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A review by jillybean357
Castle Charming by Tansy Rayner Roberts
3.0
Charming is the best word to describe this book (hehe… get it…). I’m serious though, the writing is simple yet fun to read and the characters are cute and well described. It is pretty charming. I was expecting your classic fantasy plot when I opened this book, but instead I was treated to a little collection of shorter adventures that the gang of characters goes on. Not to trash your classic fantasy plot, I love that just as much as any other avid teen reader, but it was nice to read something unique. My only major criticism is that the world building was quite mediocre. The setting and the plot (mostly towards the end of the book) seemed bland and simple. Maybe simplicity was the intention, but I found it hard to immerse myself into the book and to stay engaged through to the end.
Oh and I almost forgot, the few illustrations were terrible. I hate random illustrations in novels. Picturing the world myself is always so much more fun. The newspaper front pages at the beginning were manageable, but the random pictured scenes throughout made me want to vomit. The illustrations weren’t interesting or cool either, they felt generic and bland.
I have a soft spot for creative twists on fairy tales, and I loved the theme that happy endings are problematic and the real world is much more preferable, even though it is harder. I also loved the symbolism of ink vs. magic, that was a really cool concept that I had never read before. The portrayal of fairies as evil instead of good was also quite interesting. I feel like I can look at fairytales in a new light after reading this novel, which is really saying something considering how many versions and twisted recreations of fairytales I have read and watched.
FANTASTIC sexuality representation. The ratio of straight couples to gay couples was really nice, and we had lesbian, bisexual/pansexual, gay, and asexual characters, who disrupted the stereotypical “prince + princess = happy ever after” bullshit. I saw myself in some of the characters (mostly Jack and Ziyi); it always feels good to feel represented. There was a bit of cultural representation as well, which was great considering that this world was completely made up. I am much more happy with adequate levels of cultural representation in worlds where you have to make up the cultures yourself, even if you are basing it on an existing culture in our world. If fantasy worlds can have cultural representation, there is no excuse for not having it in reality-based novels.
I would recommend this book if you want some cute and easy reading. I definitely lost steam towards the end of reading this book, but in the end it was still time well spent.
Oh and I almost forgot, the few illustrations were terrible. I hate random illustrations in novels. Picturing the world myself is always so much more fun. The newspaper front pages at the beginning were manageable, but the random pictured scenes throughout made me want to vomit. The illustrations weren’t interesting or cool either, they felt generic and bland.
I have a soft spot for creative twists on fairy tales, and I loved the theme that happy endings are problematic and the real world is much more preferable, even though it is harder. I also loved the symbolism of ink vs. magic, that was a really cool concept that I had never read before. The portrayal of fairies as evil instead of good was also quite interesting. I feel like I can look at fairytales in a new light after reading this novel, which is really saying something considering how many versions and twisted recreations of fairytales I have read and watched.
FANTASTIC sexuality representation. The ratio of straight couples to gay couples was really nice, and we had lesbian, bisexual/pansexual, gay, and asexual characters, who disrupted the stereotypical “prince + princess = happy ever after” bullshit. I saw myself in some of the characters (mostly Jack and Ziyi); it always feels good to feel represented. There was a bit of cultural representation as well, which was great considering that this world was completely made up. I am much more happy with adequate levels of cultural representation in worlds where you have to make up the cultures yourself, even if you are basing it on an existing culture in our world. If fantasy worlds can have cultural representation, there is no excuse for not having it in reality-based novels.
I would recommend this book if you want some cute and easy reading. I definitely lost steam towards the end of reading this book, but in the end it was still time well spent.