RED: THE TRUE STORY OF RED RIDING HOOD, Liesl Shurtliff

I’m starting to realize that I’ve read and reviewed a fair number of fantasy books inspired by the Little Red Riding Hood story, and more are on the way. So either this cape-wearing girl is just really popular, or my repertoire is too narrow, and what little readership I have will soon be sick to death of her. In my defense, two of those stories were about the same Red Riding Hood from Once Upon A Time, just as this Red is the same character featured in Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin. For both girls, the second book is their true debut as protagonists, so technically I’ve only reviewed two Red Riding Hood stories, right? (Not for long—be on the lookout for Sisters Red.)

In my further defense, I had to give Red a try after enjoying Rump so much, even if part of that enjoyment came from my attachment to the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale—and a certain TV show’s rendition of its titular character. But Shurtliff’s smart and fun writing styles played no small part, so Red deserves as much consideration. 

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE, Neil Gaiman

Some readers may tend to steer clear of first-person narration, especially with child narrators. In response to that, I say that if you want to see a writer do first-person well, read Neil Gaiman’s work. Specially The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Part of what makes the narration effective—both in first-person and with a kid—is that it captures the atmosphere of childhood in all its mythical, treacherous glory. There’s also some temporal distance at play, even if it’s not always apparent.

The voice itself belongs to a middle-aged man reflecting on a series of memories from childhood he’d lost. No, it’s not a soap opera-worthy case of amnesia. These foggy recollections are triggered when he visits the Hempstock farm after a funeral (never told whose funeral—there’s a lot of names we don’t know, actually). He doesn’t even realize how much he’s forgotten until, while staring into a duck pond that his friend Lettie Hempstock called “the ocean,” he’s mentally brought back to his seven-year-old self.

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL: A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES, Soman Chainani

Ah, yes, the first in what will probably be a continual string of sequels in several fantasy series I may half-regret starting somewhere down the road. Sequels are generally a tricky business, especially since they’re almost always part of a trilogy, tetralogy or so on. First books have the benefit of introducing a world and its characters while not being obligated to explain everything. The second installment has to both expand on the setup in a meaningful way and not be a thinly veined rehash of its predecessor. Then again, many second installments are revered as the best part of a series because they can dare to push the heroes to their limits and close on a dark ending. A World Without Princes delivers a blend of all of the above, sometimes to its own detriment.

The story continues closely from where the first book left off: Agatha and Sophie are back in their village, now made famous by their fairy tale. For the few months, Sophie basks in the fame while Agatha just wants everything to be normal again. When their fame dies down, Sophie grows restless for attention while being overshadowed by changes in her family life—her father is getting married to her dead mother’s best friend, who Sophie suspects her father had an affair with even while Sophie’s mother was alive. Agatha tries to comfort Sophie and be content with their Happily Ever After. Too bad she can’t make herself forget Tedros, the prince she started falling for back at the School for Good and Evil. As the rising tension suggests (along with the book’s title), events propel the girls from their village back to the school—only this time their exit is triggered by one of them.

TRUTHWITCH, Susan Dennard

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Aether. Void—wait, what?

Sorry, guys, this isn’t exactly a Harry-Potter-meets-Avatar-the-Last-Airbender kind of world. But it’s not that far off. Truthwitch is the first in a series that takes place in a fantasy world called the Witchlands, where people can be born with a witchery (no, not Witcher), or a special power connected to some element of the world or human nature. Sounds like a gripping world, right? Almost like the setting for a tabletop or video game RPG. Much like an RPG resembling D&D or Skyrim, this is a complex world ruled by several kingdoms, with hundreds of years of politics influencing the characters as they pursue their own goals. The only problem: Dennard doesn’t tell us much about it.