Into the Woods

This book tried my patience. It was interesting until it got to be too long. Several scenes could have reduced or even cut out completely and cut the length of the book by 50 pages or so.

I found the plot extremely hurried, and the characters rather flat. I like my fairy tales to come with a side-helping of redemption.

I have had this book to read for quite awhile. I really enjoyed the beginning of this book but as the story progressed I found my attention lagging. There are cute illustrations throughout which made the story pretty fun.

This is an interesting mash-up of folktales and fairy tales. There are little bits and pieces of many throughout. I actually started to find it a bit distracting sorting out which pieces of the story came from which fairy tales.

This is a fairy tale that is pretty dark in tone. I enjoyed the characters of Storm, Aurora, and Eden. However, my attention started to wander when the girls got trapped in the evil witch’s candy cottage and from there went off to face the Piper. I think things just started to get a bit too show more contrived and weren’t flowing all that well which made the story harder to read.

So, while I loved the style of writing in the beginning of the book...by the end of the book I started skimming through chapters because I was bored. I also disliked that this is one of those middle grade reads where every adult is either evil or ambivalent toward the children in it.

Overall this is an okay middle grade dark fairy tale; the beginning was well done and the end was just boring. Personally I would skip it; there are much better middle grade fairy tale mash-ups out there. I would recommend checking out the A Tale Dark and Grimm series by Adam Gidwitz...it’s a darkly hilarious and hugely entertaining fairy tale mash up. show less

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I think I’m starting to feel like something of a freak. You see, I just finished Into the Woods and I, well, really wasn’t all that enchanted.

It’s a shame, too, because Into the Woods has all the makings of a very great send-up of all one’s favorite fairy tales. It draws from numerous sources including the Pied Piper, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and Jack and the Beanstalk... just to name a few! This, I think, runs the risk of creating a story that is either exiting or cluttered and, sadly, I think cluttered was the result. It also treads the fine line between homage and too derivative, and I bet you can guess what I think about that, too.

The story begins with two sisters -- show more Storm (rather aptly, or perhaps obviously, named) and Aurora Eden (fans of Disney should have no trouble guessing which fairy tale character’s fate Aurora is supposed to succumb to) -- who are about to be joined by a third. Sadly, their beautiful mother (it is rumored their father was so captivated by her that he climbed her lovely hair to rescue her) is not very strong and childbirth takes its toll on her. As she lies wasting away in bed, she calls the irrepressible and irresponsible Storm to her side and entrusts her with a small, unremarkable pipe, which she warns Storm has incredible powers. Even Storm is unsure why she, and not the staid and stolid Aurora is being entrusted with this, but her mother assures her that Storm is the best choice for possession of such a powerful object. Then, alas, the beautiful mother passes away.
Their father is mad with grief and locks himself away. Aurora, however, feels compelled to ask him what to name their new sister. "Anything," he replies. So they do, but they call her Any, mostly. Then, one day, their father simply disappears. And so they are orphaned, more or less. However, since their parents were always distant and neglectful, and Aurora always took care of the day to day business of running the household and caring for her sisters, little changes for the Eden family.

Then one day Storm sneaks off into the woods (despite her sister's dire warnings of the dangers that await there) and stumbles upon a nearby hamlet that is having a problem with a rat infestation. They've called in a man, Dr. DeWilde, to lead the rats away, despite what happened to the children of the town the last time someone was called in to rid them of rats. Of course, the astute reader will have noted that DeWilde will probably need a pipe to lead the rats away, and that Storm happens to be in possession of a magical pipe. Unfortunately for the Eden sisters, it appears the evil doctor will stop at little to obtain the pipe and he has a pack of trained, bloodthirsty wolves on his side.

So, the sisters must run into the relative safety of the woods in order to save the town, the pipe and their lives.

There were some nice twists and turns and it was certainly fun, on occasion, to find the fairy tale references sprinkled everywhere. Nonetheless, there was very little about Into the Woods that felt particularly original to me, down to its title. Of course, the author should be familiar with the charming Sondheim musical, since she herself wrote a review of it. (This is Gardner’s first novel – she is known as a theater critic.) Sure, thanks to Ella Enchanted and its myriad of followers (or even the adult novels of Gregory Maguire), re-imagined fairy tales are a pretty hot thing in kids books these days, but, frankly, I’ve seen it done so much better. Anything by Ella’s author, Gail Carson Levine, or another favorite of mine, Shannon Hale, receives my hearty recommendation. However, with Into the Woods, the magic just really wasn't there. The novel was too busy, trying too hard, too derivative, and, apparently for me, lacking that je ne sais quoi. That is, apparently, French for “an ending that isn’t so cheesy it makes me want to hurl.”

So why do I feel like a freak? Because everyone else seems to love it, so far. Not just kids either. I’ve seen reviews by perfectly sensible and competent adults who think it is just fabulous. So maybe it is just me. I think I’m losing my confidence! This book will sell best to girls – after all it is a fairy tale – in about the 9-11 age range. It’s fun. It’s fast paced. It’s not a total waste of time.

PS-- As far as I can tell, the book's cover in the UK edition is exactly the same, only the background is red, not blue. Very odd. The illustrations are really great, by the way. show less

For lovers of fractured fairy tales, this has many of the same motifs as what you would expect.

Follow the story of three sisters, Storm, Aurora, and Ana as they battle their own fears and learn what true sisterhood is all about. It's a great children's book with lessons to be learned, even if it has to be spelled out. There were a few instances in the story that I felt were particularly forced, especially as we reached the climax of the story near the end. Granted, it's a fairy tale format, so there needs to be a lot of suspension of disbelief, but even for these characters there were some choices that I didn't think warranted. I'm looking at you, Storm, who jumps to outlandish conclusions about what might have happened despite all the show more tribulations that you have been through. Really?

A great book in its own right, but personally I think there are more entertaining fractured fairy tale books out there. In particular, I would recommend [b:A Tale Dark & Grimm|7825557|A Tale Dark & Grimm (A Tale Dark & Grimm, #1)|Adam Gidwitz|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345696603s/7825557.jpg|10874302] by Adam Gidwitz. show less

Although I thought it went on a bit too long, this is a good adventure story for readers who like books based on fairytales. It's sort of like Mysterious Benedict Society meets The Wizard of Oz.

Into the Woods has a very clever concept that I think kids will find interesting, but it's not one of those kid's books that I read and think is just as engaging for an adult as for a child. The characters are a little flat, the plot is a little meandering, and there's just not much substance. Then though, this is in contrast to some truly stellar children's literature that I've been reading, so it should be said that this is of a higher quality than a lot of kid lit. I do think that it could be a fun chapter-a-night book, or chapter-a-week, and I do think that some plot points that will seem obvious and a little cheesy might be hilarious to young listeners.