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Serendipity Market (2009)

by Penny Blubaugh(Favorite Author)

3.42 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0061468754 (ISBN13: 9780061468759)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

HarperTeen

review 1: It's a fun idea but it doesn't fly. The world is out of balance and stories need to be told to bring it back into balance. People are invited and gathered to tell their tales, all of which are aspects of fairy tales and folk tales. They're almost interesting enough to read, but the longer the book went, the more I found myself not caring. The tales dragged as there wasn't any way to see how they were setting the world right. Why create an intriguing frame for the stories and then do nothing with it? The stories were also trying too hard to "be in the voice" of the teller. I think this is part of why they dragged. And ... okay, I was really bugged with the Little Red Riding Hood story where the wolf is a predatory man and the way that the girl and her grandmother escape him... more is to say a protection spell. Because, you know, when someone is trying to rape you, if you say a protection spell, the man will just disappear and you'll be safe. Your scones will still be fine, too, so you can sit down and have tea. Yeah, it bothered me. So, the book doesn't work, though some of the concepts in the tales were fun.
review 2: At the end of the world there is a place which comes together whenever the world is out of balance and needs a little more magic. Serendipity Market by Penny Blubaugh is a book I never would have come across, except when I was stalking the Francesca Lia Block section and at the library Blubaugh was beside her and the compact hardcover looked mysterious and appealing. It's a series of retold faerie tales, connected by the fact that the person telling them is a part of the story, all gathered together at Serendipity Market so show that magic is everywhere. Many of them are stories I did not recognize, although a few like Little Red Riding Hood and the Princess and the Pea were.It's hard to pinpoint exactly what I didn't like about Serendipity Market. I think the biggest problem is that I just didn't care- and it wasn't even the enjoyable kind of not-caring like watching bad TV- it was just dull and unexciting. I kept trying to give it another chance, another story, and although I really hate giving up on books (even awful-awful ones, which this doesn't qualify as) in the end I wish I had. It simply wasn't worth my time. There were a few okay stories, I enjoyed The Elves and the Shoemaker, as well as the Little Red Riding Hood where the wolf was actually a bully, but mostly it is nothing I'd recommend. From the other reviews I've checked out, many people loved this book, but in this case it's appeal is something I just don't get. My favourite part of the book was probably what first drew me to it- it has a really nice cover. You can pick Serendipity Market up for yourself and find out what you think, but I would suggest a library copy and I certainly wouldn't go to the end of the world to find it. less

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