Spelled is like Percy Jackson meets Once Upon a Time, with the base story being that of Dorthea, a princess in the Emerald kindgom and a lot of elements of the Wizard of Oz, but having many other fairytales thrown in. To avoid an arranged marriage, Dorthea makes a wish that breaks the rules of story and magic, and puts her world in chaos. To undo it, she has to go with her unwanted fiance (who has been spelled into a chimaera), and a kitchen girl to get over a rainbow and break the spell. Along the way, she is being chased by the Gray Witch, comes across a Black Crow witch who loves hot pink, fights off some demon puppies, constantly is kidnapped, and drugged, and finally has to decide if she will let the power inside her dictate her life.
The story has a lot of parts to get into her, so I'll just leave it at the fact that it is entertaining for the most part, with constant puns about fairytale things, like UPS being United Pegasus Services, there being a munchkin band called The Wrong Direction, and chapters being preceded by 'excerpts' from the memoirs/interviews of various fairytale characters, as well as a Fairytale Survival Guide. It plays with many tropes, but displays others, and has a pact-faced adventure theme to it. However, a lot of the story parts also seem coincidental or just there for the humor. As a middle grade novel, this works pretty well, but on a YA level, it feels like there is not enough. Character development is barely given much concern and the romance also feels underdeveloped. There are also some things rushed in the ending, especially concerning the epilogue because I refuse to believe they forgot such a major part of their quest!
Overall, an entertaining start to the series, and a good spin on the fairytale retelling genre, but it had the potential to be much more.
