REVIEW – Far Far Away by Tom McNeal

Title – Far Far Away
Author – Tom McNeal
Publication date – June 11^th 2013 (according to Goodreads)
Genre – Fantasy/Fairy Tales
Rating – ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Just a quick review as I am currently participating in Bout of Books 11.0 so I’m sorry for any grammar/spelling mistakes!

It says quite a lot about Jeremy Johnson Johnson that the strangest thing about him isn’t even the fact his mother and father both had the same last name. Jeremy once admitted he’s able to hear voices, and the townspeople of Never Better have treated him like an outsider since. After his mother left, his father became a recluse, and it’s been up to Jeremy to support the family. But it hasn’t been up to Jeremy alone. The truth is, Jeremy can hear voices. Or, specifically, one voice: the voice of the ghost of Jacob Grimm, one half of the infamous writing duo, The Brothers Grimm.

Jacob watches over Jeremy, protecting him from an unknown dark evil whispered about in the space between this world and the next. But when the provocative local girl Ginger Boultinghouse takes an interest in Jeremy (and his unique abilities), a grim chain of events is put into motion. And as anyone familiar with the Grimm Brothers know, not all fairy tales have happy endings…
– Goodreads desciption

Note – I received this book on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a light, easy, fantasy read which is exactly what I needed to get me out of this reading slump which I’ve been in.

The book focuses on Jeremy, a boy who has the ability to hear ghosts, and Jacob Grimm, one half of The Brothers Grimm (now a ghost) who has decided it is his job to look after and protect Jeremy. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Jacob and Jeremy as their relationship was really sweet, Jacob cared for Jeremy when his father was unable to do so and became one of the few friends that he had. I liked learning about Jacobs past via flashbacks and stories that he tells to Jeremy, it was really interesting and entertaining.

Jeremy later becomes friends with Ginger, who is probably my favourite characters in the book, and she slowly draws Jeremy out of his shell which leads to later events in the book. I thought that their friendship was really sweet and realistic and I liked their how their relationship developed throughout the book.

Overall, this book is really enjoyable and the fairytale aspect was really fun to read about but one problem I had with it was that some of the background storylines seemed to trail off and lead nowhere and were left unresolved and I had hoped to learn more about some of the other characters. Also I found that the ‘plot twist’ at the end wasn’t as shocking as I thought it should be, though I did enjoy it.

I’d definitely recommend checking this book out if you’re looking for a fun fantasy read!