Once Upon A Time - Bylo Nebylo (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
I’m a great fan of OUaT, the tv series, and when I discovered there was a book… well, I couldn’t keep myself from reading it. The idea of fairytale characters trapped into the real world is astonishing, I grew up with those fairytales and reading them in those circumstances is probably one of the best things I’ve ever done.The book covers pretty much everything in the first season of the show, it’s divided into three parts and it’s written in a way that made me feel the need to rewatch everything. Emma Swan is a young woman who has lost her parents and lives in Boston. Her life was pretty normal before a kid, Henry, knocked at her door claiming to be her child. When she was trying to get him back to his adoptive mother, he told her about Storybrooke: the town in which everyone is a Fairytale Character, even though no one knows. No one, except him… or is it? The adoptive mother (Regina) thought Emma was there to steal Henry and she does everything in her power to keep Emma away, without actually succeeding. The interactions between these two are great, they are both so scarred but they react in a very different way. After Emma’s arrival in Storybrooke, there’s a slight change in the city: she thinks it’s just a coincidence, but what if the curse is real and she’s the savior?Before reading this book, I didn’t like most of the characters: however, I changed my opinion about most of them, including Mr. Gold and Jefferson (I find them even more fascinating, now). The book is mainly focused on Emma and Snow, which makes it difficult for other characters to be explained in depth, however I really like how relationships have been represented (particularly the bond between Mary Margaret and Emma: as I’m not a big fan of Mary Margaret I always tried to avoid her, but I made a huge mistake. These two are awesome together. I still don’t like Mary Margaret, though) and how the author was able to give a personality to characters in not that much pages. I didn’t remember David being such an annoying person during the curse, or Mary Margaret being so sweet and innocent. The book is lovely, some of the fairytale characters stories are missing, some are explained by Henry in Storybrooke and some are explained in chapters set in Fairytale Land. Since I was actually looking forward to more Storybrooke than Fairytale Land, that didn’t bother me that much.As I read this after watching the series, I don’t know how it may feel for someone who hasn’t watched it yet: however, overall, I do recommend it. Reawakened (Once Upon A Time #1) goes into the Bingo Board category , a science fiction or fantasy novel. I decided to read this book because I was interested in the modern day spin it put on fairy tales we all knew and loved as children. It tells the story of what would happen if all the fairy tale characters we read about as children such as Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White and Prince Charming were forced to live in a modern day society. This novel did something that I've never seen be done before and I couldn't wait to start reading it. I rarely ever read fantasy books but I ended up loving this novel and it opened my mind up to try more books of the genre.“Once Upon a Time Reawakened “ tells the story of our beloved and fairy tale characters including the Evil Queen, Cinderella, Snow White and many others. These iconic characters all lived in a magical world called “Fairy Tale Land” until one day the Evil Queen alongside Rumpelstiltskin cast a wicked spell over the land that would transport these characters from the forest of Fairy Tale Land to a present day town in New England called Storybrooke. Before the spell was cast Prince Charming and Snow White place their new born baby daughter into a portal that transports her into the real world and she is the only citizen of Fairy Tale Land that did not end up in Storybrooke. Everyone from Fairy Tale Land lose all memories from their past in Fairy Tale Land and undertake new identities. Except of course for the two people responsible for the spell, the Evil Queen in the real world known as Regina who becomes the mayor of Storybrooke and Rumpelstiltskin who is known as Mr.Gold and is the wealthiest and most feared man in town. These two evil characters think they have succeeded in finally letting evil conquer good. That is until their dreams are shattered when Regina’s adopted son Henry goes on a quest to find his birth mother. Who just so happens to be the Emma, the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. Henry convinces Emma to take him back to Storybrooke where she ends up stays longer than expected. Henry believe that she is the “savior” the only one who can break the spell and make all the citizens of Storybrooke remember their lives in Fairy Tale Land. Henry has to first make Emma believe that this is more than just a figment of his imagination and the she truly is destined to be a hero.“People are going to tell you who you are your whole life. You just got to punch back and say, "no, this is who I am." You want people to look at you differently? Make them. You want to change things? You're going to have to go out there and change them yourself, because there are no fairy godmothers in this world.”-Emma Swan. In my opinion this was the most powerful quote in the novel. Society it always is telling us what we have to look and act like but it’s up t us to stand up for ourselves. In the end if you don’t believe in yourself no one else will we can keep waiting for a fairy god mother to show up and solve all our problems like she did with Cinderella. We have to try our best to create opportunities for ourselves because we are never going to get anything out of life if we don’t make an effort.I was surprised when reading this book that may favorite character did not end up being the snow white who was my favorite princess as a child or heroic prince charming. Surprisingly it ended up being the evil queen or Regina in the real world. The thing I love about this book was the plot twists and how it gave you a whole new perspective on classic fairy tale character. The Evil Queen we knew growing up was wicked we never got any explanation as to why she acted this way or what drove her to do this. All we knew is that she was someone that liked to get in the way of a happy ending. What I learned about the evil queen through this novel is that evil is not born its created. No one is born with this anger in their hearts and the urge to ruin other people’s lives there always something that makes them become this sinful person. In this case the evil queen was not always evil she was a kind beautiful young girl who even saved Snow White’s life when she was a child, and she never really wanted to become the kings wife and Snow White’s step mother it was all her evil mothers plan to become wealthy and well known. As a teenager the evil queen was in love with a humble farm boy who her mother brutally mother in order to carry out her plan of having her daughter been the queen of all the land. After losing the love of her life it was like the good inside her died and she became this evil person who had nothing to live for. The thing I mot liked about Regina was that she was never truly evil this is shown in the novel through her loving relationship with her adopted son Henry. In my opinion she only cast the spell in the first place to get rid of her reputation as the “evil” queen and have a chance to start over. It was fascinating have this new incite on the evil queen and it completely changed my perspective.
What do You think about Once Upon A Time - Bylo Nebylo (2014)?
I'm not sure about TV series turning into books but my inner fanboy insists on buying this so..
—Gina
So good :) i want more in this series like from different character prespectives please
—mag
I can try it, I suppose. But I don't think it'll be really good.
—tyglen
Warning: The TV show is so much better.
—Kathleen
