Sorry this is a couple days late but enjoy! :D
Peacock Flock Book Review #1
Princess of the Midnight Ball
Author: Jessica Day George
Word count: ~ 64K (270 pages)
Genre: Fantasy (Fairy-tale retelling)
Stars: 4 Stupendous Purple Stars
Book Summary:
A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn…
Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.
Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.
Review:
As a flock it took a few days for us to get into this book. So it's a retelling of the fairy tale 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'. We haven't read the original fairy-tale (although we intend to) but participated in a play adapted from it so we sort of knew the story beforehand.
We're not sure why the author chose to start the book where she did. A lot of information that we found out in the beginning (especially the back story) could've been better sparsed out more. Once we got to the part after the main guy - Galen - meets the main girl - Princess Rose - though it started to pick up. And after the scene where Galen has to defend them from dark shadow creatures beneath the Princess's window? Well we just could not put it down!
This is a different kind of romance because much of the book we see through Galen's eyes. We absolutely loved it because he is a hero who knits! Do any of you know a man who knits? We certainly don't! And to think that the fate of the entire kingdom is dependent upon his ability to knit an exceptional wool chain.
We liked the characterizations very much. Galen and Princess Rose were both done well. They had their flaws and their strengths. And they each had their own individual voice. The plot had some enjoyable twists - it had intrigue, suspense and definitely the romance we wanted. We greatly appreciated that things weren't easy and there weren't any conveniently placed escapes or people. Albeit the ending was predictable (it is a fairy-tale) we thoroughly giggled and cozied up at the end of it. Definitely a cozy up in the armchair read. We'll be picking it up again!
That's it from the flock!
