Free_dreamer's Reviews > Stiltskin

Robert's day couldn't be worse. The night before, his on-off girlfriend suddenly dumped him for good and couldn't even give him a reason why. The next morning, he gets fired, out of nowhere and for no apparent reason. To make matters worse, he leaves his umbrella at work on a rainy day. At home, his landlady complains about his wet shoes because they ruin the floor. The only thing that could possibly help now is a long, hot bath. But then a dwarf suddenly drops in Robert's beloved bathtub. From then on, everything goes rather neatly to hell for Robert.

"Stiltskin" doesn't take itself too seriously. That much becomes obvious as soon as you read the typical "praise for this book" by various stars and starlets. Miley Cyrus swears she'll never sit naked on a wrecking ball again because of this book and Angelina Jolie stopped saving the world one adopted child at a time just to enjoy this book. That's the first time I nearly fell off my chair thanks to Andrew Buckley's mean sense of humour.

I usually don't particularly enjoy funny books, so I was admittedly a little dubious whehter I would like this book, but I absolutely loved "Stiltskin". I downloaded the excerpt and just couldn't stop reading. It's definitely addicting. The plot takes countless unexpected twists and turns and I was hooked within minutes. It was full of suspense and utterly hilarious at the same time. "Stiltskin" is an insane book, full of crazy ideas, but I never felt like it was ridiculous.

I really enjoyed the world building. You get to meet well-known fairy tale characters such as Stiltskin and the Mad Hatter, but they don't quite behave the way fairy tales want to make us believe. Because what humanity doesn't know is that there are actually two worlds. "Othaside", the world we live in, and "Thiside", the world where so-called fairy tale characters live. Fairy tales are just made-up stories that are based on remarkable people from Thiside. That concept allowed the author to give his protagonists real depth and a unique background story.

To sum it up, "Stiltskin" is not your typical fairy tale. It's hilarious, insane and absolutely addicting. I enjoyed every single second of it and I can't wait to read the second part, especially with that completely unexpected twist at the end. Read it!