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thebookberrie's review against another edition
2.0
Ehhh okay. So Red's Untold Tale is a prequel type book (not a retelling) about red riding hood from the tv show Once Upon a Time. Basically fanfiction. Basically not very good fanfiction.
Once Upon a Time is quite literally my favorite show ever, I live and breathe the fairytale drama. So when I saw there was a book about one of my favorite secondary characters, I bought it immediately.
The thing is though, this book has nothing new. Or exciting. It's really actually boring. Instead of any type of action, the book is just Red acting immature while going through her day dealing with unreasonably harsh mean girls, helping her grandmother at her bakery, her grandmother bitching at her because she doesn't listen, failing multiple times at baking (seriously I get it- she sucks at baking, MOVE ON), and having a crush on her childhood friend. By halfway point nothing of interest had actually happened and I started to question why I was even wasting my time. I mean sure there are some wolves running around at night that were killing chickens and sometimes people but that's it. The thing is, in the show, Red is also the wolf herself and that was a twist I always loved. Meanwhile here, it's just a few wolves being annoying.
Also the damn anachronisms and inaccuracies. Did the author even watch the show? Hello but Snow White and Cinderella are PEOPLE in the Enchanted Forest. They are not storybook princess here, thanks.
Basically if you're a fan of the show like I am, you might as well skip this book. It's a pretty book but mostly just a waste of time.
Once Upon a Time is quite literally my favorite show ever, I live and breathe the fairytale drama. So when I saw there was a book about one of my favorite secondary characters, I bought it immediately.
The thing is though, this book has nothing new. Or exciting. It's really actually boring. Instead of any type of action, the book is just Red acting immature while going through her day dealing with unreasonably harsh mean girls, helping her grandmother at her bakery, her grandmother bitching at her because she doesn't listen, failing multiple times at baking (seriously I get it- she sucks at baking, MOVE ON), and having a crush on her childhood friend. By halfway point nothing of interest had actually happened and I started to question why I was even wasting my time. I mean sure there are some wolves running around at night that were killing chickens and sometimes people but that's it. The thing is, in the show, Red is also the wolf herself and that was a twist I always loved. Meanwhile here, it's just a few wolves being annoying.
Also the damn anachronisms and inaccuracies. Did the author even watch the show? Hello but Snow White and Cinderella are PEOPLE in the Enchanted Forest. They are not storybook princess here, thanks.
Basically if you're a fan of the show like I am, you might as well skip this book. It's a pretty book but mostly just a waste of time.
nhi_nguyen's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely love this new perspective of the fairy tale Red Riding Hood!
chaoskirin's review against another edition
3.0
This book is bland.
First, the good. It was written well. The author knows how to put words together to form a beautiful tapestry of story, but instead of creating an otherworldly picture with her skills, she's essentially just woven a bunch of boring squares. I don't know if she was commissioned to write this by ABC and they gave her the guidelines, or if she came up with this story on her own, but it was kind of like riding a roller coaster with little tiny climbs that would plateau and then slowly descend at a reasonable speed. It was like going skydiving from 6 feet off the ground. It was like going to hell only to find out that the Devil is actually kind of a nice guy and, yes, you would love to play chess with him next Saturday. It's like continuing to read similes in this paragraph and hoping there will be a point, BUT THERE NEVER IS.
I will look into this author's other books, though. Like I said, she's a great writer, she just didn't have anything to work with.
I found this book on a shelf in the grocery store. Rather than buy a paper copy, I just brought it up on Kindle and downloaded it right away. I thought it would be about Red's absence due to the actor leaving the show for a while--like, what happened while she was gone that led to her imprisonment as a witch's pet wolf? I think that would have been a pretty good story.
Instead, it's a story from Red's childhood.
Now, even after I learned that, I still gave it a chance, because Red is my favorite OUAT character. But even going into it, I knew--Red's entire character arc is centered around her not only being a werewolf, but her KNOWING about it. So, this book takes place before she knows any of that. It centers around the dangers of Wolfstime, which did bring a little excitement to the story, only for a pretty huge letdown at the end, but I'll get to that in a second.
One thing this story suffers from is the "If only you'd explained" syndrome. The plot is advanced by Red neglecting to give a simple explanation that would have straightened everything out. The reason the author had to do this was because tension needed to be created in a story where almost nothing happened. Red liked Peter. There were bullies at school. The tax guy wanted Granny's house. There was no over-arcing plot or bad guy to defeat. There was 'Wolfstime,' but the wolf only ever killed one person and a bunch of livestock. It wasn't seen until the end, and I didn't feel any sort of dire desire to see it vanquished.
Mostly, there was Violet (Red's bully) who was annoying and cliche.
But let me get to the whole wolf thing.
If you remember from the show, it turned out that the wolf killing the hunters was Red. That's a spoiler, but I'm sure you wouldn't be considering reading this book if you haven't at least seen the first season of OUAT. Anyway, that is Red's huge reveal. She's been killing and eating her own villagers during the full moon, because she can't control herself. She's a monster. As far as I remember, it's stated a few times in the episode that there is one wolf.
So, this is a few years before the series, but there's buildup throughout the book that this wolf is attacking. First killing a cow, then Granny's chickens, then ultimately, a villager. Since the reader knows by this point that Red is a werewolf, the logical conclusion is that this is the beginning of Red's Wolfstime rampages. I hoped that the climax of the story would have something to do with Granny discovering that her granddaughter is inflicted with the curse, or that someone would figure out Red was the werewolf and keep it a secret (I was thinking Violet, since she was so VERY annoying and needed to do something to redeem herself) or something like that.
Anyway, it turns out
So, yeah, that happened.
There's also plotlines in the book that are never followed to conclusion. IDK if this book is supposed to get a sequel or what, but I'm not sure how many can be written, since the end of this book kind of tapers into the beginning of Red showing up in the series. I felt like the author was allotted a certain number of words, and when she got near the limit, she had to patch together an ending. There's two important plot points that just fall off a cliff into a void - one regarding Red's dreams, and the other regarding her quest to help heal her grandmother's pain. There's also a minor one involving the tax man and an enchanted necklace. Would have been nice to see something come of that.
I mean, the idea behind a sequel is okay, but there's no indication that this is book one in a series. So I really feel as if these plot points were discarded right in the middle of telling them.
I still don't hate this book. I didn't find myself rolling my eyes and wanting to put the book down because it was terrible. It was just ... boring. It's something you might read in a waiting room while waiting for a doctor, except when you put it down, you have no strong desire to see what happens. You wouldn't feel like you wasted your time, because you read good words, but it's almost as bland as listening to work-safe gossip.
I don't know how else to describe it.
First, the good. It was written well. The author knows how to put words together to form a beautiful tapestry of story, but instead of creating an otherworldly picture with her skills, she's essentially just woven a bunch of boring squares. I don't know if she was commissioned to write this by ABC and they gave her the guidelines, or if she came up with this story on her own, but it was kind of like riding a roller coaster with little tiny climbs that would plateau and then slowly descend at a reasonable speed. It was like going skydiving from 6 feet off the ground. It was like going to hell only to find out that the Devil is actually kind of a nice guy and, yes, you would love to play chess with him next Saturday. It's like continuing to read similes in this paragraph and hoping there will be a point, BUT THERE NEVER IS.
I will look into this author's other books, though. Like I said, she's a great writer, she just didn't have anything to work with.
I found this book on a shelf in the grocery store. Rather than buy a paper copy, I just brought it up on Kindle and downloaded it right away. I thought it would be about Red's absence due to the actor leaving the show for a while--like, what happened while she was gone that led to her imprisonment as a witch's pet wolf? I think that would have been a pretty good story.
Instead, it's a story from Red's childhood.
Now, even after I learned that, I still gave it a chance, because Red is my favorite OUAT character. But even going into it, I knew--Red's entire character arc is centered around her not only being a werewolf, but her KNOWING about it. So, this book takes place before she knows any of that. It centers around the dangers of Wolfstime, which did bring a little excitement to the story, only for a pretty huge letdown at the end, but I'll get to that in a second.
One thing this story suffers from is the "If only you'd explained" syndrome. The plot is advanced by Red neglecting to give a simple explanation that would have straightened everything out. The reason the author had to do this was because tension needed to be created in a story where almost nothing happened. Red liked Peter. There were bullies at school. The tax guy wanted Granny's house. There was no over-arcing plot or bad guy to defeat. There was 'Wolfstime,' but the wolf only ever killed one person and a bunch of livestock. It wasn't seen until the end, and I didn't feel any sort of dire desire to see it vanquished.
Mostly, there was Violet (Red's bully) who was annoying and cliche.
But let me get to the whole wolf thing.
If you remember from the show, it turned out that the wolf killing the hunters was Red. That's a spoiler, but I'm sure you wouldn't be considering reading this book if you haven't at least seen the first season of OUAT. Anyway, that is Red's huge reveal. She's been killing and eating her own villagers during the full moon, because she can't control herself. She's a monster. As far as I remember, it's stated a few times in the episode that there is one wolf.
So, this is a few years before the series, but there's buildup throughout the book that this wolf is attacking. First killing a cow, then Granny's chickens, then ultimately, a villager. Since the reader knows by this point that Red is a werewolf, the logical conclusion is that this is the beginning of Red's Wolfstime rampages. I hoped that the climax of the story would have something to do with Granny discovering that her granddaughter is inflicted with the curse, or that someone would figure out Red was the werewolf and keep it a secret (I was thinking Violet, since she was so VERY annoying and needed to do something to redeem herself) or something like that.
Anyway, it turns out
Spoiler
there's another werewolf and Red kills it. Only she doesn't kill it. It disappears and the story ends.So, yeah, that happened.
There's also plotlines in the book that are never followed to conclusion. IDK if this book is supposed to get a sequel or what, but I'm not sure how many can be written, since the end of this book kind of tapers into the beginning of Red showing up in the series. I felt like the author was allotted a certain number of words, and when she got near the limit, she had to patch together an ending. There's two important plot points that just fall off a cliff into a void - one regarding Red's dreams, and the other regarding her quest to help heal her grandmother's pain. There's also a minor one involving the tax man and an enchanted necklace. Would have been nice to see something come of that.
I mean, the idea behind a sequel is okay, but there's no indication that this is book one in a series. So I really feel as if these plot points were discarded right in the middle of telling them.
I still don't hate this book. I didn't find myself rolling my eyes and wanting to put the book down because it was terrible. It was just ... boring. It's something you might read in a waiting room while waiting for a doctor, except when you put it down, you have no strong desire to see what happens. You wouldn't feel like you wasted your time, because you read good words, but it's almost as bland as listening to work-safe gossip.
I don't know how else to describe it.
razzyreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
acm94's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A must read for any once upon a time fan!
stephreadsalot1's review against another edition
3.0
This was a decent book. I'll be honest I bought it because the cover is sooooo pretty. I also love the show. I liked the book and the background that it gave for Red, but I wish there was more. Maybe they will do more books for the rest of the characters?
alyssaindira's review against another edition
3.0
Hey guys, so I was able to squeeze in time between finals to quickly read Once Upon a Time: Red's Untold Tale by Wendy Toliver. I had heard about this book, but I wasnt to sure about it, however, when it was only a dollar on googleplay, I figured might as well try it. I was not disappointed to say the least. At first, I thought it would just have some background info on the character Red(Ruby) from Once Upon A Time(Tv show) but I was pleasantly surprised when the novel when deeper than what the filmwriters chose to depict about Red. This author, she scribed Red's earlier childhood,before anything even remotely related from Once happened. Honestly, I kinda found that refreshing. Yes, although the author was trying to write about a tv show character, she made her spin on it unique. That being said, the only thing that I ha dto keep reminding myself while I was reading about Red, was that she was, I believe, sixteen during the majority of the story, and thirteen the other portion of it. To tell the truth, it felt like the author had kept Red in that thirteen year old's mindset rather than sizteen during the entire piece. Maybe I just couldnt seperate the past and the present, oh whatever, but that is just how I felt about the writing. Other than that, I think it was pretty good. Not too overloaded on details, just enough to be able to envision what was transpiring within the storyline. But goodness gracious, those bullies...I dont think I want to envision them anymore than I have to. Those little beaches....man....Honestly, if I had been Red, I would have fed them to the wolves and not even had batted an eye~ Seriously, that had treated her like dirt, worse even! Gods...*shakes head* The only thing stronger than hate, was love. I loved the love story that was intertwined in these pages....Oh Peter.....sweeet....kind....gentle....handsome Peter..goodness.... Okay....think I am getting off track....*Sighs* I believe that is all that I can say without spoilng something, so I'm just gonna stop typing..
linevahl's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
dogmomwithbooks's review against another edition
2.0
Red is a character I was curious to learn more about. Unfortunately, this story ended up being very dull and the ending left me unfulfilled. I didn't hate it entirely, but I also would not recommend it.
moooodanggg's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5