Fairy tales are naturally non-mathematical. That is a fact, and fifteen-year-old Lily Sparrow loves factual, mathematical logic. So when her mother confesses that Lily’s deceased father is (a) not dead, (b) coming to dinner, and (c) the ruler of a fairy tale kingdom accessible through the upstairs bathtub, Lily clings to her math to help her make sense of this new double life (1 life in the real world + 1 secret life in the fairy tale world = a double life). Even though it’s not mathematical, Lily finds herself being pulled into a mystery involving an unhappy Cinderella, a greasy sycophant called Levi, and a slew of vanishing fairy tale characters. Racing against the clock, with a sound mathematical plan, can Lily save her fairy tale friends before they vanish forever?
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**My thoughts**
When I first started this book, I was a bit overwhelmed by Lily. She has an obsessive need to turn absolutely everything into math. I appreciate the logic and was originally a math major in college. But it did make a bit of the storytelling awkward at first.
But then very quickly I got drawn into the story when she finds out that she is actually a princess, her father is actually alive, and her entire life up until now has been a lie. She now has to spend part of her time in this fantasy world, learning how to become its princess. It's amusing because she's constantly trying to rationalize things - which is understandable because math you can control and she is losing control of her life - but you can't rationalize magic. Her lack of fairy tale knowledge is appalling. And yet it makes sense - if you're more interested in math and logic, you're not going to pay as much attention to the fantasy.
I was amused by meeting all of these characters from familiar stories and seeing a different side of them. It's like Smythe (my shortened name for it) is a parallel universe to the fairy tale world. And many of the supporting characters in Lily's kingdom are also amusing.
I also felt like I learned a lot about happiness and friendship and things like that, but on a different level. Lily, of course, also learns a lot.
The book is quite long, but if you can handle reading through a Harry Potter, you can handle reading one this long. There are a ton of footnotes throughout where Lily explains her mathematical equations and whatnot. I admit that I didn't read very many of them. I have a hard time doing that in a paperback, let alone all of the clicking on a Kindle. But I also understood the math terms.
I fell in love with Lily in this book and am looking forward to continuing her adventures.
Thank you to the author and Prism Book Tours for providing me with a requested review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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