Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Unusual Suspects by Michael Buckley starting February 1, 2023.

Started reading this morning... about 1/3 done with this short story, already, I think... maybe 1/4...

(view spoiler)[When I'm reading kids books like this, thinking about how over-the-top and unbelievable the depictions of the adults are takes me out of the story a bit... like the teachers at the school...

I still like/love the characters/world, tho...

I dunno if I just forgot, but I thought Canis was handling his transformation better, at the end of the previous book...

Seemed like an about-face, when the kids went from avoiding school for 3 weeks, to Daphne looking like a kid in the candy shop, when she learned her teacher was Snow White...

The whole punk rock = cool thing seems like author/adult trying to be hip to 8 year old lingo :D

I love how Daphne is confuzzling Mayor Charming with that nose kiss...

I wonder what's going on with the spider web... connected to the spider in the bedroom prank?

Student Ever-Afters... wonder if the friendly girl in gym is one... and if they'll befriend all of them... including the principal's son... (hide spoiler)]

All finished, and I enjoyed it, for the most part...

(view spoiler)[I think I like Daphne more than Sabrina... she steals so many scenes with her antics...

Did I gloss over the ending, or did the story never catch up to the prologue?... if it didn't, the next book must be super tightly plotted... I know at least 2-3 days passed during the story, and the prologue happened 3 days after chapter 1...

This one also ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I'm not too surprised, given I'd read the blurbs for the entire series, already...

The baddie sounds like some messed up kid collected Grimms to play House with... I wondered if maybe she was supposed to be a Dark Shadow of the MC... (hide spoiler)]

Just started. In Ch. 3 and we have the Social Worker again:) And a tarantula! It made me think of Children of Time:)

It is very early in the story, so not much to say. I bought the first five books in paper and the 10th anniversary edition. They are pretty. I plan on giving them to my nieces after we are done with them:)))

The Social Worker and the Guidance Councilor 🤣🤣🤣

(view spoiler)[I mean, on one level it's sad... but probably the funniest moment of awkwardness / realism about adults in the whole thing... and the first thing to make the social worker seem like a person, and not a walking stereotype for kid-focused orphan books... (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, I thought Canis' transformation was not a big deal, but it seems it is here...

Up to Ch. 7... The teachers are very horrible! It is kind of like reading a cartoon for kids, which I guess is the point. I hope kids read it with their parents and are told what is an acceptable behavior and what isn't...

Choko wrote: "Up to Ch. 7... The teachers are very horrible! It is kind of like reading a cartoon for kids, which I guess is the point. I hope kids read it with their parents and are told what is an acceptable b..."

That's what I meant when I said the adults kinda took me out of the story... they're cartoonishly terrible...

I get it. I wonder if kids find that funny...

Up to Ch. 8. Sabrina is being such a brat! I am happy that Granny and Daphne are standing up to her.

Timelord Iain wrote: "The Social Worker and the Guidance Councilor 🤣🤣🤣

[spoilers removed]"

YES Loved that scene! And it did make me feel a bit sorry for her after being (view spoiler)[Shot Down lol (hide spoiler)]

Yeah the adults being cartoonishly awful took me out of the story a bit too...

Daphne is definitely a scene-stealer! (view spoiler)[ I was getting a bit tired of Sabrina and her "All Ever-Afters are evil schtick

But Daphne being insistent that Charming is actually good, and her becoming a super-star in the second grade on her first day is very cute... (hide spoiler)]

The ending! (view spoiler)[ I was pretty surprised about the cliff-hanger! I need to revisit the prologue real quick because I don't know if it was resolved in this book..

And that's Little Red Riding Hood right? (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, the first scene was in when (view spoiler)[ Sabrina went inside the tunnel and the Rumpelstiltskin met her there, while the family and the mayer were already hanging on the ceiling with the spider webs...

So Rumpelstiltskin is an emotional vampire!!! Interesting! I wonder if children that age would actually understand what that really is.

So he basically stole the kids off of their parents and manipulated the parents and the kids... Not that the kids turned out to be great people, but I guess with better upbringing and actual love they might have turned out alright...

Ooohhhh, is the pipe-piper's kid really dead? I hope not... (hide spoiler)]

So, I finished and apart from the way the adults and teachers were presented, I actually liked it! The ending (view spoiler)[ a psychotic Red Riding Hood, yes Emily! She wants to play house!!! As creepy as "We are going on an adventure!"!!!! And now Puck and Sabrina are stuck with her without a magic portal... That actually makes me interested in finding out what happens next:))) (hide spoiler)]

I enjoyed it enough to want to continue:)))

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Yeah the adults being cartoonishly awful took me out of the story a bit too...

Daphne is definitely a scene-stealer! I was getting a bit tired of Sabrina and her "All Ever-Afters are evil schtick..."

Good to know I'm not the only one that didn't think the prologue resolved itself...

Choko wrote: "So, I finished and apart from the way the adults and teachers were presented, I actually liked it! The ending [spoilers removed]

I enjoyed it enough to want to continue:)))"

I had similar thoughts... at one point halfway through, I was like... this feels like it was written before school shootings became a daily thing... published October 2005... also gave me flashbacks to some old Buffy episodes...

Me too to the Buffy vibes! especially that egg episode xD

Timelord Iain wrote: "The Social Worker and the Guidance Councilor 🤣🤣🤣

[spoilers removed]"

Running late but jumping in! I'm in Chapter 3, and was thinking the same thing about the Social Worker--though I was glad (view spoiler)[there was motivation for school... though from Choko's comments on the portrayal of teachers too, I'm not looking forward to it...

EDIT: Still in Chapter 3--but oof. Yeah, I really don't like the teacher portrayals. The Principal seems ok so far... but if he's the Pied Pier... (hide spoiler)]

Had several little laughs so far. Loved the booby traps!

I have to admit though, the Tarantula did not make me think of Children of Time--instead, I rather think I regressed back in my Arachnophobia...

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Yeah the adults being cartoonishly awful took me out of the story a bit too...

Daphne is definitely a scene-stealer!..."

Up through Chapter 7 now... lots of funny moments, but also several cringeworthy. (view spoiler)[Enjoying some of Puck's shenanigans, while others I just have to remind myself that this is a book for children, with children, and that children often like potty humor.

I like that Charming isn't a straight-up bad guy--he's narcissistic, but very grey, with a hint that he might be eventually redeemable... and I love Daphne's belief in him... and how much it confuses him.

In fact, Daphne is the cause of most of my smile so far too! She's just super cute, and I love her "what does xx mean" running joke that lets Buckley explain/teach big words to a young audience. She's a good counterpoint to spoilsport Sabrina...

And I love how Granny just shut down (or tried to) Sabrina's "All Ever-Afters are Evil" schtick--"No grandchild of mine will be a bigot!" more grandparents need to lay that smackdown, imo. (hide spoiler)]

I ditto everything you said! And Daphne is just adorable! She is a ray of sunshine!

Daphne is the star of the show for sure!

And finished! I think I liked this one more than the first one. Or maybe it was doing on audio that made the middle-grade style prose less obvious. Though the poor audiobook narrator had to take really deep breaths all the time and it got a little distracting.

I rather liked the premise, and how everything got solved--(view spoiler)[pairing children of Ever Afters with Rumplestiltskin was quite fun, and I enjoyed the humorous cross-species pairings. I was surprised that Sabrina managed to reach (we think?) her parents--I thought that'd be drawn out a few more books, though a cliffhanger is far from solved... (hide spoiler)]

OMG Choko why did you have to bring up "We are going on an adventure!" LOL Now we add "Let's play house!" to that...

Hahaha! Either one is terrifying!

I feel like I'm getting a crash course in the connection between horror, fantasy and SF...

The Social Worker and the Guidance Counselor = Painfully hilarious and a bit cringe, as today's kid would say.

I liked Daphne in the first book; I loved her in this one! She seems more mature than her sister.

Speaking of Sabrina - Her general anger is indicative of a child going through puberty without her mother's support & guidance; however, (view spoiler)[ her prejudiced attitude and racism (is that the correct word) toward the Ever-Afters was really upsetting, and the intensity of it took me by surprise (hide spoiler)].

Snow White - Bad Apples! LOL!!!!!!!

As for the ending - Well, that was interesting!

Glad you are back with it:))

Choko wrote: "Glad you are back with it:))"

Thanks! :) I am too.