In this book, fairy tale narratives exist in our real world, ready to send a person down a certain path, just because they were unlucky enough to be born with just the right characteristics to a fit a particular story. That’s where the ATI Management Bureau comes in – they’re a hidden government agency tasked with managing the Narrative to keep things from getting totally out of hand.
I couldn’t help comparing this to Mercedes Lackey’s 500 Kingdoms books – they’re both set in worlds where some people are aware of this overwhelming narrative force, but Lackey’s book are very much set in that fairy tale world, while this book is refreshingly set in ours. They’re very different takes – I enjoy them both.
The head of the agency’s team that we’re following is a Snow White, daughter of a Sleeping Beauty, whose twin seems to have been averted from being a Rose Red. There’s also a Wicked Stepsister, a Cobbler, and a Pied Piper. And, we even get a perfectly normal guy who’s managed to join the team even though the normals usually get relegated to the archives. The team dynamics are great, and I really like how the tales work into the real world.