eBook Review: The Enchantress Returns (The Land of Stories #2) by Chris Colfer

Title: The Enchantress Returns
Author: Chris Colfer
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Edition: I/eBook English Version
Published: August 2013
Page: 517
ISBN: 978-0-316-25237-9
Genre: Children, Young-Adult Fiction, Adventure, Fairy Tale Retelling

Synopsis: After decades of hiding, the evil Enchantress who cursed Sleeping Beauty is back with a vengeance.
Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress has kidnapped their mother! Against the will of their grandmother, the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from greatest threat it's ever faced.

***

For the second time, Alex and Conner Bailey experience great yet dangerous adventure in the Land of Stories. At the moment, they find that their mother is missing. Besides, there are some strange feelings surrounding their house.

Everything starts from one day, Alex is coming back from attending such course at a school outside the town. Both of Bailey twins are expecting their mother's birthday celebration. They are planning to give her a surprise, with Bob, a doctor and her mother's lover. But, everything turns into catastrophe. Their mother is missing. Bailey twins are very sure that it has something to do with Land of Stories.

Thus, Alex and Conner are trying to reach Land of Stories, even though they have no idea where the portal is since their grandmother has closed it once they get back to the real world (see: The Wishing Spell). They decide to see their grandmother's house to find a clue. Fortunately, that old cabin owned by their grandmother leads them into Land of Stories.

However, the catastrophe does not only occur in the real world. The Land of Stories is facing more terrible catastrophe. As being told, the Enchantress, the powerful one, has arisen. She is very powerful of magic, like no one can beat her. She is trying to encounter the Land of Stories under her possession. To make her wish come true, she has to collect some items of pride owned by each kingdoms, for example Cinderella's daughter (the heir of her kingdom), Red Riding Hood's wall of protection, and so on. To accomplish the items of pride, she must get the soul of the magic-blood-heir. That's why she kidnap Alex and Conner's mother, in which she is mistakenly into Alex Bailey (the magic-blood-heir).

Alex, Conner, and some other friends from Land of Stories, such as Red Riding Hood, Jack and Goldilocks, Froggy, and the fairies from Fairy Council, have to beat the Enchantress before she reach her goal. But, fighting against the Enchantress seems pretty impossible. She is so powerful even the Fairy Godmother cannot beat her. The one and only attempt everyone should do is uniting and fighting against the Enchantress together. Nevertheless, it is not as easy as it looks. Everyone nearly dies fighting. In fact, magic could be beaten by magic only.

~o~

The Enchantress Returns is my favorite after The Wishing Spell. It is the second book of The Land of Stories series. It is much more adventurous and dramatic than the first book. Even, the conflicts faced by the main characters are much bigger and stronger.

The main characters involved in this book are nearly the same as the first book. Alex and Conner Bailey, Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, Froggy, Fairy Godmother, and even the Enchantress herself.

This book still uses the similar setting of places to the first sequel, which are America modern days and Land of Stories.

The main conflicts faced by the main character are mostly about how to beat the evil yet powerful Enchantress and about how to keep Land of Stories safe, peaceful, and in order.

The plot is very easy to follow. Typical fairy tale, the plot mostly runs forward.

Over all, this book is very satisfying. There are many new stories I could find inside the book. Even, I could find the discreet stories why Sleeping Beauty was cursed as well as her kingdom and what makes Enchantress become so evil. It is nice to compare this story with "Maleficent" story because the main subject of those two stories is similar one another.

My rating: 4 out of 5 crowns

~Happy Reading~

xoxo