The Grimm Chronicles, Vol. 2 (The Grimm Chronicles)

by Isabella Fontaine and Ken Brosky

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Source: ARC received from the authors in exchange for an honest review

Summary:  Alice Goodenough is a hero, selected to wield a magic pen and hunt down the Corrupted characters from the Brothers’ Grimm fairytales.  She is also, however, a high school student and must also navigate the trials of senior year, including maintaining her grades, facing a bully, dealing with crushes, and competing in the upcoming fencing tournament.

Volume 2 includes Books 4, 5, and 6 of The Grimm Chronicles, as well as “The Lost Journal of Eugene Washington,” and the original Grimm fairytales that inspired the stories.

Review:  Since readers can buy each book of The Grimm Chronicles separately for their e-readers, I reviewed Book 4: “The Orphanage of Doom” alone last week, to get the experience.  It was exciting, but it’s great that readers get all three books in this one volume, or that it’s so easy to purchase the next in the series online because I wanted to read more, and a few of the books end on cliffhangers!

I really enjoyed Volume 1 of The Grimm Chronicles, and Volume 2 lived up to my expectations.  Alice is still a spunky heroine who can exhibit her courage, her intelligence, and her limitations as a teenager and human in turn.  Briar also continues to be fantastic—cute, funny, and heroic, as well.  I am already adopting his habit of referring to a certain search engine as “The Google” in his honor because it’s hilarious.  Now I just need to convince more of my friends to read these books so they’re in on the joke and stop staring at me oddly.

Romance fans will find Volume 2 “better” than the first.  The authors introduce Chase, a spirited and athletic boy Alice is definitely interested in, even if she can’t see it herself at first.  Their feelings grow naturally, adding to the action of the book but not stealing from the spotlight—the Corrupted, who are back creepier and more powerful  than ever.  Alice has her work cut out for her, but her hero skills are increasing with her challenges, and she is ready for action.  Even more beautifully, she finds a way to apply her heroics to a real-world situation at her school, and it is arguably the most moving scene yet.

I have only one complaint: the history lessons are a little heavy-handed.  Readers unfamiliar with some aspects of the Underground Railroad, the American Civil War, and the following period of segregation will undoubtedly find the characters’ explanations useful and, of course, fascinating.  I think, however, Fontaine’s and Brosky’s audience are probably an intelligent bunch, and these stories will be a bit obvious and repetitive to many.  Finding a good balance in explaining historical aspects without turning a novel into a textbook is always a difficult task, however, and of course there will also be some history buff reader who thinks any explanation is too much, so this is not at all a major flaw.

The Grimm Chronicles, Volume 2 is an exciting and fast-paced story that proposes knowledge can lead to adventures and solutions to problems.  I can’t think of any reader who would argue with that.