Disclaimer: I received this e-arc and arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: Once Upon Another Time
Author: James Riley
Book Series: Once Upon Another Time Book 1
Rating: 4/5
Recommended For…: children’s readers, fantasy, retellings, fairytales
Publication Date: April 5, 2022
Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Age Relevance: 7+ (prejudice, scary moments)
Explanation of Above: There is some scary moments in the book and prejudice is discussed.
Publisher: Aladdin
Pages: 321
Synopsis: Five and a half feet might seem pretty tall for a twelve-year-old, but it’s not when your parents are giants. Lena has kept the fact that she’s a tiny giant secret, using magic to grow when out in the giant village. But hiding who she is has always felt wrong, even though she knows the other giants might not accept her. Fortunately, Lena has friends down in the Cursed City who understand that looking different doesn’t make her less of a giant.
Someone who knows not to judge by appearances is Jin, a young genie currently serving one thousand and thirty-eight years of genie training that requires him to fulfill the wish of whoever holds his magical ring. In Jin’s case, it’s the power-hungry Golden King. At least the king only has two wishes left, one of which is for Jin to go to the Cursed City and capture its protector, the Last Knight—one of Lena’s closest friends.
What Lena and Jin don’t know is how close the Golden King’s plans are to coming together, between his dark magic and his horrible Faceless knights. If Jin does find the Last Knight and bring him to the Golden King, why, that could doom the entire fairy-tale world.
…This sounds like it’ll end badly, doesn’t it?
Review: For the most part this was a good book. I loved the mashup and twist on fairy tale tropes and this would be a fun book for younger readers! The book had some fun themes and it was overall a very fun read. The book also leaves you with lots of questions for the next book. The character development is good and the world building was great!
The only issues I had with the book is that the pacing is a bit wonky in places and it goes from fast to slow in some spots. The book also took a bit for me to get into.
Verdict: It was great!
Book Title: Once Upon Another Time
Author: James Riley
Publisher: Aladdin
Release Date: April 5, 2022
Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Adventure
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58437693-once-upon-another-time
Book Purchase link:
Book Description:
Storybook characters collide in this first book in a new trilogy of twisted fairy tales from New York Times bestselling author James Riley, set in the world of his popular Half Upon a Time series—perfect for fans of Fablehaven and Chris Colfer’s A Tale of Magic series!
Five and a half feet might seem pretty tall for a twelve-year-old, but it’s not when your parents are giants. Lena has kept the fact that she’s a tiny giant secret, using magic to grow when out in the giant village. But hiding who she is has always felt wrong, even though she knows the other giants might not accept her. Fortunately, Lena has friends down in the Cursed City who understand that looking different doesn’t make her less of a giant.
Someone who knows not to judge by appearances is Jin, a young genie currently serving one thousand and thirty-eight years of genie training that requires him to fulfill the wish of whoever holds his magical ring. In Jin’s case, it’s the power-hungry Golden King. At least the king only has two wishes left, one of which is for Jin to go to the Cursed City and capture its protector, the Last Knight—one of Lena’s closest friends.
What Lena and Jin don’t know is how close the Golden King’s plans are to coming together, between his dark magic and his horrible Faceless knights. If Jin does find the Last Knight and bring him to the Golden King, why, that could doom the entire fairy-tale world.
…This sounds like it’ll end badly, doesn’t it?
Author Bio:
James Riley is the New York Times bestelling author of the HALF UPON A TIME series, the STORY THIEVES series, and the REVENGE OF MAGIC series. Contrary to what previous biographies have stated, he is a) real and b) not the character Nobody from his STORY THIEVES books. Where would people even get that idea? (Spoiler: From him. He totally made it sound like he really was Nobody. He thought it’d be funny. We’re sorry.)
He was born in Connecticut, where he lived for only a short time before moving to … well, quite a few states. He currently lives in Northern Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C., because that’s where his cats are. He has four of them. Other people think that’s a bit much.
James is currently working on getting REVENGE OF MAGIC books out every six months, so he might be a little busy. But feel free to e-mail him with questions at jamesrileythatwriterguy@gmail.com, or ask on his blog. (Please don’t send book or series ideas, as I can’t use them legally!)
Author Links:
https://www.instagram.com/jamesrileyauthor/
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