“What if the Blue Fairy wasn’t supposed to help Pinocchio?”

Yes, she’s beloved the world over for her compassionate heart and good deeds, but magic has rules and the Blue Fairy isn’t supposed to grant the wishes of those in her hometown of Pariva. 

But one night, she gives into what her heart says is right and grants the wish of the kind toy-maker. He has brought joy to the children of the town for decades, he should have the child he desires too. While she can’t grant full life, she can give Pinocchio a chance to prove he has a good heart so that he may become real. 

However, the Blue Fairy was caught in the act. Not by her superiors but by the Wish Fairies nemesis, the Heartless. The Scarlet Fairy that has been dodging the Blue Fairy and sowing discord wherever she steps. A nemesis all the more painful as the Scarlet Fairy used to have a heart, she was her sister. Now the Blue Fairy has a chance to bring her sister’s heart back. That is if she accepts the Scarlet Fairy bet.

If Pinocchio can become a good, unselfish boy than she’ll help him become real and take back her heart. If Pinocchio fails, the Blue Fairy will have to. . . .

Well, we have to go back forty years to understand how the Blue and Scarlet fairies have come to this twisted impasse.

Pariva is a tiny village amidst the hundreds in the Italian-inspired country of Esperia, but it’s quaint and it’s the beloved home of the Belmagio family. Chiara, the oldest has always been the helpful sort and especially in tuned to the needs of others. She loves nothing more to help someone feel joy and alleviate their sadness. Almost as much she loves her family which includes the aspiring prima donna Ilaria who is preparing for her audition for the Madrigal Conservatory. 

But fate has plans for them both when one sunny day, the sisters (and their brother) rescue a near-drowned Geppetto from a fiendish whale. It blooms a friendship and a potential relationship between the crush-struck Geppetto who shares Ilaria’s love for opera. It’s that fateful act that brings the Violet Fairy to Chiara and offers a place on the Wishing Star. To follow her destiny. 

Everyone in Pariva is thrilled but Ilaria who can’t bear the thought of her sister leaving and the more secret, bitter resentment that Chiara is getting the chance to become a fairy because she’s so good and worthy and perfect while everyone thinks Ilaria is selfish. Ilaria’s chance at stardom is uncertain while everything is falling in Chiara’s lap as usual. 

While Ilaria is the classic bad sister, more leaning toward selfishness and fame than goodness and just singing for the joy of it, it’s understandable. Even as we know someone deserves their good fortune and their dreams come true, we can’t help but wonder when it is our turn? When will get our opportunity to shine? Or is it all a fruitless dream? 

But our intentions matter and it’s clear that Chiara’s selfless heart and concern for others is a genuine desire, not some way to feel sanctimonious or stay the golden dream even as Ilaria’s hatred rises and twists her view of her sister. Chiara has her own lessons to learn as she learns the duties and rules of being a Wishing Fairy (including an encounter with the young Stromboli). Yet her heart torn between knowing what’s good for all and the sacrifices she’ll have to make to take her place among them. 

Chiara learns a lot about good and evil in her journey, and the complicated situation with her sister’s fall to heartlessness has her reconsidering whether it is as black and white as the rules make it seem. How can it be when her heart keeps telling her that she should keep reaching out to her sister? That there’s still good. 

While Lim does an excellent job in depicting Chiara’s conflicting desires, it’s clear that Ilaria overshadows her sister as her character’s journey and development is more interesting. Chiara never strays from good even when she breaks the rules so it makes Ilaria’s tragedy more interesting as the girl struggles with the temptations the Heartless offer her and the justifications she tells herself that she’ll be helping her village/family by achieving her dreams of fame while Chiara has turned her back on them by helping strangers.

Just like the original tale, the nuances between being a good person and the slippery slope toward the immoral path are highlighted in different situations and pay homage to its message. 

There’s also plenty about dreams and wishes, the fanciful nature, the courage it takes to follow them and that there is no easy solution as that of wishing on a star. Geppetto has a hefty part in the book as well even though he doesn’t knowingly encounter the fairies face to face.

He provides a very human heart radiating sweetness from his adorable crush on Ilaria to his silent support of her dreams and the radiant joy when he finally gets a son in Pinocchio. Lim’s extra characterization of him makes it even more heartwarming when his wish comes true and makes him the most lovable character. 

The bond between sisters is intense and Lim never lets up the thread of their unbreakable bond of love for each other even as Ilaria tries to push Chiara away. However, it does feel that Chiara is doing a lot of the work even back when they were both human and I wish we had more glimpses of the good Ilaria has deep deep down beyond the final turn. Most of the story is dedicated to their backstory so the part repeating Pinocchio’s tale only covers the last hundred or so pages. Fans of the movie might be disappointed, I was okay with it as we didn’t need a repeat of the whole thing. What was shown was given a different perspective, more of a behind the scenes of Chiara, Ilaria and Geppetto’s reactions and machinations influencing Pinocchio’s journey. 

Fans of this classic tale (which coincidentally coincides with Wish movie coming out this year celebrating said wishing star) will enjoy this backstory of one of Disney’s most beloved magical beings and all the joys of dreams, wishes and triumphs she went through-a human to a fairy, a puppet to a boy, and the families they love.