’amore della Matrigna, l’ha sempre desiderato, e proprio non riesce a concepire gli attentati alla sua vita orditi dalla donna. Non ci saranno lacrimevoli riappacificazioni, niente di tutto questo, ci sarà, bensì, una storia. La storia di cui nessuno parla, di cui nessuno si interessa: la storia della Matrigna Cattiva.
Cosa succede quando ci si inizia a chiedere il “perché” del comportamento dei Cattivi delle favole? Dove termina il limite fra buoni e cattivi, fra bene e male? È questo che Colfer si ripromette di affrontare in questo suo primo volume della serie The Land Of Stories, e lo fa in modo un po’ contorto, facendo un lungo giro e travestendo il suo intento principale con il semplice racconto di una favola nuova che unisca quelle già conosciute e lette. In realtà il suo obiettivo sarà proprio quello di raccontare e dare voce alla storia che nessuno ascolta mai, quella che non viene chiesta e che nessuno vuol sentire: La Storia dei Cattivi.
Per fare ciò coinvolgerà due bambini, gemelli, del nostro mondo che, a seguito della dolorosa perdita del padre per un incidente, si ritrovano a fare i conti con la dura realtà, fatta di privazioni e adulta consapevolezza. Le favole, che sempre hanno rappresentato un elemento importantissimo nella loro vita grazie al padre, librario, che riusciva sempre a raccontare loro qualche nuova storia, sono diventate ora un mezzo per sfuggire alla realtà. E sarà proprio quello che accadrà quando, un giorno, magicamente, entrambi finiranno risucchiati nel vecchio libro di favole che la Nonna ha regalato loro per il dodicesimo compleanno.
Il desiderio di tornare a casa li spingerà a una caccia al tesoro per la Terra delle Storie, alla ricerca di tutti gli ingredienti per un importante e ormai perduto incantesimo, guidati solo dalle parole di un vecchio diario che sembra contenere tutti gli indizi necessari per poterli trovare.
Purtroppo qualcun altro sembra sulle tracce di questi otto magici ingredienti e per i Gemelli Bailey le cose si faranno decisamente più complicate e pericolose, ma, si sa, nelle favole se si è abbastanza puri di cuore arriva sempre qualcuno in grado di dare un mano…

Secondo volume, in uscita in America
Il romanzo di Chris Colfer è una dolcissima scoperta, qualcosa di già letto, ovviamente, ma riproposto in uno stile così delicato e innovativo che cattura fin dalle primissime pagine. Impossibile non chiedersi “Ma dove vuol andar a parare?”. Scoprire i nuovi volti, quelli già noti e le caratteristiche regalate a questi dal giovane scrittore diventa l’obiettivo principale del lettore, accanto al desiderio di scoprire come faranno i gemelli a cavarsela fra mele avvelenate e punte di fusi incantati. Le scarpette si infrangeranno, le damigelle in pericolo si salveranno coraggiosamente da sole e uno Specchio Incantato sarà ben più che un semplice oggetto magico, se non un protagonista silente di una storia che si snoda interamente intorno a lui, e per Lui.
Veramente una bellissima favola, magari con qualche ingenuità qua e là, ma che non può non essere letta e apprezzata per tutto ciò che è in grado di ritrasmettere e regalare ai più piccini, e non solo. Decisamente consigliato. show less

This first volume in the Land of Stories series of kids' novels features eleven-year-old twins who are magically drawn into a book of fairy tales and have to go on a sort of quest through the realms of various classic fairy tale characters in an attempt to put together a spell to get home.

This one got off on the wrong foot with me a bit, with a rather slow start and some well-meaning but very wrong-headed lecturing about the nature and value of fairy tales in the modern world. Once the story got going, I found myself thinking it was a mixture of the pleasantly cute and the slightly too silly, but the more of it I read, the more it won me over. It's not the single most creative riff on fairy tales I've ever seen, but it's decently so, show more and it does a surprisingly good job at making the familiar characters feel like actual people, even the ones that we don't spend a whole lot of time with. Its take on the Evil Queen from Snow White is particularly interesting and well-done, even if elements of her story do maybe remind me just a little too much of the version from TV's Once Upon a Time. And while the plot isn't much, I'm not sure it really needs to be. It seems to serve mostly to move the kids around and introduce them to various characters and their kingdoms and stories, and it works OK for that.

Anyway, on the whole this turned out, ultimately, to be a fun read that I'm sure I would have enjoyed as a kid, and still found reasonably entertaining as an adult.

I already have the rest of the books in the series, so I'll definitely be getting to them at some point. show less

Twins Alex and Connor are struggling in the wake of their father's death; their mother is overworked and their grandmother's visits are too rare. When their grandmother does visit, for the twins' birthday, she gives them her old book of fairy tales, and they fall into it - literally - into the Land of Stories. Here they meet "Froggy," who gives them a handwritten journal containing a list of items they need to collect for the Wishing Spell - the only way they know to get home. But the Evil Queen (Sleeping Beauty's stepmother) is seeking the wishing spell too.

Alex and Connor must travel to all the kingdoms to collect the various items (A lock of Rapunzel's hair, Cinderella's glass slipper, a jewel from Sleeping Beauty's coffin, a piece show more of Red Riding Hood's basket, etc.), and they nearly perish a number of times, but either save themselves or are rescued.

Colfer cleverly imagines the Fairy Tale kingdoms and adds some nifty touches to make it his own - all the Prince Charmings are brothers, for example, and there is a love triangle between Jack (of Beanstalk fame), Red Riding Hood, and Goldilocks, who is an outlaw.

A very good story with a relatively sound plot and decent main characters, but the writing is amateurish and clunky. Fun, and I'd recommend it to those who like a spin on fairy tales, but I probably won't continue with the series.

Quotes

"A villain is just a victim whose story hasn't been told." -The Evil Queen

"Does such a place exist where people can't be unexpectedly helped or hurt?"

*
Re-read, partially, with L, November/December 2023; we got more than halfway through, to about chapter 11. The audiobook is decent, though I still want to strip every adverb out. She lost interest, but we can try again another time. show less

The Wishing Spell follows Alex and Conner Bailey, a set of twins, as they navigate their way through the fantasy land within their family’s storybook. This magical world encompasses all of the well-known fairytales, and each has their own “kingdom”. Stuck in this alternate world, the twins must go through each of these kingdoms on a scavenger hunt of sorts to collect items they need to get back home.

No doubt about it, this is a middle grade book. And while I liked it, it was definitely in need of some better editing. Some of the sentences were choppy and often “told” too much of the story, rather than showing the readers and letting them interpret things for themselves. Despite that, the actual story, itself, was very show more captivating and I found myself unable to put it down. It had unexpected takes on some of the characters and I liked how well the kingdoms and various fairytales were weaved together.

Each chapter begins with an illustration and Brandon Dorman’s talent is evident. I know there is color map that will be included in the final version of this book, but I wish it could have been in the ARC for reviewers to see. I had a chance to see it when Chris spoke at the Children’s Author Breakfast at BEA and it’s a great visual aid.

Yes, I will admit that I was initially interested in this book because I watch Glee, but after hearing Chris talk about how this book has been years in the making (with his grandmother being his first editor, when he was a kid), I truly wanted to read it. It was a really fun adventure of a book and I hope to read more about the Bailey twins and whatever the future holds for them. show less

Colfer strikes a good balance between staying true to fairy tale legends and adding his own comical or touching twists to their Happily Ever After lives. Twins Alex and Conner fall into The Land of Stories while they are still mourning the unexpected death of their father, a man who frequently comforted them with fable-like stories of his own. They rely on each other as they navigate the various kingdoms, meeting the heroes, princesses, and villains of the stories they know so well, marveling at what has happened since the end of their stories, and trying to collect the specific items that will (hopefully) allow them to make The Wishing Spell and go back home to their mom. Adventurous and fun.