Book Review: Half Upon a Time by James Riley (Half Upon a Time #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Fun take on familiar characters in a fast read

Cons: None worth dwelling on at all

The Bottom Line:

Fairy tales like

You've never seen them before

Provide lots of fun

Full Time Fun Read

I'm a sucker for fractured or reworked fairy tales, so when a friend recommended Half Upon a Time, it went on my wish list.  When the author saw it there and sent it to me no strings attached, I bumped it way up my to be read list.  This different take on fairytales was also lots of fun.

While all the other teens his age are looking for a quest to get them out of town, Jack is quite content to stay a farmer in the village of Giant's Hand.  This is especially true since his father's adventure with a giant turned into a disaster that left Jack's dad missing.

But his world changes in an instant when there is a flash of light and a princess falls at his feet.  May is from another dimension, a world with strange things like the internet and cell phones.  Just before she appeared, her grandmother was kidnapped by the Huntsmen and some trolls.  It doesn't take Jack long to figure out that May's grandmother is the famous Snow White who has been missing since she defeated the Wicked Queen who was trying to take over the entire land.

And so Jack finds himself pulled into a quest to rescue Snow White whether he wants to or not.  Will he and May prevail?

This book is aimed at late elementary school students, so I was a little surprised at its almost 400 page length.  However, between the largish print and the short chapters, the pages fly by much faster than you'd expect.  In fact, I found it easy to justify reading just a bit more every time I had the book open.

That's because the story sucked me in and I didn't want to put the book down ever.  Jack and May just get out of one predicament when they are faced with another.  Their quest takes them to some surprising places.  But each obstacles feels like part of the journey and not just a side story.  One thing that happened left me a little confused, but I wasn't really bothered by it.  I think I know how the author would explain it; and who knows, maybe it will be better explained in a later book.

Jack and May felt quite real to me by the end.  The story is told completely from Jack's third person point of view, so it was easy to get to know him.  May was pretty easy to get to know as well.  Another character or two were pretty well developed, but few others had enough page time to truly be developed.  They worked for their part of the story, however, and I really didn't think about it while I was reading the story.

While the story wraps up in this book, it sets thing in motion for the next book in the series.  I can't wait until it is released.

I'm glad that Half Upon a Time came across my radar.  It's a fun book that will entertain anyone who loves revisiting fairy tale characters.

Looking for more?  Here are the rest of the Half Upon a Time and the sequel Once Upon Another Time trilogy.