The Inside Story (The Sisters Grimm, #8) by Michael Buckley

The Inside Story (The Sisters Grimm, #8) Reviews

• 
  Charisse

  Ok, I have only one word to say about this book: Outstanding. First, there are a lot of suspense and thrilling moments between the main characters and their journey inside the Book of Everafter. Second, if you’re a Puckabrina lover, it’ll totally satisfy you! There are a bunch of Puckabrina moments in here that’ll make up for the slow torture it gave you from the past books! Though, I must say how Puckabrina ended in this book, is slightly disappointing. But still, it’s a good thing that Sabrina Grimm finally admitted Puck’s her first crush and kiss! XD But still… **sighs** they decided that they should change the future of them getting married to each other. Third, it’s very fun how they messed up each fairytale they got transported into. And every character fearing the Editor and the “revisers” and eventually ending up in their library and meeting them personally.
  Out of all the fairy tales they ‘messed up’, my favourites will be The Wonderful World of Oz and Snow White. The Wonderful World of Oz for it’s so hilarious and humorous! Sabrina and Daphne kept doing things on the other way around like leaving the scarecrow, Tin Man and even making the Cowardly Lion unconscious! And when they were in front of the castle, they didn’t know how to get through and suddenly saw the three characters standing behind them, looking mad. Hahaha! :P My favorite part on that fairytale was when they met the Wicked Witch of the West and then Daphne/Dorothy doesn’t want to throw the pail of water to her. But the Witch begged and eventually, she just threw the bucket on her head and melted into a puddle. I remember the Editor said he doesn’t remember the Witch begging Dorothy to kill her! XD XD XD
  On Snow White, well that was where they finally meet Mirror for the second time and saved their baby brother, Basil Grimm. But that’s not the reason why I love it. It’s because… **squeals like a fan girl** **takes a deep breath** ok… **takes another deep breath** It’s because… **squeals again** Sabrina kissed Puck!!! . There I said it. She did that for Puck ate the poisonous apple the Wicked Queen gave Snow White! . So yeah, true love kiss can only wake him up.
  Want to know the ending? The Grimms saved their baby brother but Mirror possessed Granny Relda instead and fled from the story to the real world with Atticus, William’s evil brother, following after him. They went back to the real world and that was where Sabrina kissed Puck and he woke up. The two talked about their future and Sabrina explained that they’ll change it- which means they’ll try to not end up getting married! After that, Sabrina finally admitted she likes Puck and started planning to defeat Mirror first. The last scene was Daphne saying they needed to seek help with Baba Yaga.
  For Puckabrina fans, here’s an excerpt from the scene where Sabrina kissed Puck and talked about their future:
  “Well?” Daphne said to Sabrina.
  “Well what?”
  “Are you going to wake Puck up?”
  “We tried,” Sabrina said. “He ate part of a poisoned apple.”
  “Did you kiss him?”
  Sabrina wasn’t sure she heard her sister correctly.
  “What?”
  “You have to kiss him. He needs the kiss of someone who loves him.”
  “Absolutely not!” Henry shouted.
  “It has to be a romantic kiss too,” Daphne added slyly. “Listen, he’s asleep, and if anyone knows about that spell it’s the Grimm family. If there is even the teensiest chance that you love Puck, you have to kiss him.”
  “There’s no chance at all!” Sabrina said, wracking her brain for a really great excuse. “I don’t love him. It won’t work.”
  “Then he’ll sleep forever,” Daphne said.
  Sabrina looked at Puck. He was smelly, rude, mean, selfish, stupid, and immature. He wasn’t the kind of boy that girls fell in love with. He was the kind of boy you stayed fifty yards from at all times. Kissing him wouldn’t wake him up, but if everyone was going to pressure her, what else could she do? She’d kiss him and mentally reminded herself to brush, floss, and gargle the first chance she got. She looked to her father, who seemed physically ill, while her mother smiled reassuringly. Daphne rolled her eyes. “Geez, enough with the buildup. Just do it.”
  Sabrina leaned in and pressed her lips to Puck’s. There was a little static shock that startled her and she stepped back with her hands on her mouth.
  “Oh!” It hadn’t hurt. It was just… surprising.
  Puck’s eyes flickered open and he looked around. “So, what did I miss?’
  The family spent the rest of the day retrieving what little was left intact in the house. Even Pinocchio helped, albeit reluctantly. Most of the time he groused about “child labor laws” and “indentured servitude.” It gave Sabrina and Puck time to be alone. They sat in the yard and looked over the house for a while in silence.
  Finally, Puck spoke. “Let’s not change.”
  “Huh?”
  “The insults. The pranks. Let’s not change.”
  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
  “Someday you and I are getting married.” Puck sighed, as if terribly depressed. “The cruel hand of fate will not allow us to escape it. Worse, my own body is betraying me. I’m getting older every day. So, in essence, we are up the river without a paddle. If we have to get married and have a million babies, I hope our relationship will be built on mutual disgust and an endless barrage of ridicule and insults. It feels like the only thing I can count on right now. I don’t want something dumb like respect and affection getting in the way.”
  Sabrina laughed. “OK, on the outside chance that you and I do getting married, I promise to insult you all day long. But you do realize there’s a very good chance that you and I won’t get married.”
  “That’s not what you told me. You said you went to the future and we were married,” Puck said. “We can’t escape fate.”
  “We didn’t see the future. We saw a future,” Sabrina said. “The world we saw was terrible. The Master was in control of everything. Dragons hunted people. Human beings were refugees. When we got back to our time, Daphne and I started doing everything we could to prevent that from happening. And we have managed to change some stuff. For instance, Snow White was dead in the future but we saved her life. Daphne had a horrible scar on her face but we fixed that, too. There have been countless other things we stopped from happening. We may have altered the future so much that you and I don’t get married.”
  Puck sat back, deep in thought. “So, you and I might not get married and have to do all that mushy stuff and have kids buy a house and get a mortgage? I might not have to get a job or take baths or take up reading?”
  Sabrina shook her head. “If we rescue Granny Relda and stop Mirror for good, we could probably change it all.”
  “Great! Let’s kick Mirror’s butt,” he said.
  Sabrina smiled at the joke but down deep it hurt a little. Not that she wanted her whole life planned out for her when she was only twelve years old. She wanted there to be mysteries about the life she might lead and the loves she might find along the way, and she didn’t want fate telling her whom she was supposed to be with. Still, Puck was special to her. He was her first kiss; her first crush.
  There was no use denying it anymore. Poisoned apples had spilled the beans.
  “Thank you, Sabrina Grimm.”
  “For what?”
  “Don’t torture me! I won’t say it out loud. Just… you know, in four thousand years no one has felt… Oh, just forget it!” he said. He took a strong whiff of the air. “Geez, Grimm. You’re rank.”
  Then he walked away.
  That’s all!  Over all, I really enjoyed the book and can’t wait for the last one! XD
• 
  Melissa

  The 8th book of the series and I feel like none of the characters have developed beyond what they were in the first book with the exception of Daphne. Sabrina's character and attitude have really moved these books from what could have been a great series to just an ok book to me.
  
  This book had a lot going on without there really being a lot actually happening or the story progressing to any degree. I loved the character of the Editor, I'm sure there are a lot of writers and editors who feel like he did.
  
  Just not overly impressed with this book, but I think that my daughter would enjoy it so I would probably recommend it for 7-10 year olds.
• 
  Mara

  I've found this series funny and one of the cleverest "retellings" I've read in a long time. Most of the characters are annoying, especially Sabrina, but if you are a fan of fairy tales and like to read comedies based on them, then you can ignore these annoyances. Daphne is awesome, and Sabrina does get a little better after . . . five or six books. And the series definitely keeps you guessing once the main plot is introduced (which doesn't take long). That said, let us turn our attention to Book Eight.
  
  I didn't hold too much hope for this one. Eight books is a lot, and authors can make fun of fairy tales for only so long. After reading Book Seven - The Everafter War - I was a little tired of them and dearly wishing Michael Buckley would stop, even though I was greatly impressed with Book Seven's twisty and unexpected ending. Who would have ever guessed that he would turn out to be the Master? I'm glad it took Mr. Buckley a year to write The Inside Story, otherwise I might have found this one tedious. But the rest did my perspective good, and even so there is no denying that this one was entertaining.
  
  As an author, I view characters in a much different manner than your day-to-day bookworm. They can be, and usually are, as real to me as any friend. They have their personalities, desires, bad days, and undying loyalty (or clever evilness, depending on what sort of character they are). An author may think they control their characters' fates, but meddle with their wishes too much and the characters may rebel. It is because of this that I found the situations involving the Editor and the characters in the Book of Everafter so hilarious and rather relateable (in a sense). The Editor thought he controlled the characters; he revised and revised as much as he wanted in order to keep the stories on track, but in the end some of the characters rebel and he has a hard time of keeping them from killing him. In reality, rebellious characters won't kill you (not usually), but they will leave your service, giving you nothing but an empty shell with their name. And trust me - readers notice when this happens.
  
  Over all, this was a fun adventure - following Sabrina and Daphne through various familiar fairy tales and seeing how they messed them up. A safe "what-if" scenario. I particularly liked what Michael Buckley did with the Snow White story. He introduces a concept that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs wasn't always like it is now; that it was once a very dark, depressing, and dramatic story that was too dangerous to be kept that way, and it had to be revised. But the dangerous element could not simply be wiped away - it is still out there, desiring to be free.
  
  Fans of the The Sisters Grimm won't be disappointed. Especially with the hilarious situation between Puck and Sabrina, and the surprising end (though not nearly as surprising as The Everafter War). My only hope is that Michael Buckley will not drag this series out to a point where people just get sick to the teeth of it and quit. Buckley can get by with at least one more installment - possibly two more, but it will be stretching it. Any more and he will be hitting the dangerous zone.
  
• 
  Melissa

  It has been a while since I read book 7 in this series, so I was worried that I wouldn’t remember what was going on. The author does a good job reminding the reader.
  Sabrina Grimm, Daphne Grimm, and Puck are chasing Mirror through the Book of Everafter trying to rescue their baby brother. During their travels they meet The Editor and his Revisers. Whenever something is changed in one of the stories, the Editor sends out his Revisers to fix it. They are not pleasant creatures either. They eat everything.
  This children’s adventure series is a fun quick read. The way Sabrina and Daphne interacted with the characters in Everafter is often funny and Puck adds an interesting element to the story. The ending doesn’t go quite as planned for the Grimm family, but it should make for a great series finale. I’m looking forward to reading the last book, The Council of Mirrors.
  
• 
  Jude: The Epic Reader

  Not completely happy about being away from the major group but Pucks with us the entire time so that's great. He's so funny, particularly in this one. Why is the 'romance' in middle grade so cute and funny? This is why I love a little love plot in my younger books.
  
  The actual plot of this book was slightly confusing to understand at first but overall it was fun to see more stories up and close.
• 
  Dinnu Reads Books

  This story was a crazy ride and I had a lot of fun! I especially enjoyed Sabrina’s and Puck’s banter, they are weirdly a very shippable pairing….😂
• 
  Lynn

  In my humble opinion everyone should read Michael Buckley's Sisters Grimm series. It is just that good.
  
  Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck have leapt into the Book of Everafter to stop Mirror and save their little brother. They must move from one story to another taking roles in the story and that is half the fun. Okay, what story will be next. With a sentence of a clue, can you figure out where they are before they state it?
  
  The relationship between Puck and Sabrina is hilarious as it develops. The reader knows that they really are good friends and they continue their rude comments of dog-face and stinky all through out, yet when push comes to shove and either needs help and support the other is there in amazing ways.
  
  I love the commentary about being a hero -- once when Sabrina is bemoaning her failures. Puck comes in with such wonderful insight that only a 12 year old boy who has been a boy for 4000 years could come up with. "You are not a failure, you are a hero and heroes have to overcome difficulty"
  
  I think nowadays many kids (and adults) forget who are real heroes. We see celebrities and sports stars and forget that they are rarely people we should want to emulate. Sabrina has her faults (many of them in fact) but she does her best to overcome her failures and pursue the good to help her family.
  
  This is just about the best series ever and I am so disappointed that there is only ONE more book left in the series!
  
  
• 
  Julie

  I started reading this series and now I'm so far into it, that I'm stuck until it ends. (Please tell me it's going to end!)
  
  Unfortunately, with the later books, I have a lot of trouble concentrating. This book was better than the last one in that respect, but still had its moments of 'get on with it already'. Except that getting on with it is sort of the problem.
  
  There's a lot of plot and a lot of action, and my brain just shuts off. I suspect it's a boy type of story and I need more of a girl type of story. I need more time to sit down with the characters. I need a slower pace. I need fewer things to happen and more reaction to the things that happen.
  
  Oh, I suppose I should say what the book is about. The Grimm girls are fairy tale detectives, and in this book they're chasing down a bad guy who's kidnapped their baby brother. And they're doing so in a sort of master book of stories. So they go to Oz and and Mowgli's Jungle and things like that.
  
  Which is an interesting premise that's not used to its full advantage. Or, well, maybe just not used how I would use it.
  
  Anyway, just as the story starts getting really interesting and good again.. it ends. To be continued in the next book.
  
  So. Sigh. Mostly I guess I'd recommend it to kids who like plot who want/need to read more with female main characters.
• 
  Jackie Ruff

  When there is puck x Sabrina moments 🥰✨
• 
  Stefania

  You know that a book is good when you're 23, swamped with university assignments and exams, and yet you still find the time to finish a 9-volume saga meant for readers half your age.
  
  I picked up this series again this summer just because I was fed up with academic readings and I honestly wanted to enjoy a nice story without too many bleak and depressing events. Something entertaining but at the same time light hearted. And when it comes to entertainment, the star is undoubtedly Puck. In the first volumes he was mainly annoying and childish, but with the passing of volumes he somehow managed to become hilarious and a taaaad bit more collaborative.
  
  Generally speaking, however, character development is not exactly one of the strongest points of this series. Sure, we have Daphne's rebellious phase, Puck's... puberty?, and Sabrina's current self-crisis. This evolution is yet usually focused in one or two volumes rather than spread out throughout the series. Despite this, it was still interesting to observe how the two young sisters have changed since the very first volume.
  In "The Inside Story" I empathised a lot with Sabrina's doubts and uncertainties. Her lack of trust in her own decisions and judgment skills, and her feeling completely lost are not limited to her young age, but can perfectly resonate in older people too.
  
  The pace of the plot is definitely quite fast, so you won't risk to get bored. Sometimes I had the slight impression that the story was a bit "stretched out"and that some episodes weren't exactly necessary, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. At the same time, there is one concept that was hinted at but never developed. I suppose the reason is that its only function was to make the story more intriguing by adding some unpredictable and mysterious element, but in my opinion the plot could have been a bit more varied by expanding this concept instead of making the main characters pass through so many stories.
  
  Despite this potential gone to waste (unless something happens in the last book), it was still a pleasant, involving story that makes me look forward to reading the very last book of the series. What am I expecting? A happy ending without a doubt, but at the same time a happy ending that will have a cost.
• 
  si ( ◠‿◠ )

  ugh this series is so fun
  
  the audios are amaaaazing
• 
  ••• Emilee •••

  yowza this was quite boring. Puck is the only thing I enjoyed in this book. It doesn’t get a 1 star bc it’s not THAT bad. But this book was a completely useless filler. Just get to the point of the mystery already!
• 
  Syd

  I recently read The sisters Grimm The inside story Book 8. There are 288 pages. It was published in 2010. The author is Michael Buckley. This book is intended for 5th to 9th graders,
  The main issue is they are trying to get there baby brother back. The setting is in a story book. The main characters are Sabrina. She is scared, mad, and annoyed. Daphne is joyful and happy. Puck is annoying, Sabrina’s fiancée, and he is stinky.
  They followed the master into a fairy-tale book. They try to rescue their baby brother from the master. While they are there they have to jump from fairy-tale to fairy-tale. Now they have to be careful or the editor with erase the book and everyone in it.
  I liked that they go their baby brother back. I didn’t like that the master jumped into one of the Grimm’s bodies. My favorite quote is “Keep your paws off my fiancée you flea-ridden stray.” Puck.
  The theme is if you mess with the master you will lose a family member. I recommend this book to those who like fairy-tales they jump from book to book. The unique thing about this book is that they revise something if the story did something wrong.
  
• 
  Amanda

  Another great Sisters Grimm book.
  
  Starting out, I was a little confused by the book. The previous books in the series, I had read all at once, and that was months and months ago, so it took me a while to remember what exactly was going on and what had happened to different characters and who was who. I'm pretty sure that I finally got it all straight, but am not quite sure.
  
  I really enjoyed the book, expecially as the characters went into some of my favorite books, such as The Wizard of Oz and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but nothing seemed to really happen in the story. It was an entire book of not much actually occuring. I had thought that this would be the last book in the series, but I'm starting to wonder if it will ever end. I hope that Buckley does not drag it out too long. The series it good, but it's difficult having to wait so long before releases on a series that is already eight books along. Some things weren't meant to last forever--endings are a good thing.
• 
  Kevin

  I am a big fan of this series but #8 struck me as a little thin in places. It has sort of postmodern perspective as the characters are stuck in The Book of Everafter chasing Pinochio and the Mirror through classic fairy tales while at the same time dealing with The Editor and his voracious revisors.
  
  The focus is mostly on Sabrina as she comes to grip with being a leader for her family and friends and he developing relationship with Puck.
  
  The ending picked up and there is still some funny lines and interactions but the middle was a little flat as they jumped from one story to the next. Could be the simplified story - that is after all for young readers - just didn't grab me this time.
  
  Still a great series and I will the read the next one I am sure.
• 
  Yumiko

  One more book left in the series :(
  I can’t face it I love these characters 🥺😢
• 
  Tisha (IG: Bluestocking629)

  Wow!
  
  I really think that this particular book is the most imaginative of the lot, thus far.
  
  And many of the passages were poetical. I hope it is not wasted on the youths these books are intended for. [Or youts as Vinnie was apt to say ;) ]. But don’t worry, Puck comes along and does or says what is expected of him and you suddenly recall you are in fact reading a middle grade book. See? Something for every one.
  
  Fabulous book. Sad at times and full of adventure and love.
• 
  Cynthia Egbert

  I do admit that I am ready to have this series end, I did enjoy this book better than the last couple. I liked the new character, the Editor, he intrigued me. It was fun to have the kids running through and wrecking havoc in the actual stories. If you love fairy tales or have a child who is a tale fan, you really should take on this series. All the great characters are here!
• 
  Della Tingle

  This series has been a fun one to read this summer!
  
  Puck makes me laugh! “All right, enough of the boo-boo faces…Let’s get back to work. There will be plenty of time for personal disappointments when we get married” (170). 🤣
• 
  Riley (runtobooks)

  so close to the end!
• 
  Kimmy

  TALENTED. SHOW STOPPING. TOALLY UNIQUE. NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE.
  
  (OUAT wishes their author plot was this good)
• 
  Elinor Loredan

  4/2023 reread:
  I did not enjoy this one as much this time. The Editor, revisers, and Book of Everafter are brilliant ideas, but the treks through Oz and Wonderland felt annoying and anticlimactic after the epic events of the previous volumes. The story feels rather similar to Colfer's Beyond the Kingdoms (maybe he ripped off Buckley a little, hm). I also maintain that while many of the stories Buckley includes in the series have fairy tale elements, I do not consider them fairy tales because they are not written like fairy tales such as Grimm and Andersen wrote, and in a series about the Grimm family, why would there be characters from such a wide variety of fantasy stories? I would think there would only be Grimm characters. Relying so heavily on characters and plots from Baum, Carroll, and Collodi just feels lazy and cheap, too, when Buckley has so much inventive power on his own.
  
  Anyway--mainly I missed Ferryport Landing and all of the other main characters.
  
  I'm noticing more on my reread, too, that while I love the illustrations, characters do no match their descriptions very well. Charming and Snow, for instance, do no look very attractive, to me, compared to how they are described.
  
  ***
  2020:
  I really missed all the other characters like Granny, Canis, Jake, Snow, Charming, etc in this one. Traveling to Oz, Wonderland, and other stories is fun, but again, there are so many fairy tales to use instead! For instance, I love the inclusion of the yarn ball from The Six Swans, one of my favorite fairy tales, and would have liked more stories like that to be explored. Additionally, the covers tend to be misleading. This one, for example, shows the genie from Aladdin, but he only has a small part. In Once Upon a Crime, the huge Wicked Witch only appears at the end yet makes the cover. I like covers to represent major parts of books.
  
  Despite my complaints, I continue to care deeply about the characters and their adventures.
• 
  Stephanie

  Even though this series is decidedly PG, I have to admit I quite liked it. Excellent premise, well-planned character development, good writing.
  There were some minor frustrations, but the characters and subplots were great, so I kept coming back to find out what happened in the end.
  
  The bad points:
  1) The heroes in the book are often quite oblivious. Sabrina is 12, so being staggeringly foolish now and then can be excused, but for characters who have lived hundreds (or thousands) of years, I'd expect a little wisdom.
  
  2) Personally, I think it would have been easier to buy in to the story with a little more realism/consistency . . .
  a. Though the internet is mentioned, no one seems to have access to it in Fairyport Landing. Ditto for cell phones. Really? In 2013?
  
  b. Yes, I know these are YA books, but we're supposed to believe no one in this town (including a 12 year old from Manhattan who lived in the foster system for 2 years) EVER swears? Not even a "damn"?
  
  Overall, it was a good series. Definitely worth reading, even if it was a bit predictable.
  
  *I'd like to note that my husband had a GREAT prediction for the ending (SPOILER ALERT), and I was actually disappointed that the author didn't think of it . . .
  My hubby thought that, at the wedding, Bradley was going to turn out to be Puck in disguise. The idea being that he'd pretended to be this very normal human for years, duping Sabrina into marrying him when she said she'd never do it. Then he sprouts wings at the altar and reveals that this is his ultimate prank. Tah-dah! Wouldn't that be so Puck?
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  betsy

  in this book, Sabrina,Daphne and puck follow mirror through the magical book of ever after, determined to save their small brother. Mirror wants to go to snow white story and change the story so he could take the baby grimm's body, which will let him go through the magical border that separated the human world from ferryport landing. On their way, they will meet "the editor", a person who edits and controls the fairytales so nothing wrong goes and so nobody changes the tales. the editor is forced to find solution for the problems the girls and puck are causing.
• 
  Beka

  I've been struggling with this series for a while now, but I was really hoping to finish it. I started this book thinking (I'm not sure why - wishful thinking?) that it was the last one in the series. It's not, but even then I tried to finish it. I got through about 200 pages, but I just can't go any further. I'm not sure why, but with each successive book, Sabrina just gets on my nerves a little more. I will not be finishing this series, and I honestly wish I'd quit several books ago.
• 
  Laura

  June 11,2011 I remember really liking this book even though it's been like 10 months since I read it. At the end of the book it said " To be concluded." Oh my gosh, in the last book they better make Puck and Sabrina fall in love and I hope their grandmother doesn't die that would be so sad! I can't wait until the ninth book comes out! -Laura :]