Review: The Grimm Legacy - Polly Shulman

Where I got it: Inter-Library Loan
Rating: 3.5 stars
Cover Rating: 4 stars (It's really pretty and swirly and the text is all shiny and such:))
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: July 8, 2010
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Page Count: 325 p.

When Elizabeth's social studies teacher recommends her for a job as a page at the New-York Circulating Materials Repository, Elizabeth agrees thinking that it is just a library. When she gets there they have her sort buttons as a kind of an assessment of her related skills. This is when Elizabeth first begins to realize that maybe this isn't an ordinary library. at NYCMP patrons check out object and as Elizabeth finds out some of them are quite powerful objects from the Grimm Collection. The Grimm Collection is stored in the Dungeon and you have to have special privileges to be able to access it, since it is home to many of the items featured in The Grimm fairytales. There happens to be a thief on the loose and the only way they can be getting some of the objects is to have someone on the inside working for them. So without knowing who to trust they pages at the Repository decide to rely on each other to get themselves out of sticky situations and find out who has been stealing these magical objects.

This was a fun read. I really love the Grimm fairytales so it was excellent seeing how they were incorporated in to the Repository and in the story itself. I wasn't in love with the writing style something about it just seemed sort of glitchy. The dynamics between the characters was interesting, young love and all it's twists and turns and secret crushes. I think my favorite character was Jaya. She was one of the pages younger sister and she was everything I imagine younger sister to be, incessantly annoying, overly helpful with that little kid glint of believing and therefore wielding magic. Some of the characters actions seemed off. At one point Aaron (one of the pages) tries to look up Elizabeth and another page, when they get out and are being chased he comes to their rescue and says he'll be nice now. It just didn't seem like he could be the same person. There were also a few scenes with a button that Elizabeth is given and it does weird things, but I'm never quite sure what it does and no one else seems to notice that it does anything. All in all this was a good book for YAs that are just begin to come of age to the genre. There are some embarrassing PDA moments and a magic carpet ride that's pretty sweet, but I think the younger teens will still be able to enjoy it. This novel probably leans more towards the girly side but I think boys could certainly enjoy it too. There is a decent amount of action and suspense an is a fast, easy, fun read. So if you like the Brothers Grimm I would suggest checking this out.

First Line:
"Snow fell hard: big, sticky flakes that got under my collar where the top button was missing. "


Favorite Line:
"The stars seemed to be falling around us, like glittery specks of dust."