A review by teebles
Once Upon a Dork by Rachel Renée Russell
5.0
This, I honestly feel, is the best book in the entire series. Maybe that is just my love of fantasy talking, but I honestly think that this is such a strong book.
I love the whimsical nature of this book. This book is what had first introduced me to the idea of retellings and it was awesome to get it in such a cool way. I really liked all of the super cool illustrations that got the whimsical element of the story across. Honestly, the art style is gorgeous and it really complements the fairytale-esque nature of this book.
I also love the way that this was kinda like a variety of stories mushed together. Like, you get snippets from lots of fairytales and the way that they are combined together is just super creative and pretty awesome.
This also has one of my favourite tropes - when people go unconscious and go to an alternate reality where people that they know in real life are different people in this other world (weirdly specific, I know). But I just loved the fact that all of the fairytale people were people that Nikki knew. They were all super exaggerated too, kinda like caricatures of themselves, which made it quite funny. The characters in this book were great. Honestly, the characters are my favourite part of this series, to be honest. I love how they are all so unique! And getting to see them in this new way, as brought on by the fairytales, was so interesting.
I can’t review one of these books without talking about Brianna (one of my favourite characters, for some unknown reason). There was so much Brianna in this book, and I love it! Brianna is so funny and honestly, she got some much deserved plot in this book and it was so awesome! I loved it!
March Note:
I wasn’t planning on rereading this now, but the need to reread was brought on by me reading Alice in Wonderland for the first time. I loved the nods towards that book in this story.
I love the whimsical nature of this book. This book is what had first introduced me to the idea of retellings and it was awesome to get it in such a cool way. I really liked all of the super cool illustrations that got the whimsical element of the story across. Honestly, the art style is gorgeous and it really complements the fairytale-esque nature of this book.
I also love the way that this was kinda like a variety of stories mushed together. Like, you get snippets from lots of fairytales and the way that they are combined together is just super creative and pretty awesome.
This also has one of my favourite tropes - when people go unconscious and go to an alternate reality where people that they know in real life are different people in this other world (weirdly specific, I know). But I just loved the fact that all of the fairytale people were people that Nikki knew. They were all super exaggerated too, kinda like caricatures of themselves, which made it quite funny. The characters in this book were great. Honestly, the characters are my favourite part of this series, to be honest. I love how they are all so unique! And getting to see them in this new way, as brought on by the fairytales, was so interesting.
I can’t review one of these books without talking about Brianna (one of my favourite characters, for some unknown reason). There was so much Brianna in this book, and I love it! Brianna is so funny and honestly, she got some much deserved plot in this book and it was so awesome! I loved it!
March Note:
I wasn’t planning on rereading this now, but the need to reread was brought on by me reading Alice in Wonderland for the first time. I loved the nods towards that book in this story.