A novella with a mediocre retold fairy tale
I've always loved the idea of retold fairy tales, especially those with a modern twist. So the premise of "Once More Upon a Time" immediately appealed to me.
The main characters are King Ambrose and Queen Imelda, and joining the cast of good guys is an enchanted cloak that thinks it is a horse. The first part of the story is a play on the classic tale of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", with Imelda being one of the lesser known princesses. Imelda and Ambrose have just had a fairy tale wedding. But when Imelda is in danger of being poisoned, Ambrose accepts a deal from a witch: in exchange for her life, he must forget his love for her. Due to the terms of "Love's Keep" where they live, the entire kingdom is now at stake, and for one year they're resigned to living a loveless marriage. But can their love be rekindled?
Unfortunately the execution doesn't live up to the intriguing concept. For a relatively short work where the plot should be crystal clear, things get surprisingly confusing about the exact terms of the deal, and who is forgetting what, and why, and for how long. The style also disappoints. I've read part of Chokshi's popular Pandava Quintet, which was marred by trying too hard to be relevant to today's pop culture and at times used cheesy language. Similar flaws were evident in this work, and "Once More Upon a Time" gets incredibly cringeworthy at times. It's not helped by several instances of sexual innuendo and mature content that definitely put this outside the YA market and into adult territory.
What could have been an unique and engaging romantic fairy tale just fell very flat, and felt more confused than charmed. I won't be reading more from this author.
by EndersGame_Reviewer