The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, 3) Paperback – Illustrated, June 9, 2015

This book is one of the most action-packed and exciting books that I’ve read in a very long time, and throughout it I learned lessons about traveling and just life in general. Conner’s journey through Europe and Alex’s life in The Land Of Stories (a fairytale book you can go inside of) is incredibly inspiring and teaching as we watch them go on tremendous adventures with courage, love, and intelligence. It has heart-pounding action, twists and turns that can make you sick, and cliffhangers that could make you read the whole entire book in one sitting! In the end, we learn to put family and loved ones before others and to cherish the little moments in life.The Land Of Stories: A Grimm Warning, by Chris Colfer, takes place in two different worlds; a fairytale book and Europe. Conner, a 13 year old boy, is selected by his teacher to go on a trip to Berlin with a group of weirdo girls and one other mysterious girl who Connor has a huge crush on. The group goes there to uncover a time capsule which was planted by The Brothers’ Grimm. Conner discovers something crazy and knows he can’t stay any longer. He tries to leave, but is caught by the mysterious girl, Bree. She insists that she shall come along with Conner, and together they have an adventure of a lifetime. Alex, on the other hand, is having quite the opposite adventure from her twin. Since their father was from the fairytale world, the twins both had some fairy heritage in them, but Alex accepted it more. She decided to stay in the book and take lessons from her grandma, the fairy godmother. She has to do helpful tasks and learn to be patient if she wants to become a true fairy; a fairy on The Fairy Council. Throughout the book, Alex and Conner go through struggles and find love, all the while trying to communicate with each other. They have magic mirrors that they can communicate through, and in the end, the reunite to fight a war together in The Land Of Stories. Will they be able to live without each other’s support? Read to find out!Since this book partially takes place in a fairytale world and also has runaway teenagers, it’s bound to have action. There were many moments in this book where I found my heart beating out of my chest because of it’s nail-biting action. One time is when Alex and Conner fall inside of a GINORMOUS tree. “‘Because I gotta tell you, most of the stuff you say to me goes in one ear and out the-AAAAH!’ CRACK! The twins had been jumping on a weak part of the branch and fell straight through it. To their surprise, the tree branch was hollow and they landed on a long wooden slide. The slide traveled through the branch and coiled down the giant tree trunk. The twins screamed and tried to grab ahold of anything they could but the slide was too slick, so they slid deeper and deeper into the bottom of the tree,”(page 358). Over the course of the book, I slowly started feeling what the characters felt, so at this part I was really excited and scared because it was so action-packed.In all of his novels, Chris Colfer does an amazing job of keeping the reader hanging on the edge of their seats because of the many twists and turns. I would read this book for hours on end because I just couldn’t put it down. One example is when Conner and Bree hear a story that acts like a prophecy for The Land Of Stories. It leaves all the characters and the readers awestruck. “Conner felt light-headed and sick to his stomach. His mind was racing with so many questions he couldn't focus. [...] everything was white noise around him. [...] It wasn’t actually a story, it was a warning,”(page 108). This was in the beginning of the book and everything was going well, but then we realized something bad was coming so I couldn’t stop reading.Last, there were many jaw-dropping cliffhangers. In a multi-book series, I feel it’s best to have the end of each book be a cliffhanger so that you will read the next book. The end of this book was most definitely a cliffhanger and I had to read the next book. Alex and Conner's dad is supposed to be dead, but Alex claims she saw him. “Alex was sitting on the steps of the platform in the back of the room. Her face was ghostly white and she panted as she stared off into space. Her wand was on the floor and a few feet away from her-something was very wrong. ‘Alex, are you alright?’ Conner asked, and ran to her side. ‘What the heck happened here?’[...] ‘I caught him and I made him take off his m-m-mask!’ [...] ‘Alex, you’re scaring me! Tell me what you saw!’ she turned to her brother and looked him directly in the eyes. ‘Conner,’ she gasped. ‘The Masked Man-it was dad!’(page 470). This was probably the biggest cliffhanger of the whole entire series because it was such a big topic and it was so important to the characters. So, as you can see, I was completely shocked when I read this part.Throughout the book, Alex and Conner are constantly teaching me lessons about honesty, trust, loyalty, love, and friendship. We learn to put family and loved ones before others and our outside lives. Overall, I give The Land Of Stories: A Grimm Warning a 5 out of 5 stars; a must read!

The only other series I can remember being this excited about is the Harry Potter series. Chris Colfer jumped in full-force with “The Land of Stories” novels, and his stories have stolen my heart.“The Land of Stories” is a world full of magic and excitement. We get to spend time with our favorite fairytale characters – but we get to know them on an entirely new level. And new characters that Colfer introduced to us instantly become our best friends. I look forward to reading and spending time with Alex and Conner – and you’ll never find a character more uniquely wonderful than Froggy.Whenever I begin reading these books, I am instantly pulled in, and it takes every bit of strength within me to set them down. I find myself staying up reading well past the point of exhaustion merely so I don’t have to leave this magical world. Each chapter leaves me wanting more, and each story has ended with such an intense cliffhanger that my jaw literally drops every time. Now that I’ve been part of this world, I daresay I never want to leave it. It is so easy to understand how Alex and Conner feel about this world, about their adventures. Because when I read these stories I get to become part of this world and experience these adventures alongside them. And they are some of the greatest moments of my life.Chris Colfer has a true gift for writing. We know from watching him on Glee that he can sing and dance and act, but I believe that his role on Glee was just a small part of helping him reach his greater purpose. Colfer was put on this Earth to inspire us. Through his bravery, his kindness, and his amazing ability to tell a story, he has done just that.I will keep reading these books as long as he keeps writing them. And I highly recommend you do the same.

A must read!! Fantastic! I loved it!! The Land of Stories is unbeatable!! There were things I loved and hated in this book.I loved the plot; it was very unique. Almost all the characters were great (yes, Conner is just as funny), the storyline did move a little fast, but that's not too bad. The twins are fourteen in this book (I'm 13), but it's not too overly grown up for a thirteen year old. I did not like what happened with the masked man. How he acts for most of the story does not add up to who he turns out to be. The HUGE cliffhanger revealing his identity left me very confused. It just didn't make sense. Had this not happened, The Land of Stories could have stayed a trilogy, but now there needs to be at least one more book. There are 3 more events that just didn't need to happen. First of all, there is one person who dies (okay, returns to magic) who seriously didn't need to. Their death seems like it was added just to take away some of the happily ever after factor and make the story more sad. Second, the Fairy Godmother and Mother Goose talk about a second heir to magic. This is not brought up again, so technically there are two cliffhangers in this book. Third, the relationship between Little Bo Peep and the masked man seems like it was added at the last minute to add drama and is not super clear. I hope this review was helpful to you. By Fayegirl.

Bought these for our grandkids who did not read them--so I did and I enjoyed them! Cute takes from familiar fairy tale stories and characters. Fun stuff.