Review: Grimm Legacy

Addie J King at a Millennicon Reading, with Denise, and myself at the far end.

I picked up a copy of The Grimm Legacy after meeting the author, Addie J King, at Millennicon this spring. I'd heard her talk on panels and in a reading we were both at, about the characters, and especially the 400-year old talking frog prince… I think that alone sold me on wanting this book.

I wasn't sure what to expect, it's rare for me to buy a paper book to review, and although I'd planned from the beginning to review it, getting around to reading it… well, last night I picked it up again, and finished reading the last two-thirds of it. I'm very pleased.

The Grimm legacy is a light-hearted take on something I've seen more of in the last few years; grown-up fairy tales. My daughters induced me to watch Grimm (which is much darker than this book) and Once Upon a Time… which is a more close parallel to The Grimm Legacy. Janie Grimm, the heroine of the tale, is just starting law school, grieving her father, when along comes her stepmother to ask a favor, and in close succession on her heels, Bert the talking frog and Aiden the clumsy but oddly attractive waiter. Janie is dismayed. The last thing she needs or wants in her life are complications other than worry over money and school.

As with many new authors, the book suffers a little from a desire to follow the character step by step through life, making the story drag a bit in places. But on the other hand, the action is well-done, the characters are fun to follow as they try to untangle the threads of their lives, and the Ohio setting is charmingly rendered. The finale in particular, which I won't spoil for you, involves some wonderful character growth.

I would say this book qualifies as 'New Adult' with college-aged protagonists. There is nothing in it I would mind my daughters reading, and as a matter of fact, I may send the book on to them as I am fairly sure they will enjoy it as well.

Note: this is NOT the book I was talking about yesterday, in Homage. I don't think of retelling fairy tales or using the Grimm characters as fanfiction, and this book is definitely a homage, but without that first passage which was so very… Yeah, that one will likely be up next week, I'm only halfway through it. "Tis a BIG book.