Lora Hates Spam

by Lily Fang

This is a slightly cringe-worthy story about Snow White and Rose Red as magicians sent to a rich kingdom to investigate the sleeping spell on Sleeping Beauty and find a cure.

To be fair, on the technical side, if I were an English teacher grading this on spelling, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure, I would have to give it an 'A'. My issue is with the characters and plot.

The character traits could have worked well in a YA story with original names. Rose Red is a skilled fighter and that appeals to a lot of YA readers. However, superimposed onto fairytale figures just doesn't work for me.

Similar with the plot, it might have worked without the fairytale connection, even with a nod to the sleeping spell on Aurora. For me, well, I wouldn't have finished it if I weren't reading it for a challenge.

It might work well for someone else. Those whose reading tastes run to Hunger Games and that sort of thing. It definitely wasn't for me.