Reviews

A retelling of Rumplestitleskin. I kept picturing Mr. Gold from Once upon a time, which was mildly irritating.
I loved that the main characters were all very young and in impossible situations but they did not devolve into ridiculousness. They are all trying to make reasonable decisions in unreasonable circumstances.

beaniedorman's review against another edition

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3.0

After reading The Shadow Queen, I realized that C.J. Redwine's books are just not my thing. They're too light for me, and are written for a different audience. I can appreciate that. Still, I think that The Wish Granter deserves a higher rating than its predecessor.

Allistair Teague is a wish granter, a powerful fae capable of granting a person their deepest wish--if they agree to surrender their soul to him in then year's time. Bastard prince Thaddeus makes a wish to save the life of his twin sister, Arianna, becoming king so that Teague can be his chief advisor, controlling the kingdom as he sees fit. When Ari learns of her brother's deal, she takes it into her own hands to save the kingdom, enlisting the help of the castle's new blacksmith, Sebastian. She is not a princess who will sit by and wait for someone to save her or her brother--she can do it herself.

One of my biggest problems with The Shadow Queen was the forced-feeling duality of darkness and humor. While it is possible to have both in a story, I didn't think that it was blended very well. Also, the book dragged, and became a bit boring after a while. The pacing in The Wish Granter was sooo much better, and the book didn't try to be anything that it wasn't. Although there are notes of darkness throughout, this book has a much more lighthearted feel to it, with more consistent humor rather than sporadic jokes here and there.

Also, the positive, girl-power message was nice. Ari is not a stereotypical damsel in distress. She is smart, independent, funny, and won't let anyone tell her how she should act or how her body should look. It was refreshing to see, and I think it will get a very positive response.

Will I personally read more of this series? Probably not. But I think that others will. Recommended to people who have different tastes than me.

emilyxperry's review against another edition

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4.0

It was fun to read. The beginning was a bit slow. I read the first book when it came out and bought this when it came out. I liked that the main character Ari was a strong lead, but all the main characters are the I’m a good person that everyone likes but will do stupid things for the people they love. During one chapter Ari talked about Sebastian’s shoulders too much. I liked Sebastian’s character, I feel like he is trying to hard to be a different person. The book was amazing and clever, I loved the ideas, I just didn’t like the characters. Since it was in a series, I expected the same characters in it, just a different fairy tale plot line that followed the last book. It was nice having a completely different story because I read the last book a while ago. It isn’t a book that I would force all my friends to read, but I would read it again, the characters are sometimes annoying, but not terrible.

_sophieee_'s review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.25

sisareads2476's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm not very familiar with the Rumplestiltskin tale but I know that he somehow met his own fate by being proud and overconfident, believing himself to be the invincible and undestructable, and our Wish Granter, Alistair Teague here was no different.
First, I liked how our heroine Arianna was introduced as a fiery, carefree, brave bastard princess rather than the typical YA pampered high privilege royal. It adds character to her personality and explains all the things she did in the story. I can't say I admire her choices most of the time especially with dealing with the fae Alistair coz it was in many ways reckless and foolish but she was a character you'll definitely root for.

In some parts, I grew impatient that nothing major had happen since she did that reckless decision of planning to thwart the fae's evil plans and still manages to have it all backfired at her and turn the tables on Teague's side...I'm forever waiting for that "Aha,you've done it girl" moment but remain just waiting until the last chapters where she set all her plans at motion ( hurray!)

I'm also very disappointed with our mighty Fae, Alistair, for someone who thinks of himself as the ancient, ever powerful invincible entity, he sure had an odd way of showing it, (again, I blaim this of him being narcissist and over confident, thus underestimating everything, tsk tsk) and just like any other antagonist in the villian community, he sure loves hearing himself gloat, and talk he did!
I admire his evilness, of him being so ruthless and malicious that I believe he was an effective villian but then he was tricked and thwarted just like that and i was like " oh, not the brightest star after all" pffft!

I was also iffed that our brave Princess Ari was alwasy distracted at her task at hand but manage to flirt with the love of her love Sebastian even at the face of danger, oh well..guess I just have to deal.

overall, I like what I read but still disappointed how it seems that all the juicy reveals was squeezed right just short of the ending,. it left me feeling unsatisfied with the whole retelling .It just didnt quite delivered what i was expecting it to be, but I'm still glad that it all ends well and everyone got what they all deserved.

ahoke1990's review against another edition

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2.0

This was okay it is not as good and The Shadow Queen. But I did still want to read it through. I liked the idea of it being Rumplestiltskin.

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