Liza Martini

With a refreshing twist on The Nutcracker, this tale touches with fairy tale vibes and brings more than a little magic to the season.

The original tale reflects clearly in this story, while still taking enough of an original weave to give it a bit of a Toy Story atmosphere...of course, set in modern day. The story begins at a market, where Carol and others are being sold on sale. The scenes soon leads to basement storage, where the Nutcracker comes in. From there, the tale unfolds with vivid world building and scenes to get lost in. The rich stories behind the characters make them easy to sympathize with and sets the stage for the growth each will experience during the adventure. There's tons of heart woven into the tale to create a read, which leads to more than a little thought.

The writing flows nicely and held some of the same feel as the original tale, while still edging enough toward the modern world to be familiar. It's steady paced and would even work well as a bedtime read (spread over more nights). It is a lovely read for the Holiday season, especially for fans of magical tales with adventure and heart.… (meer)