The Disney Twisted Tales series just keeps getting better and better. The author did another amazing job of channeling the familiar voices of Peter Pan’s beloved characters while adding new twists and tales to the story.
Wendy was such a great character that grew from what the original author had already started. We knew, because of her love of stories and her creativity, that she was different from the other girls in London society at the time, but in this story she’s older and her family is at their wits ends with her unique love of fairytales. They’re ready to ship her off to Ireland to work for a while and learn to be an adult, to put away her childish ways, but Wendy takes things into her own hands. The twist is Peter doesn’t come to collect his shadow right when he loses it like he does in the original story, when Wendy is about twelve. Four years go by that she holds onto it and keeps it safe for him but he never comes. Now Wendy is a young lady, too old for Neverland, but makes a devilish bargain to get there anyhow. She’s determined to have her own adventures once she’s there, which I love! Her and Tinkerbell become unlikely friends, which really fuels the female strength and voice in this story. Peter was really more of a side character or background character, in need of saving from Wendy and Tink rather than the other way around.
The integrity of the original story was upheld but given a new direction and voice that honored the original and also took it one step further to make this a truly entertaining and wonderful story that I enjoyed very much! I highly recommend this entire series!
I forgot about the great detail of the Riddle family in the beginning and what happened to them. It’s such a great part of the story for more insight into how truly terrible Tom Riddle is.
Mrs. Weasley stayed home while her entire family and friends went to the Quidditch World Cup. Normally, I would feel bad for her but now as a mum I wonder what a great time she’s having getting to have the burrow all to herself for the first time in probably forever! Reading books, giving it a good clean, cooking the food she likes and not what the kids like, gardening. Sounds wonderful.
I really wish they had included Hermione’s house elf rights story line in the movies, at least a little. It’s something that makes Hermione just so Hermione.
I don’t know exactly what Elderflower wine is but I know I want a sip.
The disturbance at Mad Eye Moody’s the night before his teaching job started at Hogwarts wasn’t him being a paranoid nutter, as the Weasleys say. It was him being kidnapped by Barty Crouch Jr.
The scene where Professor Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret sounded more traumatizing and painful than I had thought before. It actually made me feel bad for Malfoy, even after attacking Harry when his back was turned.
Hermione does a great job of explaining why Ron would be jealous of Harry for being picked to compete, even though it’s a life-threatening situation he didn’t ask for. Ron is already overlooked in his family and then he meets Harry and he’s overlooked because Harry is famous. Ron’s never the center of attention for anything. It’s the one thing he craves most. I love this part of Ron that it seems to drive a lot of what he does and says and how he acts and Rowling is consistent with that character trait of his.
Harry uses a summoning charm for the dragons. In the movie he just does it because it’s something they’ve already learned in school but in the book he has to ask Hermione to help him practice it beforehand because he can’t even do this simple spell. He really isn’t the greatest at school and that was a good way of showing that.
When talking to Karkaroff at the Yule Ball Dumbledore says he doesn’t presume to know all Hogwarts secrets and just that morning he stumbled into a room full of chamberpots when he was headed to the bathroom and he’d never seen it before. It was the room of requirement!
It’s extremely unnerving that Mad Eye Moody can see through Harry’s dress robes with his magical glass eye!
It was Dobby who gave Harry Potter the Gillyweed! Not Neville. Although with Neville’s love of herbology I feel like Neville makes more sense. Why would Dobby have Gillyweed or even know of it?
Butterbeer is confirmed to be alcoholic. Winky is drunk off it and Harry says it’s not that strong of stuff and Dobby says it is for the house elf. So…13 year olds are allowed to purchase and drink not that strong alcoholic beverages in Hogsmeade? Interesting.
Mr. And Mrs. Weasley we’re Hogwarts sweethearts, sneaking out late at night to stroll hand in hand until 4am. Too cute.
Favorite quotes
“There are those who’ll turn innocent occasions to their advantage.” -Moody (actually Barty Crouch as Moody)
“There was much less laughter, and a lot more hanging around in the library when Hermione was your best friend.” -Harry
“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals” -Sirius
“You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!” -Dumbledore
I just pre-ordered the LONG awaited Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Illustrated, which will be released October 11, 2022.
If I had known this book was coming out when it was announced in 2021 it would have been my most anticipated book! Even not knowing about it until it was released this month, I have still been long awaiting a Merida book from Disney. I’ve always felt Merida was my kindred princess. We both have a love of horses and archery (me more horses, her more archery, but still we both love both). We’re both curly girlies with a love of independence and freedom. Since they started publishing the Twisted Tales series, I’ve had to watch them come up with great stories about every dang princess and then some but never Merida. It was frustrating. And then Facebook suggested this to me for an audiobook! I was elated! I immediately ordered the hardcover and set to reading it.
Quick Summary without Spoilers: It takes place about five years after the movie Brave, so Merida is about twenty and the twins are about eight. Dun Broch has settled into its routine and comfortability. Merida has just returned from a year of traveling the kingdom. One night there’s a mysterious knock at the back door and she discovers a handsome boy in the snow. He runs from her and she chases him, wanting to know what he wanted, only to find out he’s the God of Ruin or Destruction, Feradach. A bargain is struck by another God, the God of Renewal, the Cailleach. She is seen as an old hag while Feradach wears the faces of those he has brought to ruin. These two work together to keep balance. Feradach had come to Dun Broch to ruin it because of its stagnation. No one is changing and it is the same as always. The Cailleach suggests Merida have one year to bring change about in all Dun Broch’s occupants. But there’s another ultimatum on the table. A band of what I would deem as medieval outlaws come knocking at their doors demanding they send Merida to another neighboring area to promote togetherness. They are a rough crowd so it’s surprising they suggest this. Merida decides she’s going to visit three different villages and each time she brings a new triplet and/or parent with her. That way she can work on encouraging their change while trying to decide where she would like to be fostered if it came to that. Continually, she meets Feradach along her travels and he shows her a little what he does, sometimes intentionally through magic and sometimes it’s an unfortunate event Merida witnesses. She doesn’t understand his need to destroy civilizations and hates him for it at first but as he shows her the good that comes from it and she realizes just how human he seems she starts to see him as a friend. Can Merida bring change to everyone in her family in time to save them all, or will Feradach have to destroy Dun Broch for its stagnation?
“One Princess. Two Gods. Three Voyages. Four Seasons to save Dun Broch- or see it destroyed, forever.”
Characters: The author did a great job of portraying a Merida that is now entering adulthood. She’s still the same old Merida we love with her individuality, her independence, and her ideals, but there’s something a little different about her. She has a little more responsibility and wisdom. Her parents have seemed to age a little since we left them in Brave. The lessons learned in the movie by Elinor are not forgotten. She’s not overbearing and critical anymore really, but she’s not fun and free, riding horses through the glen either. She’s just Queen Elinor that lets Merida be Merida. Fergus is not as boisterous and loud as he once was but he does still retain his sense of humor. The triplets are older now and it’s so cool how the author has brought out individual personalities in them and developed them as their own persons instead of being lumped together as “the triplets” like in the movie. They are a big part of the story too. Maudie is no longer with the castle so there’s the introduction of new castle staff. Aileen, the cook, plays a very small part. Leezie is a girl about Merida’s age who is supposed to be a housekeeping assistant but she’s terrible at her job. She’s more like a part of the family, a sister to Merida, than a part of the staff. She’s almost elven in her “up in the clouds” mindset. I really liked her. The two gods, the Cailleach and Feradach were written beautifully. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Even though Feradach is seen as a boy about Merida’s age it was refreshing to read a YA “Historic” Fantasy novel that was not overly teenagery. I was never once annoyed with the characters being bratty or whiny or petulant. If they were it fit the situation perfectly and was usually the triplets because they’re only about eight.
The Writing Style: This was my first Maggie Stiefvater book but it will not be my last, that’s for sure. She has such a beautiful way with words and her descriptions are incredibly poet without being overly flowery. It felt genuine and authentic to the time period. I was hooked by the very first line.
“This is a story about two gods and a girl. It takes place a very long time ago, when Scotland was only beginning to be called Scotland, at a castle called DunBroch.”
Immediately, I got out my Google and looked up when Scotland started to be called Scotland. 10th century, by the way. It made sense and perfectly fit and was a great way of saying it without just coming out and saying it. True to Merida, love was never the focus of the story, which is right up my alley. I hate lovey stories usually and get annoyed with characters mooning over each other. There was a touch of love at the end, but it was so small it was just right, especially for a Merida story.
Overall, I highly HIGHLY recommend this book, especially if you’re already familiar with Merida’s story and love her as much as I do. Get it, enjoy it, display it because the cover is amazingly beautiful! It’s inspired me to maybe try my own hand at illustrating my next series’ covers. I literally cannot find one bad thing to say about this book. Not one.
Let me start off by saying I do not believe this book fits in with the premise of Disney’s Twisted Tales series. The whole point of the series is to take the original story and twist it into something else. This story is more of a sequel. It does not twist the original story but takes place when Alice is an adult, eighteen or nineteen, and goes back to Wonderland to save it from the murderous Queen of Hearts.
With that being said, I really liked this story. It was definitely not kiddish like the original one could be. Of course, it was still filled with plenty of nonsense, but also some young adult/adult themes like murder, death, tyranny, gore, and violence. The author did a great job of capturing the voices and writing style from the original! That was my favorite part of it. It really did feel like a sequel from the same author, except for the fact that it was not for kids.
A quick summary of the story is Alice is an adult and has forgotten Wonderland. Her sister keeps trying to set her up with “respectable” young men but Alice walks to a beat of her own drum, like her aunt Vivian, who was not in the originals but is a real trailblazer. Alice gets into art from her aunt, particularly photography. It’s through the photos she takes that things get warped and the creatures of Wonderland try reaching out to her for help. She travels back and forth several times between her land and Wonderland as she tries to figure out how to save it from the Queen of Hearts, who is murdering her own people to gather as many toys as she can so she can bring about the End of Time as the winner. There is a twist to this but I won’t tell you what that is.
Though I feel it doesn’t fit in with the series, I did like the book on its own for what it was. The author did a great job and all her research into the originals paid off. I recommend reading!
A great autobiography for anyone who follows the Wilson sisters or for anyone who loves horses and the allure of wild horses in general. These three girls have so much experience and knowledge to be shared. I’m not big into show jumping like they are but it was still fun to read about their winnings and achievements. The parts about creating bonds with the wild horses were the best parts, though. The amount of patience and compassion these girls have for these wild horses is beyond anything I’ve ever heard of. They truly are naturals.
Recently, I got back in touch with my artistic side. I drew, out of nowhere having not drawn in over 15 years since my senior year of high school, a sketch of Captain from a photograph. It turned out great! And I had so much fun doing it. I was blessed with the idea to start a horse art business where I would do custom sketches and paintings, and even get back in touch with my photography side and offer mini photo sessions for portraits. It combined two things I loved dearly and enjoyed to no end, but lost touch of after high school until now, my mid-thirties; horses and art. The author of this book, Kelly Wilson, was an inspiration to me to do this throughout the entire book. I, like her, want to live outside the confines of a 9-5 job. I would love to work from home, be my own boss, and set my own schedule. Who wouldn’t? Kelly made me realize that it’s actually possible with horses and art. There were many inspirational nuggets in there that you could walk away from the book with, feeling confident that you can make your dreams come true, whatever they are.
My favorite quote was “Our talents are God’s gift to us but what we do with them is our gift back to God.” This really hit home with me and made me feel like I was on the right track with my horse art business venture. It was a way for me to take the talents God blessed me with and put them out there into the world to bless others with them and give God the glory for it (Something I feel is lacking in my 7-3pm job).
I highly recommend if you are a horse lover like me! And if you’d like to check out my art you can do so with the links below. My custom sketches and paintings are available throughout the US. My photography sessions are available in Northwest Indiana.
