Losing the Plot by Annaleise Byrd

Title: Losing the Plot

Author: Annaleise Byrd

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Walker Books Australia

Published: 6^th March 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 144

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: A tremendous whooshing noise started up. It sounded like a million pages being riffled at once. I caught a strong whiff of gingerbread. Then The Complete Fairytales of the Brothers Grimm flew open and a human-shaped blur came shooting out …

Basil Beedon and Terry Clegg are neighbours, and that’s all they have in common. Terry loves sport and Basil loves books – but to Basil’s absolute dismay, he’s been roped into helping Terry with his reading. Every. Single. Saturday. However, that’s the least of his worries when Gretel comes shooting out of The Complete Fairytales of the Brothers Grimm. The boys are plunged into a dangerous world run by the Fairytale Alliance Network of Character Yunions (FANCY), where not everyone is what they seem, Hansel has been kidnapped and a plot hole threatens to destroy everything.

Witty, clever, with adventure at every turn, this is a fractured fairytale in a very surprising, Grimm world.

~*~

Basil Beedon loves to read, and his neighbour, Terry Clegg prefers to play sports – the only thing they have in common is how close their houses are. So, when Basil’s dad ropes him into helping Terry with his reading every Saturday, Basil is not happy.

But then, whilst reading a fairy tale book, Gretel from Hansel and Gretel flies out – Hansel is missing and there are plot holes in the fairy tales. With the Yunions in a panic as each FANCY – Fairytale Alliance Character Network Yunion is called to deal with the plot holes and everything that is going on, and Herr Korbes is determined to get rid of Terry and Basil. Yet, Gretel doesn’t want to be sent to Deep Trouble – she wants to find Hansel, fix the plot holes and get the fairy tale world back on track with their help. Thus, their adventure begins.

From solving riddles, to travelling between fairy tales, and meeting well-known fairy tale characters like Rumplestiltskin, and seeing how the fairy is divided into Yunions:

• WAS FANCY – Witches And Stepmothers Fairytale Alliance Character Network Yunion
• ACT FANCY – Artful Conmen and Troublemakers Fairytale Alliance Character Network Yunion
• SUPER FANCY – Stereotypically Unempowered Princesses and Extraneous Royalty Fairytale Alliance Character Network Yunion
• VAUGUELY FANCY – Various Assorted Generic Unnamed Extras of Limited Yuse Fairytale Alliance Character Network Yunion
• MOST FANCY – Morally Outstanding Stars of the Tale Fairytale Alliance Character Network Yunion

Gretel is a MOST FANCY, in breach of SLIP and SLIDE – Safety Laws of Interworld Portals and Secrecy Laws of Interworld Demystification Experiences! Gasp! But there is much more going on than that, and Gretel is given the chance to prove she’s up to the task and is doing what she can to find Hansel and get their story back on track. The fairy tale world operates within their own rules – where the characters seem to live in a kind of limbo unless their story is being read or used, and they act out the story exactly as it happened every time – with no hint as to what comes after the end.

Everyone knows fairy tales in some way or another – whether it is from Disney and their sanitised versions, Shrek and its take on the traditions and inverting some of the roles, various retellings or abridged versions for all ages, or like me, the dark and gritty originals that have always been around my house and that I studied at university. Whichever way people have come across fairy tales, they will at least know the key characters such as:

• Hansel and Gretel
• Snow White
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty
• Cinderella
• Rumplestiltskin
• Rapunzel
• Mother Gothel

And other generic characters like witches and stepmothers, princes and others who were not named in the originals and in many cases have maintained their generic and vague characteristics that give them their names – a bit of an in-joke with this book because it captures the essence of fairy tales and turns them on its head. Gretel is more than what she appears on the page – she’s gutsy, not at all teary, and doesn’t fear telling Basil and Terry what to do. I liked this version of Gretel – she was lots of fun and I found this to be an interesting take on fairy tale retellings and portal world books and told an effective, entertaining, and intriguing story that is the start of a series. It seemed to have everything – good guys, bad guys, guys in between who are neither good nor bad, and followed the traditional model of a fairy tale to tell the story that is lots of fun, and will be the kind of book and series that readers will gobble up like the witch’s gingerbread house (make sure she doesn’t smell you), and eagerly await the next book in the series.

As someone who has studied fairy tales and has read many fairy tale retellings, it is interesting to see how people interpret or use fairy tales, and what fairy tales they choose. Some are more common than others – there can be more retellings of Briar Rose or Snow White than The Singing, Springing Lark or Hansel and Gretel, yet this book does reference a few lesser-known fairy tales – and it will be interesting to see if Annaleise explores some of these across the series – many editions of the Collected Works of the Brothers Grimm have about 200 fairy tales to explore! This is such a fun book – one that I gravitated towards because I love middle grade, love reading, and love fairy tales. It also tells us about the stories we know well, and shows us that they have much more depth than we see on the page or in the Disney movies. It is there, we just have to dig for it or imagine what is there. There was something magical about it as well – the fact that it celebrated reading and friendship, and coming together despite different interests. It made for a fun, fast paced adventure in the fairy tale world. It has something for everyone who reads it, and wasn’t scary at all – it is perfect for readers seeking some adventure and a different story without being too scared or anxious, and with some clever puzzles hidden throughout that the characters have to solve. I had lots of fun reading this book and I am looking forward to the next one.