The Wells Bequest

The Wells Bequest by Polly Shulman
3.5/5 stars
Nancy Paulsen Books, 2013
257 pages
YA/MG Fantasy

Source: Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

First book The Grimm Legacy was an absolute delight for me so I was thrilled to discover this companion novel! This book is loosely related featuring Jaya, the younger sister of Anjali, both of whom played important roles in the first book and of course the backdrop for both is the New York Circulating Material Repository. While the first book played with fairy tale items, this one takes a turn for the science-fiction side looking at items from HG Wells' novels as well as others.

Our new main character is Leo, son and younger brother of scientists whose own interests tend more toward the fantastical. He however is shocked when a tiny version of himself along with a beautiful girl, both on a time machine, appears in his bedroom. This sets off a journey that leads him to the aforementioned repository where he discovers that some of the creations he's read about are real (like HG Wells' time machine from the titular novel), meets the beautiful girl, and must confront a jealous rival.

Leo was a good kid. Probably my favorite thing about him is his concern over possibly messing up the future through his time travel. I loved his caution and how it was necessary to balance out his counterpart, the lovely Jaya, an experienced page whose enthusiasm takes over the adventure.  She easily rushes forward ready for anything.

While both of the leads were good, the villain was pathetic-I don't really remember the villain in The Grimm Legacy but I did not find this book's villain scary at all. I found him deranged and possibly in need of some medical health. This was the biggest point of frustration for me and I found that his simplicity brought the story down to more of a middle-grade level. Additionally I found a bit of the time travel confusing although further reflection has mostly brought it into line-I did enjoy those sequences but I found it very young for my taste.

Overall: A cool companion to The Grimm Legacy; while your reading experience will be enhanced by reading both in order, I don't think it's necessary and if fairy tales aren't really your thing, you could probably skip it and dive right into this one.

Other Opinions:
A Reader of Fictions
Little Squeed
Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Grimm Legacy

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2010
325 pages
YA; Fairy Tale; Fantasy
4.5/5 stars

Source: Library

I can't believe I didn't read this sooner after loving Shulman's Enthusiasm.  But seeing it on the YA Book Battle Longlist prompted me to pick this up.

I'm so glad I did as its mixture of contemporary with fairy tale was a great deal of fun.  Elizabeth Rew is living an almost Cinderella life with thoughtless stepmother and stepsisters, a father who almost completely ignores her now, and no friends.  But after writing a paper on the Grimm Brothers, her favorite teacher Mr. Mauskopf recommends her for a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository, like a library but with objects other than just books and containing the Grimm Collection among other priceless treasures.

At the Repository, Elizabeth meets many new people, most notably: Anjali, a sweet girl flirting with Marc, Marc, the basketball star at her school, and Aaron, jealous and cranky that Anjali doesn't like him.  They help her learn about the fantastical objects but they also warn her about the dangers.  It seems like someone is stealing objects and sapping them of their magic.  An atmosphere of distrust builds but the students need to work together to solve the mystery. 

Like much of YA, none of the kids tell the adults about what is going on although Elizabeth does want to.  They claim that the some of the adults might be involved in the scheme (one is although against his/her will).  This irked me because they don't know as much about the collections as the adults do even if they are very determined and smart.  However the words of their mentors do help them in times of distress and they do eventually reveal everything to the adults.

Besides the four student pages, there are also siblings!  Anjali has an adorable little sister Jaya, whose help proved instrumental and Marc's little brother Andre also helped despite only being three! They sounded so cute. They were also very brave as some bad magic attacks the students.  Various items from the Grimm fairy tales also make appearances, such as the twelve dancing princesses' slippers and the cudgel in the sack. 

If movies didn't have a tendency to mangle books I love, I would enjoy seeing this as a film.

SLIGHT SPOILER:
So while Aaron originally seemed to like Anjali, he ends up liking Elizabeth (and she reciprocates) which is so totally obvious to everyone except for the two of them.  It leads to a very Sam-and-Diane from "Cheers" back and forth that was so pleasing to me! I adore Sam and Diane and Aaron and Elizabeth's banter was so cute!
END SPOILER

Overall: Although not hardcore fairy tale, the elements are there creating an exciting magical story!

Cover: I actually don't find the darkness very appealing.  I love the title font but the tag seems kind of lame to me.

Hosted by Irena at This Miss Loves to Read.