Enter a World Where Happily Ever After Was Just the Beginning…

I loved this book and not just because it was written by Chris Colfer (whom I adore). The story is wonderful: entertaining, imaginative and intelligent. I would have loved it regardless of who wrote it (and for most of the book I tried not to think of the author, so I could be objective about my opinion). There’s simply no doubt about it: Colfer is as gifted at writing as he is acting and singing, but I expected nothing less.

The story – about twins who find themselves in a world where fairy tales exist and must track down items to complete a spell to help them escape – is obviously for a younger audience, but Colfer writes under the assumption that his audience is intelligent, something I feel that some children’s authors fail to do (they feel they need to simplify or dumb things down for younger kids). This makes the story that much more interesting for any age group.

The main characters are twins, a boy (Conner) and a girl (Alex). Conner kept his sister grounded and prevented her from getting too caught up in the fairy tale fantasy, while Alex was constantly reminding him they should enjoy being in a world where fairy tales exist. The two characters worked so well together and balanced each other perfectly. The added benefit to these two main characters is that this story can appeal to either boys or girls; it’s not meant for one or the other. Despite being about fairy tales, there is enough humor and adventure that a younger boy would enjoy the story just as much as a girl (I loved Connor and his reactions to all his sister’s more “girly” moments). Any imaginative person of any age who enjoys fairy tales and dreams of finding themselves in another world would love this book.

I loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a fun (children’s) fantasy novel. If you think you’re too old for this book (you’re not, it’s wonderful), then find a young person and read it to them. Neither of you will regret it. It’s the perfect bedtime story, full of action and adventure, humor and danger, princes and princesses, trolls, goblins, wolves, fairies, talking frogs and of course, happily ever after.