The Wishing Spell By Chris Colfer

Me encanto como el autor junto todos los cuentos en uno solo de manera entretenida

******** 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

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.

After finishing this book, I could not help but be surprised that having been written by an author as a debut novel who is essentially an actor, it was so good. I purchased the book because I was a fan of Glee during its first seasons and a fan of Chris Colfer as an actor and individual because of his outspokenness about his sexual orientation. I had also seen many good reviews of it and when I learned that he had spent so many years working on it I decided to give it a chance. Honestly, I was not expecting it to be that great of a story but this novel completely exceeded any expectations I had at the start. It is very well written, and in such a way that captivates you until you find yourself reading it from start to finish. I personally could not put the book down and finished it in less than 24 hours.

I enjoyed reading about the lives of different characters in classic storytellings after the “happily ever after”, especially “The Evil Queen” from Snow White. This particular character especially touched me since I had never before read a fairy tale in which a villain’s past was provided for the reader to fully understand the reasons behind a characters choices and way of being.

However, I could not give this story a full five stars for the following reasons:

First of all, I think Chris Colfer was a little confused about the audience it was supposed to be aiming at and the story got stuck somewhere between a young adult fantasy and a children’s fantasy book. When you begin to read the book, the simplicity of the plot would make anyone categorize it as a children’s novel, but as you further advance in the story you realize that although written mildly, some sexual/romantic insinuations can be discovered. I feel that Colfer should have been more clear about this and either excluded these passages or written the book in such a way that would have categorized it exclusively as a Young Adult Fantasy Novel.

Another thing that disappointed me was the lack of character depth in the story. While reading the story I had a sense of a wonderful world, but was left wanting for more in terms of detail and character descriptions, making it hard for me to relate to anyone but the Evil Queen, which in my opinion was the only character who was portrayed at least a little bit as a relatable persona. I guess Colfer wanted to condense everything in as few pages as possible, but in doing so he prevented the development and description of all of the characters and the world.

Even though many would probably disagree with me, I would not recommend it to children. The book is not in any way a sexual story or anything of the sort, but after you read it maybe you’ll understand my opinion on this aspect.

Either way, I enjoyed reading the book and I would recommend this book to Young Adults. I give this book five stars because I loved the way the story made me cry while maintaining it’s lighthearted tone. When a story is able to take me for a ride with my emotions, I know that the author has done a very good job creating empathy between the reader (in this case me) and the characters in the story.