Rating: 
Summary: Clever, but disappointing
Review: Never After presents a clever and intriguing fractured fairy tale, but is ultimately disappointing. We have all the ingredients for a delightfully twisted book: a daring, tomboyish princess; an inept, would-be-heroic prince; a possessive witch; power-hungry but unimpressive wizards; a weird little man; an enchanted frog; and a sleeping castle. The material is worthy of Terry Pratchett and reminiscent of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, but the execution lacks verve. The writing isn't tight enough, and there's not nearly enough humor to make the story work. The climax of the book is really quite anti-climactic; and it leads to a "happily ever after" ending, even for the most undeserving characters. This could have been a great book, but it falls sadly short of the mark.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book Would Make a Great Movie!
Review: Sure, there are a few plot execution problems here and there, but when you get down to it... the book is just cute. Kinda reminds me of Shek in a couple of areas. Kids in JH or HS might really like it, esp if they read fairy tales when they were younger.
Rating: 
Summary: Never, ever??
Review: Sure, there are a few plot execution problems here and there, but when you get down to it... the book is just cute. Kinda reminds me of Shek in a couple of areas. Kids in JH or HS might really like it, esp if they read fairy tales when they were younger.
Rating:
Summary: fairy tales -- mixed up, fractured, and generally twisted
Review: There's something so appealing about a fractured fairy tale, and this book fractures several, with hilarious results. Is the tale of Sleeping Beauty really about a princess, or was there a mistake in the transcription of "3 princes"? What really happened to the princess who supposedly felt a pea through a tower of mattresses and blankets? Here is a Cinderella, a Rumpelstiltskin, a Frog Prince, that you never imagined.
Some of the characters are, admittedly, a little flat. The wizards, while amusing, are never really revealed, nor is Prince Althelstan. The real draw is the tough, adventurous, independent-minded sort-of princess Vevila and her not-entirely-functional relationship with Rumpelstiltskin, who, for some reason, is determined to prove she's a real princess. The plot twists and turns and, at times, comes dangerously close to not making any sense. That, however, is part of the joy of a fractured fairy tale, and doesn't hurt the book one bit.
It's not a deep or challenging book, but it *is* funny, charming, and clever. A great diversion for a lazy afternoon, one you'll probably want to read again.
Rating:
Summary: Take a rest from big serious books; try this fun little gem
Review: This a short book, but if you are a fan of fairy tale retellings with a little romance and humor, you should like this one. A rather dim-witted but nice prince finds an enchanted vine-covered castle full of sleeping people including a very beautiful woman that he falls for. In this castle, though, it is a prince that needs kissed and awakened before this beauty and the rest of the castle can be roused. Against her will, he recruits his smart, tomboyish cousin, Vevila, (whom he finds trying to run away from her suitors) to help him wake the prince with her kiss. From that point, much of the story focusses on the strong-willed Princess Vevila and the Princess Tests she is put through by the prince's "protectress", a fairy godmother with a few psychiatric problems. A mysterious swamp dweller, a cute, nameless, short man, an imposter perfect princess, a wicked stepmother desperate to find princes for her daughters, and a trio of pompous, greedy wizards round out the cast. There is a lot of story packed into this small package! There are shades of Sleeping Beauty, the Frog Prince, Rumpelstiltskin, The Princess and the Pea, Cinderella and more, all with a bit of humor and a twist. And they all lived happily ever after...
Rating: 
Summary: Clever, but Seriously Lacking...
Review: This book caught my attention from the beautiful cover and the captivating first few pages, however, things soon begin to go downhill. I'll admit that the idea of combining about five classic fairytales into one package was an extremely cute and clever idea that had a lot of potential, but the author just didn't deliver. First of all, there are several extraneous characters that weren't really needed at all, such as Rueberry or the other wizards, and the characters who were vital to the plot- such as Princess Vevila- were flat and undeveloped. Not to mention that I found the evil witch's continuous 'screaming' in my ear to be very annoying, and when Vevila finally decided to marry in the end, I felt let down- like her spirit from the beginning of the story had been in vain. This isn't one of those stories that even though isn't perfect, it still is a good idea to read it. I wouldn't recommend reading this book at all- many of the other reviews and the lovely cover are deceptive. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Talk about a horrible book!
Review: This book was just horrible. All the characters were irritating and annoying, I didn't like any of them (especially not Zenpfenning and Utricacea). The plot was so utterly annoying! It made me want to pull out my hair! I guess it was supposed to be funny and witty but it seriously was more annoying than humourous. Rebecca Lickiss turned a simple little conflict (of the princes needing a princess's kiss to break a spell) into a whole novel. It was stupid how Vevila (who was supposedly a head strong girl) could not do something so simple as push the witch aside and kiss the stupid princes. Overall, this book was really annoying to read and I was unfortunate enough to buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good, but still....
Review: This book was very witty and adventurous, there were so many things going on that it held my attention and made the story come alive. Despite the colourful characters and settings, I felt that the story was lacking something. Was it the characters? The ending? I'm not quite sure, but there was something about this book that left me unsatisified. However, I would read this book again because it is interesting. This may not be the most helpful review, but if you read this book, maybe you'll understand what I mean!
Rating:
Summary: Cheerful & Witty but. . .
Review: This is one of those humorous fantasy books, in which everything is sweetly parodied and lots of puns are thrown in, etc.
A Prince in search of a princess finds a castle in which all of the inhabitants are asleep due to the spell of a fairy godmother (as in Disney's Sleeping Beauty), including the girl of his dreams. However, he needs to wake up 3 princes before he wakes up his love so he enlists the help of his tomboy cousin (a princess) and his boyhood friend, who happens to be a newly graduated wizard and they all go back to the castle for adventure, treasure and love. Along the way, Rumplestiltskin (yes, that one) gets invlolved.
My review:
This book was so irritating that I got to page 85 and called it quits. The author seems to be more bent on being cute than she is on advancing the story (which had gone nearly nowhere in the last 25-30 pages I did read). I was afraid that if I read it any longer, I would somehow be sucked in and trapped like the people in the castle. Maybe that would have been fine - at least I'd be asleep and not reading the book!
Rating:
Summary: slightly subversive fairytale
Review: This was an entertaining tale set in a slightly subversive fairytale world.
The witch (fairy godmother?) is affectionately portrayed, more so than the slightly colourless "prince charming" and all the major players make an appearance, in one guise or another (Rumplestiltskin, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, the Frog Prince/King, and so on and so forth). . . Vevila (- specifically named to include -evil- ?) is the only "real" princess and she is as unorthodox as possible, so much so that the King has specifically created laws that his son is unable to marry Vevila, which is what gives the prince the impetus to pursue his adventure.
Characters like the magicians add humor, although it occasionally seems to digress too much and leave some characters hanging, they do have their own charm.
I found Rueberry a particularly likeable individual, with his penchant for remembering meals and extra wheels of cheese.
The punning involved with a certain wizard cursed to find a Shakespearian quote for every occasion is amusing, and as the quotes are frequently obscure trying to place them can be entertaining.
Certain characters could have been explored in more depth although then the book could loose it's frivolous feel, which mayn't have been a bad thing.
In the end I was expecting Ureceacea(sp? how does one pronounce that!) to be revealed as more than the sum of her parts, but nothing happens which is a bit of a let down.
I realised I was expecting some sort of "Howls Moving Castle; Sophie" type transformation, but the author does not go so far.
I would rate it 3 stars, and would read other books by this author.
Would like to see further adventures of the subsidiary characters (although all the characters seem to be subsidiary characters with no clearly defined lead, but hopping from one set to another).
Still, it was enjoyable, just not riveting - example, I was willing to put it down half way and go to sleep at a reasonable hour, rather than staying up until every last page was turned.
Kotori
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