Storybound (Storybound, #1)

by Marissa Burt

[Angie]

I went into Storybound with an open mind as I'd never read Middle Grade before. Well, it wasn't really my thing, but a big issue I had with it had nothing to do with its target audience. I do think there's a good story here, but the problem is, it didn't go anywhere. This was essentially a super long prequel. Una is just a regular girl until she's teleported into a storybook with her name on it. She makes a friend in Peter, and the two of them work together to figure out why she's been written in. There's also a larger plot at play involving lies and betrayals, but really, none of that comes until the very end and then it just...ends.

Storybound has a lot of things that I do like. I love alternate worlds, and have read one series previously about teens getting sucked into a book and having to save the people living in it. I was expecting something like that, and I suspect that's going to come in the second book since it certainly didn't happen here. I did enjoy this fantasy world though. The citizens are all of a character type (hero, villain, lady, etc), and in the past they had lived out the stories that we read in our world. There's not just a fantasy realm, but also modern and pioneer, and I'm sure all kinds of other places that we read about all the time. It was very imaginative.

Unfortunately, I didn't care for any of the characters which kept me from fully getting into Storybound, since the plot is quite character driven. Una is in seventh grade, is a foster kid, and likes to hang out at the library. That's really the extent of what we're told about her. The story gets going right away, so it's mostly just Una reacting to stuff and doing stuff. No real character development at all. Peter wasn't much better, and then there's an assortment of side characters. Snow is probably the one who was most developed even though she got the least page time.

Sadly, Storybound mostly bored me. I didn't care about the characters and everything was just so dragged out! Nothing gets resolved! Una and Peter do make some progress in their quest, and I figured out part of why Una was sent into Story, but who sent her there still wasn't revealed. Once the action gets going in the last couple of chapters, it all just ends. I knew it was a duology going in, but I expected more than just an extended prequel.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.