Joint Review: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer

Pages: 438

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: July 17th, 2012

The Land of Stories tells the tale of twins Alex and Conner. Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, they leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.

But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.

Kim's Review:

A few days ago, I read The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. Now, I absolutely love Chris, so obviously I was excited to read his book - I even stayed up until midnight on the day of its release so I can start reading it on my Nook. After reading the first couple of chapters, I was sucked into the story of Alex and Conner Bailey and found it difficult to stop reading.

While it's about 500 pages long, The Land of Stories is ultimately a children's book, so it is a little predictable and not as complex as some YA books. However, there were a few times that I was caught completely off-guard by a plot twist. The plot is really original, and I love Chris's style of writing. Although the main characters, Conner and Alex, are a few years younger than me, I still felt like I could relate to both of them.

Almost every chapter ended in a cliffhanger and kept me begging for more. Like I said before, it's a children's book, but I think that anyone can enjoy it whether they're eight or eighteen or maybe even eighty! Even if you may not like these kinds of books, I really recommend that you give it a chance. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Charlotte's Review:

The Land of Stories was a delightful tale for anyone who ever enjoyed any fairy tale whatsoever. Even when our favorite tales ended, they were still continuing in this world. For example, Cinderella is pregnant and the Evil Queen is in Snow White's dungeon. Alex and Conner were realistic children who had to track down some impossible items, and reading about their journey was really fun.

First off, this book is gorgeous. I loved the map-insert that was before the title page. I pulled it out all the time, and scanned it while reading. Honestly, it was distracting! The illustrations at the beginning of every chapter reminded me of Harry Potter. So, if you need a book to put on display, this one is for you!

Even though it was a Middle Grade novel, there were some raunchy innuendos every once in a while. (Most often there were a part of Conner's dialogue.) I doubt younger children would realize them though. I found some of them funny too, and I could really see Chris' humor coming out and that personalized the novel. The plot twists were somewhat predictable, and there were very cheesy romance moments.

The beginning starts off with some sad memories, but the children developed over the course and at the end were happy. This change was clear, and I got teary at the end because it was so easy to be swayed by their happiness. I can not wait until the next book!