Re: The Land of Stories Main Thread

[brisallie]

Really? Yeah!!! How long it will take? I already want the spanish edition in my hands

[fantastica]

AV club reviews TLOS:

by Tasha Robinson September 3, 2012

B+ Community Grade

It’s vaguely amusing that 22-year-old Glee star Chris Colfer made Time’s 2011 list of the world’s 100 most influential people, while the well-established, successful TV impresario who made him famous—Glee creator Ryan Murphy—didn’t. (Not to mention the rest of the show’s stars, writers, and creators.) But Colfer consistently seems to have his hands in more pies, and his face in more places, than most of the rest of his peers, and he’s earned a reputation as an up-and-comer ambitious enough to not want to be limited by genre or medium. His ambition has extended to writing, producing, and starring in a feature film (Struck By Lightning, which premièred at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival and was picked up for distribution earlier this year); writing a TV pilot for Disney; and now writing an elaborate fairy-tale novel, The Land Of Stories: The Wishing Spell. Like Glee itself, The Wishing Spell occupies an odd middle ground in terms of suggested audience age—the simple voice and familiar tropes suggest it’s a kids’ book, but the 400-page-plus length and narrative complexity seem aimed at an older audience—but it’s a sophisticated first effort, suggesting a writer who grew up on fairy tales and couldn’t wait to get his own oar in the much-traveled waters.

The plot makes the story sound significantly simpler than it is: Bright, driven teacher’s pet Alex and her smart-mouthed troublemaker twin brother Conner have recently lost their father in a car crash, and their mother is struggling to make ends meet, to the point where their 12th birthday looks joyless and empty. Then their mysterious grandmother hands them a book of fairy tales, which contains a portal to a magical world, where they both promptly get stuck. Informed they can escape via a magical spell that will grant them one wish, they set out to gather the ingredients, which include elements like Cinderella’s slipper and a piece of bark from Little Red Riding Hood’s basket. So they set out to navigate a world they expect to know from fairy tales, but that turns out to be more complicated than expected.

The writing in Wishing Spell is sometimes amateurish, with sudden POV shifts, a heavy reliance on coincidence, and a tendency to overexplain emotional reactions rather than letting them come up organically. And compared to recent cinematic attempts to retell familiar fables for an older audience, like Mirror, Mirror; Snow White And The Huntsman; and the Catherine Hardwicke Red Riding Hood, Wishing Spell has a basic emotional palette that reflects its protagonists’ age. But Colfer plays with the genre’s familiar forms, giving characters like Goldilocks and Jack The Giant-Killer their own relationships and adult agendas, and weaving them all together into a cohesive, politically charged realm where human desire plays as much of a part as simple battles between good and evil. He also finds humor in the genre’s expectations, with the fairy-tale-loving Alex sticking to type by embracing the quest wherever it touches on familiar stories, while the more practical Conner looks for obvious workarounds like wading across a troll’s creek instead of solving the riddle he poses for those wanting to cross his bridge.

And while plenty of other people have explored the idea that there’s grist for the story mill after “happily ever after,” Colfer finds poignancy in Cinderella trying to come to terms with a populace that doesn’t want a serving girl as their queen, or a Red Riding Hood more focused on her personal agenda than her magical past. Ultimately, The Land Of Stories: The Wishing Spell may be aimed strictly at an audience of Chris Colfers: Young, smart, ultra-precocious readers who are ready to break with their youth, but are still close enough to easily spot it in the rear-view mirror.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/chris-colfer-the-land-of-stories-the-wishing-spell,84486/

[tanita_mors]

that a nice, honest review and basically covers everything we have said. it's not perfect but it's a great first effort and a fun book to read.

[tanita_mors]

Somebody found one of those secret notes Chris said he left around the bookstores

[Delight]

^ Wish I could acquire bragging rights as well, but I live on a different continent.

[valkeakuulas]

Somebody found one of those secret notes Chris said he left around the bookstores

If this is the real book he stuck it too I'm just...this boy is so perfect.

Novel about Jessica Fletchers adventures in London. I wonder if he was actually just spotting this book and thought it was fun to pick that particular one. It would be so his personality to like Fletcher as a character or even Angela Lansbury. He must have seen her in countless of films since he seems to love these iconic women.

[Glorfindel]

"Poor, poor Brandon Dorman had to work with me." – Chris Colfer

* Chris: Can the Troll King's crown be more Camelot, less viking?
* Chris: Rapunzel's tower has one window. Think more prison, less penthouse.
* Chris: Can the twins be positioned on the cover a little more outward, and not look so scared as they fall to a possible death?
* Chris: The gingerbread house should have a candy cane fence, not a gumdrop fence. That's just silly.
* Chris: The Sabre of the Sea has a handle made of coral and shells, with a blade made of glass.
* Chris: The Magic Mirror is tall, and is a rectangular half-circle, with a black frame, and vines made out of cast iron weaving in and out of it like snakes. Also, there's a silhouette of a man standing inside the mirror. You know, like a stalker looking through a window on a foggy day.
* Chris: Can the "of" in the title, "The Land of Stories," be literally three millimeters lower so the title looks more straight and less arched?

(copied from somewhere)

[ColferInspired]

"Poor, poor Brandon Dorman had to work with me." – Chris Colfer

* Chris: Can the Troll King's crown be more Camelot, less viking?
* Chris: Rapunzel's tower has one window. Think more prison, less penthouse.
* Chris: Can the twins be positioned on the cover a little more outward, and not look so scared as they fall to a possible death?
* Chris: The gingerbread house should have a candy cane fence, not a gumdrop fence. That's just silly.
* Chris: The Sabre of the Sea has a handle made of coral and shells, with a blade made of glass.
* Chris: The Magic Mirror is tall, and is a rectangular half-circle, with a black frame, and vines made out of cast iron weaving in and out of it like snakes. Also, there's a silhouette of a man standing inside the mirror. You know, like a stalker looking through a window on a foggy day.
* Chris: Can the "of" in the title, "The Land of Stories," be literally three millimeters lower so the title looks more straight and less arched?

(copied from somewhere)

I don't think Chris was asking for too much.

[fantastica]

[fantastica]

I bet it would be Puss Da Boots. He said he loved this character before. Also he is a cat lover.

[fantastica]

[tamara04]

Just got my book in the mail today and the Cds too! can't wait to read it while hearing Chris' voice read it to me!!!!!!!!

[fantastica]

^ enjoy the book and cd! then come back and tell us what you think.

[Glorfindel]

If they ever make the book into a movie, I think that Chris should play Froggy

Spoiler:

he would nail the melancholic disposition of Froggy.

Plus Chris would probably get a kick out of wearing green make-up, impersonating a frog's leaping walk, rolling bulging eyes, and talking in a froggy voice.

[fantastica]

the frog version of that character will most likely be a computer-generated (like Golan of LOR) these days. it's impossible to give a human actor a frog-face because humans and frogs are just way too different. Jeff Goldbaum maybe the best one for a frog man because at least he's got those giant bulging eyes, but then his lips are too thick. frogs have no lips. anyway the real problem is, to create a frog man you will likely wear a frog mask/headpiece - there's just no way to transform human facial features to an amphibian. when you are wearing not just makeup but more likely prosthetics on your face/head there's just no way to show any emotions, because your real face will need to be completely covered. it will be like Micky Mouse in the Disney park - you cannot see the real human face behind it and the mask will always have a fixed expression. at least computer generated images can imitate human expressions well enough nowadays.

but I am all for chris playing any role in a future movie adaptation. I am sure he will want to play one there too, but probably not a good guy. don't be surprised if he decides to play a "bad guy" though.

[Divalicious]

It could still work, a lot of computer generated characters use an actual actor to design and help the character move, like the Gollum, and even the hand in the Addam's Family movie. I think he would have fun dressing in costume, making the voice and movements, but having computer generation really make the character a living, intelligent frog.

[tamara04]

Loving the book already. (well, the audio book that is. Listening to Chris' voiceS and accentS makes it even better). Chris is so amazing, he manages to make me feel all kinds of emotions even with a children's book! I keep going back and forth from LOLing to tearing up and thinking about profound life issues at a super rapid pace (just like his talking lol). I wish I had 1 millionth of his talent. And I soooo want to tweet him about so many things but don't want to come off as a crazy fan so I'm trying to control myself...

[fantastica]

^ u r not hte only one. very proud of this boy.

[tamara04]

^ u r not hte only one. very proud of this boy.

glad to know i'm not the only one losing my mind. lol That's why I joined this forum. lol

[ColferInspired]

I finished the book a couple of weeks ago, as I finally had the time to do it.

Loved the book, I can't wait for the sequel.

I haven't listened to much of the audio yet, only some of CD 1. I will eventually when I don't have any distractions around me.

[tamara04]

I finished the book a couple of weeks ago, as I finally had the time to do it.

Loved the book, I can't wait for the sequel.

I haven't listened to much of the audio yet, only some of CD 1. I will eventually when I don't have any distractions around me.

I have a day off today and I've been listening to the audio and reading along in the book since this morning. I can't put it down. I love it! Of course listeningto Chris' voices is the best part. I love the magic harp. She's hilarious and it was a bonus to hear Chris sing.

[ColferInspired]

I finished the book a couple of weeks ago, as I finally had the time to do it.

Loved the book, I can't wait for the sequel.

I haven't listened to much of the audio yet, only some of CD 1. I will eventually when I don't have any distractions around me.

I have a day off today and I've been listening to the audio and reading along in the book since this morning. I can't put it down. I love it! Of course listeningto Chris' voices is the best part. I love the magic harp. She's hilarious and it was a bonus to hear Chris sing.

What I have heard of it I really love.

Chris is a brilliant storyteller.

[fantastica]

[fantastica]

[tamara04]

lucky people who get their tweets answered...
I wish I understood Twitter better. It's kind of confusing for me. I sent him a couple of tweets but I'm not sure if he got them. I hope he did. I totally understand that he cannot reply to everybody but I wish I was sure he at leats read them and that they made him smile. And I wonder how he choses who to reply to. Sigh.

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