The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

The Fairy-Tale Detectives is a pleasant audiobook read that fans of fairy tales (young and those who are young at heart) will probably enjoy. I liked the idea that the Grimms were actually a real family of chroniclers whose legacy continues into the present. Sisters Sabrina and Daphne make for likeable, fun protagonists. I felt for them in that they had lost their parents and were adrift and lacking family and a home. Their grandmother is the kind of gramps you dream of. Although Sabrina was very argumentative and hard to deal with at first, it's understandable why. She's acting out because of what she's dealing with. She feels betrayed at her parents' disappearance, and a series of bad foster homes, not to mention the burden of having to protect her younger sister. Daphne was far more likable, but then, she is still in that stage where she's more resilient against the cold, cruel world. I liked Granny Relda and Mr. Canis and of course, their dog Elvis.

I liked the inside jokes of the fairy tale characters that are very familiar to those who enjoy the subject. Puck was a lot of fun, and so were the three piggies who are now the law enforcement in town. The author surprised me at the twist on the storyline. I did not expect the direction the story went. It's interesting that I had also read the first graphic novel in the Fables series: Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile, so I saw some of the same characters with storylines that overlapped in interesting ways. While this is a kids series, I think it has enough nuances that an older reader can enjoy it.

Why didn't I rate it higher? I think the narrator and I didn't click very well. I also felt like the story took a while to develop and get interesting, and it never got to that "I have to hear what happens next" phase. Now that doesn't mean I won't continue this series. I'm definitely interested enough to keep going, but this isn't a series I have to read back to back. I'm happy to fill it in amongst other reading adventures. But still, The Fairy Tale Detectives has an interesting concept and appealing characters that do make me want to come back to revisit them in the future.

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars.

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