As the son of the criminal giant killer and thief, Jack isn’t expected to do anything heroic. Since he’s constantly messing up princess rescue class, he knows he won’t be able to do anything heroic in his life. He’s not bred for adventure no matter what his grandfather says. But then a princess falls out of the sky and it seems like destiny is calling for the most unlikely of heroes to help Princess May of someplace called Punk to rescue her kidnapped grandmother.

At least that’s how the tale is supposed to go, but in Riley’s twisty trilogy full of time jumps, betrayals and multiple interpretations, the side of good and evil isn’t clear and Jack’s heroism, May’s princess, and side character, Prince Philip’s nobless is going to be put to the ultimate test.

Or else everyone is going to die.

Okay, that makes the trilogy sound far too grimm. While it does go there, and isn’t afraid to execute the good guys, it is also filled with humor and cute totally-fighting-their-feelings banter between May and Jack, and sarcasm. So much sarcasm. Apparently, sarcasm is very valuable is fairytale worlds.

This was actually really hard since I feel like the writing is consistant throughout.

1. Half Upon a Time: This one gets top spot. I know, it’s rare for the first books to get top spot in my rankings but nostalgia is partially blinding me. This book was a graduation gift from my fifth grade teacher and got me into the fractured fairytale genre, so there’s that. But also it’s just so much fun with the double use of characters, the twist ending that makes so much sense in hindsight, the affectionate teasing in predictable fairytale archtypes and of course, sarcasm.
2. Once Upon the End: The ending blows you away with each cliffhanger, jumping between four different POVs and manages to skillfully weave in the multiverse, dream dimensions and time travelling without too much of a headache as the kids fufill the prophacy, learn their origins, and their happily ever after destinies. Even though it was a close save for most of it. It was a truly satisfying ending.
3. Twice Upon a Time: Pirates, walking sharks, Blackbeard and forty year olds wearing kids clothes. This may be the most horrifying yet convuluted book yet in the best way. Riley introduces new morally grey antagonists and dangers for the teens to face besides their internal struggles as May tries her best to cap her anger and grief over her grandmother’s real identity; and the boys worry about their futures in the prophacy. They have a pretty good idea of who’s going to betray May and who’s going to die, and Jack’s connection to the Charmed One’s sword seems to be a sure bet that he’ll end up in the Eye. He doesn’t want to, but he also can’t let go of that sword, and the nagging feeling that he could use it to help them somehow.