The Land Of Stories: The Wishing Spell By Chris Colfer

Adventurous book and great plot
Love this book

I used this as a novel study with my home schooling student who just turned 9. It is such a great way to incorporate Fairy Tales in the form of an adventure through the world of fairy tales – “The Land of Stories”. It is very well written with text that promotes colorful imagery on the part of the reader and opens up lots of conversations.

******** 3.5 Stars out of 5 ********

Chris Colfer is quite the talented man. From his Golden Globe winning performance on Glee to his background in High School Forensics (Which I myself partake in), he has proven his acting chops over and over again. He also wrote and directed a movie, Struck By Lightning, which has had some early good reviews. But even with all that under his belt, I was still skeptical going into The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell.

Let’s get something clear: I am not a Chris Colfer fan. I’ve despised Glee since about halfway through Season 2 (when I realized it was all downhill form there), and while I think he is a talented actor and good role model, I don’t think he is superman or anything.

But he isn’t a bad writer.

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell, is about two twins, Alex and Conner, both of whom are living with their single mother who works often. This very tragic, very real opening sets a scene to provide excellent contrast for the eventual fantasy setting of the novel. When Alex and Conner magically wind up in the Land of Stories (I won’t spoil how) they mainly have to figure out how to get home. Rumors of a “Wishing Spell” that grants any wish after gathering a set of items sends the Twins off running all over the kingdom to find those items and get back home.

The novel starts strong and things are generally interesting throughout. There are some pleasent twists and turns along the way, but look back up at that plot. Veterans of the fantasy genre and video game enthusiasts will be able to indentify the story as what’s called a “fetch quest.” Essentially, the characters are forced on a journey to collect a bunch of mundane items so that the author/creator can show off their world and creation.

At its worst, this story is a cheap fetch quest. A sight-seeing scavenger hunt for the reader to learn about this Land of Stories. While that makes the plot weak, it is supported by the fact that the world Colfer has created is vivid, living, and quite entertaining. Cleverly blending familiar themes and characters with new situations (like a pregnant Cinderella or a Goldilocks on the run), The Land of Stories provides an outstanding respite for not only the protagonists, but also an escape for the readers.

But let me stress this again: this is only at the plot’s worst.

A certain points throughout the novel, the plot hits a high and really, really shines. The item-quest gets buried under a witty, character-filled series that resembles something akin to Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Connor’s dialogue is refresingly well written, and his wise cracks almost never tire. Alex, on the other hand, is the spitting image of Hermione Granger and Annabeth from PJ, except with little tastes of Colfer’s own voice of reason. Connor is clearly the stronger, less derivative character, but both provide some great material for readers of any age.

But that ratio, where only one out of every two characters is fascinating and original, kind of echoes throughout the novel. There’s “Froggy” who is literally just Mr. Tumnus from The Chronicles of Narnia, the council of extremely stereotypical fairies (who are named according to color), and a strangely disgruntled Jack (of Beanstalk fame), who is a cross between Argus Filch and Severus Snape. These are just a few examples of the familiar, almost cliched characters. But due to the theme of this novel (essentially that the stories we read are real and true), and given how heavily it borrows from classical stories to even begin with, this odd mixture of totally new and unique characters and boring, archetypical characters surprisingly works.

While Colfer avoids falling victim to the usual ruts of Fantasy no-nos, he does misstep in a few rookie mistakes. There is a term in the industry called a “MacGuffin”, which basically means an item used to force the narrative along without having much significance or explanation of said significance. While some of the items in the book are clear (Rapunzel’s hair, Sleeping Beauty’s spindle needle), others are offered no explanation and become MacGuffins (the troll king’s crown?).

Similarly, things often work out a little *too* well for the twins. I kept expecting some big, amazing reveal where, due to the meta- nature of the narrative as a whole, there would be some plot device that would explain the twins amazing luck, which happens again and again and again. Here’s a basic passage that illustrate’s my point clearly, about 2/3s of the way through the book. For context, the twins have collected like half their stuff and suddenly need to go somewhere else. Tadaa! a boat magically appears on a river that happens to be near them and they can hitch a ride with the owner. Not only does this happen often, but the boat they get into is something out of a fairy tale as well:

“The boat was small and flat and had just enough room for the three of them. It traveled perfectly along with the river’s current, so they didn’t even need to row. The twins were enjoying the ride and were able to appreciate the scenery, pointing out every riverside village they saw. It was nice to travel without fear of a wolf or an ogre running up from behind them.”

This scene also works as an allegory for the work as a whole. The reader is there to enjoy the ride, which fits perfectly. It’s not about the method of travel, its about pointing out each attraction Colfer has created, solely for the reader’s enjoyment. But in this process, that sense of danger is lost. There is no moment where I was *really* scared for the twin’s life or quest. I knew the entire time that they would be fine, because that’s how stories like this work. And the whole “common happy ending thing” does end up hurting and helping the book. It hurts because of predictability, but helps because it says, with a wink, that the book understands its a book.

Like I said, very meta.

Aside from those complaints and a few questionable writing choices (“Conner’s mouth hung open like a broken glove compartment”), Colfer has created an interesting world, at least one well-developed main character, and provided a good story for years to come. While it doesn’t quite top the outstanding heights of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (which, in my opinion, was the last great entry in this genre), he does make a name for himself as an author, nor just a gimmick. I’ll be on the lookout for the next one, but being 18 years old, I don’t know who I would recommend this novel to. Not quite complex enough for adults, but still a little too mature for especially young kids, this book will have a hard time finding an audience. But its an enjoyable, quick beach read that is perfect for the Kindle.

3.5 out of 5 Stars

I bought a copy of the first book Of The Land of Stories for my grand niece’s 9th birthday and decided to buy a copy for myself. I found myself fully engaged in this book. It was so much fun to have the tales I heard and read as a child come to life. I look forward to the rest of the books in the series and sharing the fun with my niece and grandniece.

My son liked it a bit but was surprised to see some inappropriate words in the book. It was a little uncomfortable for us as parents too.