*Bookish Rant* The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell

Reading Time:

5 minutes

courtesy: me

Book Haul!

Last Sunday, I acquired a copy of The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell. (I had to consciously type each word for “spell” since I initially misread it as “well” when I picked it up. Ugh, that’s the first of two times this week! My eyes are failing me!)

I was rather giddy with my buy. It had been a while since I bought a book, and though I’d said I was getting back into reading, that’s about how far I’d come to doing it. But in my hands was a tangible book with a story inside, eagerly waiting to draw me in.

Added to that was that I’d seen it on Amazon prior and wished for it to be something I could get one day. I don’t recall why exactly; it came as a recommendation from this other book I was fantasizing about, and the cover was pretty. But since Amazon is Amazon and I’m an overseas child with no income, I expected it to be no more than a dream.

Truth be told, reading the blurb threw me off a bit. It seemed—oh, what’s the word—clichéd and dry, like an empty well. (I thought I was going somewhere with that, but it’s coming off as corny now. Spell not well. Spell not well.)

I’m too tired to find the Amazon version, so here’s the synopsis from the back of my book.

ALEX AND CONNER BAILEY’S WORLD IS ABOUT TO CHANGE. When the twins’ grandmother gives them a treasured fairy-tale book, they have no idea they’re about to enter a land beyond all imagining: the Land of Stories, where fairy tales are real.

Mmhm.

Perhaps that’s what convinced me—seeing the book prior. Don’t kill me, but I’ll admit I’m accustomed to entering a bookstore and leaving empty-handed due to fear of disappointment. There are so many smutty, unrealistic, sloppy books out there, and I am scared. What if I morph into the unholy-type children the media love to portray? What if I become a fist-banging, whining, demanding monster of a child who grows but never matures and turns into a twenty-year-old who falls in love with a vampire?!

(I’ve never read Twilight, by the way.)

“You’re overreacting, Breanna.” “You’re being dramatic, Breanna.” Nope. Nuh-uh. Mhm-mhm. Micro-influences like these are what make and break us.

What was I saying? Oh, yeah. So, I got the book and began devouring it in the car. The first chapter was intriguing. Fresh. I then gave up since reading in a moving vehicle is not my forte.

At home, I continued, even annotating it because I wanted to feel bookish. (Yes, I write in my books. Again, please don’t kill me!)

Here are my issues with it.

My, that was quick, wasn’t it?

1. The contemporary scenes at the start fall flat.

This is why I’d be a terrible book reviewer. It’s a gut feeling; it was missing something, yet I can’t figure out what.

The first one was exceptional but lacking. The rest? Worse.

Also, my current favorite genre is contemporary fiction, so maybe I’m especially critical of anything under its umbrella. Who knows?

2. The sympathy the author tried to induce in the readers wasn’t working.

I could get Snow White and even appreciated the new light shed on her and her situation, especially the “reality” she faced after her happily ever after. But *SPOILER* the Bailey’s dad dying? Not so. *SPOILER ENDED*

Or maybe I’m a heartless monster.

3. The less-than-acceptable morals were too much for a children’s book.

Let’s see: drinking, normalized half-nudity, manipulation, and trusting strangers are at least half of what I saw. I may be judging too hard or screwing my religious cap on too tight, but come on.

In its defense, the Little, Brown, and Company publishing house does tend to let these things slide, speaking from the six books I have from it. Five of six are part of The Secret Series, my favorite pentalogy, which was also aimed toward a younger audience but exceeded expectations. And you know what that series had that the Land of Stories didn’t? A lot of things, but one is an absurd, bonkers opening. The energy was relatively the same throughout the book. Though some parts were less thrilling than others, I was kept on my toes.

But the styles, message, and basic story contrast each other so intensely that it’s improper to compare them. Then again, starting The Land of Stories felt like rereading a book, and The Secret Series was so wacky you never know what came next. Ack, there I go again!

4. I couldn’t imagine it.

Wait for it. Wait for it.

“Sounds like a you problem.” There it is.

Now, this one has a definitive issue. The author was too caught up in technicalities. “So and so had dark hair.” “So and so had light hair.” “The forest had a lot of trees, and the peaks were really sharp.”

The descriptions of locations, people, and objects outbalanced how the features related to the main plot, conflict, and storyline. Is it just me who finds it difficult to process or care? My eyes skip over that and search for the integral details. When it gets too much, I get exhausted.

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Thank you for reading!

This is actually an experiment. I like viewing other blogger’s reviews, but that’s with the knowledge I’ll probably never get what they’re reviewing. I’ll see how you guys take this.

What? I’m controlled by my hyperfixations. And in the book’s defense, I finished 300+ pages of it in one day.

Don’t take this too seriously since I’m not done with it yet. It has good points— like easy-to-understand, straightforward writing—but my reviews usually focus on the unflattering points. I’m not sure why, but that’s how I roll.

Now I’m done. Thanks for reading!