Book Review: Tall Tales by James Riley (Once Upon Another Time #2)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Main characters, action, humor

Cons: All cons too small to notice

The Bottom Line:

Fight shadow magic

In this fun second entry

Will entertain all

Racing to Stop the Darkness

I was happy to see that we were getting two entries in James Riley’s new Once Upon Another Time trilogy this year since, after reading the first book, I was anxious to see what would happen in Tall Tales.  And I wasn’t at all disappointed.

Once again, we are following the adventures of Lena and Jin.  Lena is a giant who is extremely small of her size.  While she has giant strength, she isn’t that much taller than a typical human adult.  Meanwhile, Jin is a genie, but a genie is training.  That means he doesn’t have full use of his powers, and he is still under the control of a master.

As this book opens, it’s been a few weeks since the battle where Lena proved herself as a giant despite her small size.  However, the Golden King is still out to control the entire world via shadow magic, and it soon becomes clear that Lena and Jin are the only ones who will be able to stop him.  However, to do that, they will have to enter areas controlled by shadow magic.  The fairy queens have told Lena she will have some tasks to accomplish to prove she is worthy of defeating the Golden King.  Will she be successful?  Or will she and Jin fall to the shadow magic before they even reach her first test?

Before we go any further, yes, this series is fairytale adjacent.  Lena and Jin are completely new characters, but we do meet a few characters we know from fairytales and nursery rhymes in what are essentially cameos.  It is also a sequel trilogy to James Riley’s original Half Upon a Time trilogy.  There are only a few references to the characters and events from that series here, but I suspect we will get more of them in the final book in the series.  No matter which order you read the two series in, you’ll wind up reading and loving them both.

I know I’ve mainly talked about Lena in my teaser.  That’s because her story arc drives much of the plot here.  However, Jin is just as much an active part of the story.  In fact, the story is told from their alternating points of view in alternating chapters.  That makes it really easy to get to know both of them and really come to care for them.  The characters we met in the first book mostly are reduced to cameos, but we make some fun new friends along the way.

The middle book of a planned trilogy has a hard job.  Not only does it have to bridge the gap between the first and last book, but it has to do so without looking like it just a place holder.  This book does a great job of succeeding where many middle stories fail.  We get lots of action, a story that advances forward, and some very interesting twists.  I can’t wait to see how this is all tied up in the final book.  Sadly, we have to wait until May 2023 for Happily Ever After to be released.

One thing I haven’t talked about yet is the humor.  Yes, we are facing an evil that is a bit scary.  But we are doing it armed with a great sense of humor.  I laughed quite a bit along the way.  There’s one complication that hits Jin part way through the book that is especially funny.  There are also some wonderfully fun meta moments.  That really helps make the danger that the characters are facing less dark without lowering the stakes at all.

Tall Tales is a wonderful book from start to finish.  If you are looking for a fun book for you and your kids, you’ll be glad you picked this one up.

Check out the rest of the Half Upon a Time and Once Upon Another Time books.

This review is part of this week's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday.