Book Review: CLOAKED

Author: Alex Flinn
Number of Pages: 341
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: February 8, 2011

Johnny works in the shop his family has own for generations as a shoe-repairer. He has to work double shifts every day to keep most of the bills sort of payed. His life is at a standstill, and all he wants is some adventure. So when a Princess stays at the hotel where his shop is and asks him to complete a mission to save her brother- who has been turned into a frog by an evil witch- he jumps on the opportunity for a change in scenery. In this mash up of many fairy tales, Johnny embarks on an unusual quest that will keep readers on their toes.

I have seen many of Flinn's books- Cloaked, Beastly, and A Kiss in Time just to name a few- and I loved the idea of twisting classic fairy tales with the modern world as we know it today. When I checked out this book at my town library I originally thought that it was about Red Riding Hood, because she wears a cloak. However, the fairy tales that this novel references to aren't that common (at least, not for where I live), so I was confused quite a lot. There is an explanation in the back of the book that describes all of the fairy tales mentioned, but of course I didn't read this until after because it was in the very back.

As for the story itself, I thought it was lacking something. It seemed somewhat unorganized, though the twist at the end was very clever. It was an okay story, and I'll probably read another of Flinn's novels, but this won't be on my list of best-books-ever. Overall it was an okay read.

Rating: :0) :0) :0) 3 out of 5 smileys.

Would I recommend it to a friend?: Only if they enjoy reading fantasy. If they didn't, they probably wouldn't like this book very much.

Later,
Aceba