At this curious line of questioning, Grimsby’s smile faded to
make way for a new look of discomfort, which had spread across
his pie-shaped countenance like strawberry jam.
Ouch.
The book has a rolling stream of consciousness vibe and doesn't so much break the fourth wall as torch it to the ground, grind up the ashes and spread them to the four winds. The story is somewhat surreal and a bit dreamlike and muddled. I think this is intentional on the author's part, and although the tense shifts in mid-paragraph might be intentional, they do get a bit wearisome.
The cover is absolutely gorgeous. The interior illustrations are odd and seem unfinished. (I read an early galley proof, the illustrations may be completely different for the released version of this book).
As stated, my copy was an early galley proof, so I can imagine that it hadn't yet gone through final re-writing and editing yet. It's not terribly polished, but the story itself is interesting and very fairy-tale-esque with a wicked witch (being wicked, because she's a witch of course), villagers and evil vs. good, with a happy ending.
The bones of the story are solid and I can definitely see this being translated very successfully into a musical or graphic novel someday.
Three stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.