The Fairy-Tale Detectives

The Sisters Grimm

By: Michael Buckley

Narrated by: L. J. Ganser

Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

The recently orphaned Sisters Grimm find out from their Granny, who they thought was dead, that they're descendents of the legendary Brothers Grimm. Now they must take over the family responsibility of being fairy tale detectives in a town where fairy tales are real. Their first case: a giant is destroying the town and it may have something to do with a boy named Jack and a certain famous beanstalk.

©2005 Michael Buckley (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

GIANTS ARE REALLY STINKY

EVER AFTERS
You should like this almost as much as the LIBLINGS. This was entertaining all the way through, a little predictable in places for adults, but not too much so. There is often a question on who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. PRINCE CHARMING is not so charming. It is a great take on what fairy tale creatures would be like in the modern world. Book two is in my wish list.

Not My Cup of Tea, but the KIDS Dig it.

This isn't a book, I'd normally download and listen to, but the kids were growing troubled by listening to Dante's Inferno on the way to school. 9 and 11-year olds can be so damn fickle. Once we got to the 7th circle of Hell my kids (both OK with heresy but not OK with violence) were ready to bail on me, Virgil and Dante.

So, finding myself now lost with my kids (and without an audiobook to distract me from their constant questions about truth and beauty) while driving through the woods, I decided to download the Sisters Grimm. Definitely more my kids' speed.

Funny twists

I liked this story. It is not a re-telling of fairy tales with different endings, but a story of how the fairy tale creatures are alive and living in a modern day time. Of course fairy tale creatures would have to deal with many things, and we certainly see the other side of their personalities. Not a deep drama, but a light hearted mystery with a different perspective.

If you like Roald Dahl books then you should like this one as well.

Fun, Funny, Fairy, and the Kitchen Sink

Ever since their parents vanished a year and a half ago, eleven-year-old Sabrina Grimm and her seven-year old sister Daphne have been escaping from bad foster homes. And in the opening scene of Michael Buckley's The Fairy-Tale Detectives (2005), the first novel in his popular Sisters Grimm series, the girls are taken by their pinch-faced case worker Ms. Smirt to Ferryport Landing, NY, a quaint town without movie theaters, malls, or museums, to live with a dead woman. It develops that the woman, their grandmother Relda Grimm, is alive and well, and among the things the girls will soon discover is why their father lied to them that she was dead and what happened to the girls' mother and him.

They will also learn that nearly every fantastic being and artifact that ever appeared in any fairy tale, legend, or myth really existed and did the things that have been written about them, so that, for instance, a collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales is a history book and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow a true story. We don't encounter such things in real life today because when the age of fairy tales was ending around the start of the 19th century and fantasy beings--Everafters--were being persecuted, they moved to America, where with the help of Wilhelm Grimm they settled in the mostly unsettled woods and fields of Ferryport, thinking to find there an unmolested haven. As time passed and more normal Americans began moving to Ferryport, however, persecution loomed again, so some Everafters tried to wage a pre-emptive war on humanity, but were prevented by a Baba Yaga spell limiting all Everafters to the five square miles of the town for as long as at least one Grimm descendent remains alive. So for 200 years the Everafters have kept a low profile, mostly hiding their magical natures and items, and the Grimms have been playing detective troubleshooters to defuse any problems arising between fairy folk and humans.

That premise permits Buckley to use any fantasy character (including Snow White, Little Bo Peep, Glinda the Good Witch, the Three Little Pigs, the Queen of Hearts, Gepetto, Ichabod Crane, and Mowgli) or item (including Excalibur, Cinderella's fairy godmother's wand, magic beans, and "the" magic mirror) he chooses. It's part of the trend in movies like Shrek (2001), books like Neil Gaiman's American Gods (2001) and TV shows like Once Upon a Time (2011-) to combine figures from various fairy tales, myths, and legends (often in our own world, often revised so that, for example, traditional villains become heroes and vice versa) to revivify such stories and their characters and to make them more relevant to today's readers. And it's fun to meet fantasy characters from beloved childhood tales rubbing shoulders in a new story.

But such stories may turn into inconsistent anything goes affairs, as when Relda Grimm tells her granddaughters that not all fairy tales are true, saying "For instance, a dish never ran away with a spoon," but why or where Buckley draws the line is fuzzy. Similarly, if fantasy stories are true histories of real events, how could characters who got killed in them appear alive now, like the Hansel and Gretel witch and Grendel? Worse, a diminishing of magic, a numbing of wonder, and a mundaning of fantasy may kick in the more disparate familiar characters are tossed together in a story, especially when, instead of fantastic effect, an author pushes page-turning action (as when the sisters ride on Aladdin's flying carpet--complete with a "kamikaze" dive, a car chase, and a moment when the rug "screeched to a halt"), and gives fantasy characters banal personalities and relationships (as when Beauty and the Beast bicker over being late for a ball), all of which is too much the case in The Fairy-Tale Detectives. The mystery genre itself is about solving rather than evoking mystery, and if fantasy characters are real, what happens to fantasy?

Kvetching aside, The Fairy-Tale Detectives is enjoyable. Although Buckley's writing mostly lacks poetry, magic, and wonder, it is exciting, funny, and vivid, and has some heightened moments, like when the sisters walk through the mirror, and some great lines, like "You would hug the devil if he gave you cookies," or "Who could tell what a woman who had swords hanging over her bed was capable of?" The sisters are spunky (if a little too snappy), loyal, vulnerable, and strong, and their growing realization that they may finally have found family and home is moving. Other characters like Relda Grimm and Mr. Canis (her lupine border, bodyguard, and friend) and Elvis (her 200-pound, slobber-tongued Great Dane) are appealing. I liked Puck, the 4,000 year-old self-proclaimed Fairy Prince and Trickster King who has decided to stay in the form of a twelve-year-old boy till the sun burns out. And Prince Charming makes a fine mayor: arrogant, snide, and power-hungry.

The reader L. J. Ganser's appealing voice and energetic manner are fine (especially for Sabrina and Daphne), with one exception: he's unconvincing and inconsistent with foreign accents like Relda Grimm's slight German one and Prince Charming and Jack the Giant Killer's thick English ones (especially when Jack says things like, "You can't keep a bloke like me down, can you? Nosiree-bob!").

Finally, although Catherynne Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland on a Ship of Her Own Making (2011) is more magical, being written with rich, poetic, and wonder-filled prose and peopled with characters of the author's own devising rather than with ones plucked from classic fantasy stories, kids must love The Fairy-Tale Detectives, and adults who like (sub)urban fantasy, everything-fairy-and-the-kitchen-sink stories, and exciting, funny, page-turning kids' books should like it too.

FINALLY!

I have enjoyed all of The Sister Grimm books. I am so excited for this audio series because we have FINALLY found a series my 8 year old son wants to listen to! We have tried many books including Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and The Spiderwick Chronicles and while I have enjoyed reading and listening to each one of them, my son has complained every time we start an audiobook. I am so happy that we found a series that an uninterested reader/listener is ASKING for. This series is wonderfully written and beautifully narrated. It is a must have for our family road trips!

Great Story Teller

At first I was somewhat critical as the story sounded like a blend of Harry Potter and the Unfortunate Events series, but as the story progressed I quickly came to realise that The Sisters Grimm is a great novel in its own right. I am planning to use this story in my classroom as I believe my 11year old students, both boys and girls, will love the plot and the characters.

Kids enjoyed this.

All three of my kids listen during our commute to school. Ages 9, 11 and 13. They all loved the book.

OK for kids

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This is for kids but not so much for adults who enjoy the YA for straightforward storytelling, fun and sense of wonder.

Has The Fairy-Tale Detectives turned you off from other books in this genre?

No.

Which character – as performed by L. J. Ganser – was your favorite?

The narration was fine but no one character wowed me.

Any additional comments?

There are a number of YA books I enjoy relaxing with (most recently Allen Steele's Apollo's Outcasts which is not currently at Audible but worth reading). Alas, The Fairy-Tale Detectives cute but not the sort of YA that worked for me but I think kids may like it.

A delightful, family freindly listen

I purchased this book on a whim, and as I listened to the first hour I realized that I thought my daughter might like it as well. SO I started over with her in the car, and wow was I correct. My daughter (5y) LOVED this book. Every time we got in the car she demanded that we listen to it. I myself found it very enjoyable as well. The plot/storyline is light and innocent and the "monsters" (for lack of a better term) are not too scary or loathsome, in fact they tend more to the comical than anything else. The world of Fairyport Landing (or is it Ferryport Landing?) is interesting. It is kind of a like a lighter, less gruesome version of ABC's "Once Upon a Time???s" Town of Storybrooke. It is fun to hear how some of our favorite fairy tale characters cope with life in Modern America, I actually laughed at Jack's (from Jack in the Beanstalk) day job.
Overall I would highly recommend this novel to those of you who are looking for something to listen to with young children, especially daughters.

My daughter liked it ...

and so did I. It was a great listen. My daughter doesn't usually like books narrated by a man, but she enjoyed this one. It is a fun premise, and a well written story.

Awesome

This book was amazing it was for kids and older kids 6-14 I really enjoyed it I would recommend it😁

Not for the children fairy story

I really enjoyed the novel take on the brothers Grimm stories. The story flowed well, and the characters are great. This is a good one to listen in the car. Very well narrated.