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Dead Upon a Time
It's a fairytale nightmare . . . One girl is kept in a room where every day the only food she's given is a poisoned apple. Another is kept in a room covered in needles -- and if she pricks her finger, she'll die. Then there are the brother and sister kept in a cell that keeps getting hotter and hotter. . . .A sinister kidnapper is on the loose in Kate's world. She's not involved until one day she heads to her grandmother's house in the woods -- and finds her grandmother has also been taken. Already an outcast, Kate can't get any help from the villagers who hate her. Only Jack, another outsider, will listen to what's happened.Then a princess is taken, and suddenly the king is paying attention -- even though the girl's stepmother would rather he didn't. It's up to Kate and Jack to track down the victims before an ever after arrives that's far from happy.
211 pages, Hardcover
First published August 25, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 208 reviews
December 3, 2023
A brand new fairy tale that feels familiar and comforting, complete with an evil witch (most probably), a damsel in distress, err….. make that a “resident tragic orphan”, and an ostracized giant killer with an opportunity for redemption. Ms. Paulsen unravels the bewitching narrative with relish and wit.
As young Kate trudges through the woods to her grandmother’s cottage, clever clues reveal this will be no ordinary story. “It wouldn’t do for someone with her bloodline to be spooked by a common forest.” Nostalgia nudges oh so briefly and is quickly brushed aside. Creepy quickly turns to true danger.
Having essentially grown up on her own; being actually attacked by wild wolves, then stumbling into the frigid cold of the abandoned home atop the mountain, Kate realizes absolute alone. Her grandmother would never have left willingly. Intricate, eerie, woven tapestries taunt, seeming to tell a story of several sufferers imprisoned in separate, yet strikingly similar cells.
The folks in the village below, for reasons unbeknownst to her, have tolerated Kate, at best; allowing her to sleep in a hayloft in exchange for mountains of mending until her presence could not be tolerated and she was forced to move to the next neighbor. These were not people that would help her find and rescue her grandmother. The boy who dared to taunt a giant however, was the exception to just about every rule. He was also wanted, would be almost impossible to find.
The tendrils of mystery have slipped from the pages and ensnared this reader. As Kate plummets down the mountain, her all encompassing love for the only family she knows creates empathy and her fierce determination in the face of utter despair drums up hope. Her resolve strengthens, her courage becomes clear; the pace quickens and the mystery becomes an adventure.
Forming the most unlikely of alliances lends humor to harrowing situations while bonds are built based on trust. Answers earned along the way applaud the intelligence and observation skills of young adults while pointing to the pitfalls of jealousy. With what can only be called a witchy way, Ms. Paulsen wraps the winding story satisfactorily…and yet, I can’t help but think (make that “hope”) that this is not The End.
This review was written for Buried Under Books by jv poore.
As young Kate trudges through the woods to her grandmother’s cottage, clever clues reveal this will be no ordinary story. “It wouldn’t do for someone with her bloodline to be spooked by a common forest.” Nostalgia nudges oh so briefly and is quickly brushed aside. Creepy quickly turns to true danger.
Having essentially grown up on her own; being actually attacked by wild wolves, then stumbling into the frigid cold of the abandoned home atop the mountain, Kate realizes absolute alone. Her grandmother would never have left willingly. Intricate, eerie, woven tapestries taunt, seeming to tell a story of several sufferers imprisoned in separate, yet strikingly similar cells.
The folks in the village below, for reasons unbeknownst to her, have tolerated Kate, at best; allowing her to sleep in a hayloft in exchange for mountains of mending until her presence could not be tolerated and she was forced to move to the next neighbor. These were not people that would help her find and rescue her grandmother. The boy who dared to taunt a giant however, was the exception to just about every rule. He was also wanted, would be almost impossible to find.
The tendrils of mystery have slipped from the pages and ensnared this reader. As Kate plummets down the mountain, her all encompassing love for the only family she knows creates empathy and her fierce determination in the face of utter despair drums up hope. Her resolve strengthens, her courage becomes clear; the pace quickens and the mystery becomes an adventure.
Forming the most unlikely of alliances lends humor to harrowing situations while bonds are built based on trust. Answers earned along the way applaud the intelligence and observation skills of young adults while pointing to the pitfalls of jealousy. With what can only be called a witchy way, Ms. Paulsen wraps the winding story satisfactorily…and yet, I can’t help but think (make that “hope”) that this is not The End.
This review was written for Buried Under Books by jv poore.
January 6, 2017
It was a good book. Details were very nice and descriptive. The ending was very good, lots of details. There were many things that I would not have expected to have happen in the ending of the book.
Want to read
June 22, 2015THIS SOUNDS FUN AS HELL.
October 24, 2018
Well that was...okay. Giving this book 2 stars. Not enough oomph, if you know what I mean.
Katherine (Katie) Hood is a teen with an Uncommon (peculiar in nature) grandmother. Every week she treks up the mountain to get to her grandmother's house to bring the weekly groceries. One day on her way to grandmothers Katie is attacked by a pack of wolves. When she finally reaches her grans cottage, she finds her grandmother missing.
Katie is not liked in the village because being Uncommon is like being a witch and no one wants to associate with a witch. So Katie, calls on an unlikely friend to help her in her search. Jack the Giant Killer (Jack in the beanstalk) and Katie set out on a scary adventure to find her grandmother and a stolen princess.
This book has a bunch of fairy-tale kids in it, which I loved. This truly is a dark fairy-tale re-telling, but it just was not very gripping. It was easy to read and understand of course, but not very fun to read. The problem that needs to be solved was too easily solved. The villain not scary enough. Everything fit together to easily and conveniently. Not sure if the story was rushed, I just felt short changed. This could have been a really good story. The plot was interesting.
Like I said the book was just okay.
Katherine (Katie) Hood is a teen with an Uncommon (peculiar in nature) grandmother. Every week she treks up the mountain to get to her grandmother's house to bring the weekly groceries. One day on her way to grandmothers Katie is attacked by a pack of wolves. When she finally reaches her grans cottage, she finds her grandmother missing.
Katie is not liked in the village because being Uncommon is like being a witch and no one wants to associate with a witch. So Katie, calls on an unlikely friend to help her in her search. Jack the Giant Killer (Jack in the beanstalk) and Katie set out on a scary adventure to find her grandmother and a stolen princess.
This book has a bunch of fairy-tale kids in it, which I loved. This truly is a dark fairy-tale re-telling, but it just was not very gripping. It was easy to read and understand of course, but not very fun to read. The problem that needs to be solved was too easily solved. The villain not scary enough. Everything fit together to easily and conveniently. Not sure if the story was rushed, I just felt short changed. This could have been a really good story. The plot was interesting.
Like I said the book was just okay.
January 7, 2017
2.5 Stars
So many little nuggets in this book that I greatly enjoyed: the frequent allusions to many well-known fairy tales; the "hat-tipping" to the Grimm brothers with the use of Wilhelm's name which is applied to one of the characters (which a student of mine alerted me to); and the idea that it is a traditional literature-"esque" book but without the typical prince, princess, love story aspect.
The lower rating of 2.5 stars comes in due to the loooong moments of nothing. It felt like forever before the characters were actually called to action. And once they were, it was again forever before they hit the climax of the story and encountered the being who was stealing the villagers. And comically enough, as long as it took for the "fun" part of the story to get underway, the ending felt completely rushed and quite unfinished.
So really, my rating comes mostly from the ingenuity of the author on the planning (set-up) and the connections that were included to all things traditional lit. Not actually on the story itself.
So many little nuggets in this book that I greatly enjoyed: the frequent allusions to many well-known fairy tales; the "hat-tipping" to the Grimm brothers with the use of Wilhelm's name which is applied to one of the characters (which a student of mine alerted me to); and the idea that it is a traditional literature-"esque" book but without the typical prince, princess, love story aspect.
The lower rating of 2.5 stars comes in due to the loooong moments of nothing. It felt like forever before the characters were actually called to action. And once they were, it was again forever before they hit the climax of the story and encountered the being who was stealing the villagers. And comically enough, as long as it took for the "fun" part of the story to get underway, the ending felt completely rushed and quite unfinished.
So really, my rating comes mostly from the ingenuity of the author on the planning (set-up) and the connections that were included to all things traditional lit. Not actually on the story itself.
October 1, 2015
So much potential, not enough execution.
The blurb lies okay?
Pay heed to the other 1 and 2 star reviews and get yourself out of here.
The blurb lies okay?
Pay heed to the other 1 and 2 star reviews and get yourself out of here.
January 5, 2017
My actual rating of this book is 2.5. It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't that good either. It may have been because I wasn't actually reading it, and someone was reading it to me, but it definitely isn't on my favorites list. There were a couple parts that made it more interesting, but overall it was pretty boring.
January 23, 2018
“Beauty in gloom is still beauty.”
This book had potential but failed pretty hard in its execution sadly.
I'm going to rate this 2.5 stars. I rated it 3 a couple of days ago but the story is fast disappearing from my brain. I won't remember anything about this book in a couple of weeks, pretty sure. I had never heard of this book before and just grabbed it by a whim when I was checking out a few things at the library. The cover is pretty cheesy so I wasn't expecting greatness but I thought it looked fun. Sadly, it didn't really flesh out to anything - at all. Honestly, this is a hard review to write because there is nothing to write about - NOTHING HAPPENS *bangs head on desk*
Our characters are Kate (a descendant from Red Riding Hood) and Jack (Yep, the beanstalk one) stars out ok as we get introduced to everyone. I liked the characters well enough and they interested me enough to not bail on the book, but the book just dragssssssss.. Every time I thought something was about to happen, it didn't. I can barely recall the ending because it was so lackluster. I don't understand why the author didn't go much darker and really make this story interesting. The whole story consists of the grandmother getting kidnapped - Jack and Kate trying to find and save her and walking through the woods. SO.MUCH.WALKING.
There is also a terrible insta-love and surprise surprise (!) it also goes NOWHERE. You could take it out of the plot and it wouldn't make a difference. It's a few awkward scenes of Kate thinking about how hot Jack is basically. It's almost like it was an afterthought. It kind of makes me wonder if the publishing company made the author throw in a romance (that never comes to be!) and so she begrudingly threw something together because it's a hot mess of (let's say it together!) NOTHING!
I read this in a sitting - I've read worse but even as short as this book is I wouldn't recommend picking this one up. Unless you really want to read about the woods and how people can walk through it lol
This book had potential but failed pretty hard in its execution sadly.
I'm going to rate this 2.5 stars. I rated it 3 a couple of days ago but the story is fast disappearing from my brain. I won't remember anything about this book in a couple of weeks, pretty sure. I had never heard of this book before and just grabbed it by a whim when I was checking out a few things at the library. The cover is pretty cheesy so I wasn't expecting greatness but I thought it looked fun. Sadly, it didn't really flesh out to anything - at all. Honestly, this is a hard review to write because there is nothing to write about - NOTHING HAPPENS *bangs head on desk*
Our characters are Kate (a descendant from Red Riding Hood) and Jack (Yep, the beanstalk one) stars out ok as we get introduced to everyone. I liked the characters well enough and they interested me enough to not bail on the book, but the book just dragssssssss.. Every time I thought something was about to happen, it didn't. I can barely recall the ending because it was so lackluster. I don't understand why the author didn't go much darker and really make this story interesting. The whole story consists of the grandmother getting kidnapped - Jack and Kate trying to find and save her and walking through the woods. SO.MUCH.WALKING.
There is also a terrible insta-love and surprise surprise (!) it also goes NOWHERE. You could take it out of the plot and it wouldn't make a difference. It's a few awkward scenes of Kate thinking about how hot Jack is basically. It's almost like it was an afterthought. It kind of makes me wonder if the publishing company made the author throw in a romance (that never comes to be!) and so she begrudingly threw something together because it's a hot mess of (let's say it together!) NOTHING!
I read this in a sitting - I've read worse but even as short as this book is I wouldn't recommend picking this one up. Unless you really want to read about the woods and how people can walk through it lol
January 3, 2017
My overall rating would be 2.5
I had really high hopes for this book, but I was pretty disappointed. At first, I'm not going to lie, I didn't like this book at all. It just completely bored me, and didn't make too much sense. Every time we had to read it, I had to refrain myself from slamming my head on the desk. I did like the occasional storybook references, though, but I watch Once Upon a Time, so those weren't too exciting. Later on, a lot farther to the end, I started to get a bit more interested in Dead Upon a Time. And then, when they revealed Sterling was really Kate's father, I was completely into the book, and angry we had to stop it right then. So I really loved the ending, but it doesn't completely pull away from the horrible beginning and middle. I don't know exactly what made me dislike it so much, but I feel the author was a bit scatterbrained when writing it, and things got confusing.
I had really high hopes for this book, but I was pretty disappointed. At first, I'm not going to lie, I didn't like this book at all. It just completely bored me, and didn't make too much sense. Every time we had to read it, I had to refrain myself from slamming my head on the desk. I did like the occasional storybook references, though, but I watch Once Upon a Time, so those weren't too exciting. Later on, a lot farther to the end, I started to get a bit more interested in Dead Upon a Time. And then, when they revealed Sterling was really Kate's father, I was completely into the book, and angry we had to stop it right then. So I really loved the ending, but it doesn't completely pull away from the horrible beginning and middle. I don't know exactly what made me dislike it so much, but I feel the author was a bit scatterbrained when writing it, and things got confusing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2017
Overall the book was the worst i have ever read... I mean heard. The beginning was horrible and so was the ending ...and so was the rest of it.
February 7, 2017
this book to be honest was not one of my favorites. It felt all bounced around.
January 4, 2017
I really loved the suspense in the book. It had a good surprise surprise element throughout the whole book. There were a lot of plot twists through the book and I liked all of them. Overall I really liked this book.
January 3, 2017
I didn't think I was going to like this book as much as I did at first. It changed how I looked at some of the fairy tales I've grown up knowing. It created a meaning that they lived happily ever after for most people. It was a book I liked but wouldn't consider picking up myself.
September 13, 2015
All those people who keep saying its like the Saw movies and blah blah.... should just cut that shit out right now.
I am very disappointed by this book, especially since based on the concept, it had the potential to be great. This could have been bloody and gory and creepy.... but it was none of those things.
They spent 90% of the book in the freaking woods. UGH. I just kept waiting and waiting for things to get interesting....
Then there is all that talk in the synopsis about how the kidnapped girls are all trapped in these crazy rooms and blah blah blah.... we never really see those rooms. Not really. The one with needles? IS ONLY SEEN IN A PICTURE. SERIOUSLY.
Everything about this was just so bland. There was a really good idea here, and it's like the author just gave up or something. The end was rushed. The bad guy was.... irrelevant. Pointless. Didn't really tie into the story well at all. The end brought up connections that they did not bother to explain very well. It was just like... "here's this thing, but we don't have a good reason! So there ya go!"....
They set up the romance possibilities and then they just went absolutely no where, like they were just forgotten.
Fortunately this book was short (although had it been longer it might have given the opportunity to be better) and didn't take up too much time.
The good thing about this book? Jack was funny.
My advice: Skip this one.
I am very disappointed by this book, especially since based on the concept, it had the potential to be great. This could have been bloody and gory and creepy.... but it was none of those things.
They spent 90% of the book in the freaking woods. UGH. I just kept waiting and waiting for things to get interesting....
Then there is all that talk in the synopsis about how the kidnapped girls are all trapped in these crazy rooms and blah blah blah.... we never really see those rooms. Not really. The one with needles? IS ONLY SEEN IN A PICTURE. SERIOUSLY.
Everything about this was just so bland. There was a really good idea here, and it's like the author just gave up or something. The end was rushed. The bad guy was.... irrelevant. Pointless. Didn't really tie into the story well at all. The end brought up connections that they did not bother to explain very well. It was just like... "here's this thing, but we don't have a good reason! So there ya go!"....
They set up the romance possibilities and then they just went absolutely no where, like they were just forgotten.
Fortunately this book was short (although had it been longer it might have given the opportunity to be better) and didn't take up too much time.
The good thing about this book? Jack was funny.
My advice: Skip this one.
January 17, 2017
Ok so this book was good but bad. It had many moments in it where you just want to read more, then there are the moments when it just seems like narration of the story. I probably would've liked this if there would have been more action towards the beginning of the book rater than in the end. Though i didn't like it that much it i did like in some area how it had some action and there was more then just boringness going on.
January 3, 2017
Not the best book in my opinion. The writing is enjoyable, although a bit bland at times. But the main thing that turned me off from this book was the plot twists. Like, they'd throw them in and then disregard them, or spend too little time on them. On top of that, the characters weren't very fleshed out and you couldn't really relate to them. Overall, I wouldn't recommend reading this book.
January 4, 2017
I was overall not impressed with this book. It didn't keep me interested through the whole thing. I did however the book was well written and the description was great throughout the book. To sum in all up I have to say I didn't enjoy this book. It might be because Im not a big fan of traditional literature.
January 4, 2017
I thought this book was ok. Some parts were good while others parts were bad/boring. I think if I was reading it by myself instead of it being a class reading book I would have like it more. I wish it was a better book because it sound really good to me when I heard what it was about. This is what I thought about the book Dead Upon a Time.
January 3, 2017
It was pretty good, though it was sometimes boring and weird. I did enjoy the ending though.
January 4, 2017
For some reason, I really couldn't follow this book and didn't know what was happening, most of the time. Overall, I really didn't like/enjoy the book.
February 7, 2017
I didn't really enjoy this book, if I read it on my own I think I would have liked it more.
January 4, 2017
Overall, this was a pretty good book. I like the authors style of writing, as it was very descriptive and had great word choice. I rated this book a four because the process of Kate getting to Nan took a very long time, which took up a lot of space in the book. It left the book with a short climax which I was disappointed about because the climax would be even better if it had more events and was extended.In my opinion, the book was slow and dragged on until the climax. Once it was there though, it was very good, despite the short length and lack of events.
January 9, 2017
I liked this book. There were some super detailed parts. In the end I did not expect some of the events that happened.
February 7, 2017
It was okay. Not much really happened in it.
August 18, 2015
Check out this and my other reviews on my blog, Here's to Happy Endings!
"Over the river and through the woods, to a killer's house we go."
The synopsis and the blurb make this book sound like any fairy tale lover's dream (or nightmare, in this case) come true, right?
Imagine that you're a young girl, taking food to your grandmother, who lives alone in the woods. Not only are you attacked by wolves on your journey, when you arrive at her cottage, you find her missing. The only thing left behind are tapestries that she has woven, each depicting a frightening scene that, once you've seen it, you cannot unsee it (and some of them are horrifying). In one of the tapestries, a little boy and girl are inside a room while the room continues to get hotter. In another, a young woman longs to eat some of the delicious apples in front of her, but some of them are filled with poison.
When you run out into the village to find some help, you realize that, because of who your grandmother is (an Uncommon that no one wants around), no one will help you, and you are completely alone. Or are you? What about the town outcast, who has eluded authorities for over a year? Maybe he can help. So you set out on your journey to find him, and ask for help in finding your grandmother.
This is how Katie Hood (yes, Little Red Riding Hood), begins her trip to her grandmother's house. She needs help finding her missing grandmother, and she turns to the town outcast, Jack, for help. When he agrees to help her, the two set off on an adventure to rescue Kate's grandmother, and hopefully discover the meanings behind the creepy tapestries.
So, this book is a mashup of quite a few fairy tales. You have Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel - just to name a few. Plus, guess what? It all works out, pretty well. You might think that any book that tries to mash all of these stories together might fail at doing so, but Elizabeth Paulson did a pretty fantastic job at making them blend together and create an original and entertaining story. It was really good. I enjoyed it, and it had a few surprises that I didn't really expect, but made the story even more interesting.
The only thing that I had problems with was how rushed the book seemed. The beginning and the middle were drawn out, the way that they should be, considering it's an adventure these two are setting out on. However, the last quarter of the book just felt hurried along. I think there was a lot more room for detail, as the ending just seemed pretty simple to me. While I don't believe this ruins the book, I was hoping for an ending that was a bit more climactic and powerful.
If you love fairy tale retellings, you really won't want to miss this one. It's different, it's entertaining, and it's definitely worth a read!
Note: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
"Over the river and through the woods, to a killer's house we go."
The synopsis and the blurb make this book sound like any fairy tale lover's dream (or nightmare, in this case) come true, right?
Imagine that you're a young girl, taking food to your grandmother, who lives alone in the woods. Not only are you attacked by wolves on your journey, when you arrive at her cottage, you find her missing. The only thing left behind are tapestries that she has woven, each depicting a frightening scene that, once you've seen it, you cannot unsee it (and some of them are horrifying). In one of the tapestries, a little boy and girl are inside a room while the room continues to get hotter. In another, a young woman longs to eat some of the delicious apples in front of her, but some of them are filled with poison.
When you run out into the village to find some help, you realize that, because of who your grandmother is (an Uncommon that no one wants around), no one will help you, and you are completely alone. Or are you? What about the town outcast, who has eluded authorities for over a year? Maybe he can help. So you set out on your journey to find him, and ask for help in finding your grandmother.
This is how Katie Hood (yes, Little Red Riding Hood), begins her trip to her grandmother's house. She needs help finding her missing grandmother, and she turns to the town outcast, Jack, for help. When he agrees to help her, the two set off on an adventure to rescue Kate's grandmother, and hopefully discover the meanings behind the creepy tapestries.
So, this book is a mashup of quite a few fairy tales. You have Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel - just to name a few. Plus, guess what? It all works out, pretty well. You might think that any book that tries to mash all of these stories together might fail at doing so, but Elizabeth Paulson did a pretty fantastic job at making them blend together and create an original and entertaining story. It was really good. I enjoyed it, and it had a few surprises that I didn't really expect, but made the story even more interesting.
The only thing that I had problems with was how rushed the book seemed. The beginning and the middle were drawn out, the way that they should be, considering it's an adventure these two are setting out on. However, the last quarter of the book just felt hurried along. I think there was a lot more room for detail, as the ending just seemed pretty simple to me. While I don't believe this ruins the book, I was hoping for an ending that was a bit more climactic and powerful.
If you love fairy tale retellings, you really won't want to miss this one. It's different, it's entertaining, and it's definitely worth a read!
Note: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
January 26, 2017
I thought this book was interesting. It was definitely not a book I would pick up on my own. It was difficult to comprehened to, since I was not the one reading it.
August 20, 2015
**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**
Dead Upon A Time is set in a fairy tale world that is a little darker and a little more twisted than the fairy tales we all remember as kids. And in this world, children are being taken and tortured in creepy ways. I liked (and maybe liked is the wrong word because that makes me sound kind of sadistic) that the children were each tortured in a unique way to their particular story. One was forced to eat a poison apple over and over again, others were cooked alive, etc. Dead Upon a Time is the story of Jack and Kate, two outcasts in the village that embark on a quest to save the children, and Kate's grandmother.
Dead Upon a Time is a very quick read that I think would appeal to a younger crowd of young adult readers as well as older readers who are fans of grimm brothers, once upon a time series, and twisted fairy tale re-tellings. I loved the interplay in Elizabeth Paulson's world between uncommon people v. the concept of evil, v. witches. We got to see some of the differences, but I wish that this was explored a bit more. Maybe in another book. HintHintWinkWinkElizabeth.
I was the most interested in why these children were being tortured and more of the history surrounding their chosen methods. Did the kidnapper know about their fairy tales, or was this the way their tales might have played out instead? A lot is left up to the reader to ponder, which made Dead Upon a Time a unique read. Much of the book was focused on the rescue journey. I loved learned about the world through the journey, and how evil and magic manifested itself. It was a very quick and fun read.
Kate sees glimpses of the children through visions or flashes throughout their journey, but that is almost all we saw of them until the very end. I wanted to see a bit more on the actual rescue and what was going on, at the kidnappers end. I think there is a great book told from the kidnappers or the kidnapped children eyes, as a companion piece. Fans of darker and more twisted fairy tales will like this spin on the classics. I thought it was a great read. One you can finish in only a few short hours, and there was little to no romance, which makes it suitable for readers of all ages. Check out Dead Upon a Time if you dare. Happy ending not guaranteed. ;)
This review was originally posted on Book Briefs
Dead Upon A Time is set in a fairy tale world that is a little darker and a little more twisted than the fairy tales we all remember as kids. And in this world, children are being taken and tortured in creepy ways. I liked (and maybe liked is the wrong word because that makes me sound kind of sadistic) that the children were each tortured in a unique way to their particular story. One was forced to eat a poison apple over and over again, others were cooked alive, etc. Dead Upon a Time is the story of Jack and Kate, two outcasts in the village that embark on a quest to save the children, and Kate's grandmother.
Dead Upon a Time is a very quick read that I think would appeal to a younger crowd of young adult readers as well as older readers who are fans of grimm brothers, once upon a time series, and twisted fairy tale re-tellings. I loved the interplay in Elizabeth Paulson's world between uncommon people v. the concept of evil, v. witches. We got to see some of the differences, but I wish that this was explored a bit more. Maybe in another book. HintHintWinkWinkElizabeth.
I was the most interested in why these children were being tortured and more of the history surrounding their chosen methods. Did the kidnapper know about their fairy tales, or was this the way their tales might have played out instead? A lot is left up to the reader to ponder, which made Dead Upon a Time a unique read. Much of the book was focused on the rescue journey. I loved learned about the world through the journey, and how evil and magic manifested itself. It was a very quick and fun read.
Kate sees glimpses of the children through visions or flashes throughout their journey, but that is almost all we saw of them until the very end. I wanted to see a bit more on the actual rescue and what was going on, at the kidnappers end. I think there is a great book told from the kidnappers or the kidnapped children eyes, as a companion piece. Fans of darker and more twisted fairy tales will like this spin on the classics. I thought it was a great read. One you can finish in only a few short hours, and there was little to no romance, which makes it suitable for readers of all ages. Check out Dead Upon a Time if you dare. Happy ending not guaranteed. ;)
This review was originally posted on Book Briefs
January 4, 2017
I didn't care for this book a lot. It was good. But I didn't really like it. This style of book isn't my favorite. I don't care for traditional literature. I feel it was written fairly well, but it's not a book that I would've picked up on my own.
January 4, 2017
This book was a good book, i think that if i read to myself and read every day to every other i might have had a better understanding of it. But over all i liked the book, and might pick up again to try to understand it better.
September 2, 2015
I would have loved this if not for the fact that after 45% it kinda deteriorated into a rushed, full of plot holes story.
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