DNF Early Review – Frogkisser! By Garth Nix (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: February 28, 2017
ISBN-13: ISBN-13: 978-1338052084
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Amazon Vine for Review
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Poor Princess Anya. Forced to live with her evil stepmother’s new husband, her evil stepstepfather. Plagued with an unfortunate ability to break curses with a magic-assisted kiss. And forced to go on the run when her stepstepfather decides to make the kingdom entirely his own.

Aided by a loyal talking dog, a boy thief trapped in the body of a newt, and some extraordinarily mischievous wizards, Anya sets off on a Quest that, if she plays it right, will ultimately free her land-and teach her a thing or two about the use of power, the effectiveness of a well-placed pucker, and the finding of friends in places both high and low.”

I got this through the Amazon Vine program to review. This one was a DNF for me. I really like most of Garth Nix’s books and I generally enjoy these types of fairy tale stories, but I just could not get into this story. I read the first third of the book and was just struggling and I have soooo many other books to read, so I gave up.

That’s not to say this is an awful book; it’s decent and I think many people will enjoy it. I just couldn’t ever engage with the main heroine and I thought the plot and story were a bit goofy. I also think the way the kingdoms are parceled into small tiny kingdoms made the world-building seem a bit piecemeal and hard to follow.

Overall this is a cute and somewhat goofy little fairy tale type of story. I think many will enjoy it…it’s decently written. However I really struggled to stay engaged and had a lot of trouble with it holding my attention.