Georgia Kostopoulou
The Sisters Grimm is a book about elemental magic in today’s world, about struggles with everyday life and about sisterhood. This is a fresh and new story not a retelling of any of Brother Grimm’s stories, if that’s what you had in mind. Menna van Praag has created a whole new story about Everwhere, a safe place not everyone can go, but only magical creatures. But remember my sisters, Everywhere sill not always be safe!
Goldie, Scarlet, Lyana and Bea don’t know each other, until one night, during their dreams, they meet in Everwhere. Everwhere is a place that Sisters Grimm and enter whenever they like and always at night. Misty fog covers everything and the falling white leafs don’t come from the trees. Everything is rather pale, as the ivy that covers every inch of it. There are also rivers and lakes and so many trees as far as the eye can see. In its paleness, it is as beautiful as a snow bowl.
They are Sisters Grimm and they find that even though in real life, in Earth, they don’t have a sister, they all love their Sisters Grimm. Almost every night they meet at Everwhere and they learn what they can do with their powers. For their powers are so strong in Everwhere. Goldie has the element of earth as she manipulates plants and gives life, Lyana has the element of water and controls rain and rivers, Scarlet has fire and electricity sparks at her fingertips and Bea has air and she can fly, and until the age of twelve, they play with the elements in Everwhere, while they still can. Because on the night of their eighteenth birthday, they get to meet their father Wilhelm Grimm if they first survive his soldiers.There had to be a catch somewhere! Oh and then they have to decide between good and evil for eternity! Pretty simple and clear! Only that the Sisters don’t know what’s coming!
This story is told from many point of views. On each chapter we get the point of view of more than one sister, though the new view is marked by the time and the sister’s name before it begins. Sometimes we even get the point of view of one of the soldiers! And this is what makes it interesting as with the multiple point of views, if you don’t get confused, you really get to know all the main characters and in this case we have four sisters and a soldier. Apart from the characters, you also get to know a lot about the world and the rules of Everwhere, which makes sense, since as a reader, sometimes you may know more than one of the Sisters. I really rooted for Goldie right from the beginning! She is a Sister that has truly been through a lot!
The story is also told in different timelines. One timeline is in the present, where we get to know more of the current status of each Sister, how they are copping with their lives and what problems they face. The other one is around ten years ago, when they were 8 years old or so, the year they met each other. In the past timeline we learn a lot about their nature and their powers as well as about Everwhere.
I really enjoyed the story of The Sisters Grimm! I liked the world they lived in. One of my favorite parts is their sisterhood and also their human weakness, which is something we should never forget, but we should keep it in mind in over to not forget who we are and be able to overcome obstacles!
