The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning by Chris Colfer (Book Review)

"It was no mystery why this part of the countryside had been christened the Black Forest."

Review: This is the third book in a series that most likely will go on for as long as Chris Colfer wants, and I don't think any fan of TLoS would mind. My only issue, and it's rare for me to have just one issue, is this book is the first time romance and crap like that has been introduced into the storyline for the main characters, Conner and Alex.

In this book it's been discovered that the Brothers Grimm have written 3 stories no one has ever read, but they left instructions that these stories were not to be read until 200 years later. Why? Well because they contain, to no one else's knowledge but Conner, some truth. And in that truth is a warning that evil is about to enter The Land of Stories.

Aside from the romances and heartbreaks that Alex and Conner endure I really like this book. I feel Chris Colfer is actually getting better as he goes along. The dialog is much better and the level of intelligence in terms of word usage, I feel, has increased slightly. I also like where the story is going and the fact that he's left himself room to play around with new fairytales without making the story too complicated. This book also deals with death for the first time in a way that involves forcing the reader to deal with true loss. The way he tells it though, it's almost like poetry and not harsh or truly sad either.

I want to end my review by also pointing out that for the first time this book has a cliff hanger that lets the reader know there WILL be a fourth book! I think this was very clever since most Young Adult books are rooted in the sort of Trilogy spectrum, and although this series is geared more towards younger than YA, I like that he saved the real cliffhanger ending for the third book in case there should be any doubt as to whether or not this was the last book. I tip my hat off to him and look forward to the next book!

Synopsis: In the third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series by Chris Colfer, the Brothers Grimm have a warning for the Land of Stories.

Conner Bailey thinks his fairy-tale adventures are behind him--until he discovers a mysterious clue left by the famous Brothers Grimm. With help from his classmate Bree and the outlandish Mother Goose, Conner sets off on a mission across Europe to crack a two-hundred-year-old code.

Meanwhile, Alex Bailey is training to become the next Fairy Godmother...but her attempts at granting wishes never go as planned. Will she ever be truly ready to lead the Fairy Council?

When all signs point to disaster for the Land of Stories, Conner and Alex must join forces with their friends and enemies to save the day. But nothing can prepare them for the coming battle...or for the secret that will change the twins' lives forever.

The third book in the bestselling Land of Stories series puts the twins to the test as they must bring two worlds together!

A Grimm Warning

The Land of Stories, #3

by Chris Colfer

490 pages

Little Brown & Company, 2014

Young Adult / Adventure

Read in 7 days

Rating: ★★★★

Amazon | BN

Read of the Town: A Grimm Warning (TLoS #3)

Chris Colfer, who many know as Kurt Hummel from the once popular television show Glee, is also an amazing writer. I must admit I was a bit apprehensive at first to read his book because I didn't think it would be very good. Boy was I wrong! And I know, there has been some contention lately about adults reading books that are meant for a younger audience, but I'm well rounded in what I read so quite frankly I don't give a damn! There is nothing wrong with an adult seeking some comfort in a book that takes a most ingenious spin on fairytales.

There have been many books that I've been dying to get my hands on the day the came out. But of all of them, this is in my top 5 of series that I almost always finish reading within days of its release! That's how good it is.

If you're interested in my reviews for the first two books of The Land of Stories which I'm almost certain will be more than just 3 books, you can find them by clicking their respective book cover below:

Synopsis:

In the third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series by Chris Colfer, the Brothers Grimm have a warning for the Land of Stories.

Conner Bailey thinks his fairy-tale adventures are behind him--until he discovers a mysterious clue left by the famous Brothers Grimm. With help from his classmate Bree and the outlandish Mother Goose, Conner sets off on a mission across Europe to crack a two-hundred-year-old code. 

 

Meanwhile, Alex Bailey is training to become the next Fairy Godmother...but her attempts at granting wishes never go as planned. Will she ever be truly ready to lead the Fairy Council?

When all signs point to disaster for the Land of Stories, Conner and Alex must join forces with their friends and enemies to save the day. But nothing can prepare them for the coming battle...or for the secret that will change the twins' lives forever.

The third book in the bestselling Land of Stories series puts the twins to the test as they must bring two worlds together!

Read of the Town: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

I've got to say I'm still really pissed off that someone within her agents firm let the cat out of the bag about the real identity of the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. I understand why J.K. Rowling did it. There's been a lot of question about whether or not she was the real author of the famed Harry Potter series? Could she write another blockbuster? Then she wrote The Casual Vacancy, meant for adults, and while it did sell in the millions, was it because it was a great book and she is a great writer who was able to do what very few authors have been able to do: cross platforms from children/YA to adult genres? Or was that book an instant success because of the name of the author attached to it? She simply wanted to find out for herself...

So now unless she has yet ANOTHER idea and can come up with yet ANOTHER pseudonym she may never know. In fact I hear she has stopped being as angry as I still am (one year later) and has opened up about where the name came from and things like that. I think that's great that, in theory, she has let go of the anger. But I'm sure in the back of her mind she will always wonder and now will never know...

Anyway, this book, The Silkworm is the second in what I believe will be an ongoing series about an aging detective Cormoran Strike. I did buy the first novel, although I have not gotten around to read it as of yet, and I intend on purchasing this one as well. I simply can't leave an intended series incomplete!

Synopsis:

Private investigator Cormoran Strike returns in a new mystery from Robert Galbraith, author of the #1 international bestseller The Cuckoo's Calling.

 

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days--as he has done before--and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives--meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced.

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before...

A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, THE SILKWORM is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant, Robin Ellacott.