Some annoyingly uneven writing, but still a good read for girls/boys 9-12. ( )

Quick, then slow, then quick

This was a good read, although it took a bit of perseverance to get through the middle. The ending is a twist that's fairly well hidden until close to the end. ( )

Well-intentioned but clumsy. So many little things bothered me, and would totally have bothered me when I was young, too. What did the twins eat? Why were there so many castles and so few villages? How did a maiden give birth (maybe her name was Mary)? Otoh, many good messages about courage, honor, respect, second chances, alternative points of view. Not for jaded & impatient me, but good for some.

Oh, a little confusion about the intended age of the child reader. It's written as if for age 6 & up, but is very long, and has a bit of mature content that would bother the most sensitive of the under 10s. I see someone read it to their 5 yo... I think it's too complex for that age, that stage of a child's development. The twins are, after all, 11.

I imagine the writer becomes more skillful as he writes more. I hope he gets a more active editor (not proofreader, but editor not afraid to ask for significant changes) too. ( )

Land of Stories, The Wishing Spell, is a chapter book by Chris Colfer in 2012. It is a truly unique story that combines modern-day characters with fairytales. This adventure begins with twins Alex and Connor Bailey dealing with school and life's problems. Their father had passed away recently. Their mother Was working lots of overtime in the hospital, and they had to sell their home and live in a rental. Alex is an excellent student, and Connor is not so much. For their birthday, their grandmother visits and gives Alex her book of fairytales. Alex notices that lights come out of the book; if you hold an item over it, it will drop into the story. Before you know it, Alex and Connor end up in the land of stories. Once they've passed into the fairytale world, they venture through the many different kingdoms, meaning all the other characters, while trying to find all the items for the Wishing Spell, which will allow them to return to their world. By the end, they realize something significant: that their grandmother and their father are both from the fairy world, and they are fairies, too.

I found the background music on the audiobook, very distracting. Other than that, I like Chris Colfer's variation of the classic fairy tales. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series. ( )

IRL: Grades 5+

Blue Hen Book Award (Nominee – Middle Readers – 2016)
Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award (Nominee – Grades 6-8 – 2019)
Colorado Children's Book Award (Nominee – 2015)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Nominee – Intermediate – 2016)
Massachusetts Children's Book Award (Nominee – 2016)

so good! i listen to and chris colder was so amazing. The end was a tad predictable but some surprises were still had! i can't wait to read the sequel :) ( )

so good! i listen to and chris colder was so amazing. The end was a tad predictable but some surprises were still had! i can't wait to read the sequel :) ( )

The very first book I read that started my reading journey! This book is one of the best and one of my all-time favorite fantasy novels. It has everything I look for in a great book and even though it is considered a read for younger readers, I often myself wanting to pick it back up after several other times of reading it. It is expertly written and is considered a classic on my shelf. The characters are fun, engaging, and all have in depth personalities that will often make you smile, laugh and cry all at the same time. After finishing this book every time, I've craved a similar story but have never found a novel that can come close to the hold and love that I have for this book! ( )

Representation: N/A
Trigger warnings: Fire, death of a child in a lake, near death experiences
Score: Six points out of ten.
This review can also be found on The StoryGraph.

After I read Twin Crowns which was a good fantasy novel I hoped that I would enjoy another one similar to that but alas I did not since I couldn't get over all the issues that it had which was a shame and the author could've done a much better job than that. The story starts off with the two main characters Alex and Conner Bailey who live with their grandmother after their father died in a car crash and the former is the only kid in that book who likes fairy tales and so she was given a book called The Land of Stories and somehow she got inside the book alongside her brother. The worldbuilding was fine however the basic writing style kind of ruined it and if it were more descriptive and some questions about it were answered it would've been better but maybe it gets better if I read the five other books in the series as well as the spinoff/prologue to this novel called A Tale of Magic made by the same author. Conner was fine however Alex was a pretentious annoying know-it-all and she really got on my nerves and she only developed her character towards the end of the book when she stopped annoying her brother. They were trapped in the Land of Stories and asked someone how to get home and she gave them a book from his father on eight items they needed to get home and eventually they find them but not before the main antagonist the Evil Queen uses it first and there was also a side plot involving Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks however I didn't care for both of them as they weren't well written and the entire subplot wasn't really needed but it was a nice break from the main plot. Two things that I really didn't like was how Alex and Conner nearly died like 10 times and one time they fell off a cliff into the ocean and a deus ex machina was used when some random mermaids saved them and some of the items were rather easy to get which was a bit convenient and the second thing was the metaphors which were a hasty attempt to try and improve the writing with figurative devices but it didn't work in this case and I disliked them since they made the book a bit worse overall. If you like middle grade fantasy stories pick this one however there are better ones out there you can read like the Keeper of the Lost Cities series by Shannon Messenger or even The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani which I thought was slightly better than this. ( )

The personification of the phrase ‘utterly mid’. ( )

I like the premise. I listened one day and fell asleep while listening. I picked up just enough to know what happened, so I didn't go back and get all the details. My kids are listening to it now.

Some reviews have said the writing is choppy, short sentences. It sounds like I would expect from a couple of tween kids, so I didn't think anything of it.

I read this aloud to the kids and they enjoyed it, but I found myself removing words and restructuring sentences while reading aloud. I also thought the plot a bit predictable and the dialogue corny. ( )

OMG I loved everything about this story!!! I figured out only 1 of the mysteries of the story, but the ending blew me away. ( )

Well written book and keeps you wanting to read more. I was hesitant, at first, wanting to read a book from a celebrity I knew on television show Glee. However, the book was different enough and I like how the twins seemed more realistic (being a twin myself), rather than the stereotypical good/bad twin or the everything is the same twins. Excited to read the rest of the series when I get around to it. ( )

***Very Slight Spoiler Ahead***
I went into this story knowing nothing about it, except that it was recommended due to other books I had enjoyed. It was a very pleasant read, the story starts out a bit slowly but picks up nicely by the end. One of the most notable and impressive parts of this story is the accuracy with which the author speaks of childhood grief. I lost my father as a child as did the kids in the story, and the author wrote so poignantly that it was actually a bit difficult to read. ( )

I gave it three stars because of the last 100 pages. I almost put this one down, mostly because it was dragging a bit, but I stuck it out. First, I picked it up because I thought it was by "Artemis Fowl" author, Eoin Colfer and I like fairy tale-type stories. When I realized it was by Chris Colfer, who plays Kurt Hummel on gLee!, I thought I'd keep going with it. I really liked the new spin on the Evil Queen's story. The story line was a bit familiar and predictable. I will have to see about #2 in the series.... ( )

Decent story, but a bit too linear. ( )

Review on my Wrap Up Vlog
https://youtu.be/OOcKZ5f0UWc ( )

I liked this book well enough, but I don't understand why it is so popular. Perhaps what I didn't like (overly simplistic storylines, characters, and dialogue) make it easier to get into for younger kids. ( )

Reads like it hopes to be made into a screenplay aimed at 12 year old girls. ( )

The Land of stories is creative, the characters are almost likeable however, the writing keeps it from being a great story. There a lot of showing, some of the sentence could be rephrase.

The fairy tales seem to be a little bit sugar coated as in it not the original Grimm's tales: Red Riding Hood lives, Chindrella slipper is made of glass etc. etc. I like that the original vision of the Little Mermaid is in it.
The plot is simple and good, a little treasure hunt around the kingdoms.

Their are stereotype characters, accurse their going to be stereotype the whole book is base off fairly tales.

Hopefully the writing has improve some in the second book. This is a great story to get kids to read. If you want something that keeps the Grimm's tales dark, I recommend 'A Tale Dark and Grimm' ( )

I loved this book.
It's children friendly but still very interesting. ( )

I really loved this book! It is an interesting spin on the fairy tales. It is a quick read and the characters are engaging. I enjoyed seeing loved fairy tale characters in another story way different from the stories we are used to. ( )

I think that it was a wonderful book. I could go into the world and not want to leave. It was an experience that I won't forget. I know he's an actor, but who says that actors can't write?

The idea is unique and fun. A scavenger hunt with infamous farytale objects. I would die to do that hunt. And the book as some amazing plot twists. I haven't expected quite a few of time. I fell in love with the characters. All the classic fairytales are put in there, but with a twist. All the fairytale characters had unique characters and make them stand out. There diffent, but the same characters. But there still the same fairytales we love. And the main characters, Alex and Conner, are amazing. You see them developing trough the story. I love the book, and that's all I have to say ( )