Boy that ending... it was such a good book. can't wait for the next one ( )

Boy that ending... it was such a good book. can't wait for the next one ( )

It takes at least a hundred pages for this third book to start revealing its story, with Colfer spending a lot of setup time on Alex and Conner's separate lives. Alex's fairy powers and her magic unicorn are a bit too cute, and when she conjures up the magic path ... if she can do it that easily, I guess she's practically omnipotent (when the author wants her to be)? The rules for magic in this world haven't been fully thought out, which makes it prone to solving any problem at the drop of the author's whim. On top of this, the military tactics used by both sides are weak in the extreme, which is credible for the fairies but not so much for the French general. Fortunately armies can teleport across the map at a moment's notice, providing an opportunity to explain to the young reader in your family what 'deus ex machina' means.

Of course the target audience doesn't notice or care because of the funny bits (Trollbella being the highlight), awkward teenage romance in bloom, fun surprise reveals and relationships (the author at his most creative), and the twins still standing up to enormous odds with their determination and good will. The only laziness that might be noticed is Colfer's new propensity for exhaustively listing things: exactly who is in which carriage, exactly who is tied to what stake, etc. The series template still works but it's getting rough around the edges, and this is only book three. ( )

I am reading this series out loud to my daughter. It has been a somewhat slow slog, with lots of other books read in between, but with A Grimm Warning, I felt like the series has picked up quite a bit, and I read large chunks on the weekends, because we really both wanted to know what would happen next! ( )

This was such a fantastic addition to this series! So much action in this one and a crazy cliffhanger ending...wow! ( )