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A Tale Dark & Grimm #3
The Grimm Conclusion
Widely praised and beloved by children, adults, and critics alike, Adam Gidwitz delivers a third serving of eerie new landscapes and fear-inducing creatures in a story sure to delight and frighten fans old and new. In the final book in the series, Adam's brilliantly irreverent narrator leads readers through a fresh world of Grimm-inspired fairy tales, based on such classics as The Juniper Tree, the real story of Cinderella, and Rumpelstiltskin.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published October 8, 2013
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4652 people want to read
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Adam Gidwitz
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 630 reviews
November 25, 2020
The prince came out of the palace and picked the shoe up and examined it.
And then he exclaimed, "Whoever's foot fits in this golden shoe will be my bride!"
One of his servants leaned over to him. "You think only one girl in the whole kingdom wears a size five?'
And the prince said, "Shut up."
If you're fond of fairy tales gently roasted, I recommend this series. Gidwitz plays well with the old favorites, and serves up some good snarky times by taking familiar tales, and adding some zipping zings and punches. This book serves as a fine and satisfying ending to a not-always-so-Grimm trilogy.
And then he exclaimed, "Whoever's foot fits in this golden shoe will be my bride!"
One of his servants leaned over to him. "You think only one girl in the whole kingdom wears a size five?'
And the prince said, "Shut up."
If you're fond of fairy tales gently roasted, I recommend this series. Gidwitz plays well with the old favorites, and serves up some good snarky times by taking familiar tales, and adding some zipping zings and punches. This book serves as a fine and satisfying ending to a not-always-so-Grimm trilogy.
February 22, 2019
Fantastic, amazing ending to this wonderful story from Gidwitz!
October 23, 2013
While I really liked the other two books, I had some problems with this one. It started off okay. I don't know why we always have to have a girl/boy combo as the MCs, but we do. The parents are good and evil, the ravens are about and we have a puzzle for the main characters to figure out. Good, good.
Where it went wrong for me was the jaunt out into the real world. Now, suddenly, we are ripped out of the story and into a pity party for people whose parents have divorced. On top of that, we now need to know the other two books (which I read YEARS ago and barely remember) I found that odd in a companion book and is more in line with a sequel. The story redeemed itself for awhile with the scene with the Devil and his grandmother (who probably need their own series) and then tanked again with the big, long battle scene featuring a bunch of return characters I forgot about from the other books. I am worried about negative connotations toward parents who read or, gosh forbid, go back to school to improve their family's lot in life. Couldn't the mother have been doing something else? Making a tapestry or something? Why in this day with kids barely reading would we want to throw ANY negative light on reading at all?
Sorry, rant over.
In the end, I recommend reading the other books first, or maybe just stopping with the second one. I didn't hate or even dislike this book, I just thought it hit some nerves.
Where it went wrong for me was the jaunt out into the real world. Now, suddenly, we are ripped out of the story and into a pity party for people whose parents have divorced. On top of that, we now need to know the other two books (which I read YEARS ago and barely remember) I found that odd in a companion book and is more in line with a sequel. The story redeemed itself for awhile with the scene with the Devil and his grandmother (who probably need their own series) and then tanked again with the big, long battle scene featuring a bunch of return characters I forgot about from the other books. I am worried about negative connotations toward parents who read or, gosh forbid, go back to school to improve their family's lot in life. Couldn't the mother have been doing something else? Making a tapestry or something? Why in this day with kids barely reading would we want to throw ANY negative light on reading at all?
Sorry, rant over.
In the end, I recommend reading the other books first, or maybe just stopping with the second one. I didn't hate or even dislike this book, I just thought it hit some nerves.
February 19, 2015
I am sad that this series is over, but it ends in such a satisfying way. I do think that this series is required reading for those who like fairy tales and especially clever retellings. Each volume ups the ante on the grim aspect of fairy tales. Each book seems less appropriate for a younger audience. I'm torn on that. Mr. Gidwitz is obviously a teacher, and he understands the young minds he writes for. I mean, he has to in order to teach them. I'm going to trust that he knows what they can handle, but my personal limit would be 12 or older for these books. There is way too much dark violence and subject matter for kiddos younger than twelve, to my thinking. Also, the cruelty of adults against children in this book is highly disturbing.
I also think this is the saddest out of the series. Wow, the things that our young protagonists are faced with really tore at my heart. And how the cruelty and neglect they experienced warped something inside of them. Gidwitz deals with the psychology of abused/neglected children in a poignant way without getting too soapboxy.
There are some great life lessons here. Family, loyalty, honor, integrity, kindness, and making moral decisions. These kids have to raise themselves and that leads to some issues when they are faced with adult moral decisions. Along the way they make mistakes and have to learn from them and 'face the music.'
This book breaks the 4th wall in a way that the other ones in the series did not. At first, I really didn't like that about the book, but then I saw how integral it was to the story. It was also good because Gidwitz doesn't follow the predictable pattern I expected.
Johnny Heller truly is an awesome narrator. If he didn't win an award for narrating this series, then he was cheated. He deserves it. He was all in, and you would have to wonder how he didn't get emotionally affected by this book as he read. Not just in horror or sadness, but in hilarity, because this book involves all those emotions.
I am biased. I love fairy tales a lot. Yet, I think that increases my standards for fairy tale retellings. Gidwitz is a writer who clearly loves fairy tales just as much as I do, if not more. He respects the genre, and it clearly is a huge creative influence on him in crafting these marvelous books that add very much to the cultural relevance of fairy tales.
If you have not checked these out and you like fairy tales, what are you waiting for?
I also think this is the saddest out of the series. Wow, the things that our young protagonists are faced with really tore at my heart. And how the cruelty and neglect they experienced warped something inside of them. Gidwitz deals with the psychology of abused/neglected children in a poignant way without getting too soapboxy.
There are some great life lessons here. Family, loyalty, honor, integrity, kindness, and making moral decisions. These kids have to raise themselves and that leads to some issues when they are faced with adult moral decisions. Along the way they make mistakes and have to learn from them and 'face the music.'
This book breaks the 4th wall in a way that the other ones in the series did not. At first, I really didn't like that about the book, but then I saw how integral it was to the story. It was also good because Gidwitz doesn't follow the predictable pattern I expected.
Johnny Heller truly is an awesome narrator. If he didn't win an award for narrating this series, then he was cheated. He deserves it. He was all in, and you would have to wonder how he didn't get emotionally affected by this book as he read. Not just in horror or sadness, but in hilarity, because this book involves all those emotions.
I am biased. I love fairy tales a lot. Yet, I think that increases my standards for fairy tale retellings. Gidwitz is a writer who clearly loves fairy tales just as much as I do, if not more. He respects the genre, and it clearly is a huge creative influence on him in crafting these marvelous books that add very much to the cultural relevance of fairy tales.
If you have not checked these out and you like fairy tales, what are you waiting for?
January 5, 2024
I'm so happy to finally have this series complete. This is the first book that I marked as to read here on goodreads and it's very satisfying to finally finish it. The book broke the forth wall in a way I haven't seen before. I don't know how I feel about it. I can't tell whether it was necessary. The writing style is still charming as ever and I recommend the whole series for someone looking for something fun.
Want to read
March 13, 2014I NEED THIS BOOK
I NEED THIS BOOK
I NEED THIS BOOK
I NEED THIS BOOK
I NEED THIS BOOK
NOW!
Whoa whoa whoa! It's out??? I TOTALLY FORGOT :( Oh well. I hope to read it soon!
I NEED THIS BOOK
I NEED THIS BOOK
I NEED THIS BOOK
I NEED THIS BOOK
NOW!
Whoa whoa whoa! It's out??? I TOTALLY FORGOT :( Oh well. I hope to read it soon!
April 23, 2019
If I am being honest, I didn't really like this book at all. I found it confusing and I don't really like books like this anyways. It had a decent concept but the way they presented everything was kind of unappealing to me. I think it would have been better if it ran smoother, it just came across to me choppy and I didn't really want to " stick with it".
July 22, 2016
5 Stars!
This series was amazing! It is such a cite series to read. At times it was very interesting. There was some things that I did not see happen. I was very surprised and kind of happy to see it happen even though I was very surprised on many things. It is such a great series to read.
This series was amazing! It is such a cite series to read. At times it was very interesting. There was some things that I did not see happen. I was very surprised and kind of happy to see it happen even though I was very surprised on many things. It is such a great series to read.
Read
April 25, 2019In my opinion, The Grimm Conclusion was a confusing book. Some parts were unclear to me and made it hard to understand the storyline. Besides the confusing parts, it was an entertaining book to listen to and the author made the characters relatable. This wouldn't be my first book choice when reading traditional literature, but it was overall ok.
December 5, 2013
I cannot adequately express how much I love this book. There was a moment where I kept thinking "Can you do that? Is that allowed? Waitwaitwait" while another part of me was going "Dude, man, dude, man, that's awesome."
It's meta. It's funny. It's dark. It's does so much that I want to be able to do when I'm writing.
And this: "Being the reader of a dark fairy tale is much like being the hero of one. Our lives are filled with pain, boredom, and fear. We want to venture into the dark wood, to see the oddities and the beauties it holds, and to test ourselves against them. So we pick up a book of fairy tales. The real ones. THe weird ones. The dark ones. We see oddities and beauties galore. We test our courage and our understanding. Finally, we put the book down and return to our lives. And hopefully, just like the hero of the fairy tale, we return stronger, richer, and wiser. In difficult times - of recession and violence and political bitterness - we long for a dark forest to which we can escape; and from which we can return, better than we were before."
That is why I write. That is what I long for. I am searching for a dark forest to traverse so I can come back a better, stronger version of myself. This is why I read books. This is why I listen to people's stories. This is so much of everything of my life. I want to swallow all of these words and internalize them and live them.
It's meta. It's funny. It's dark. It's does so much that I want to be able to do when I'm writing.
And this: "Being the reader of a dark fairy tale is much like being the hero of one. Our lives are filled with pain, boredom, and fear. We want to venture into the dark wood, to see the oddities and the beauties it holds, and to test ourselves against them. So we pick up a book of fairy tales. The real ones. THe weird ones. The dark ones. We see oddities and beauties galore. We test our courage and our understanding. Finally, we put the book down and return to our lives. And hopefully, just like the hero of the fairy tale, we return stronger, richer, and wiser. In difficult times - of recession and violence and political bitterness - we long for a dark forest to which we can escape; and from which we can return, better than we were before."
That is why I write. That is what I long for. I am searching for a dark forest to traverse so I can come back a better, stronger version of myself. This is why I read books. This is why I listen to people's stories. This is so much of everything of my life. I want to swallow all of these words and internalize them and live them.
December 27, 2014
Want to read a book with TWO characters that go on ONE adventure and then get SEPARATED and then REUNITED?? Well if you do then The Grimm Conclusion is the book for you! The genre of this book is Fantasy. I really liked this book very much and it may be my 2nd favorite book of the series. My favorite book is In A Glass Grimmly. *Spoiler Alert*?
In this book there is a couple and these people wanted a child really badly. So one day the woman was cutting an apple when she cut her finger and a drop of blood fell on the snow covered ground and she wished she had a child. So nine months passed and she bore twins. Their names were Jorinda and Joringel. The father died when he saw his beautiful kids. the woman remarried and the new husband didn't like Joringel. His two daughters didn't like Jorinda. Sadly one day the step dad brought home a big basket with apples in it and then he told Joringel to go and get one for himself, but then the step dad slammed the top of the basket on Joringel's head and Joringel was dead. The step dad then tied Joringel's head on with a kerchief and stuck an apple in his hand and then Jorinda came along and asked her brother if he could share the Apple with her, but he didn't respond. The step dad told Jorinda to slap Joringel if he didn't respond to her question again. So she asked Joringel again and when he didn't respond she slapped him and his head fell off. She thought she had killed her brother even though her step dad had killed him. So the step dad cut up Joringel and put the parts of him in a big stew pot and the stew pot in the icebox. The step dad told her to NEVER tell anyone about this. Then when Jorinda was burying her brother's bones under the Juniper Tree she saw a small bird and that bird was Joringel. Later on the stepsisters started calling Jorinda Ashputtle because she cleaned the fireplace and got ashes on her and also because she had to clean the chamber pot. So one evening Jorinda and the stepsisters got invited to a ball, but Jorinda couldn't go. Jorinda then knelt by the juniper tree that night and the juniper tree gave her a dress and a pair of golden shoes. She went to the ball and danced with the prince until midnight and then she had to leave. She went the next day and then the next. She lost her shoe the third night because the prince told his servants to put tar on the stairs so she couldn't get away, but Jorinda managed to get away. The prince however found the golden shoe and exclaimed that whoever fit the shoe would be his bride. Many women's feet didn't fit and then the prince strode up to the house where Jorinda lived and her stepsisters both tried on the shoe and they both couldn't fit their feet in it. Then Jorinda tried it on and it fit perfectly. She was the true bride! The bird that was Jorinda's friend, sang a tune and he got a gold chain, red shoes, and a cinder block. The chain was for the mother, shoes for Jorinda, and he killed the father with the cinder block. Then right where the bird was hovering a moment ago, now stood Joringel. then the prince rode up to the house to fetch Jorinda and she left without her brother. When it was night Joringel crept into his mothers study and read a small passage on the juniper tree and how if you ate a berry when the moon wasn't out you would have no feelings. so Joringel did just that. Then three ravens talked a bit to him and he followed them to these dark woods and he built a fire and saw three hanging men hanging from the tree. Joringel cut the ropes and sat them down next to the fire (the three men were dead). The side affects were sudden idiocy. Joringel got mad at the corpses because they kept falling into the fire and finally he put them back on the tree and the ravens told him to follow them again so he did. Jorinda, on the other hand was worried about the king, the prince, and her brother. the next morning the king sent Jorinda to Malchizedek's Mansion so she could collect the taxes that he wasn't paying. he told her that he would pick her up tomorrow morning. Jorinda took out her sewing kit to pass the time and when it was night she heard many strange sounds and thought it was Malchizedek, but it was his "pets". The animals were ferocious and had gleaming red eyes. Jorinda had to stand right in the middle of the room so that way the beasts wouldn't get to her. finally it was morning and the king strode up to the house and was surprised that she was alive. (Malchizedek killed the people who came to his house.) He asked her if he payed the taxes and she told him that he didn't so the king left and told her to stay another night. when it was nighttime Jorinda wondered if the animals were gonna come out again but they didn't. instead a half a mans legs came outta the chimney and then the other half came sprawling down and the front half of the man was moaning "Help Me!" Jorinda took out her sewing kit and took the legs of the man and stuck them by the top of the man and started sewing them together. When she was done the man told her "thank you, now I'm going to kill you." He suddenly grabbed Jorinda's neck and Jorinda couldn't break free. Thankfully she managed to get her scissors and cut and pull out the thread holding him together. at last the man went limp and she gasped for air and threw the man into the fire until he was gone. the next morning the king came for her again and she told the king she didn't collect the taxes that night either. so she told the king that she would say one more night and if he doesn't come that night then the king could have the land. night came and Malchizedek came out and asked Jorinda what she wanted and they had a short conversation about the king taking his land and the ogre not paying his taxes because of that. Jorinda even made a proposition to him and he agreed to it. The next morning the king was surprised to see twenty pounds of gold coins sent to him from Malchizedek. Later on Jorinda meets a unicorn in the woods and the king tells his trusty hunter to kill Jorinda and the unicorn. The king and the hunter end up getting killed by the unicorns parents. Joringel comes across an ivory monkey and he ends up taking it with him.Jorinda ends up making it back to the castle and she becomes The Queen Of The Kingdom Of Grimm. She was queen, a tyrant, and she was cruel and cool. The people of Grimm thought she killed the king and hunter. They said the prince would return with an army to dethrone her. Jorinda made every man and boy at age of 16 to march and be apart of her army. Jorinda crushed her citizens with heavy taxes. She trusted Herzlos most of all and he did what Jorinda ordered and did it with great relish. About a year had passed when Joringel came to the castle and the brother and sister were happy for just that moment. Jorinda decreed the law that if any parent hit a child hey would be punished severely. Then one morning Jorinda woke up to a banging noise and threw open her window only to see Joringel outside and he told her to come with him because the castle was under siege. Then both of them jumped down into a headge and ran until they found the unicorn that Jorina was friends with and climbed on his back and rode until the unicorn left and the children slept. They woke up and were confused to see the castle looking different. Then they both heard a voice inside their heads and they ran and ran until they came to the place where the voice was and they collapsed. The author tells them that they are in Brooklyn and he reads the first and half of the second book of the Grimm series to them. Sadly Herzlos kills Jorinda. Joringel goes to Hell and uses the ivory monkey on a demon so he can see the Devil and uses it on the Devil's Grandmother and tries using it on the Devil, but fails. The Devil gets Jorinda and they both manage to get out of Hell. When they arrive at the castle they see that children are now chained up and Herzlos is the ruler. They go back to their house the next morning and their mother is happy to see them. They form a plan and at night they rescue some children and they say that they will make A Kingdom Of Children. When Herzlos and his huge army arrive for battle they use Machines of war and are winning the battle until Jorinda and Joringel tell their own story by letting the author come in and help to write and choose what happens in the battle. **Spoiler Alert** Kids Win,(also i have probably added other spoilers in too...)The conflict is person(s) V.S. Society. It's that one because the two twins go on a vast adventure and learn and know many great things along the way.
I was angry when the man that Jorinda helped at Malchizedek's Mansion decided to kill Jorinda. In the text it states, "At last, Jorinda connected the first stitch to the last stitch and tied the thread off with a sturdy knot."There," she said. "All done." The pale man with no hair and wide eyes stared at her. And then he said, "Thank you." She smiled at him. And then he said, "Now I am going to kill you." "What?" she cried." When I read that the man was going to kill kill her a wave of emotions swept over me. First it was surprise, then anger, then worriment and last, plain disbelief. I had to re-read it so I could actually interpret what he was going to do to her! I was scared when Jorinda had to face those red-eyed beasts in Malchizedek"s Mansion the first night. In the story it says, "There was a single place, right in the center of the room where neither the cat nor dog could reach her. So she stood in that spot, hyperventilating, trying not to pass out. And then there were more eyes. Pairs of fiery eyes all around the room. Jorinda decided to scream. She screamed at the top of her lungs as more huge black beasts-bears and wolves and wolverines-leaped from the walls, their eyes blazing, their jaws, snapping, their claws swiping. But, all at once, all stopped in mid-air and crashed to the floor. All were on chains. If she stood as straight as a board and as still as stone, directly in the center of the room, not one could reach her. So Jorinda waited for 6 hours until the first ray of sunlight shot through a windowpane. At that instant, all the murderous creatures instantly disappeared. At which point, Jorinda passed out." I hated/loved this part. I hated it because all the animals were trying to kill her even though she did nothing to provoke them! I loved this part because she survived and I was amazed that she could stand like that for so long and not move an inch.
One of my favorite quotes in this book is as follows from the text, " The Devil's Grandmother glared at the little carving. Then she said, "Right...you're the boy with that cute ivory monkey..." Suddenly, her eyes rolled back in her head, her body went stiff as a board, and she fell over. "What the Hell!" cried the Devil. "What just happened?" I cracked up when I read this because it was hilarious. I think it was funny because the Devil controls/lives in Hell and he says WHAT THE HELL.
One of my favorite parts in the book is when Jorinda and Joringel are telling their own story and they talk about Herzlos dying. In the story on pages 338 and 339 it says, " As Eddie approached, Herzlos the oppressor cowered on the ground, unable to rise from where the ravens had beaten him. When the great salamander opened his leviathan jaws again, every remaining soldier ran-save Herzlos. And when Eddie blew fire across the forest floor, Herzlos glowed like a red ember, and then grayed, and then blackened. And died. It happened just as Joringel described it." This part was marvelous and fantastic because the twins go t to tell their own story the way THEY wanted to. And they successfully beat the great army Herzlos controlled. They also vanquished Herzlos.
I would rate this book 5/5 stars. I would rate it that because it was one of the BEST Grimm book Adam Gidwitz wrote in this series! In my opinion at least. I loved that the author got to help the main two characters in this story and did it awesomely! I would recommend this book to people who like the Grimm stories and like creepy/bloody/gruesome books. Here's a quote that is touching: " There is a power in children. There is a belief. A strength. A joy that makes just about anything possible". I truly believe this quote and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. -Kelsey
In this book there is a couple and these people wanted a child really badly. So one day the woman was cutting an apple when she cut her finger and a drop of blood fell on the snow covered ground and she wished she had a child. So nine months passed and she bore twins. Their names were Jorinda and Joringel. The father died when he saw his beautiful kids. the woman remarried and the new husband didn't like Joringel. His two daughters didn't like Jorinda. Sadly one day the step dad brought home a big basket with apples in it and then he told Joringel to go and get one for himself, but then the step dad slammed the top of the basket on Joringel's head and Joringel was dead. The step dad then tied Joringel's head on with a kerchief and stuck an apple in his hand and then Jorinda came along and asked her brother if he could share the Apple with her, but he didn't respond. The step dad told Jorinda to slap Joringel if he didn't respond to her question again. So she asked Joringel again and when he didn't respond she slapped him and his head fell off. She thought she had killed her brother even though her step dad had killed him. So the step dad cut up Joringel and put the parts of him in a big stew pot and the stew pot in the icebox. The step dad told her to NEVER tell anyone about this. Then when Jorinda was burying her brother's bones under the Juniper Tree she saw a small bird and that bird was Joringel. Later on the stepsisters started calling Jorinda Ashputtle because she cleaned the fireplace and got ashes on her and also because she had to clean the chamber pot. So one evening Jorinda and the stepsisters got invited to a ball, but Jorinda couldn't go. Jorinda then knelt by the juniper tree that night and the juniper tree gave her a dress and a pair of golden shoes. She went to the ball and danced with the prince until midnight and then she had to leave. She went the next day and then the next. She lost her shoe the third night because the prince told his servants to put tar on the stairs so she couldn't get away, but Jorinda managed to get away. The prince however found the golden shoe and exclaimed that whoever fit the shoe would be his bride. Many women's feet didn't fit and then the prince strode up to the house where Jorinda lived and her stepsisters both tried on the shoe and they both couldn't fit their feet in it. Then Jorinda tried it on and it fit perfectly. She was the true bride! The bird that was Jorinda's friend, sang a tune and he got a gold chain, red shoes, and a cinder block. The chain was for the mother, shoes for Jorinda, and he killed the father with the cinder block. Then right where the bird was hovering a moment ago, now stood Joringel. then the prince rode up to the house to fetch Jorinda and she left without her brother. When it was night Joringel crept into his mothers study and read a small passage on the juniper tree and how if you ate a berry when the moon wasn't out you would have no feelings. so Joringel did just that. Then three ravens talked a bit to him and he followed them to these dark woods and he built a fire and saw three hanging men hanging from the tree. Joringel cut the ropes and sat them down next to the fire (the three men were dead). The side affects were sudden idiocy. Joringel got mad at the corpses because they kept falling into the fire and finally he put them back on the tree and the ravens told him to follow them again so he did. Jorinda, on the other hand was worried about the king, the prince, and her brother. the next morning the king sent Jorinda to Malchizedek's Mansion so she could collect the taxes that he wasn't paying. he told her that he would pick her up tomorrow morning. Jorinda took out her sewing kit to pass the time and when it was night she heard many strange sounds and thought it was Malchizedek, but it was his "pets". The animals were ferocious and had gleaming red eyes. Jorinda had to stand right in the middle of the room so that way the beasts wouldn't get to her. finally it was morning and the king strode up to the house and was surprised that she was alive. (Malchizedek killed the people who came to his house.) He asked her if he payed the taxes and she told him that he didn't so the king left and told her to stay another night. when it was nighttime Jorinda wondered if the animals were gonna come out again but they didn't. instead a half a mans legs came outta the chimney and then the other half came sprawling down and the front half of the man was moaning "Help Me!" Jorinda took out her sewing kit and took the legs of the man and stuck them by the top of the man and started sewing them together. When she was done the man told her "thank you, now I'm going to kill you." He suddenly grabbed Jorinda's neck and Jorinda couldn't break free. Thankfully she managed to get her scissors and cut and pull out the thread holding him together. at last the man went limp and she gasped for air and threw the man into the fire until he was gone. the next morning the king came for her again and she told the king she didn't collect the taxes that night either. so she told the king that she would say one more night and if he doesn't come that night then the king could have the land. night came and Malchizedek came out and asked Jorinda what she wanted and they had a short conversation about the king taking his land and the ogre not paying his taxes because of that. Jorinda even made a proposition to him and he agreed to it. The next morning the king was surprised to see twenty pounds of gold coins sent to him from Malchizedek. Later on Jorinda meets a unicorn in the woods and the king tells his trusty hunter to kill Jorinda and the unicorn. The king and the hunter end up getting killed by the unicorns parents. Joringel comes across an ivory monkey and he ends up taking it with him.Jorinda ends up making it back to the castle and she becomes The Queen Of The Kingdom Of Grimm. She was queen, a tyrant, and she was cruel and cool. The people of Grimm thought she killed the king and hunter. They said the prince would return with an army to dethrone her. Jorinda made every man and boy at age of 16 to march and be apart of her army. Jorinda crushed her citizens with heavy taxes. She trusted Herzlos most of all and he did what Jorinda ordered and did it with great relish. About a year had passed when Joringel came to the castle and the brother and sister were happy for just that moment. Jorinda decreed the law that if any parent hit a child hey would be punished severely. Then one morning Jorinda woke up to a banging noise and threw open her window only to see Joringel outside and he told her to come with him because the castle was under siege. Then both of them jumped down into a headge and ran until they found the unicorn that Jorina was friends with and climbed on his back and rode until the unicorn left and the children slept. They woke up and were confused to see the castle looking different. Then they both heard a voice inside their heads and they ran and ran until they came to the place where the voice was and they collapsed. The author tells them that they are in Brooklyn and he reads the first and half of the second book of the Grimm series to them. Sadly Herzlos kills Jorinda. Joringel goes to Hell and uses the ivory monkey on a demon so he can see the Devil and uses it on the Devil's Grandmother and tries using it on the Devil, but fails. The Devil gets Jorinda and they both manage to get out of Hell. When they arrive at the castle they see that children are now chained up and Herzlos is the ruler. They go back to their house the next morning and their mother is happy to see them. They form a plan and at night they rescue some children and they say that they will make A Kingdom Of Children. When Herzlos and his huge army arrive for battle they use Machines of war and are winning the battle until Jorinda and Joringel tell their own story by letting the author come in and help to write and choose what happens in the battle. **Spoiler Alert** Kids Win,(also i have probably added other spoilers in too...)The conflict is person(s) V.S. Society. It's that one because the two twins go on a vast adventure and learn and know many great things along the way.
I was angry when the man that Jorinda helped at Malchizedek's Mansion decided to kill Jorinda. In the text it states, "At last, Jorinda connected the first stitch to the last stitch and tied the thread off with a sturdy knot."There," she said. "All done." The pale man with no hair and wide eyes stared at her. And then he said, "Thank you." She smiled at him. And then he said, "Now I am going to kill you." "What?" she cried." When I read that the man was going to kill kill her a wave of emotions swept over me. First it was surprise, then anger, then worriment and last, plain disbelief. I had to re-read it so I could actually interpret what he was going to do to her! I was scared when Jorinda had to face those red-eyed beasts in Malchizedek"s Mansion the first night. In the story it says, "There was a single place, right in the center of the room where neither the cat nor dog could reach her. So she stood in that spot, hyperventilating, trying not to pass out. And then there were more eyes. Pairs of fiery eyes all around the room. Jorinda decided to scream. She screamed at the top of her lungs as more huge black beasts-bears and wolves and wolverines-leaped from the walls, their eyes blazing, their jaws, snapping, their claws swiping. But, all at once, all stopped in mid-air and crashed to the floor. All were on chains. If she stood as straight as a board and as still as stone, directly in the center of the room, not one could reach her. So Jorinda waited for 6 hours until the first ray of sunlight shot through a windowpane. At that instant, all the murderous creatures instantly disappeared. At which point, Jorinda passed out." I hated/loved this part. I hated it because all the animals were trying to kill her even though she did nothing to provoke them! I loved this part because she survived and I was amazed that she could stand like that for so long and not move an inch.
One of my favorite quotes in this book is as follows from the text, " The Devil's Grandmother glared at the little carving. Then she said, "Right...you're the boy with that cute ivory monkey..." Suddenly, her eyes rolled back in her head, her body went stiff as a board, and she fell over. "What the Hell!" cried the Devil. "What just happened?" I cracked up when I read this because it was hilarious. I think it was funny because the Devil controls/lives in Hell and he says WHAT THE HELL.
One of my favorite parts in the book is when Jorinda and Joringel are telling their own story and they talk about Herzlos dying. In the story on pages 338 and 339 it says, " As Eddie approached, Herzlos the oppressor cowered on the ground, unable to rise from where the ravens had beaten him. When the great salamander opened his leviathan jaws again, every remaining soldier ran-save Herzlos. And when Eddie blew fire across the forest floor, Herzlos glowed like a red ember, and then grayed, and then blackened. And died. It happened just as Joringel described it." This part was marvelous and fantastic because the twins go t to tell their own story the way THEY wanted to. And they successfully beat the great army Herzlos controlled. They also vanquished Herzlos.
I would rate this book 5/5 stars. I would rate it that because it was one of the BEST Grimm book Adam Gidwitz wrote in this series! In my opinion at least. I loved that the author got to help the main two characters in this story and did it awesomely! I would recommend this book to people who like the Grimm stories and like creepy/bloody/gruesome books. Here's a quote that is touching: " There is a power in children. There is a belief. A strength. A joy that makes just about anything possible". I truly believe this quote and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. -Kelsey
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 4, 2017
Adam Gidwitz's debut trilogy is a special treat, a fresh take on an old genre and in many ways a reversal of what one expects. With a playfully sarcastic tone yet deep respect for the work of the Brothers Grimm, Adam Gidwitz introduces readers to fairy tales how they used to be, before well-meaning parents and publishers scrubbed them clean of dubious material to make them suitable for kids, not perceiving that the sanitized versions lacked the punch of the originals. In The Grimm Conclusion we meet twins Joringel and Jorinda, whose very existence is a miracle their parents wished for year after year until their longing for children of their own was fulfilled. Joringel and Jorinda were not destined for an easy life; their childhood is fraught with pain and loss, but the twins prove repeatedly they won't be kept down by the conspiracies of their enemies. Not even death is strong enough to end their story.
"Because, you see, every triumph begins with failure."
—The Grimm Conclusion, P. 179
When Joringel and Jorinda's mother presents them to their father after they're born, he's so happy he dies on the spot. In response, their mother locks herself away in her study, focusing her attention on books and research. Parenting responsibilities fall to her new husband, who despises Joringel in particular and takes his first good opportunity to messily murder the kid. With the boy of ruby-red lips gone, Jorinda is burdened with all the housekeeping chores, and the narrative abruptly changes to the tale of Cinderella, or "Ashputtle". A surprising tyrant rises in the Kingdom of Grimm, is chased from the throne by disgruntled commoners, and pursuit through an enchanted forest leads Joringel and Jorinda to a metaphysical encounter with a key figure in this trilogy. Monsters and wild beasts wait to pounce on the young refugees, but it's their human foes they need to worry about. A death in the family leads to an Orpheus-like quest to recover that which seems irretrievably lost, to outwit old Lucifer and come to grips with life as it has so far treated Joringel and Jorinda, but the only path to redemption lies in the direction from whence they first departed, where the remnants of a shattered kingdom have reformed into something ugly and dark. To make up for their past failures and change the bleak direction of the Kingdom of Grimm, Joringel and Jorinda must triumph in an epic battle between an army of hope and one of oppression. Only when they discover the power to write their own story can their personal tribulations and those of Grimm be set right.
As with In a Glass Grimmly, the main strength of The Grimm Conclusion (besides the smart sense of humor) is its wisdom. Joringel and Jorinda's mother's interpretation of the mattress test from The Princess and the Pea, that a hurt or anxiety which troubles you like a stone beneath your mattress can be eased by adding "mattresses" between you and the stone so it doesn't hurt so much, is a thought-provoking toss-off. So, too, is the enlightening retelling of Sleeping Beauty, in which Briar Rose gives in to the bad fairy's invitation to be free from all unpleasantness and pain, not knowing that the wicked fairy intends to put Briar Rose and her kingdom into a sleep in which all of them will age except Briar Rose. When she is awakened to find her friends and family now near the end of their lives, Briar Rose sees there are far worse things than living with uncertainty, heartache, and sadness. "I missed it all...", she bitterly weeps, for there is no turning back time, not even for royalty.
"Anger is a weed...It grows up through the soil, choking every other plant. You must stamp it out. Don't let it enter your garden. Stamp out your anger until it never comes back."
—The Grimm Conclusion, P. 11
"And whatever is inside does not stay inside for long."
—The Grimm Conclusion, P. 170
When Joringel and Jorinda face the teller of their magical tale, the twins and the story spinner help each other understand themselves better than anyone else could. Characters share a unique bond with their creator. When he tells Joringel and Jorinda it's okay to feel disappointed in their mother and stepfather for neglecting and/or decapitating them, the storyteller says he knows this because he's felt the same way toward his own parents. "You see, my parents never cut off my head physically...But maybe emotionally...Most parents love their children and try to take care of them the best that they can. But parents mess up, all the time." For the narrator of Joringel and Jorinda's lives, betrayal came in the form of his parents' divorce, which took years to process and come to peace with. "So I tell stories about it. Crazy stories with blood and death and talking birds. To help me understand it. To help me feel it." Literature at its best isn't about escapism, but immersion in the dark, deep waters of life, gaining understanding of what you've been through by hearing other people's stories. Seeing yourself in a story affords new perspective on the events of your life. "Emotions rise", the storyteller explains. "They churn in your stomach. They grip your windpipe. They make you do things you never thought you would...Just remember: There are all sorts of things you can do with a stone besides smothering it. When you stamp on weeds, they just grow back—and you're killing everything else in the field...All I'm trying to say is that it's okay to feel things sometimes. In fact, I think feeling things—even painful things—can be good." This runs contrary to what Joringel and Jorinda's mother taught, so it takes time for the lesson to settle inside them for good. But once the twins grasp these exquisite truths, it makes their long, winding journey of peaks and valleys worth the trouble. "(T)hey at last understood that their problems would never have been solved by trying to cover them up or choke them back or pretend they didn't exist. By repression. No, their problems could only be solved by expression. By telling their tales, and by making up new ones, too." Leave it to Adam Gidwitz to impart that idea as memorably as any author has.
"There is a power in children. There is a belief. A strength. A joy that makes just about anything possible."
—The Grimm Conclusion, P. 300
Adam Gidwitz's faith in kids is unshakeable. He became a teacher and then a writer so he could remind children of the special qualities they harbor within. This is most clearly evident in a scene where the children of Grimm have ample reason to despair and minimal cause for contentedness, yet they transcend their situation to feel excitement and hope. "And if this seems strange to you—that, under these difficult, frightening, and outlandish circumstances, children might be happy...well, then you don't know all that much about children." The grownups of Grimm were never going to solve the kingdom's dire problems, but with kids on the job, at least there's a chance. Adam Gidwitz tells stories that celebrate kid heroes: realistic, typically flawed protagonists with whom we readily identify as they try to straighten their meandering course and resolve the issues they and others have created in their lives. That's an endeavor we can get behind, and the payoff for doing so in this trilogy is consistently gratifying. I'd give The Grimm Conclusion two and a half stars, which could just as easily be rounded up or down. If you aren't afraid of strong emotions, then A Tale Dark & Grimm, In a Glass Grimmly, and The Grimm Conclusion are for you; if you are afraid of intense feelings, you need these books even more. I truly love this trilogy.
"Because, you see, every triumph begins with failure."
—The Grimm Conclusion, P. 179
When Joringel and Jorinda's mother presents them to their father after they're born, he's so happy he dies on the spot. In response, their mother locks herself away in her study, focusing her attention on books and research. Parenting responsibilities fall to her new husband, who despises Joringel in particular and takes his first good opportunity to messily murder the kid. With the boy of ruby-red lips gone, Jorinda is burdened with all the housekeeping chores, and the narrative abruptly changes to the tale of Cinderella, or "Ashputtle". A surprising tyrant rises in the Kingdom of Grimm, is chased from the throne by disgruntled commoners, and pursuit through an enchanted forest leads Joringel and Jorinda to a metaphysical encounter with a key figure in this trilogy. Monsters and wild beasts wait to pounce on the young refugees, but it's their human foes they need to worry about. A death in the family leads to an Orpheus-like quest to recover that which seems irretrievably lost, to outwit old Lucifer and come to grips with life as it has so far treated Joringel and Jorinda, but the only path to redemption lies in the direction from whence they first departed, where the remnants of a shattered kingdom have reformed into something ugly and dark. To make up for their past failures and change the bleak direction of the Kingdom of Grimm, Joringel and Jorinda must triumph in an epic battle between an army of hope and one of oppression. Only when they discover the power to write their own story can their personal tribulations and those of Grimm be set right.
As with In a Glass Grimmly, the main strength of The Grimm Conclusion (besides the smart sense of humor) is its wisdom. Joringel and Jorinda's mother's interpretation of the mattress test from The Princess and the Pea, that a hurt or anxiety which troubles you like a stone beneath your mattress can be eased by adding "mattresses" between you and the stone so it doesn't hurt so much, is a thought-provoking toss-off. So, too, is the enlightening retelling of Sleeping Beauty, in which Briar Rose gives in to the bad fairy's invitation to be free from all unpleasantness and pain, not knowing that the wicked fairy intends to put Briar Rose and her kingdom into a sleep in which all of them will age except Briar Rose. When she is awakened to find her friends and family now near the end of their lives, Briar Rose sees there are far worse things than living with uncertainty, heartache, and sadness. "I missed it all...", she bitterly weeps, for there is no turning back time, not even for royalty.
"Anger is a weed...It grows up through the soil, choking every other plant. You must stamp it out. Don't let it enter your garden. Stamp out your anger until it never comes back."
—The Grimm Conclusion, P. 11
"And whatever is inside does not stay inside for long."
—The Grimm Conclusion, P. 170
When Joringel and Jorinda face the teller of their magical tale, the twins and the story spinner help each other understand themselves better than anyone else could. Characters share a unique bond with their creator. When he tells Joringel and Jorinda it's okay to feel disappointed in their mother and stepfather for neglecting and/or decapitating them, the storyteller says he knows this because he's felt the same way toward his own parents. "You see, my parents never cut off my head physically...But maybe emotionally...Most parents love their children and try to take care of them the best that they can. But parents mess up, all the time." For the narrator of Joringel and Jorinda's lives, betrayal came in the form of his parents' divorce, which took years to process and come to peace with. "So I tell stories about it. Crazy stories with blood and death and talking birds. To help me understand it. To help me feel it." Literature at its best isn't about escapism, but immersion in the dark, deep waters of life, gaining understanding of what you've been through by hearing other people's stories. Seeing yourself in a story affords new perspective on the events of your life. "Emotions rise", the storyteller explains. "They churn in your stomach. They grip your windpipe. They make you do things you never thought you would...Just remember: There are all sorts of things you can do with a stone besides smothering it. When you stamp on weeds, they just grow back—and you're killing everything else in the field...All I'm trying to say is that it's okay to feel things sometimes. In fact, I think feeling things—even painful things—can be good." This runs contrary to what Joringel and Jorinda's mother taught, so it takes time for the lesson to settle inside them for good. But once the twins grasp these exquisite truths, it makes their long, winding journey of peaks and valleys worth the trouble. "(T)hey at last understood that their problems would never have been solved by trying to cover them up or choke them back or pretend they didn't exist. By repression. No, their problems could only be solved by expression. By telling their tales, and by making up new ones, too." Leave it to Adam Gidwitz to impart that idea as memorably as any author has.
"There is a power in children. There is a belief. A strength. A joy that makes just about anything possible."
—The Grimm Conclusion, P. 300
Adam Gidwitz's faith in kids is unshakeable. He became a teacher and then a writer so he could remind children of the special qualities they harbor within. This is most clearly evident in a scene where the children of Grimm have ample reason to despair and minimal cause for contentedness, yet they transcend their situation to feel excitement and hope. "And if this seems strange to you—that, under these difficult, frightening, and outlandish circumstances, children might be happy...well, then you don't know all that much about children." The grownups of Grimm were never going to solve the kingdom's dire problems, but with kids on the job, at least there's a chance. Adam Gidwitz tells stories that celebrate kid heroes: realistic, typically flawed protagonists with whom we readily identify as they try to straighten their meandering course and resolve the issues they and others have created in their lives. That's an endeavor we can get behind, and the payoff for doing so in this trilogy is consistently gratifying. I'd give The Grimm Conclusion two and a half stars, which could just as easily be rounded up or down. If you aren't afraid of strong emotions, then A Tale Dark & Grimm, In a Glass Grimmly, and The Grimm Conclusion are for you; if you are afraid of intense feelings, you need these books even more. I truly love this trilogy.
February 22, 2018
The third raven blinked at the little boy. "The metafictional dimensions of that statement are kind of blowing my mind."
Me, too, Raven #3. Me, too.
In the first two books, Adam Gidwitz's broke the fourth wall with his audience, but in this third installment, his characters start to hear him, too. And then they actually meet him, and he reads the first two books to them and it's all just a little too meta.
Book 3 focuses on twins named Jorinda (pronounced Your-inda) and Joringle (pronounced Your-ingle), which isn't nearly as hard to remember as Malchizedek (Mal-KEE-zuh-deck) or Eidechse von Feuer, der Menschenfleischfressende (don't even bother). Of course, lots of terrible things happen to J & J, who are actually , including being neglected and murdered by adults they should have been able to trust. And the over-arching moral of this book is that feelings are okay and need to be dealt with (not stuffed down like layering mattresses over a pea) and that, even if you have been hurt, you still make your own story. It's all very good stuff, but a little heavy-handed.
And then there are the ravens, whose witty banter I enjoy (especially the snarky, neurotic third raven), but their anachronistic comments are jarring. J & J live in the medieval time period of fairy tales, but the ravens (with their unexplained knowledge of metafiction and all things modern) like to confuse them.
"I'm scared of getting hit by a carriage or a train or a bus." [said the third raven]
"What's a train?" asked the little boy...
"I'm scared of flying in airplanes."
"That's ridiculous! Why would you ever go in an airplane? You can fly yourself!" cried the second raven.
"I don't think I would feel very comfortable in a submarine either. I get claustrophobic." Joringel didn't understand anything the ravens were saying.
"Oh, and I'm scared of birds."
"WHAT?"
"That Hitchcock movie The Birds really bothered me. And ever since, birds have made me uncomfortable."
He does have a point. And so do I, which is that it's all just a little over the top. My nine-year-old (who read the book before me) says, "It was okay. The first two books were 5 stars and this one was 3 stars. It was just too confusing sometimes." Exactly.
Me, too, Raven #3. Me, too.
In the first two books, Adam Gidwitz's broke the fourth wall with his audience, but in this third installment, his characters start to hear him, too. And then they actually meet him, and he reads the first two books to them and it's all just a little too meta.
Book 3 focuses on twins named Jorinda (pronounced Your-inda) and Joringle (pronounced Your-ingle), which isn't nearly as hard to remember as Malchizedek (Mal-KEE-zuh-deck) or Eidechse von Feuer, der Menschenfleischfressende (don't even bother). Of course, lots of terrible things happen to J & J, who are actually , including being neglected and murdered by adults they should have been able to trust. And the over-arching moral of this book is that feelings are okay and need to be dealt with (not stuffed down like layering mattresses over a pea) and that, even if you have been hurt, you still make your own story. It's all very good stuff, but a little heavy-handed.
And then there are the ravens, whose witty banter I enjoy (especially the snarky, neurotic third raven), but their anachronistic comments are jarring. J & J live in the medieval time period of fairy tales, but the ravens (with their unexplained knowledge of metafiction and all things modern) like to confuse them.
"I'm scared of getting hit by a carriage or a train or a bus." [said the third raven]
"What's a train?" asked the little boy...
"I'm scared of flying in airplanes."
"That's ridiculous! Why would you ever go in an airplane? You can fly yourself!" cried the second raven.
"I don't think I would feel very comfortable in a submarine either. I get claustrophobic." Joringel didn't understand anything the ravens were saying.
"Oh, and I'm scared of birds."
"WHAT?"
"That Hitchcock movie The Birds really bothered me. And ever since, birds have made me uncomfortable."
He does have a point. And so do I, which is that it's all just a little over the top. My nine-year-old (who read the book before me) says, "It was okay. The first two books were 5 stars and this one was 3 stars. It was just too confusing sometimes." Exactly.
July 12, 2014
This book was so sad yet so amazing! I cried, almost threw it across the room. And, of course I laughed. Really hard. In public. The character where not as witty as Adam's in the past, but they were just as strong.
It is one of the best books I've ever read!
My favorite quotes from this book:
" The little boy would often say to his sister, "If you won't leave me, I won't leave you." To which the little girl would always reply " I will never, ever leave you." "
" "OH MY GOD, I KILLED MY BROTHER!" the little girl screamed. "
" By the way, the next time you see a little girl so happy for Halloween, and she says "I want to be Cinderella! I want to be Cinderella!" you'll know that she's actually saying is "I want to be toilet cleaner! I want to be toilet cleaner!" "
" "There is a power in children. There is a belief. A strength. A joy that makes just about anything possible." "
It is one of the best books I've ever read!
My favorite quotes from this book:
" The little boy would often say to his sister, "If you won't leave me, I won't leave you." To which the little girl would always reply " I will never, ever leave you." "
" "OH MY GOD, I KILLED MY BROTHER!" the little girl screamed. "
" By the way, the next time you see a little girl so happy for Halloween, and she says "I want to be Cinderella! I want to be Cinderella!" you'll know that she's actually saying is "I want to be toilet cleaner! I want to be toilet cleaner!" "
" "There is a power in children. There is a belief. A strength. A joy that makes just about anything possible." "
May 12, 2015
Adam Gidwitz, hands down, is the most hilarious author out there, with the most blunt style of writing I have ever seen. The way he interjects in the story-as a character- and warns the readers of all the morbid upcoming events, gives his opinion on how he feels stories should end, and aids you in pronouncing some of his characters' names, was astounding. I was very thankful when Gidwitz wrote how to pronounce "The Eidechse von Feuer, der Menschenfleischfressende."(I-DECK-SUH VON FOY-ER DARE MEN-CHEN-FLYSH-FRESS-EN-DUH) He gets angry if you don't pronounce his name right.
The way all the stories in Adam Gidwitz's previous books merged was amazing, and completely unexpected. Who knew how far he could go in making the author a character in the book?
This series was a quick, easy, eventful, read, and I would recommend it to anyone with a taste for adventure.
The way all the stories in Adam Gidwitz's previous books merged was amazing, and completely unexpected. Who knew how far he could go in making the author a character in the book?
This series was a quick, easy, eventful, read, and I would recommend it to anyone with a taste for adventure.
October 28, 2017
I don't love this one quite as much as the first two books, but it is still good. It references the previous books and events too much, in a way that became distracting and seemed like marketing to me. I didn't love that, but the rest of the story was pretty good.
Pages: 344
Pages: 344
December 23, 2013
One Sentence Review: Wraps up the trilogy quite nicely with a neat little bow.
March 14, 2021
Aschenputel taking at shot at being the taxwoman. Great stuff, lots of fun and all.
Q:
But she had to run away before midnight again, because, as we discussed, ball plus prince plus naked equals not okay. (c)
Q:
The prince came out of the palace and picked the shoe up and examined it.
And then he exclaimed, “Whoever’s foot fits in this golden shoe will be my bride!”
One of his servants leaned over to him. “You think only one girl in the whole kingdom wears a size five?”
And the prince said, “Shut up.” (c)
Q:
This either meant he was thinking about something or he was going to cry. Jorinda was nervous about both possibilities. (c)
Q:
The morning was barely a morning. The mist was paler, as if somewhere, far, far above, a dim fire burned. The children stood, stretched, and shivered. (c)
Q:
But she had to run away before midnight again, because, as we discussed, ball plus prince plus naked equals not okay. (c)
Q:
The prince came out of the palace and picked the shoe up and examined it.
And then he exclaimed, “Whoever’s foot fits in this golden shoe will be my bride!”
One of his servants leaned over to him. “You think only one girl in the whole kingdom wears a size five?”
And the prince said, “Shut up.” (c)
Q:
This either meant he was thinking about something or he was going to cry. Jorinda was nervous about both possibilities. (c)
Q:
The morning was barely a morning. The mist was paler, as if somewhere, far, far above, a dim fire burned. The children stood, stretched, and shivered. (c)
February 12, 2022
“You see, my parents never cut off my head physically...But maybe emotionally...Most parents love their children and try to take care of them the best that they can. But parents mess up, all the time.” This quote personally shows the personality of the author through the book and ones of the main reasons why I loved this book and this series!The author always broke the fourth wall and made the book gruesome yet sarcastic and witty.This book certainly had something the other books didn’t,we were able to meet the narrator in the book which I thought was very cool and clever.Overall I loved this book these books made me laugh, yet they are so dark and gruesome at times. I love the original Grimms fairy tales and the series of books(a tale dark and grimm) it just sucks that there was only 3 total books ,but this conclusion was a very good ending and is definitely in my all time top 5 favorite books!
April 24, 2019
I thought this was a pretty good book. For me, it was hard to follow but I think some of that was because I hadn't read books 1 and 2 since it was a class read aloud. I liked the storyline and the ending was really nice. I think the author adding in comments was a really good addition to the book but I wish it hadn't gotten so sappy towards the end. Overall, if you have read the first two books, I think this would be a good fit for you.
November 22, 2014
Have you ever been so happy that you died . Well in this book you are gonna se alot of that. The genre of the book is fantasy because stuff that happen in the book dont usally happen in real life like going to hell and coming back to life. I personally love the last book it was the perfect way to end of the series . I dont think the author could have done a better job of explaing his books to me the first and lastbooks are my personal best.
The setting in the begging of the book takes place by a jumpier tree and a house and through out the book the setting changes to a castel.There was a woman who lived with her husband and wanted children but couldnt have any . Then one day the woman went to the tree and ask for kids hopeing she will recive osome . Then the nect day apperres twins one a boy named jorinel and a girl named jorinda. When the woman took the twins to her husband he was so happy he died. So the mother had to raise her children on her own . But she thought her kids were to good for her so she staied in her study most of the time actually all the time the only time she was out was when it was time to eat. The children had to care for themself so since ther mother didnt carry them they carried eachother and made an oath the if he wont leave her that she wont leave him .
then on day mother read in her books that nutrition was good for kids so she married a chef who had to selfis concedded daughters and teared the twins badly. Then one day there was a chest full of apples in the kicthen and joringel wanted one so he asked his father and said yes so when he reached his head in SLAM the chest closed right on his neck his father has killed him . Then he thought to himself his mother will be furious so he put his head back on and put an apple in his hand and when jorinda came in and asked him he wanted to share the apple he ignored her and the father said ask him again if he dosent awnser slap him so she asked him and he didnt awnser so she slapped him snd sheriked ive killed my brother the father said ill help you burry the bones . And he saved his meat in the frezer for another time. Then one day a ball came along and she wanted to go but her steptfather forbade her but his daughters got to go. So she went to the jumpier tree and asked if she could get a derss and got one and went to the ball and went and danced with the prince and of course let at midnight . The prince of course found her shoe and searched for her and when he arrived at there home he went to the fathers daughters first and of course feet to big but the faather said just cut a chunk of your foot so she did so but the prince saw the blood and went to jorinda and was the perfect macth and lived happiley ever after. For now. The king did not like jorinda so he ploted to kill her when he tried to a unicorn came and killed the king and his back up. For a while rumors spread that she killed him but now would belive her if she told the turth. Then the prince and jorinda got married and at the marriged after it was done he left her in charge of a kingdom all alone. After a while she went to vist her home and when she arrived fathers meal was her brother that she thought she killed. Her mother bascilley at the soup whole. then a bird smooshed the steptfather with a stone and jorinel came back to life. And ruled the kingdom together and any adult who hurt children were punished. One day a great force came to rule the kindom and took it over and they fell into a hole and that hole was a one way street to our time thats is when they meet the aouthor of the books and he read the first to to them and then came home . Weird right. And when they came home herzlos had tooken over the land and punished childeren just for being outside. So they freeded all the childeren and built a fortuhouse and fought against his army and as the amy was trying to get in joringrl told a storie and what ever he said in the story it happened so he used it to there atvantege since they werent perparade at all so they brought back some old freinds to help them fight and guess who won . ***Spoiler Alert*** The kids.
I was angry that this was the last book because i have loved every single book he has written and the format of the book he describes them in . Overall considering this was the last book for now hopefully the author ended it in a great way with all that had happened.If if i were the author i would have written a billion more books so i can read them all. But like some people say all great things come to an end.
My favorite part of the book was when Joringel and jorinda whent to the real world and how the author included himself in the story.It was funny when that had happened he was in the middle of teaching a class a little kid was out to kill another with a brick.I wish that the author could have included himself more in the book . Also if he could have been more apart of the book like go to there land of magic .
I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 because i personnaly enjoy creepy fairy tales wich the author does so. I reccomened this book for anyone who likes twisted fairy tales and like pretty grose and creepy sick books.Like i said this book is pretty twisted but if youve every been so happy yoou fainted or something like that i suggest reading this seris.
The setting in the begging of the book takes place by a jumpier tree and a house and through out the book the setting changes to a castel.There was a woman who lived with her husband and wanted children but couldnt have any . Then one day the woman went to the tree and ask for kids hopeing she will recive osome . Then the nect day apperres twins one a boy named jorinel and a girl named jorinda. When the woman took the twins to her husband he was so happy he died. So the mother had to raise her children on her own . But she thought her kids were to good for her so she staied in her study most of the time actually all the time the only time she was out was when it was time to eat. The children had to care for themself so since ther mother didnt carry them they carried eachother and made an oath the if he wont leave her that she wont leave him .
then on day mother read in her books that nutrition was good for kids so she married a chef who had to selfis concedded daughters and teared the twins badly. Then one day there was a chest full of apples in the kicthen and joringel wanted one so he asked his father and said yes so when he reached his head in SLAM the chest closed right on his neck his father has killed him . Then he thought to himself his mother will be furious so he put his head back on and put an apple in his hand and when jorinda came in and asked him he wanted to share the apple he ignored her and the father said ask him again if he dosent awnser slap him so she asked him and he didnt awnser so she slapped him snd sheriked ive killed my brother the father said ill help you burry the bones . And he saved his meat in the frezer for another time. Then one day a ball came along and she wanted to go but her steptfather forbade her but his daughters got to go. So she went to the jumpier tree and asked if she could get a derss and got one and went to the ball and went and danced with the prince and of course let at midnight . The prince of course found her shoe and searched for her and when he arrived at there home he went to the fathers daughters first and of course feet to big but the faather said just cut a chunk of your foot so she did so but the prince saw the blood and went to jorinda and was the perfect macth and lived happiley ever after. For now. The king did not like jorinda so he ploted to kill her when he tried to a unicorn came and killed the king and his back up. For a while rumors spread that she killed him but now would belive her if she told the turth. Then the prince and jorinda got married and at the marriged after it was done he left her in charge of a kingdom all alone. After a while she went to vist her home and when she arrived fathers meal was her brother that she thought she killed. Her mother bascilley at the soup whole. then a bird smooshed the steptfather with a stone and jorinel came back to life. And ruled the kingdom together and any adult who hurt children were punished. One day a great force came to rule the kindom and took it over and they fell into a hole and that hole was a one way street to our time thats is when they meet the aouthor of the books and he read the first to to them and then came home . Weird right. And when they came home herzlos had tooken over the land and punished childeren just for being outside. So they freeded all the childeren and built a fortuhouse and fought against his army and as the amy was trying to get in joringrl told a storie and what ever he said in the story it happened so he used it to there atvantege since they werent perparade at all so they brought back some old freinds to help them fight and guess who won . ***Spoiler Alert*** The kids.
I was angry that this was the last book because i have loved every single book he has written and the format of the book he describes them in . Overall considering this was the last book for now hopefully the author ended it in a great way with all that had happened.If if i were the author i would have written a billion more books so i can read them all. But like some people say all great things come to an end.
My favorite part of the book was when Joringel and jorinda whent to the real world and how the author included himself in the story.It was funny when that had happened he was in the middle of teaching a class a little kid was out to kill another with a brick.I wish that the author could have included himself more in the book . Also if he could have been more apart of the book like go to there land of magic .
I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 because i personnaly enjoy creepy fairy tales wich the author does so. I reccomened this book for anyone who likes twisted fairy tales and like pretty grose and creepy sick books.Like i said this book is pretty twisted but if youve every been so happy yoou fainted or something like that i suggest reading this seris.
January 8, 2020
i'm happy for finally read this one, but sad at the same time cause i love these stories sooo much and now it's over 😓
October 19, 2013
I love this series and this book was the icing on the cake. Very funny, very well done, and excellent fairy tale retelling with lots of sarcasm and humor.
Each of these books has followed a sister/brother pair as they stumble through horrible and funny fairy tales. This book is no different and follows a sister/brother (Jorinda and Joringel) through fairy tales such as The Juniper Tree, Rumplestiltskin, and Cinderella. The siblings destroy a kingdom and seek to fix it through this crazy tale. Along the journey the narrator makes sarcastic, hilarious, and witty remarks while always warning you when the tales are about to get particularly gruesome.
In addition there is an afterword about the fairy tales and their origins. Gidwitz goes through the history and admits to any parts that are completed fabricated.
I loved this book. These books make me laugh so hard, yet they are so dark and gruesome at times. I love the original Grimms fairy tales and this book gives homage to, expands upon, and delves into both popular (Cinderella) and less known (The Juniper Tree) fairy tales.
This book has a twist to it that the other books did not have. We actually, finally get to meet the narrator...which was creative, unexpected, and clever.
I read through this whole book in one sitting chortling to myself the whole time and wincing as the Cinderella’s sisters mutilated themselves to fit into shoes.
Jorinda and Joringel are interesting characters who fight their way through a series of bad circumstances and unlikely events, in an effort to life their lives the best way they know how (which ends up being not all that well). Along the way they make mistakes, figure out who they really are, and finally find a way to be happy. Of course, they do this by fighting through a vareity of fairy tales.
Very well done and ties up the series well. The asides from the narrator are just as hilarious as ever. There are some grotesque parts to the story so younger readers should beware. The series is nicely tied up….or is it….
Overall a splendid and wonderful read. I thoroughly enjoyed this whole series and this book was the best yet. Fans of the series should be incredibly pleased. I enjoyed tramping through all of these fairy tales and laughing myself nearly to death at the narrator’s asides. I enjoyed some of the excellent surprises that made this book different from the books before. This whole series is highly recommended to everyone...seriously I don’t know why anyone would not like this series.
Each of these books has followed a sister/brother pair as they stumble through horrible and funny fairy tales. This book is no different and follows a sister/brother (Jorinda and Joringel) through fairy tales such as The Juniper Tree, Rumplestiltskin, and Cinderella. The siblings destroy a kingdom and seek to fix it through this crazy tale. Along the journey the narrator makes sarcastic, hilarious, and witty remarks while always warning you when the tales are about to get particularly gruesome.
In addition there is an afterword about the fairy tales and their origins. Gidwitz goes through the history and admits to any parts that are completed fabricated.
I loved this book. These books make me laugh so hard, yet they are so dark and gruesome at times. I love the original Grimms fairy tales and this book gives homage to, expands upon, and delves into both popular (Cinderella) and less known (The Juniper Tree) fairy tales.
This book has a twist to it that the other books did not have. We actually, finally get to meet the narrator...which was creative, unexpected, and clever.
I read through this whole book in one sitting chortling to myself the whole time and wincing as the Cinderella’s sisters mutilated themselves to fit into shoes.
Jorinda and Joringel are interesting characters who fight their way through a series of bad circumstances and unlikely events, in an effort to life their lives the best way they know how (which ends up being not all that well). Along the way they make mistakes, figure out who they really are, and finally find a way to be happy. Of course, they do this by fighting through a vareity of fairy tales.
Very well done and ties up the series well. The asides from the narrator are just as hilarious as ever. There are some grotesque parts to the story so younger readers should beware. The series is nicely tied up….or is it….
Overall a splendid and wonderful read. I thoroughly enjoyed this whole series and this book was the best yet. Fans of the series should be incredibly pleased. I enjoyed tramping through all of these fairy tales and laughing myself nearly to death at the narrator’s asides. I enjoyed some of the excellent surprises that made this book different from the books before. This whole series is highly recommended to everyone...seriously I don’t know why anyone would not like this series.
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April 8, 2020This book was really interesting, I thought it was going to end so many time but it kept going and I really liked it. I really liked reading this series and so I think I am going to read some of his other books which are still about real grim fairy tales. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes dark grim twisted fantasy books.
November 9, 2014
The Grimm Conclusion was a great wrap-up to the Grimm trilogy. Yes they are all stand alone books but they all tie in together at the end.
What is this book about you ask? Well this is a quote from the last few pages.
"Being the reader of a dark fairy tale is much like being the hero of one. Our lives are filled with pain, boredom, and fear. We want to venture into the dark wood, to see the oddities and the beauties it holds, and to test ourselves against them. We test our courage and our understanding. And hopefully, just like the hero of the fairy tale, we return stronger, richer, and wiser."
The Grimm Conclusion is about two siblings. Jorinda and Joringle. Like the other two books in this series they are faced with some problem and during the book and adventure they grow as a person and learn a great lesson. This book contains a few stories I knew of and some that I didn't. I have never heard of the original Jorinda and Joringle. I never read the story of the Juniper Tree. But I enjoyed reading about them here in this book. There was a bit of Cinderella. All of the other stories mentioned or re-told are stories I haven't read before, but are in the Grimm Fairy-tales (which I own and now must go and read).
I loved that the children caught a glimpse of the other characters from the previous books. It was a nice little tie in.
I was surprised by the moral of this book. The other two didn't have a deeper meaning. They were just scary re-tellings. This book however, had a chapter of the authors feelings and thoughts. How and why he started writing fairy tales. He talked about how we cope with our feelings some of us bury them, stamp them out. But in the end those feelings end up bubbling to the surface.
I give this entire series 5 stars. 5 for its dark and horrific stories. 5 for its funny tie ins to modern things. 5 for the deeper meaning of friendship, relationships in general and how we solve our problems.
Great books!
What is this book about you ask? Well this is a quote from the last few pages.
"Being the reader of a dark fairy tale is much like being the hero of one. Our lives are filled with pain, boredom, and fear. We want to venture into the dark wood, to see the oddities and the beauties it holds, and to test ourselves against them. We test our courage and our understanding. And hopefully, just like the hero of the fairy tale, we return stronger, richer, and wiser."
The Grimm Conclusion is about two siblings. Jorinda and Joringle. Like the other two books in this series they are faced with some problem and during the book and adventure they grow as a person and learn a great lesson. This book contains a few stories I knew of and some that I didn't. I have never heard of the original Jorinda and Joringle. I never read the story of the Juniper Tree. But I enjoyed reading about them here in this book. There was a bit of Cinderella. All of the other stories mentioned or re-told are stories I haven't read before, but are in the Grimm Fairy-tales (which I own and now must go and read).
I loved that the children caught a glimpse of the other characters from the previous books. It was a nice little tie in.
I was surprised by the moral of this book. The other two didn't have a deeper meaning. They were just scary re-tellings. This book however, had a chapter of the authors feelings and thoughts. How and why he started writing fairy tales. He talked about how we cope with our feelings some of us bury them, stamp them out. But in the end those feelings end up bubbling to the surface.
I give this entire series 5 stars. 5 for its dark and horrific stories. 5 for its funny tie ins to modern things. 5 for the deeper meaning of friendship, relationships in general and how we solve our problems.
Great books!
August 4, 2015
Utter disappointment. To end this clever, gruesome, and strangely hilarious series, Adam Gidwitz writes the least clever, least gruesome? (arguable, I know), and least hilarious of the series. You've probably heard it before in the other negative reviews, so I won't waste too much of your time.
BEGINNING:
- Love the characters
- Love the stories
- Excited to see where the story goes
MIDDLE:
- The book reaches a lul with the exception of one story
- Characters somehow undevelop
- Gidwitz somehow forgets how to write an interesting story in an interesting way
END:
- Painful
- The worst ending to a book series I have ever read
- A solution to the climax with so little effort in the writing that it made want to rip the final chapter out of the book
Points to consider:
interesting story + lazy writing = lazy story
Author insertions are as irritating as they are narcissistic
It's obvious that you have given up when you can't come up with a better beast than in the previous books, so you simply recycle the beast from the second book
Conclusion:
After the greatness that was In a Glass Grimmly, Gidwitz disappoints everyone who had loved his previous books. Instead of progressively getting better, the book gets worse and worse until you just want it to end as soon as possible. You hope that it will get better at some point, but it never does. While the beginning is arguably the best of the series, it really falls flat by the end and becomes a pointless, bland waste of time.
BEGINNING:
- Love the characters
- Love the stories
- Excited to see where the story goes
MIDDLE:
- The book reaches a lul with the exception of one story
- Characters somehow undevelop
- Gidwitz somehow forgets how to write an interesting story in an interesting way
END:
- Painful
- The worst ending to a book series I have ever read
- A solution to the climax with so little effort in the writing that it made want to rip the final chapter out of the book
Points to consider:
interesting story + lazy writing = lazy story
Author insertions are as irritating as they are narcissistic
It's obvious that you have given up when you can't come up with a better beast than in the previous books, so you simply recycle the beast from the second book
Conclusion:
After the greatness that was In a Glass Grimmly, Gidwitz disappoints everyone who had loved his previous books. Instead of progressively getting better, the book gets worse and worse until you just want it to end as soon as possible. You hope that it will get better at some point, but it never does. While the beginning is arguably the best of the series, it really falls flat by the end and becomes a pointless, bland waste of time.
November 17, 2015
I absolutely loved the first book in this series, then wasn't nearly as wowed with the second one. This one--mostly--was right back up there with the first one. It had more twistedness and darkness and the narrator intrusion was more frequent and clever again like the first book--all the things I loved but that seemed less present in the second one.
(The following is only slightly spoilerish.)
Only one thing really bugged me, as it has with some other reviewers, and that was the jaunt into the real world. I agree with other reviewers that it was disconcerting and kind of pulled me out of the story. Fortunately I'd read a couple reviews that mentioned that before finishing the book, and I think being prepared for it helped a little.
Overall, if you enjoy the other two books, you won't be disappointed. But be prepared for a message in this one. I am very glad I read the series--very glad, despite some minor gripes here and there. I love that this author was willing to take chances.
My Website
Find me on Facebook
My YA fantasy series:
book 1
book 2
(The following is only slightly spoilerish.)
Only one thing really bugged me, as it has with some other reviewers, and that was the jaunt into the real world. I agree with other reviewers that it was disconcerting and kind of pulled me out of the story. Fortunately I'd read a couple reviews that mentioned that before finishing the book, and I think being prepared for it helped a little.
Overall, if you enjoy the other two books, you won't be disappointed. But be prepared for a message in this one. I am very glad I read the series--very glad, despite some minor gripes here and there. I love that this author was willing to take chances.
My Website
Find me on Facebook
My YA fantasy series:
book 1
book 2
April 24, 2019
I really liked the first book, and this one. I also want to read the second book. The reason I did not give the book a bigger rating is, because of how long it took to read it to the class. Since it took so long to read a don't remember a lot that happened in the beginning and middle of the book, but the part I remember I did really enjoy.
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May 1, 2015The Grimm Conclusion by, Adam Gidwitz is a adventurous book about to twins in a fairytale.
Once upon a time, two children were born. Their father died of happiness, making their mother remarry. The stepfather was cruel, starting a story of Ashputtle. The twins, Jornida and Joringel, starts a story of adventure. Making new stories. Through gruesome events, The author tells the true tales of what we think. Taking after the Brothers Grimm this story makes more than just one fairytale.
I loved this book. I've always wanted to read the Grimm stories, but this kind of introduced me to them. It involves it gruesomeness, but with less harshness. I recommend this book to anyone who can be okay around some gruesomeness. This book was amazing! I only read it in less than 1 day.
Once upon a time, two children were born. Their father died of happiness, making their mother remarry. The stepfather was cruel, starting a story of Ashputtle. The twins, Jornida and Joringel, starts a story of adventure. Making new stories. Through gruesome events, The author tells the true tales of what we think. Taking after the Brothers Grimm this story makes more than just one fairytale.
I loved this book. I've always wanted to read the Grimm stories, but this kind of introduced me to them. It involves it gruesomeness, but with less harshness. I recommend this book to anyone who can be okay around some gruesomeness. This book was amazing! I only read it in less than 1 day.
November 25, 2013
A new quote for our quote wall: "There is a power in children. There is a belief. A strength. A joy that makes just about anything possible."
And one for my writer's notebook (and maybe our wall): "...they at last understood that their problems would never have been solved by trying to cover them up or choke them back or pretend they didn't exist. By repression.
No, their problems could only be solved by expression. By telling their tales and by making up new ones, too."
And one for my writer's notebook (and maybe our wall): "...they at last understood that their problems would never have been solved by trying to cover them up or choke them back or pretend they didn't exist. By repression.
No, their problems could only be solved by expression. By telling their tales and by making up new ones, too."
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