It takes at least a hundred pages for this third book to start revealing its story, with Colfer spending a lot of setup time on Alex and Conner's separate lives. Alex's fairy powers and her magic unicorn are a bit too cute, and when she conjures up the magic path ... if she can do it that easily, I guess she's practically omnipotent (when the author wants her to be)? The rules for magic in this world haven't been fully thought out, which makes it prone to solving any problem at the drop of the author's whim. On top of this, the military tactics used by both sides are weak in the extreme, which is credible for the fairies but not so much for the French general. Fortunately armies can teleport across the map at a moment's notice, providing an opportunity to explain to the young reader in your family what 'deus ex machina' means.

Of course the target audience doesn't notice or care because of the funny bits (Trollbella being the highlight), awkward teenage romance in bloom, fun surprise reveals and relationships (the author at his most creative), and the twins still standing up to enormous odds with their determination and good will. The only laziness that might be noticed is Colfer's new propensity for exhaustively listing things: exactly who is in which carriage, exactly who is tied to what stake, etc. The series template still works but it's getting rough around the edges, and this is only book three. ( )

I am reading this series out loud to my daughter. It has been a somewhat slow slog, with lots of other books read in between, but with A Grimm Warning, I felt like the series has picked up quite a bit, and I read large chunks on the weekends, because we really both wanted to know what would happen next! ( )

This was such a fantastic addition to this series! So much action in this one and a crazy cliffhanger ending...wow! ( )

Dieser dritte Band aus der Reihe „Land of Stories“ ist mein erster. Ich bin ein Märchenfan, also war dies genau mein Buch.
Conner und einige Mitschüler reisen nach Deutschland, um bisher unbekannte Märchen der Gebrüder Grimm kennenzulernen. Dabei stößt er auf eine Botschaft, die von den Grimms höchstpersönlich stammt. Einige Rätsel müssen gelöst werden, um das Märchenland vor dem Untergang zu bewahren. Aber auch ihr Leben wird sich damit verändern.
Mir hat diese Geschichte gut gefallen. Schon mit dem Prolog geht es spannend zu. Die Grande Armée will das Märchenland erobern.
Ich kannte Conner und Alex natürlich zuvor nicht, muss aber sagen, dass mir diese Figuren gut gefallen. Conner will natürlich gleich die drohende Gefahr abwenden. Er konnte ja nicht wissen, dass er der Grande Armée damit das Tor in die Märchenwelt öffnet.
Aber auch die Märchenfiguren gefallen mir in dieser Geschichte sehr gut.
Es ist spannend bis zum überraschenden Ende. Dies wird bestimmt nicht mein letztes Buch aus der Reihe sein.
Ein toller Lesespaß nicht nur für Kinder. ( )

Book three in the Land of Stories kids' series, about an alternate dimension full of fairy tale characters and the twin brother and sister who discover they have an important connection to it. In this one, they have to deal with a two-hundred-year-old army that is coming with the intention of conquering the Land of Stories for Napoleon, among other things.

I thought the first two books were fun, if a little slow to get going, but I'm afraid I didn't find this one nearly as engaging. Honestly, I thought the plot was a bit dull -- much more so than it seemed like it should have been, given the premise -- and a lot of the story details just didn't quite work for me. It did read pretty fast, but somehow it felt like it was dragging a bit, anyway.

Oh, well. At least I still find this series' version of Little Red Riding Hood weirdly entertaining. And it this installment does set up some potentially interesting mysteries for the second half of the series. ( )