Into the Forest discussion

Some short stories by Hale set in Ever After High are currently free on Kindle (or Kindle app). Here's the link

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_...

My daughter showed me Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends today, but when I read the back cover it sounded a lot like The School for Good and Evil that I read last year. Anyone read both?

Leah, I hadn't even heard of that second book but the premise does sound somewhat similar. Did you like it?

I've read a handful of these (Ever After High stories) and they're not really stand-alones set in the universe. They're more along the lines of teasers to drum up hype. The couple that I read didn't have any real resolution.

I wasn't horribly impressed with them though I've liked other books by Hale in the past.

Here's my review for The School for Good and Evil which I rated 3.25 stars.

The cover art and illustrations were beautiful - loved 'em.

The story, however, was predictable and a little, oh, superficial, if that's the word I'm looking for. Perhaps I read too much into a middle grade - juvenile fiction book; it seemed like there was A LOT of emphasis (power) in one's external beauty (or lack of), and the way one looked on the outside decided one's fate.

The worldbuilding was fun, though, and I enjoyed the premise of the school for fairy tale characters: all of them, not just the A-listers.

I would read the second book in Chainani's series but I wouldn't rush out to buy it or bump another book out of my TBR queue for it.

As for Hale's Ever After High, my daughter wants to read it - I suspect mainly because of the colorful book design - so I'm sure I'll check it out at some point this year.