I loved this book! While it's supposed to be for ages 9-12, I'm an adult and thought it was excellent. Durst has a very different take on fairy tales in the real world than any other I've read, and it works wonderfully well. Highly recommended!
Its been a long while since Ive picked up a book that has been so dreadfully dull and unexciting that each chapter was a struggle to get through. I am a huge fan of fairy tale retellings and stories that transport the fairy tale characters to the modern world. But this book utterly failed its plot and characters.
The conflict of the story gets underway after very little introduction to the characters. When the situation started getting heated and serious, I didnt feel connected to the characters at all and I knew little about them beyond hearing their names and instantly being able to call their respective fairy tales to mind. No one is given any character development or personality. We have no idea why Puss in Boots is so focused only on finding his true love when the world is falling to pieces around him or why Goldilocks is a self-centered annoyance.
Worst of all in the main character, Julie. She is one of the most whiny, annoying, easily driven to tears narrators Ive ever had the misfortune to read and shes the one were supposed to be cheering for and identifying with? No thanks! I feel no sympathy with her, no desire to see her overcome her obstacles, I just kept getting frustrated with how dumb she kept acting. Every time she cried, I hoped some giant animal would pop up and eat her. Id read a book recently that featured another girl about Julies age in a much more difficult situation who was not even half as whiny and annoying as Julie. Its not a good comparison to be making in the middle of the story.
Speaking of story, the plot has potential. I really like the idea of The Wild being this living creature that is trying to escape and reclaim the fairy tale characters. It sounded really interesting. But the story is rushed and just feels incomplete. I cant even put my finger on why but I feel like pieces are missing from it. It could have been fleshed out to a really detailed and fascinating world and plot but was instead hurried to completion with an ending that left me unsatisfied. Even the sequel bait at the end was confusing and uninteresting.
This book was a major disappointment for me. The story sounded really promising but everything was handled so poorly. I have no desire whatsoever to pick up the sequel and see how the story continues because this was such an unsatisfying experience. Its rare a book makes me feel like I wasted my time but the few days I spent rushing through this, hoping things might turn around and make for a better book, definitely feel wasted.
The conflict of the story gets underway after very little introduction to the characters. When the situation started getting heated and serious, I didnt feel connected to the characters at all and I knew little about them beyond hearing their names and instantly being able to call their respective fairy tales to mind. No one is given any character development or personality. We have no idea why Puss in Boots is so focused only on finding his true love when the world is falling to pieces around him or why Goldilocks is a self-centered annoyance.
Worst of all in the main character, Julie. She is one of the most whiny, annoying, easily driven to tears narrators Ive ever had the misfortune to read and shes the one were supposed to be cheering for and identifying with? No thanks! I feel no sympathy with her, no desire to see her overcome her obstacles, I just kept getting frustrated with how dumb she kept acting. Every time she cried, I hoped some giant animal would pop up and eat her. Id read a book recently that featured another girl about Julies age in a much more difficult situation who was not even half as whiny and annoying as Julie. Its not a good comparison to be making in the middle of the story.
Speaking of story, the plot has potential. I really like the idea of The Wild being this living creature that is trying to escape and reclaim the fairy tale characters. It sounded really interesting. But the story is rushed and just feels incomplete. I cant even put my finger on why but I feel like pieces are missing from it. It could have been fleshed out to a really detailed and fascinating world and plot but was instead hurried to completion with an ending that left me unsatisfied. Even the sequel bait at the end was confusing and uninteresting.
This book was a major disappointment for me. The story sounded really promising but everything was handled so poorly. I have no desire whatsoever to pick up the sequel and see how the story continues because this was such an unsatisfying experience. Its rare a book makes me feel like I wasted my time but the few days I spent rushing through this, hoping things might turn around and make for a better book, definitely feel wasted.
Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com
Once upon a time, the characters in all the old fairy tales escaped. To our world. Where they live like normal people. Well, almost normal. Okay, Julie, the daughter of Rapunzel, doesn't think there's anything particularly normal about any of them. Or her life. And there is definitely nothing normal about the thing under her bed.
Since the escape, Rapunzel has cut off her hair and runs a beauty salon. She and Julie live with Julie's brother, Puss and Boots. Though he just pretends to be the family pet. Julie's grandmother used to be the wicked witch who ate small children. Now she's just a nice old lady with a creepy laugh, who runs an inn. Julie's father, the Prince, never made it out. And the thing under the Julie's bed is The Wild.
The Wild used to hold all of the fairy tales. Now it has to be watched and controlled, or else it will try to grow and imprison everyone all over again. It's weak enough to be kept under Julie's bed, but that doesn't stop it from trying to transform everything that gets close to it. Julie's down to only mismatched shoes and flip flops, and you don't even want to know what happened when they tried to keep it in the basement! As long as no one completes a fairy tale act, or makes a wish in the wishing well at Grandmother's inn, The Wild remains safely locked in Julie's room, and all of the characters who made it out are safe.
Just like in fairy tales, one day something goes terribly wrong. Someone seems to have got to the wishing well, and The Wild has escaped. By the time Julie gets to it, it's already taken over most of the town. The city is evacuating. And The Wild is growing. When Julie finds out that it's already taken her mom and her grandmother she knows she has to go in and save them, and possibly everyone and everything else.
She'll just have to be careful to not get stuck in a story, or accidentally end one, and help everyone she knows remember who they are so they don't get too stuck. And not let The Wild beat her. If she can find her way to the wishing well, and manage to make the right wish, she just might be able to get everyone out of there. Or, she might get stuck in her own fairy tale forever.
Who hasn't wished that they could live in a fairy tale? Marry the handsome Prince or Princess and live happily ever after? Sounds great to me. Except when "happily ever after" means repeating the same story, over and over, with no end, and no choices. Then it starts to look a bit frightening.
INTO THE WILD is hilarious in parts, sad in parts, and surprisingly honest, given that it's about fairy tales. Almost all of your favorite characters are at least mentioned, even if they don't make an appearance. Some of the stories may seem a little different -- these aren't the Disney versions. Not that it's particularly horrible or scary, just something to keep in mind. All in all, a great book. I enjoyed it immensely!
Once upon a time, the characters in all the old fairy tales escaped. To our world. Where they live like normal people. Well, almost normal. Okay, Julie, the daughter of Rapunzel, doesn't think there's anything particularly normal about any of them. Or her life. And there is definitely nothing normal about the thing under her bed.
Since the escape, Rapunzel has cut off her hair and runs a beauty salon. She and Julie live with Julie's brother, Puss and Boots. Though he just pretends to be the family pet. Julie's grandmother used to be the wicked witch who ate small children. Now she's just a nice old lady with a creepy laugh, who runs an inn. Julie's father, the Prince, never made it out. And the thing under the Julie's bed is The Wild.
The Wild used to hold all of the fairy tales. Now it has to be watched and controlled, or else it will try to grow and imprison everyone all over again. It's weak enough to be kept under Julie's bed, but that doesn't stop it from trying to transform everything that gets close to it. Julie's down to only mismatched shoes and flip flops, and you don't even want to know what happened when they tried to keep it in the basement! As long as no one completes a fairy tale act, or makes a wish in the wishing well at Grandmother's inn, The Wild remains safely locked in Julie's room, and all of the characters who made it out are safe.
Just like in fairy tales, one day something goes terribly wrong. Someone seems to have got to the wishing well, and The Wild has escaped. By the time Julie gets to it, it's already taken over most of the town. The city is evacuating. And The Wild is growing. When Julie finds out that it's already taken her mom and her grandmother she knows she has to go in and save them, and possibly everyone and everything else.
She'll just have to be careful to not get stuck in a story, or accidentally end one, and help everyone she knows remember who they are so they don't get too stuck. And not let The Wild beat her. If she can find her way to the wishing well, and manage to make the right wish, she just might be able to get everyone out of there. Or, she might get stuck in her own fairy tale forever.
Who hasn't wished that they could live in a fairy tale? Marry the handsome Prince or Princess and live happily ever after? Sounds great to me. Except when "happily ever after" means repeating the same story, over and over, with no end, and no choices. Then it starts to look a bit frightening.
INTO THE WILD is hilarious in parts, sad in parts, and surprisingly honest, given that it's about fairy tales. Almost all of your favorite characters are at least mentioned, even if they don't make an appearance. Some of the stories may seem a little different -- these aren't the Disney versions. Not that it's particularly horrible or scary, just something to keep in mind. All in all, a great book. I enjoyed it immensely!
Its been a long while since Ive picked up a book that has been so dreadfully dull and unexciting that each chapter was a struggle to get through. I am a huge fan of fairy tale retellings and stories that transport the fairy tale characters to the modern world. But this book utterly failed its plot and characters.
The conflict of the story gets underway after very little introduction to the characters. When the situation started getting heated and serious, I didnt feel connected to the characters at all and I knew little about them beyond hearing their names and instantly being able to call their respective fairy tales to mind. No one is given any character development or personality. We have no idea why Puss in Boots is so focused only on finding his true love when the world is falling to pieces around him or why Goldilocks is a self-centered annoyance.
Worst of all in the main character, Julie. She is one of the most whiny, annoying, easily driven to tears narrators Ive ever had the misfortune to read and shes the one were supposed to be cheering for and identifying with? No thanks! I feel no sympathy with her, no desire to see her overcome her obstacles, I just kept getting frustrated with how dumb she kept acting. Every time she cried, I hoped some giant animal would pop up and eat her. Id read a book recently that featured another girl about Julies age in a much more difficult situation who was not even half as whiny and annoying as Julie. Its not a good comparison to be making in the middle of the story.
Speaking of story, the plot has potential. I really like the idea of The Wild being this living creature that is trying to escape and reclaim the fairy tale characters. It sounded really interesting. But the story is rushed and just feels incomplete. I cant even put my finger on why but I feel like pieces are missing from it. It could have been fleshed out to a really detailed and fascinating world and plot but was instead hurried to completion with an ending that left me unsatisfied. Even the sequel bait at the end was confusing and uninteresting.
This book was a major disappointment for me. The story sounded really promising but everything was handled so poorly. I have no desire whatsoever to pick up the sequel and see how the story continues because this was such an unsatisfying experience. Its rare a book makes me feel like I wasted my time but the few days I spent rushing through this, hoping things might turn around and make for a better book, definitely feel wasted.
The conflict of the story gets underway after very little introduction to the characters. When the situation started getting heated and serious, I didnt feel connected to the characters at all and I knew little about them beyond hearing their names and instantly being able to call their respective fairy tales to mind. No one is given any character development or personality. We have no idea why Puss in Boots is so focused only on finding his true love when the world is falling to pieces around him or why Goldilocks is a self-centered annoyance.
Worst of all in the main character, Julie. She is one of the most whiny, annoying, easily driven to tears narrators Ive ever had the misfortune to read and shes the one were supposed to be cheering for and identifying with? No thanks! I feel no sympathy with her, no desire to see her overcome her obstacles, I just kept getting frustrated with how dumb she kept acting. Every time she cried, I hoped some giant animal would pop up and eat her. Id read a book recently that featured another girl about Julies age in a much more difficult situation who was not even half as whiny and annoying as Julie. Its not a good comparison to be making in the middle of the story.
Speaking of story, the plot has potential. I really like the idea of The Wild being this living creature that is trying to escape and reclaim the fairy tale characters. It sounded really interesting. But the story is rushed and just feels incomplete. I cant even put my finger on why but I feel like pieces are missing from it. It could have been fleshed out to a really detailed and fascinating world and plot but was instead hurried to completion with an ending that left me unsatisfied. Even the sequel bait at the end was confusing and uninteresting.
This book was a major disappointment for me. The story sounded really promising but everything was handled so poorly. I have no desire whatsoever to pick up the sequel and see how the story continues because this was such an unsatisfying experience. Its rare a book makes me feel like I wasted my time but the few days I spent rushing through this, hoping things might turn around and make for a better book, definitely feel wasted.
