THE UNFAIREST OF THEM ALL

Having failed to go poof when she refused to sign the Storybook of Legends on Legacy Day, Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen, must now face the consequences.

The first consequence is a mega-epic food fight between Royals and Rebels. Seeking to restore order to Ever After High, Headmaster Grimm declares an early celebration of Yester Day so the students can connect with their elders, who properly followed their destinies—or have they? Desperate for leadership wisdom, Raven’s roommate, Apple White (daughter of Snow), visits senile Old King Cole, tyrannical Empress Buff (as in those new clothes) and her mother, whose best advice is “to smile and make eye contact.” Raven chooses to interview Red Riding Hood, whose distinctly unsanctioned, still-clandestine romance with “Baddy” resulted in their half-wolf daughter, Cerise. When the disruption at Ever After High leads to the banishment of their friend Madeline Hatter, Raven and Apple team up for a dangerous, last-ditch effort to save her that is very much against the rules. As in series opener The Storybook of Legends (2013), Hale goes to town with her premise, stretching the rules of her universe as much as Raven does. Particularly funny is Humphrey Dumpty as a hacker and rapper extraordinaire. But she never lets readers forget that the central question of her tale, the one that plagues her characters, is whether destiny prevents or is freedom.

A delicious, pink-and-purple-frosted existential cupcake.