Book Review: The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

The Grimm Legacy

Polly Shulman

Publication Date: July 8th 2010

Publisher: Putnam Juvenile

Pages: 325

Genre:  Fairytale, Urban-Fantasy, Contemporary

Elizabeth has a new job at an unusual library— a lending library of objects, not books. In a secret room in the basement lies the Grimm Collection. That's where the librarians lock away powerful items straight out of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales: seven-league boots, a table that produces a feast at the blink of an eye, Snow White's stepmother's sinister mirror that talks in riddles.

When the magical objects start to disappear, Elizabeth embarks on a dangerous quest to catch the thief before she can be accused of the crime—or captured by the thief.

Polly Shulman has created a contemporary fantasy with a fascinating setting and premise, starring an ordinary girl whose after-school job is far from ordinary— and leads to a world of excitement, romance and magical intrigue.

I love, love, love loved the idea of this book. It reminded me a lot of the Syfy Channel show "Warehouse 13" yet all fairytale related and full of interesting characters and a very interesting idea.

Elizabeth ends up with a part time job at a place that is sorta like a library, but instead of just books, it is a variety of items that one can check out and study or even borrow for a few days. At first it seems pretty ordinary but she keeps hearing about the Basement which includes the very mysterious Grimm Collection.

What if the things that happened in fairytales had been real? What if the items that had inspired them, like the tattered slippers of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, still existed? That's the idea that this book explores.

Of course such items are just so awesome they are hard to resist.

Schulman weaves an adventure tale in which the teenagers working at the Repository have to take care of the danger themselves. They don't get along, there are issues galore, but they know they must prevail. I enjoyed the style of writing a lot, it was very engaging. The characters were somewhat simple, but also enjoyable, and I did like the romance.

As soon as he tried to get the box from Elizabeth, I knew that that man was the villain (ah yes my memory of names is fantastic, isn't it?). I did love the whole mystery aspect that was going on. SOMETHING is happening, but what we are not so sure.

On top of that I really liked the extra fact that Marc and Anjali were really descended from royalty and thus targets of the crazy patron who enjoys collecting royalty in the form of dolls, which brings me to the fact that I kind of adored the villains, they were both ridiculous and scary at the same time. When the man I cannot remember the name of tried turning the kids into gingerbread men, yet so obviously cursed about this in front of the when it didn't work, I couldn't help but giggle, even though I knew he was really dangerous. On the other hand with the woman and her matter of factly talk of not wanting Elizabeth or Aaron because they were most certainly not royalty also amused me greatly.

The Grimm Legacy is a great take on fairytales that isn't set in a fantastical kingdom or anything of that vibe. I really hope that more books are to come in this world, because it really is ripe for more adventures.

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