“‘Mirror, Mirror, on the wall. Who is the Fairest of them all?’ In the sequel to UnEnchanted, Mina Grime discovers that all is not fair when it comes to the Fae and their tales, especially when they don’t all play by the rules. Barely surviving the Story’s first fairy tale quest, Mina still has hundreds to go before she can end the curse on her family. But a new player arises to challenge Mina while new rules revamp the game she has just barely begun to understand. All the while, people are mysteriously disappearing, including Jared, who Mina must finally determine to be friend or foe. And with the loss of her greatest weapon, Mina must try to outwit a deadly hunter. Can Mina survive the most difficult quest yet while protecting those she loves from falling victim to one of the deadliest tales of all? Or will she become a pawn when she strikes a bargain with the Queen of Fae?”
What is the book about?
Mina Grime is cursed – literally – and now she has to live through hundreds of fairy tales in order to end the curse and save her brother. But she has already nearly died at least a dozen times, and she has only completed a few tales. The Fae don't play by the rules and it is proving harder than she thought to survive long enough to complete another quest. Mina has just barely gotten the grips on this deadly game of quests and now everything seems like it's changing, and she knows that there are people who are keeping secrets from her and preventing her from learning all there is to know about the Grimoire and her curse. Jared is one of these people and Mina doesn't know if he is on her side or on the side of the evil Fae trying to kill her. He is evasive and doesn't seem to want to help her with anything or share any of the knowledge he has, which she knows is plentiful. Now Mina had lost the one advantage she had in this world full of unknown mythical creatures and on top of that people (or Fae?) are going missing, including Jared, who is the one person who may hold the information she could use to win at another quest. It's all up to Mina and she must try to protect the two people she loves most in the world...or lose them to the curse. But the only way to save them may just be to make a deal with the Fae royalty and Mina may not be able to hold up her end of the bargain.
What were your initial thoughts on the book?
Once I finished UnEnchanted I knew I needed to read Fairest and I was so desperate to start reading. I had been left on a crazy plot twist cliff-hanger and needed to know what was going to happen next. I read the blurb and found that this did nothing to calm me and instead caused me to become more over-excited. I actually found the blurb for this book was extremely detailed and this really surprised me as a blurb is just supposed to give someone a brief view into the book and to make them want to read the book. In this case, the blurb kind of described the entire plot, but I didn’t mind much. When I finally started to read, I was delightfully surprised with the fact that the book burst right in with a load of action and I was immediately transported back to a world just like the one I was living in, only it had real magic and not just the one in my imagination. This meant that I knew right away that I was going to love reading this book and soon found myself reaching the end of yet another book.
Who was your favourite character and why?
My favourite character in this book was Jared. The main reason for this was because of the way he helped Mina and was always there for her in the moments she needed him, even if she didn’t always see it that way. To some it may have looked like Jared was a liar and didn’t actually want to help Mina because he never shared any information and always appeared to have secrets. He even left and it looked like he had abandoned Mina and left her in the moment she was at her weakest (as she lost the Grimoire). However, after reading the short story, Jared’s Quest, I knew more about Jared’s feelings for Mina and knew that he was only hiding things to protect her and help her, and I knew that he would tell her eventually when she really needed to know. He tried his best to help her in any way he could and never wanted to upset. The only reason he acted like a jerk from time to time was because he cared for her and didn’t want her to get hurt (and sometimes Mina could make some stupid decisions and get herself into a lot of trouble, which made him mad). I really hope to see more of Jared in later books, and I hope he loses some of this attitude and tries to be clearer on his feelings for Mina.
What was your favourite part of the book and why?
My favourite part of the book is definitely the end, mainly because of what it meant for the other books in the series and because of Mina’s change in attitude. Throughout the whole book I found that Mina was a bit annoying because of the way she was constantly jealous of people and always living in the past and what could’ve been if it weren’t for the Story intervening. Although I understood that her whole life had been turned upside down and her feelings kept being disregarded, I wished that she would get past it and focus on the main reason she was fighting to solve quests – in order to break the curse put on her family many years ago. So, when I read the ending, I absolutely loved it because Mina finally understood her goal and chose to fight the real villain rather than hating the people who had been caught in the middle of the quests in the previous book of the series. I also loved what Mina said at the end because I knew that now Mina was going to change and she was not going to let the Story manipulate her anymore. She was bringing the fight to the Fae and, if they weren’t going to follow the rules, then she wasn’t going to do that either.
What was your overall impression of the book?
Overall, I really enjoyed reading Fairest and I thought it was an incredible book, which I gained a lot of information from. One thing that I really loved was the fact that certain points in the book were written in Jared's perspective, although it was very subtle and was just separated with a little star, rather than a whole chapter. This was a welcome addition to the book as I was glad to hear from someone other than Mina, and particularly loved that I got to hear more from Jared because after reading the short story, Jared’s Quest, I really enjoyed his point of view and definitely didn’t want to lose out on it. The fact that Jared’s viewpoint was added not only gave me more of a glimpse into his head and let me see things in a new light as it was from someone other than Mina, but I also got to see how Mina looked from an outer point of view and helped me understand that, even though Jared annoyed Mina a lot, Mina was also able to annoy Jared. Another thing that I really liked about the book was everything I learnt about the link between Jared and the Grimoire. This was a very slow process as Jared never seemed to want to share anything (and I definitely have more questions which he still hasn’t answered); however after a while he did share a bit and Mina did figure out a bit. I loved learning about Jared’s real identity (and his other half) and why he was there to help Mina, but I know that there is still a lot more I have to learn. One last thing that I really enjoyed about the book and thought was incredibly good writing on Chanda Hahn’s part was the fact that the lines between good and evil were clearly faded in this book. I really liked how Mina’s mother’s point about Mina not being able to choose the part she played in the stories she would have to live through was really highlighted in this book and how even Mina – the main character of the novel – could be considered evil. It really showed me that even the most kind-hearted individuals can be subject to less attractive human emotions, such as jealousy, greed and hate, because we are all human and can’t always choose or control our emotions. Fairest was a really good book and I am so excited for Fable now, especially after the shocking development at the end of Fairest.
Which book did you like better, the first or the second?
Even though both books, UnEnchanted and Fairest, were really good reads and I did like them both, I think that UnEnchanted was slightly better. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that I didn’t really like Mina’s new attitude in Fairest. In UnEnchanted she was new to the whole Story and curse thing, but she took it quite well for a 15 year old girl and was ready to break the curse. However, in Fairest she was constantly acting like a jealous teenager and living in the past, dreaming of what could’ve been if it weren’t for the Story getting involved. I can understand why she was acting that way (as I also would’ve liked to know this), but it was still rather annoying and it got her into a lot of trouble and meant she didn’t see that there were others who actually cared for her and remembered her. Although I did prefer the ending of Fairest (and loved Mina’s newfound determination), I did enjoy the main quest in UnEnchanted a lot more than in Fairest because of Mina’s role. In UnEnchanted, Mina was the hero and she didn’t need any prince, knight or hunter to come and save her from the monster because she had the power, strength and confidence to do it herself – she was independent and strong. In contrast, in Fairest, Mina was the villain of the story and, although I think it was the perfect eye opener for her and made her realise how stupid she was acting, I didn’t like the way that she needed a boy, a prince, to come in and finish the quest for her. For me, Mina is the one who needs to complete the quests, not some guy she thinks is amazing and so much better than her. I hope in Fable (the third book) I get to see more of the strong Mina I liked from the first book.
Would you recommend this book?
I absolutely recommend you read this book. I think it is an amazing book and I know anyone will enjoy it, specifically those over 13 who like fantasy, adventure, romance and fairy tale retellings.
Summarise the book in one sentence. (Verdict)
A fantasy adventure full of dark twists and magic.
Reviewed by Jimena Gutierrez Reviriego
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