Cursed

March 15, 2020
Gilly Cobbler and her friends from Fairy Tale Reform School must prevent the villainous Rumpelstiltskin from casting a curse that will wipe out all of Enchantasia. Traveling on Blackbeard's pirate ship, the group heads to Shipwreck Cove in hopes of finding genie Darlene's lamp. After a quick battle with the guardian kraken (a misunderstanding), they realize Stiltskin has already beaten them there! The FTRS teachers confirm, via magic mirror, that Gilly and her family are somehow tied to Stiltskin and the curse--a foreboding message, especially since Gilly's sister Anna now leads the child villains of the Stiltskin Squad. In order to learn about her heritage and hopefully unlock some of her latent fairy powers, Gilly visits her estranged fairy grandmother. But with time running out, will the group save FTRS and their fairy-tale world as they know it? As is appropriate for a series climax, action and drawn-out tension abound. The quickly reached resolution is abrupt, as are the spaces between the near-continuous battles, making for a very bumpy read. If readers have stuck with the series through the other five installments, at least this book will offer both an ending and a peek at more of Gilly's family. Gilly is white, but her classmates are diverse, both in race and in species. This series finale reads like a whirlwind. (Fantasy. 9-13)

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