Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell

Top positive review

Great story! Questionable language...

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2015

I am a 4th grade teacher and I read this book to my class. Most of my students LOVED it and always begged me to read more. The story line is very engaging and quick-moving. It was a great way to review fairy tales. Even as an adult I was very entertained by the adventures of these two kids as they journey through the Land of Stories and meet all of the fairy-tale characters we grew up reading about.

The reason I gave it 4 stars is because of the language. There is an occasional swear word which is just unnecessary. Obviously I didn't read those words aloud, but a few kids following along know that they were there. I have a hard time recommending a book to kids that has language that I wouldn't want them using.

315 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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Shannon Adams

Cool cover- book isn’t reflective of it. Life is short. Read something else.

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2018

I felt like I had to speak up because most people comment on how their child could not put it down, but when they read the book themselves, it wasn’t great writing/ dialogue/ repetitive language, etc.
My concern as a Mom of four? The moral judgements that I just don’t want my kids absorbing. The brother and sister mostly get along, which is nice, but to have a sibling show their love for another one by helping them cheat on a test? Uh, NO. Enabling isn’t love, folks. The book is sprinkled with morally dubious examples like that one. Skip. Next.
“Fablehaven” or for older readers “The Hero and the Crown” or if you like moral twists that make you THINK- “The School for Good and Evil”. “Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow” for an amazing adaptation of a fairy tale.

360 people found this helpful

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From the United States

Shannon Adams

Cool cover- book isn’t reflective of it. Life is short. Read something else.

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2018

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360 people found this helpful

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Eric Jacques

Not for kids. Teens maybe

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2019

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This book is not for kids. I started reading it with my daughter and found my self skipping words the sentences then whole paragraphs to protect her from the adult themes and language. Maybe teens. Not kids. I don’t get past page 2 or 3 before figuring out it was a mistake for an elementary age child.

13 people found this helpful

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Baxter

I thought that this really had possibilities but ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2018

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I thought that this really had possibilities but it turned out to be the same adventure over and over until you just get tired of it and want the book to end.

3 people found this helpful

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Badly written. I recommend Fablehaven or the Sisters Grimm books instead.

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2016

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I wanted to like this book. Chris Colfer is a likable guy, and I love twisted fairy tales. But I should have known this book wasn't very good when the best Jimmy Fallon could say about it is that it's long.

And it is long, lots and lots of words with no substance. This is like the meandering tales I used to tell my younger cousins when I was eleven. The only point then was to keep their attention for half an hour or so. But the point of a good children's book isn't simply to fill time and pages. The point is to tell a great story as succinctly as possible. The point is to make young readers care and laugh and feel like they're on an adventure. The point is to make every. Word. Count. This book doesn't do that.

The plot in short: a boy and a girl (twins) fall into a magical book of fairy tales and are sent on a quest through the kingdoms to collect a bunch of different things that they'll need to return home. Sometimes they make friends. Sometimes they briefly find themselves in danger. Sometimes they squabble. Actually, they do that a lot.
I slogged through it until I just couldn't take it anymore.

There are just so many mistakes any experienced author wouldn't make, and any experienced editor should have caught and corrected. Unnecessary speech tags, passive voice (oh, my gosh, so much passive voice, starting on the first page!), hiding information just to create suspense (so frustrating), telling where showing would have been better, and an episodic, non-linear story are just the beginning. Characters are introduced for no logical reason never to be heard from again. The twists on the fairy tales generally feel random. There's no real logic to them. There's also a lot of grown-up issues that come up I don't think a kid could relate to, things like dating and marriage.

All in all, this isn't a good book. The illustrations are great, so I'll give it that. But it doesn't deserve more than two stars.

If you want a good book with twisted fairy tale characters, I can highly recommend Fablehaven and the Sisters Grimm books to start. Those books show how it's supposed to be done.

15 people found this helpful

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djwatts101

While I love the premise of the book

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2014

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While I love the premise of the book, I find it extremely difficult to read. We read it to our children every night at bedtime and it is a real chore to get through! Will all the "Alex said" and "Conner said", we find we have to self edit while reading to make the story flow a little better. Maybe we are just too old for this age range or Chris needed a better editor. The kids LOVE it however, so we will continuing this story and I can only hope that the style improves as we go along.

13 people found this helpful

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England Tea

Not impressed

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2014

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I was disappointed with this book, as the premise seemed promising and fun! Falling into a book and entering another realm sounded fabulously exciting! However, I didn't find the writing interesting and the book simply could not hold my attention. The text, (although meant for a younger audience, and I am a bit out of that age bracket), was too dull—and I've read some great books meant for younger audiences! They are usually much more fun and interesting. I was hoping to stumble on another book as interesting as the Percy Jackson series or Eragon. Alas, my search continues!

6 people found this helpful

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andrew mullen

Not exactly the "Next Harry Potter"

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2017

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Many 5th graders seem to love it--yes. But given its weak writing, weak characterization, and predictable plot, this is far, far, far from the "Next Harry Potter Books" a fan promised me. And as another reviewer has already prominently complained--this notion that the Evil Queen isn't REALLY evil--she's just had a hard life and thwarted dreams: It's a lovely idea, but doesn't fit the larger pattern of the universe, as revealed in human history and my own 56 years of Life Experience.

10 people found this helpful

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