Darker and More Intense in Second “Land of Stories”

It’s one thing for an author to write a stand-alone novel.  All that there ever is to know about the characters and how they go from point A to point B are covered in the course of the pages between two hardback/paperback bindings.  However, for an author to create a series, I find them to have an even more difficult task at hand; for they put themselves in the position of expansive back stories, constant character development and evolution, and revelations happening time after time again.

The world has watched as authors such as the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling take on this difficult challenge for an author to do just that, as they’ve expanded upon the universes of their fantasy realms with each book each author has produced.  But as of August 6, New York Times Bestselling author Chris Colfer has joined the series-producing club as well when his novel, “The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns,” was released.

The sequel to last year’s “The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell,” 13-year-old twins Alex and Conner Bailey haven’t seen their grandmother within the year following their adventures in the world of fairytales, the Land of Stories.  However when they learn that their mother is taken captive by the very enchantress who, once upon a time, cursed Sleeping Beauty and her kingdom under a 100-year sleep, everything is kept at a hush as Alex and Conner are not told of anything and are ordered by their grandmother to stay put in the real world.  However, when the twins go against their grandmother’s orders, they find themselves on an adventure that goes beyond what they’ve previously encountered.

After hearing it from several people who’ve read the book already, I have to agree that Colfer’s writing has definitely improved incredibly since the first installment of the series.  Gone are the cheesy descriptions and not-as-well executed plot twists and more complexity and riveting details.  It is not as “fluffy” in content as before, for he has embraced a new edge in going about his plot.  When reaching the end of chapters, unlike the first book, they more so pushed me to continue reading with their cliffhanger-like loops.

What I did find a bit odd though were the individual storylines of Alex and Conner.  Conner’s storyline, while starting off quite well and hoped to read more of it, seemed to fade in and out throughout the book, without really much change or evolution to it.  In the case of Alex’s storyline, hers was more thrust upon her out of the blue when there could have been more of a process leading up to it.  There was an imbalance on both parts that I thought could have been a lot stronger.

Also, while Colfer did a much better job of tying up loose ends, there was one storyline that seemed to vanish completely before the book ended.  While it wasn’t as substantial of a storyline as opposed to others, it did play a valid role in some way, especially for the case of the character, Queen Red Riding Hood.  Even now, I can’t help but wonder just what exactly happened to it.

What has transferred from the first book to the second, and for a good reason, was Colfer’s ability to develop backstories for not just some of his characters, but all of them.  Much like my thoughts of his first book, I was particularly interested in the development of the villain in this book; the evil Enchantress Ezmia.  His way of developing her background is kind of his way of showing that no matter how evil she is, underneath it all, she is human.  In some way, it kind of reminded me of the evolution of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader in the Star Wars saga.

There is a shift of tone in this one, where it’s much more darker and keeps the reader much more on edge than ever before.  I found that to be a wise move on Colfer’s part, for similar to the Harry Potter series, as the characters get older and more mature, so do the books.  Yet through it all, Colfer was able to successfully pull off humorous moments in between.

I think above all else, I enjoyed the undeclared message behind this book.  While the first book was more about Alex and Conner learning a part of who they are, this book was more about how they take this new information and learn to use it to the best of their ability.  I’m not sure if that was ever part of Colfer’s intention when writing the books, but that is a theme I was able to conjure from them both; identity.  I see it especially wise, seeing that Alex and Conner are teenagers now, and that tends to be the age where identity is what one strives to seek for.