Book Review: 3 Ways "The Land of Stories" By Chris Colfer Ignites Your Inner Child
This week I decided to read "The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell" by Chris Colfer as Christmas approaches, I feel like this book helped to awaken the magic of fairytales & Santa Claus. I will be discussing The Illusion of Happily Ever After, Familiar Characters With Unpredictable Futures and The Importance Of Teamwork. And be sure to read my last blog on "If You Ask Me?" by Betty White.
The Illusion of Happily Ever After
I love how Chris Colfer decided to add to the original versions of the fairytales like with Hans Christina Anderson's The Little Mermaid. He discussed how Ariel didn't actually get to marry Prince Eric but instead turned into sea-foam, while Ursula actually married him instead. I like how in this story they didn't start the story with the Disney happy endings, because if they did it wouldn't have been that interesting. And they would basically have nothing to conquer throughout the character's story.
Familiar Characters With Unpredictable Futures
This story is great because although know the history of each fairy tale characters while reading we discover that we really don't know will happen next. The storyline counteracts everything we know from the Disney fairytale endings we're used to seeing. I didn't expect to see Little Red Riding Hood & Goldilocks to basically be enemies and feuding over Jack & the Beanstalk. But it was refreshing to see these characters in a different light. Red Riding Hood is a queen after a revolution and Goldilocks is on the run with her horse Porridge. I love how in this story they aren't one-sided like we are used to seeing, and I especially love how the women aren't just waiting for their prince.
The Importance of Teamwork
I love how in this story we have a sibling duo instead of a friendship that turns into a predictable love story. Twins Alex & Conner Bailey start off the story with many arguments and realize that they need to work together in order to get home. The two of them are incredibly different but it helps them in the long run. We have Alex the sister who is a straight a student and then you have Conner who could honestly care less about school. I love how in the story they rely on the stories that their father has told them for years and how his memory leads them home.
Villains Welcome Here
I love how in the Land of Stories we are given a background story on the Evil Queen from Snow White, instead of just being told she's evil because she's evil. It reminded me of how you get a background story on the characters from Once Upon A Time, and unlike this show, we actually see the evil queen given a happy ending. I found this refreshing because I never expected her to be happy in the story, I'm also not surprised that every character didn't get a happy ending either. But the ones that do are worth it in the end, seeing villains worry more about their happy ending instead of getting revenge is a lot less predictable.
Would I Buy Or Read Again?
I can definitely see myself reading this book again, I will definitely purchase the entire collection as well. I didn't expect to enjoy this book this much but the characters and storyline made it hard to stop reading. I'm honestly surprised that Chris Colfer's books haven't been transformed into a movie or a show yet they would be worth watching. I strongly recommend that you listen to this story instead of reading it because its voiced by Chris Colfer himself and he simply brings the characters to life. Although this is not a self-help book it did help me to see that imagination and believing in yourself is highly important when you're trying to complete a goal.
Catch up on my last blog on "If You Ask Me?" by Betty White
If you have any book suggestions add them below in the comments, and look out for new book reviews every Sunday. And remember “As we ‘Rise to Be’, we are becoming who we want to be” -Christina B. Rising🤗
