A WONDERLANDIFUL WORLD BY SHANNON HALE
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling
Series: Ever After High
The Storybook of Legends (#1 EAH)
The Unfairest of Them All (#2 EAH)
Synopsis:
At Ever After High, everyone is expected to sign the Storybook of Legends, pledging to follow in their fairytale parent’s footsteps. But when Raven Queen came along, things became fairy, fairy confusing. Now no one’s destiny is certain, not even for the most royal of them all, Apple White.When a mysterious being from Wonderland begins to infect Ever After High with a strange magic, everything goes topsy-turvy. The students transform into animals and objects, palace mice talk, and the beautiful green grounds on campus fade to black-and-white. Lizzie Hearts, Wonderland’s future queen, Cedar Wood, daughter of Pinocchio, and Madeline Hatter, heir to the Mad Hatter’s Hat and Tea Shoppe, seem to be the only ones who haven’t completely lost their heads. It’s up to them to save their best friends forever after from a curse that threatens to give their school-and their lives-a very unhappy ending.[Goodreads]
*Warning this is the last book in a trilogy and so it may contain spoilers*
After the events that happened in The Unfairest of Them All the students at Ever After High must deal with the consequences and problems that arise. A few students must step up and rescue the school, their friends and everyone’s story from being ended too soon.
In this finial installation of the Ever After High Trilogy by Shannon Hale, the cute, adorable and whimsical story continues with a change in main characters that explore and dive into more of the world of Ever After High. The characters and world continue to impress me and make me gush over the wonderful and fantastic story even more. Although I was slightly frustrated with the fact that the first two books focused on the same two characters whereas this one revolved around a completely different set of characters that were secondary in the other stories. I did however extremely enjoy that it was about Wonderland, the Jabberwocky and the Wonderlandian characters! I have to say that Lizzie Hearts, Maddie Hatter and Kitty Cheshire are my absolute favorite Ever After High characters!The story as well delivers some moral and important lessons about fitting in, taking pride in who you are and that friends are always there for you!
Overall, I was extremely happy with the way this story went, it had fantastic and whimsical writing and characters and had some great fairy tale elements! The ending is what you expect in a fairytale with all the cuteness and sweetness that fairy tales bring. It is middle grade and reads like a middle grade book, but I still greatly enjoyed it and thought it was a quick read and delightful book! Although I am sad to see this trilogy end I am happy that there will be more books published revolving around other characters in the Ever After world. I am a little nervous that it will be written by another person and hope that they can deliver a story just as satisfying and precious! I would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys cutsy, whimsical fairy tale retellings with some moral lessons woven in!
Series rating: 5/5