The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns is the second in Chris Colfer's children's book series. However, it's not nearly as enjoyable as the first one. The setting and characters are still enchanting, but the plotline seems a little repetitious. Once again our hero twins set off on a quest to gather magical objects that will allow them to cast magic to defeat the evil Enchantress. Additionally, this book suffers from too much of a tendency to show rather than tell; too many stretches where characters explain about something that happened rather than being shown it. Perhaps the novelty of the setting and characters carried the first book much further, and papered over inadequacies in writing style, but in this second installment it is not enough to cover up the recycled plotlines and the somewhat clunky narration.I'm not saying it isn't a fun read to pass a couple of hours - I do love the world Colfer has built - but I do feel that with better editing and perhaps a different emphasis on story lines it could have been so much better. I gave it 2.5 stars out of five.
