Of Giants and Ice by Shelby Bach

Of Giants and Ice (Ever Afters, #1)

by Shelby Bach

When Rory realizes fairy tales are the real deal at Ever After School, she embarks on a classic quest to fulfill her destiny in this “fast-paced combination of middle school realism and fairy-tale fantasy” (Kirkus Reviews).

Rory Landon has spent her whole life being known as the daughter of a famous movie star mom and director dad. So when she begins a new after-school program and no one knows who her family is, Rory realizes something is different. After she ends up fighting a fire-breathing dragon on her first day, she realizes the situation is more unusual than she could have imagined. It turns out the only fame that matters at Ever After School is the kind of fame earned from stories Rory thought were fictional. But as Rory soon learns, fairy tales are very real—and she is destined to star in one of her own.

This first installment of The Ever Afters series reimagines classic fairy tale characters in a modern context, merging familiar fantasy with the everyday realities of middle-grade existence.

Reviewed by limabean74 on

4 of 5 stars

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My Review:


The idea of this book was something that grabbed my attention right away besides the awesome cover. I loved the idea of Modern Fairytales and I couldn’t wait to read this. Months passed and I never picked it up but when my 2016HW challenge came around I figured I need this book on that list. Of course it was the first book I read for it. I wasn’t disappointed but I will say that this book is an intro book to the characters, the world build and the up and coming return of evil. So for me it was a tab bit slow and some of the characters got on my nerves, at least in the beginning. The book is a great build of characters and the MC Rory Landon really does a lot of growing in this book, from a guilty (almost always), shy girl to a confident butt kicker. Rory has famous parents so every time she starts a new school (because her mom wants to move a lot and her parents are divorced) she always gets the attention about being the girl with the famous parents. When she gets invited to Ever After School she realizes no one knows her parents and soon she starts to get the attention she always wanted on her and not her parents.

I loved the mix of characters and how each character in the story (the kids) will start their own tale based on tales we all know and love. Each kids must complete their tale to have their story written in the books. If you fail your tale and some have, you get your name on a wall. You don’t want your name on the wall. Rory is a special girl but doesn’t realize how special she really is. With the help of her new friend Lena and Chase they go on an epic tail to complete a story and find out that the Evil Snow Queen might be returning. This is what I loved most about this story, the evil villain wasn’t one that was used a lot in stories and for some reason I am always drawn to the Snow Queen however I was never a fan of that fairytale. Something about how evil she is just seems to never be done the way it should be in remade stories. This one I liked and looking forward to finding out what happens in the next book.

Even with the slow start and the characters getting on my nerves in the beginning, once the action started I was pretty much all in and couldn't wait to find out what Rory’s destiny is. I loved how this story was done and I loved the twist on the fairytales. I thought that was very well done. I am looking forward to reading the next one, just hope it doesn’t take me as long to get to it as this one did. I totally recommend to kids and adult, as long as you can get passed the characters in the beginning however kids would really enjoy this and probably wouldn't mind that part. This really was a great story. Glad I finally got the chance to read it!


Thank you so much for stopping by to check out my review

Hope you have a great day and Happy Reading!

This review was originally posted on Because reading is better than real life

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 January, 2016: Finished reading
  • 7 January, 2016: Reviewed