Laurel SolorzanoCritiques

Everyone knows fairytales are not real, which is why Taylan is angry when her mother decides to punish her for telling her younger sister exactly this while queuing to meet her favourite princess at the Happily Ever After amusement park. Livid at the unfair punishment, Taylan and her brother Colby set out to prove once and for all that everyone in the park is just a good actor.

But what they discover might be more than they bargained for, as they find themselves tangled in a secret battle between the good and the evil Ever Afters. As none of the familiar tales reflect the truth, Taylan and Colby will have to decide who among the Ever Afters can be trusted, defeat the Evil Queen before she takes over... and try to make it out of the park alive.

The Land of Fake Believe is a highly original and captivating take on the recent fairytale retellings trend, geared towards a middle-grade audience. The fast-moving plot is engaging, delivering a well-paced combination of action, reveals, and character development. There was never a dull moment and the slow unveiling of the workings of the park and different Ever Afters' true stories kept the story moving forward while providing a solid worldbuilding base. Quite a lot of this happened through dialogue and exposition, which occasionally resulted in a few info-dumps, but it didn't massively affect the flow and engagement.

The characters were well drawn, if not particularly rounded, which would probably not have worked as well for an older audience but is highly likely to not be an issue for the target audience. Taylan is the centre of it all and she was a lovely character to follow, as she struggles with the typical issues of a young girl her age while discovering a whole new world of magic and facing great evil. The sibling relationship was especially well crafted, and a fair bit of growing up was involved by the end of the book, which was great to see.

The Ever Afters were also fascinating characters, and it is clear that a good deal of creativity and detail went into crafting the amusement park setting, characters' backstories and their dynamics. It was a pleasure to discover all of this as it was slowly unveiled, even though at times certain characters came across as a bit lacking or incomplete.

Although the majority of the book was well-paced, the ending itself felt slightly rushed, which was a shame after having spent so long getting into the thick of things, but there seemed to be a suggestion of a second book to come so we may get to spend some more time with the characters after all.

Overall, this was an extremely pleasant read despite a few minor issues and would suit a younger audience as well as any grown-up who loves a good twist on fairytales and an amusement park setting.

This review was originally published on Reedsy Discovery. I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

I was continuously entertained by this book. There are many great dystopian teen novels and this book is no exception! I was constantly gripped by what the characters were doing and didn't want to put it down. I hope this will be a series because I loved the characters, loved the story, loved the writing.

Natural resources are sparse, and adulthood is not guaranteed. Every year, an Olympics is held. Those that do not succeed, are taken out of society. Eden's best friend Xander, places in the top ranks for wrestling. Eden competes in every competition, but she is not particularly strong, fast, or smart. Will she medal? If not, what is her fate?

I thought this book had a lot of promise. The characters were interesting and mult-dimensional. I wanted to know more about the world, and the other countries. Perhaps this will be outlined in future stories. Overall, the plot moved nicely, with lots of ups and downs. 4 out of 5 stars.

This book was ok. The premise was interesting, but overall felt flat. I think I was expecting something dystopian with Hunger Games vibes, but it lacked tension and interest, even in scenes that should have been thrilling. The characters also felt flat and were hard to relate to. From a writing perspective, it needs more showing and less telling. Instead of "She was nervous," say something like "The food turned to lead in her stomach." I also suggest building on the character's emptions. How can the author make the reader feel what the character feels? Why should the reader invest in the characters? Finally, I suggest working in some world building. Even though the world is supposedly utterly different from the one we live in today, it pretty much feels the same.

While it was a page-turner, you need to keep in mind that you will find what I liked to think of as a cross-over between The Hunger Games and perhaps Maze Runner. Not a bad thing, in my opinion.
I liked how the story develops and the conclusions you draw as events are revealed, it made for an exciting read and time well spent.
It definitely presented some 'well-damn' moments which helped build the momentum!

Just wow! What an amazing story about a scary future! An absolute page turner….I had trouble putting it down - needing to know what happened next. I can’t wait for the next book!

Boek was interessant genoeg, maar op de een of andere manier heeft het niet echt indruk gemaakt. Misschien dat als ik het op een latere tijdstip probeer het beter wordt.

Het einde was bevredigend genoeg.

Idee van het verhaal stond me wel aan.

Really enjoyed this read! It wasn't a quick read for me, as I kept finding myself distracted instead of being pulled in, but my interest was peaked enough that I kept coming back to read another chapter here and there. Even if I didn't know there was another book coming I still would have been satisfied with the ending. Will definitely want to continue the story when The Eliminated is released.

Eden and her friend Xander live in Greenland in a post-apocalyptic world. When everyone turns 18 they must compete in the Olympics, where if they win a medal they are allowed to be an adult. Elimination is a mystery, but it's not good.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great, fun read, and there is humor and a bit of a thrill. I can't wait to read the second book and see what happens next.

Eden is a brilliantly talented choreographer and dancer. Sadly, the post-climate-collapse dystopia she lives in has decided to maintain its stable population based on competitions in wrestling, running, assorted endurance activities, maths, general science, communication (briefly mentioned, never depicted), and logic (which should perhaps be renamed 'lateral thinking' as it seems to consist of riddles and an escape room). Winners are awarded the privileges of adulthood, while losers are "eliminated". Her boyfriend is a shoe-in at wrestling; Eden reluctantly decides her only hope of survival is to cheat.

Unsurprisingly, she isn't the only person to reach this conclusion - or indeed the only country. Alaska appears to be planning global domination by out-competing and therefore out-populating Greenland and Russia(1). It appears to have taken the novel tactic of actually training its children for success, but is not above a little carbon monoxide poisoning or kidnapping to support the mission.

The whole set-up seems highly poorly designed from the point of view of actually choosing the 70% best people to survive, but of course as soon as you start doing a eugenics you're inevitably selecting for psychopathy so there's really no surprises there. I'd imagine very soon it'll occur to some bright spark that it's actually a waste of resources to feed children until they're 18 years old when you can surely figure out which ones are completely inept by the time they're 10. Unless of course events should turn in book 2 of the series...

(1) At this point in global warming, these are the only countries left in the world. Astute geographers will recall that present-day Canada, Iceland and Scandinavia are on the same latitude, but Sweden "ceased to be a country 30 years ago" so I speculate that Alaska incorporated Canada, Greenland took Iceland, and Russia took Scandinavia. Earlier country takeovers may explain why currently-Danish Greenland is in this book populated by Anglo-saxon names.

This was a cute book. I enjoyed reading it and would keep reading the series. I loved the concept of a fairytale amusement park and I read the story very quickly, despite being in the middle of a busy semester. It's a unique take on a magical world. I especially like that not all the normal fairytale stereotypes are followed. For example, not every fairytale bad guy is actually a villain, and not every fairytale good guy is actually good. Each character has their own unique personality the reader must discover. There were some things that threw me off a bit while reading. For example, the character development of the two main characters, the children, could be stronger. At the beginning, they are presented as very whiny kids. Not too far into the book, they are cursed with an object that makes them extra whiny. However, this behavior change wasn't very obvious. They were acting bratty and kept acting bratty. After the curse is discovered, the behavior improves and they become more likeable, but the initial impression was off-putting to me. As a reader, I want to like the main characters from the beginning, or at least have motivation to keep learning about them so I can understand them better. Overall, the story was well done but would benefit from a professional editor to polish it. It was a fun read and I hope the author keeps up the good work.

I liked to story and creativity and, more importantly, my 8 and 9 year old daughters were riveted and really enjoyed it too. I waffled between giving this 4-stars or 5. Our family tries not to use the words like stupid or hate, and those occurred quite a bit. However, not all families care about that as much.

Update: I already bought #2 & 3 and we're halfway through #2 already. My girls are loving that one too.

Such a great book, I won from the giveaway. My kids loved it! It was funny, witty and suspenseful at points. It was a very well written story for younger children. Thank you!

Not bad, not great - for me. I could see a tween/teen really loving it. The kids are idiots - but they're appropriate idiots, they make the kind of bad decisions that a ten- and twelve-year-old would be likely to make (mostly things like not thinking things through, and trusting adults...and then distrusting the wrong people, later on). There's clearly a lot going on behind the scenes that never quite made sense to me - various spells, and solutions for same. And some very convenient overhearings. But still, mildly enjoyable.

This is a darling book more suitable for younger readers, I enjoyed reading it and would recommend.

This is a fresh look at fairytales. Intended for middle grade children, I’m not at all embarrassed to say I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and had good pacing. I’ve recommended it to all of my family and friends who love fantasy and/or have children. I also discovered books 1 & 2 are available with kindle unlimited. Thank you, Laurel Solorzano and LibraryThing for this review copy.

This was a very cute children’s book with lots of adventure and fantasy. The story concept is new and original with a lot of potential. I love the setting too because it fits very nicely with the good and bad Ever Afters. As a mother and also a younger sister the bickering, fighting and jealousy was very realistic, especially for the situation. However, there was just so much of it that it really started to distract from the story. I’m talking about all the fighting that was happening without the mirror pieces as well. Taylan was a great 12 year old heroine as long as I look past the annoying bickering and self-centeredness. The execution of the story and writing was very rushed at times. I get that a lot of information needs to be conveyed in a short amount of time, but the info dumps were sometimes confusing. I also thought some of that fight scenes and the ending were entirely too rushed. I really wish there was less detail in buying pumpkins at the store and more detail to the final scene. The adventure and suspense throughout the book were a great build up to a let down and rushed ending. I hope another book will clear things up a bit more for the readers. I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.½

Fantasy and fairy tales come to life among the fun of spinning rides and shows, creating an exciting adventure in a place kids' dreams are made of.

Taylan and Colby love to tease their younger sister, especially when they are bored. When Taylan takes things too far and tells her younger sister the dressed up characters are fake, while waiting in line at the amusement park, she and Colby can't believe their punishment is being grounded for an entire evening at the hotel. Determined to prove that she's right (and since they were in trouble, anyway), they sneak out of the hotel and back into the park, determined to get a picture proving the characters are fake. Instead, they stumble across a magical truth, which puts them and their family in huge danger.

The first scene already comes across extremely familiar for anyone who has siblings, and this natural flow between characters hangs on the entire way through. The reactions are, for the most part, believable and understandable, and it's hard not to root for the characters...well, after Taylan gets passed her initial pouty mode (which makes her more believable as well).

The fantasy sinks in as smooth as a fairy tale, but then, it does center around fairy tale figures coming to life. It interweaves nicely with reality, and the theme park is the perfect setting to let the entire thing unfold. There's also an interesting twist to some of the fairy tales, which adds an original direction, too.

There's never a boring moment as the two siblings try to help the fairy tale characters. Some moments happen a bit too easily, but there's enough tension and surprises to keep the pages turning until the end.
It's a cute fantasy which holds more than a few fun loops and twists.

This novel takes a much loved genre and tosses it on it's head in a way, which is sure to create more than a little food for thought while letting action thrive.

Scarlett has been trained her entire life for the most honorable position she knows: to be a guard. The society counts on her and her fellow trainees to protect everything their society holds dear and keep them safe. When she's thrust pre-maturely into the city streets to perform tasks, and that without the complete training she should have received, questions naturally arise. Still, even with tons to learn, she knows what her job is. But those she protects as thankful or helpful as they should be, and she's not sure why.

The blurb on this one caught my attention. Set in a dystopian society, this one swings the center away from those living in it or working with it, to those guarding it. And that, with all their heart and conviction. I had dreams of something along the lines...very vaguely, though...of Nakita (since there's obvious, major theme difference...but still). The book didn't really head in any direction like that, but I wasn't disappointed, either.

Scarlett is a young girl and has a lot to learn about the real world. Her world is correct when considering how she was raised, but this one throws her out of her box and into an unknown one, which is different than she thought it'd be. It's intriguing to see things from her viewpoint as she copes and tries to wrap her head around what's happening. Thank makes room for inner-thoughts, which is normal in a YA read. But she also starts out with an immaturity I didn't expect and made me stumble a bit. Luckily, there's a huge character arc in this one, and it sets her up wonderfully for the series.

As far as action, pacing and such...I expected a little more on this front but it was an intriguing read, anyway. I see this book more as the beginning to a series, and it drops off with the desire to see what happens next. Everything is laid-out so that the future tale holds tons of promise. I'm hoping it delivers and will keep an eye on this one.

I received an ARC through Netgalley and enjoyed this one.