The first time I heard about these books was when it was my library book club's book of the month. I really didn't want to read it, because I'm not really the fantasy-fairy tale type. But I fell in love with it from the first chapter. If you are not the fantasy-fairy tale type, or at least you don't think that you are, read these books. I'm nearly positive you will find something in them that connects with your favorite genre. Today I will be ranking them, one being the best and six being the worst.
1. The Enchantress Returns is just so good. The plot is amazing, and I know I will sound evil, but Ezmia (the Enchantress) is pretty cool, when she's not, you know, capturing souls in jars. I like it better than the first book because we get to know what happens to our old favorite characters, plus some new ones, such as Mother Goose (one of my favorite characters), Bob, the Sea Witch, the Snow Queen (may Madame Weatherberry rest in peace), and obviously the Enchantress, Ezmia. Backstories are the best.
2. The Land of Stories, aka the first one. This one is literally magical, because not only do we get to understand what the Evil Queen's deal is, but we also get to be introduced to all of the new, fabulous kingdoms. We also meet my other favorite character, Froggy, plus Goldilocks and Jack. Oh, and Queen Red. She's kind of unforgettable.
3. Worlds Collide is basically the climax of the series. It isn't nearly as stressful to read as A Grimm Warning (I will get to that later), but it is very, very exciting. As any true fan should, I have the Book Hugger's guide, and inside Chris Colfer showed his notes and how he had to keep track of all the battles going on. It makes your head spin, but in a good way.
4. An Author's Odessy is when the main characters, Alex and Conner, travel into Conner's short stories to recruit an army to battle against the Masked Man's army. As they travel, they meet up with all of Conner's characters, many of them resembling his fairy-tale friends, such as Goldilocks and Jack in Starboardia and Red and Froggy as the Cyborg Queen and Newters in The Cyborg Queen.
5. A Grimm Warning is not as hopeless as I thought it was, upon reading it again. There is hope in it, even though (spoiler alert) many people die. We go from loving to hating Rook, Alex's ex-almost-boyfriend. But Conner finds a flame in Bree, which makes all of us swoon.
6. Beyond the Kingdoms is downright depressing. At least, the beginning is. It starts with Alex being un-godmothered and Morina, a witch who used to date Froggy, shows up and crashes Froggy and Red's wedding. What's more, is the Masked Man is still at large, but nobody believes Alex when she says it was her dad (It's actually not her dad, but her uncle). I've only re-read the beginning chapters upon writing this article, but I remember it only goes downhill from there.
Thanks for reading, and don't forget to stay safe, stay healthy, and stay home!
