The "Land of Stories" Series by Chris Colfer

I thought I would end 2017 with a post about an amazing books series that everyone should read. Enjoy!

As much as I love reading, I’m happy I listened to this series on audio. Chris Colfer himself recorded for this series and his voice just brings the whole series together. His voice for Mother Goose alone makes these books worth listening to. I actually hope someone doesn’t make this series into movies because the audio books are so much better than any movie could be.

6^th Grade and Up

The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories #1)

Through the mysterious powers of a cherished book of stories, twins Alex and Conner leave their world behind and find themselves in a foreign land full of wonder and magic where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about.

But after a series of encounters with witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls alike, getting back home is going to be harder than they thought.

This book is extremely clever in every way. All the fairy tales you grew up with in one story told in a completely different way. For one thing, these aren’t the Disney versions we’ve grown accustom to. These are the original Fairy Tales and they are much darker. And second, what if the Prince Charmings in Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty were actually three brothers! That really blew my mind. And that’s only part of a spoiler. There are even bigger secrets waiting for you in this book.

The Enchantress Returns (The Land of Stories #2)

Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty has kidnapped their mother! Against the will of their grandmother, the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from the greatest threat it's ever faced.

Chris Colfer’s adaptation of Mother Goose is absolute genius. She is nothing like anything you’ve seen before. Every word out of her mouth is brilliant and made my mom and I crack up.

All the fairy tales line up in a way that make sense but is hard to follow sometimes. Don’t get me wrong these books are awesome but with each character having their own story with so much depth that it made my head spin. 

WARNING: If you haven’t read the first two books don’t read the rest of this post. TOO MANY SPOILLERS!!

A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories)

Connor Bailey thinks his fairy-tale adventures are behind him - until he discovers a mysterious clue left by the famous Brothers Grimm. With help from his classmate Bree and the outlandish Mother Goose, Conner sets off on a mission across Europe to crack a two-hundred-year-old code.

Meanwhile, Alex Bailey is training to become the next Fairy Godmother but her attempts at granting wishes never go as planned. Will she ever be truly ready to lead the Fairy Council?

When all signs point to disaster for the Land of Stories, Connor and Alex must join forces with their friends and enemies to save the day. But nothing can prepare them for the coming battle... or for the secret that will change the twins' lives forever.

This story switches between Conner and Alex’s points of view, which I enjoyed very much especially Conner’s parts. Conner is my favorite character in this whole book series, not including Mother Goose. He has a twisted sense of humor and is always quick with a sarcastic comment, which more hilarious than the last.

I don’t know how Chris Colfer is going to outdo Conner’s adventure through Europe. It is brilliant. Not only is his friend Bree along for the ride but also a special guest. There’s a twist with the guest that’s so great, I practically cheered with joy.

Beyond the Kingdoms (The Land of Stories #4)

Fairy tales and classic stories collide.

The Masked Man is on the loose in the Land of Stories, and it's up to Alex and Conner Bailey to stop him...except Alex has been thrown off the Fairy Council, and no one will believe they're in danger.

With only the help of the ragtag group of Goldilocks, Jack, Red Riding Hood, and Mother Goose and her gander, Lester, the Bailey twins discover the Masked Man's secret scheme: He possesses a powerful magic potion that turns every book it touches into a portal, and he is recruiting an army of literature's greatest villains!

So begins a race through the magical Land of Oz, the fantastical world of Neverland, the madness of Wonderland, and beyond. Can Alex and Conner catch up to the Masked Man, or will they be one step behind until it's too late?

If I had this magic potion, I’d go into the Harry Potter books. Wouldn’t everyone? I mostly want to see what house I would be sorted into. Probably HufflePuff. I wouldn’t mind that. What books would you want to travel in, post in the comment section?

I’ll be honest; I’ve never been very interested in any of the other literary worlds mentioned in this book. I’m more into worlds like ChalkZone where you can draw anything and it becomes real or the Toy Box World from Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. But Chris Colfer’s writing got me interested. I’ll have to read these books if I can find the time. It might be hard to believe but I do have a life outside of this blog.

An Author’s Odyssey (The Land of Stories #5)

Conner learns that the only place to fight the Masked Man's literary army is inside his own short stories.

When the twins and their friends enter worlds crafted from Conner's imagination, finding allies no one else could have ever dreamed of, the race begins to put an end to the Masked Man's reign of terror. Can the twins finally restore peace in the fairy tale world?

Fight literary characters with literary characters. We get to meet some new out of this world characters based on the already amazing characters. We also learn that writer put more of themselves into their stories than they realize.

Listening to this story made me wish I could write my own stories. I’m only good at writing fanfiction and book reviews. I’m beginning to write my own comic stories. They aren’t great but I’m getting better.

Worlds Collide (The Land of Stories #6)

Conner and Alex must brave the impossible. All of the Land of Stories fairy tale characters – heroes and villains – are no longer confined within their world!

With mayhem brewing in the Big Apple, Conner and Alex will have to win their biggest battle yet.

Like I said in my review for the 3^rd book, I didn’t think Chris Colfer could outdo the Europe adventure. But he somehow managed to do so. I still think the Europe adventure was the best but in this story he has some of the characters on an airplane! It goes exactly the way you’d think it would go! But I won’t spoil that part of the book. I’ll just say that Chris Colfer has outdone himself again. This book starts great and ends great. I hope you all will love these books as much as my mom and I did.

Well that’s it for 2017! See you all next year!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

High School

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place.

The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of the 80’s and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself hunted by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win.

As someone who has spent many hours combing the shelves at libraries and bookstores, I’ve seen many books with this sort of plot. That plot being a utopia virtual reality video game world that people escape and/or get trapped in while the rest of the world is falling in on itself. It’s no longer a unique story plot but ‘Ready Player One’ is one of the good ones.

There are so many references to the 80’s TV shows, 80’s movies, 80’s video games, and 80’s culture. You don’t really need to know everything about the 80’s to follow what’s going on, but it’s more fun if you know a few things. The 80’s were an interesting time. As to quote the hit TV show ‘The Goldbergs’, “It was the age of E.T., Mr. T, and MTV. Back then the world was still small. There were no cellphones, or Internet, or Twitter.’ It just seemed like a simpler time.

The scary part about this story is that this future is very possible. It’s only 2017 and we already have virtual reality headsets. The thing is technology is getting more and more advanced every year but world is getting worse and worse. We are becoming a race that relies too much on technology and I am ashamed to say I’m one of them.

The OASIS seems like a cool place in theory, kind of like how motorcycles seem like a cool idea in theory. By this I mean the stuff in the OASIS is amazing; whole planets based on classic movies, a pretty decent public-school system, and nonstop fun. But it’s not real. No matter how much added technology you use to make it feel real, it’s still just bright color and code that doesn’t really exist. I don’t really like reality to begin with but I get a headache if I stare at my computer screen too long. I don’t think I’d be able to handle ‘living’ in a virtual world.

This book does a great job of summing up what the human race would be like at it worst. I’ll let you read the book and figure out what I mean by that. All I can say is I fear for the human race and hope there will be a few humans in the future that can help save the earth from ourselves.

I read this book because I found out that it’s going to be made into a movie, directed by Steven Spielberg. Which is extra cool because he’s mentioned in the book, along with every other movie made in the 1980’s. The film is scheduled to be released on March 30, 2018. I have no idea how they’re going to fit so much into one movie.