Don't know why I didn't take to it as much as the prior two--it's Very, Very Similar. Maybe it felt a bit bleaker (less fun). I didn't know how to take the excursion to the narrator's world, that seemed strange--I see why the writer did it, but I didn't like it. While there are allusions to and minor characters from the earlier books, it doesn't end in a thrilling satisfying way that connects everything as I'd been hoping. It's just more of the same, and not quite as good. I'm glad he moved on the Inquisitor's Tale, which while similar, is more of a change of pace.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )

The Grimm Conclusions book has all the favorite fairy tales but changed to be twisted and cruel. The two main characters in the story are a little boy and a little girl named Jorinda and Joringel. My favorite out of the 15 stories are the Cinderella story, Juniper Tree, and the Kingdom of the Children. The Cinderella story is similar to the original Cinderella story but there is a step-father instead of a step-mother. The two girls and Jorinda try to fit the shoe. The two sisters’ feet are too big so the father gives the girls a knife and they cut off their big toe and part of their heel. Jorinda tries on the golden shoe and it fits perfectly. Joringel was killed by his step-father and he was put into a stew and eaten. Joringel was reincarnated as a bird and kills the step-father with a milstone then Joringel is resurrected as he was before. After Jorinda leaves to go live with the prince. In the next story called the Juniper Tree, Joringel eats a berry from a special tree called the juniper tree which in legend the berry takes away all senses of fear. Then there are ravens that show up and follow him around. The ravens also guide and tell him about what other things are out there other than the juniper berry. In the last story, Jorinda and Joringel become tyrants of the Grimm kingdom. After the prince leads an army to the castle Jorinda dies and Joringel has to go to hell to save his sister. After they leave hell, Jorinda and Joringel took all the children and made a fort. This fort protected them against the war machines and the children took down all the soldiers that got through the barricade.
My opinion of this book is that it is a good book and it has some really bloody parts and some really sad and happy parts. One of the main reasons I like this book is because it keeps me interested in the story. The book pulls you further into the story and keeps you entertained. It is a well-written book. I like the stories because they differed from what I knew as a child like Cinderella. I also like how the author is part of the story and it is a third-person view but better. I also like how the author puts his own dialogue into the story. ( )

The characters names in this book are called Joringel and Jorinda and they are twins. The story takes place in a kingdom called Kingdom Grim where in a little house Jorinda and Joringel are born. But then after a few days their mom didn't pay attention to them anymore and so they let the little house to go on big adventures. But there's a problem stirring in Kingdom Grim, the new ruler Herzlos made a rule that if a child were to leave their parents then they would get killed. So Jorinda and Joringel decided to
retrieve all the children of Grim and make a Kingdom of Children. On the twenty-first day Herzlos and his soldiers prepared to attack the children, but then from the help of the ogre named Malchizedek and a beast named Eddy they all defeated Herzlos army. From now on every night the children go to their own little kingdom and tell stories about their adventures.
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If I were able to change the title of the book I would call it "The Children's Adventures". I would love to meet the main characters Jorinda and Joringel in real life. I wish there would be a little bit more action in the book but I guess it's fine. This book wouldn't be a good movie because it would have to much violence. It also wouldn't be a good video game because I would not be able to play it. If I were to meet the author I would ask if he could sign a copy of this book. ( )

The final book of the Grimm trilogy, this follows the horrible childhoods of twins Jorinda and Joringel. After their father dies, their neglectful mother marries a cruel cook who has two mean daughters. The cook murders Joringel and blackmails Jorinda into helping to dispose of the body. You'd think that would be the end of Joringel but it isn't. The twins suffer death and near death at every turn as they meet an ogre, unicorns, an evil king and Satan and his grandmother. Around two hundred pages in, the twins find themselves in modern day Brooklyn, where they meet their author, Adam, who strangely spends a few pages discussing his own childhood trauma over his parent's divorce. The rest of the book, and the series, is delightfully macabre with some really horrifying images, like a man cut in half who drags his top half around chasing Jorinda and moaning "Help me!" ( )

I enjoyed listening to the first two books, A Tale Dark and Grimm and In A Glass Grimmly, so naturally I checked out The Grimm Conclusion. This time the children are siblings called Jorinda and Joringel. There is the same kind of humor and gruesome retelling of Grimm fairy tales as before, but this book eventually breaks the fourth wall. (No, Mr. Gidwitz, I was not confused before you explained what was going on, but I'm more than old enough to be your mother and have spent decades reading comic books, fantasy, and science fiction. You weren't even born when I was introduced to older and grimmer versions of fairy tales than in my childhood copy of the Grimm versions, back when I was in library school.) That didn't stop me from enjoying the story, although I got a little impatient with Jorinda and Joringel when they didn't understand what their mother was telling them during the exciting battle scene.

At least it was better advice than their mother gave them earlier in the book. I thought Mr. Gidwitz did a good job showing what bad advice that was. I feel sorry for the innocent persons harmed because of it, though.

As with book two, the author was kind enough to tell us which stories inspired him -- I do recommend listening to that part of CD six. 'The Juniper Tree' is also known as 'The Almond Tree,' by the way, if your copy of Grimm isn't handy so you look up the stories online. I echo the author in recommending you get your own copy of Grimms' Fairy Tales -- one that hasn't suffered from mid-to-late 20th century sweetening. ( )