I'll freely admit I have no love for the original Jack and the Beanstalk tale. It bothered me that Jack could be so thoughtless when he knew so much was at stake. Plus I felt it taught a bad moral lesson; do irresponsible things and things turn out better! However I'm a big fan of the Simon and Schuster line of "Once Upon a Time" novels, and Cameron Dokey as an author in specific, so I was content to read this novel.

I wouldn't say The World Above blew me away, or made me rethink how I felt about the original tale, but I enjoyed Dokey 's interpretation of the events. Told through the eyes, and practical nature, of Jack's twin sister Gen, we learn the 'truth' behind the fairy tale. Jack isn't much different from his normal self; still flighty, still a day dreamer, still thinking of the next big thing instead of mundane matters. Gen is the practical one, the one who plans and lists and strives to keep the family together through all their hardships. Along the path of the novel the two learn to compromise their extreme bi-polarity in natures, but in the end its Gen's practical, planning side that wins the day.

Mixed in with the Jack and the Beanstalk tale is also pieces of Robin Hood's legend. He has his merry band, he lives in the forest and robs from the rich to give to the poor. I thought this was a nice touch, gave Gen's love interest something other then being that guy who you think the worse of at first. The scenes in the forest are some of my favorite I think for this reason. Robin's interactions with his 'people' are charismatic, firm and tinged with hope. He doesn't lie to them or lead them falsely.

My only complaint is that the characters as a whole felt shallow. Shannon and Sean are compassionate people, who try their best to keep the people's spirits alive as their father did, but very little is said beyond this. Perhaps because of the small nature of the novel (just over 200 pages), this is the reason, but I would have liked to know more about Duke Guy--for such a ruthless, cut throat man he caves awfully quickly. I can't believe 16 years changed him from a blood thirsty, power hungry usurper to a terrified old man easily bested by a slip of a girl.

Still, this version of the tale is the version I want to believe. I don't want to believe that Jack is as careless as the original tale would have us believe after all. ( )

I realized going into this that The World Above is intended to be a light, fluffy read for young teens. The entire Once Upon A Time series is all made up of fairy tale books retold in a literary manner within a relatively sanitary and safe fairy tale world. Even knowing all this I still took issue with the book because, well, it’s boring.

In The World Above Jack has a twin sister who is the main character of the book. All of the Once Upon A Time books have a female protagonist. Following things from her point of view proves… dull. Jack leaves on the adventure while Gen, the sensible one, stays at home. Weeks pass where Jack climbs a beanstalk, meets a giant and his beautiful normal sized sister, discovers the charged political environment of a different magical world, and brings back a magical goose and sack. But we are not following Jack, we are following Gen. So while all of that is going on “off camera” we are told in great detail about Gen’s adventures cooking, cleaning, sewing, gardening, and making lists for next years harvest. This proves to contain all of the adventure and excitement one expects from watching paint dry.

But wait, it gets worse. When Jack leaves a second time to attempt to gain the harp from the evil king who killed Jack and Gen's father he doesn't return. Gen must go on an adventure herself. She climbs her own beanstalk and immediately meets the giant's beautiful sister. Her brother the giant left with Jack to get the harp and they have both been missing for weeks. So the girls set off together on an adventure and things risk becoming exciting. Thankfully we dodge this bullet as the girls are captured by, wait for it, Robin and his band of merry men.

Well, it's not really Robin, but its an excellent attempt to mash up the fairy tale and the legend. It's actually Robert the evil king's son who has changed his name to Robin because no one will suspect he is the king's son with a different name, amirite? He then ran away to hide in the woods and now steals money from the rich to give to the poor. He also, by the way, takes over Gen's little adventure and runs things from here on out. The book makes painfully careful attempts to not be sexist in either word or thought but the actions scream it at every turn.

I won't spoil the ending but it actually does manage to get even worse from here. The ending itself manages to make the entire lead up to it seem like over reaction and needless melodrama, pain, and suffering. It's really, really bad. Even the epilogue after it that attempts to wrap up the plot holes still manages to miss a few.

That being said, If I was in elementary school, or maybe even middle school, this book would have rocked my world. For a teen book it really seems to me to be more written at that level. For younger, reluctant readers who are into fairy tales this series will probably work out well. For me though there is a difference between keeping it light and safe for the helicopter parents out there and boring the kid out of their mind with a story too shy and careful to liven up the pages. ( )