ciska's review
3.0
*Disclaimer: I received a free copy in return for an honest review*
Author
Ken Brosky was born in Milwaukee. He has a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin and a Master's degree in writing from the University of Nebraska. His first novel was published in fall 2007. He has more than a dozen short stories published in magazines including Skyline and World Audience.
Isabella Fontaine lives in Winsconsin with her cats. The Grimm Chronicles is her first book.
Review
When I saw this book pop up on my rss feed with a request for spots for a blog tour I knew I had to react immediately. First the titles of the episodes where really catchy and I found the whole concept idea brilliant.
The first story caught me of guard though. I am not sure what triggered my annoyance button. The fact that they named him Edward or the three chapters where the drool of the effort to make him look brilliant was coming out of my e-reader. I was getting a bit scared for the rest of the book at that point but decided that I should at least try to finish the story and see how it would work out. AND I AM GLAD I DID!! After that first hiccups this book is getting funnier and funnier and it all starts to make sense.
Most loved character must be the bunny rabbit although I loved the diaries of Grace and would love to know more about her adventurers. With Alice I had more problems. The descriptions on the book talk about a strong female protagonist and I had a hard time seeing that at first. In the later stories and specially Revenge of the Castle Cats she takes matters in her own hand. She is slowly growing on me and I am looking forward to see her grow further in the upcoming stories.
This book also includes all the original stories of the corrupted mentioned in the book. This is very nice because there where a few I was not familiar with.
Author
Ken Brosky was born in Milwaukee. He has a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin and a Master's degree in writing from the University of Nebraska. His first novel was published in fall 2007. He has more than a dozen short stories published in magazines including Skyline and World Audience.
Isabella Fontaine lives in Winsconsin with her cats. The Grimm Chronicles is her first book.
Review
When I saw this book pop up on my rss feed with a request for spots for a blog tour I knew I had to react immediately. First the titles of the episodes where really catchy and I found the whole concept idea brilliant.
The first story caught me of guard though. I am not sure what triggered my annoyance button. The fact that they named him Edward or the three chapters where the drool of the effort to make him look brilliant was coming out of my e-reader. I was getting a bit scared for the rest of the book at that point but decided that I should at least try to finish the story and see how it would work out. AND I AM GLAD I DID!! After that first hiccups this book is getting funnier and funnier and it all starts to make sense.
Most loved character must be the bunny rabbit although I loved the diaries of Grace and would love to know more about her adventurers. With Alice I had more problems. The descriptions on the book talk about a strong female protagonist and I had a hard time seeing that at first. In the later stories and specially Revenge of the Castle Cats she takes matters in her own hand. She is slowly growing on me and I am looking forward to see her grow further in the upcoming stories.
This book also includes all the original stories of the corrupted mentioned in the book. This is very nice because there where a few I was not familiar with.
lilyelement's review
4.0
Full review can be found at http://lilyelement.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-grimm-chronicles-review-giveaway.html
The Grimm Chronicles is a refreshing set of books that were a great read. The books revolve around Alice Goodenough, a high school student that volunteers at the library during Summer. Alice finds out she is the hero that fights against the Corrupted. The Corrupted are characters that the Brothers Grimm wrote about and came to life. With Briar Rabbit at her side, she has information and the back up she needs.
The characters are ones we all know, but they have a twist since they are Corrupted which makes the story unique. A few that make appearances are Prince Charming, Cinderella, Frog Prince and quite a few more. Each story leads into the next so make sure to read the books in order. The 3rd Episode was a little bit different from the rest. A Corrupted actively seeks out Alice, and her life quickly changes. All in all the books were excellent, I recommend them and will be on the lookout for more.
Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.
The Grimm Chronicles is a refreshing set of books that were a great read. The books revolve around Alice Goodenough, a high school student that volunteers at the library during Summer. Alice finds out she is the hero that fights against the Corrupted. The Corrupted are characters that the Brothers Grimm wrote about and came to life. With Briar Rabbit at her side, she has information and the back up she needs.
The characters are ones we all know, but they have a twist since they are Corrupted which makes the story unique. A few that make appearances are Prince Charming, Cinderella, Frog Prince and quite a few more. Each story leads into the next so make sure to read the books in order. The 3rd Episode was a little bit different from the rest. A Corrupted actively seeks out Alice, and her life quickly changes. All in all the books were excellent, I recommend them and will be on the lookout for more.
Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for an honest review.
ley2003grad's review
4.0
My thoughts: Honestly, I liked this book. I believe it fit along side all the others who have begun to emerge trying to bring these fairy tales to a new audience.The character is very relate-able something has yet to be found, in my opinion. She's not your typical: already fit, trained from birth type. She could be anyone, you or me! She has to learn everything thing from the start which is something that needs to be shown, she's the underdog.
This is a different spin on things. Most of the stories keep the good people good and the bad one bad, but they change it up. They make everyone part of The Corrupted/evil. I love the uncertainty whether or not Briar will stay on her side. This seems so real.
There are a few things I would change:
-First, the layout of the book. You are going between three characters thoughts and ways of telling their part, it's a bit much and gets a little confusing. The old journal entries give a good background/back story of information and Briar's part explains when the two are split up, but that's why it took me a while to get through it. I think there has to be a better way to lay that out. To make it easier to get through.
-Secondly, I dislike that the First Corrupted she has to kill is her boyfriend. To me it felt as though she was tossed in the deep end of the pool with out learning to swim and expected to survive. Maybe adding that smaller character to get her feet wet, so we could see her fight the truth of things.
-Third, Her name was a bit odd to me, it seemed a bit last minute.
My rating: 4 stars
This is a different spin on things. Most of the stories keep the good people good and the bad one bad, but they change it up. They make everyone part of The Corrupted/evil. I love the uncertainty whether or not Briar will stay on her side. This seems so real.
There are a few things I would change:
-First, the layout of the book. You are going between three characters thoughts and ways of telling their part, it's a bit much and gets a little confusing. The old journal entries give a good background/back story of information and Briar's part explains when the two are split up, but that's why it took me a while to get through it. I think there has to be a better way to lay that out. To make it easier to get through.
-Secondly, I dislike that the First Corrupted she has to kill is her boyfriend. To me it felt as though she was tossed in the deep end of the pool with out learning to swim and expected to survive. Maybe adding that smaller character to get her feet wet, so we could see her fight the truth of things.
-Third, Her name was a bit odd to me, it seemed a bit last minute.
My rating: 4 stars
mzzmia's review
4.0
Every so often, I come across a YA series that redeems my jaded opinion about that genre. This is one of them.
lilithka's review
2.0
I admit this book does sound good but I just did not like the style and could not finish it :(
renley's review
4.0
Part of the online book tour . Also posted on my blog :
http://cheerfulreviews.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-grimm-chronicles-by-isabella.html
Ahh~~ I just love fairytale retellings! They're so much fun to read about. I don't think I've ever read a fairytale retelling yet (knock on wood) that I haven't liked! The Grimm Chronicles is definitely included. It started off a bit slow but once Alice meets the rabbit and the story sets in- it's such a wonderful adventure!
We follow Alice Goodenough- who is an 18 year old senior in school. She's pretty normal- has a boyfriend, volunteers at her local library (I wan't to do that.), etc. Until she gets all caught up in the Grimm fairytales- which are not the sweet happy fairytales we all know and love. The original ones are scary and evil and honestly- really interesting! I loved reading about the actual stories that started them all and seeing how they compare to the new ones. Alice was a very strong character, and her nifty sidekick (Briar) was a joy to have along as well!
I loved how Alice went through many different stories in this book. It kept moving and I felt myself getting more and more immersed in it as I continued reading. At times in the book, I thought Alice could overlook many things and not catch on very quickly which got on my nerves a bit. I began to understand more later on that she was kind of in 'denial' about everything- so she was slower to accept the crazy things right in front of her.
This book was so much fun. Don't get me wrong, it's very intense and sometimes I was a bit scared (cough) but I just absolutely love fairytales- and it was extremely fun reading about the original Grimm ones instead of the happy ending ones we know today! Alice was a great protagonist and I found myself getting very attached to her. She was strong and independent and a serious kick-ass kind of girl ! I did find the beginning hard to get in to which brought the rating down some, but other than that this book was wonderful! Kudos to Isabella and Ken for writing such a great original book!
http://cheerfulreviews.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-grimm-chronicles-by-isabella.html
Ahh~~ I just love fairytale retellings! They're so much fun to read about. I don't think I've ever read a fairytale retelling yet (knock on wood) that I haven't liked! The Grimm Chronicles is definitely included. It started off a bit slow but once Alice meets the rabbit and the story sets in- it's such a wonderful adventure!
We follow Alice Goodenough- who is an 18 year old senior in school. She's pretty normal- has a boyfriend, volunteers at her local library (I wan't to do that.), etc. Until she gets all caught up in the Grimm fairytales- which are not the sweet happy fairytales we all know and love. The original ones are scary and evil and honestly- really interesting! I loved reading about the actual stories that started them all and seeing how they compare to the new ones. Alice was a very strong character, and her nifty sidekick (Briar) was a joy to have along as well!
I loved how Alice went through many different stories in this book. It kept moving and I felt myself getting more and more immersed in it as I continued reading. At times in the book, I thought Alice could overlook many things and not catch on very quickly which got on my nerves a bit. I began to understand more later on that she was kind of in 'denial' about everything- so she was slower to accept the crazy things right in front of her.
This book was so much fun. Don't get me wrong, it's very intense and sometimes I was a bit scared (cough) but I just absolutely love fairytales- and it was extremely fun reading about the original Grimm ones instead of the happy ending ones we know today! Alice was a great protagonist and I found myself getting very attached to her. She was strong and independent and a serious kick-ass kind of girl ! I did find the beginning hard to get in to which brought the rating down some, but other than that this book was wonderful! Kudos to Isabella and Ken for writing such a great original book!
fraeyalise's review
3.0
I got this as a free e-book, and there was a lot of typos. It was hard to get into at first because it's written more like a spoken story than a written story, and the way the hero talked set me on edge. xD But after a while I feel like the authors got more comfortable with the story and it was easier to read. The concept is really cool. I love the Grimms Brothers' stories, and that's what this book revolves around. I think I'll have to buy the next two, just to see how it turns out. Oh, there's some bonus material in the back: All the full stories from Grimm's Fairy Tales that books 1-3 took excerpts from. I thought that was really nice to include.
ayanamifaerudo's review
4.0
Although I've read a few books of fairy tale "retwists", I've never had an enjoyable afternoon of no electricity than reading this version.
It's different, it's cool, and I definitely dig this "I don't wanna be Cinderella, sittin' in a dark, old, dusty cellar. Waiting for somebody to come and set me free. No I'd rather rescue myself" heroine.
Yes, I just quoted a Cheetah Girls song.
I'd write a more serious review later. XD
It's different, it's cool, and I definitely dig this "I don't wanna be Cinderella, sittin' in a dark, old, dusty cellar. Waiting for somebody to come and set me free. No I'd rather rescue myself" heroine.
Yes, I just quoted a Cheetah Girls song.
I'd write a more serious review later. XD
becxreadz's review
4.0
Liked
*Smart teen girl character
*Unique reimagining of the Grimm Fairy Tales
*No romance beyond the first story which isn't really romancey
*No teenage drama
*Quirky friendships
*Action
Disliked
*Convenient storylines
*Sometimes the obvious is overlooked by the character until a reveal needs to happen
*Smart teen girl character
*Unique reimagining of the Grimm Fairy Tales
*No romance beyond the first story which isn't really romancey
*No teenage drama
*Quirky friendships
*Action
Disliked
*Convenient storylines
*Sometimes the obvious is overlooked by the character until a reveal needs to happen
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