Recent Reads: The Spell Thief by Tom Percival

Source: From Sourcebooks Jabberwocky for review consideration. This in no way alters my opinion or review.

The Spell Thief by Tom Percival
Series: Little Legends #1
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Publication Date:  December 16, 2016

 

Format:  Paperback ARC

Rating:


 



Goodreads Synopsis: 

Meet Jack and his talking chicken Betsy, Red, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, and a host of other Little Legends as they have fantastic new adventures! Get to know your favorite fairytale characters like never before in this magical new book series.

Life for Jack is great ― he's got a magical talking hen named Betsy, he lives in a town where stories literally grow on trees, and all his best friends live there with him. That is, until Anansi, the new kid in town, arrives...

When Jack sees Anansi having a secret meeting with a troll ― everything changes. Trolls mean trouble and Jack will stop at nothing to prove that Tale Town is in danger. Even if that means using stolen magic! 

Review: 
I was very excited to have gotten the first few books of this series from the publisher - I am really enjoying Fairy Tale re-tellings lately and this is a great Middle Grade adaptation.

This is the first book in the series and we meet Jack, Red, the Twins - Hansel and Gretel, and the new guy Anansi. Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk) is having concerns about this newcomer and is very suspicious of him. This leads Jack down a very dangerous plan to find out what Anansi is hiding (if anything).

The books does a wonderful job setting but the strange meeting of Jack and Anansi, and portraying doubt about this new character. We follow Jack as he tries to decide how to find out what is going on and he sinks more and more into this belief. The story was very captivating and I loved seeing these characters in a new tale. 

Jack, who seems lovable and just mistaken in his original tale, might actually be a thief by nature...I enjoyed this about the book. It kept characters true to themselves and also made the reader really think about a lot of things. I believe that young readers will really enjoy seeing these characters in this new light and learning more about them after their tales happened. 

It was a lot of fun to read, and I am already reading the next installment.