Review of "The Princess Search” by Melanie Cellier

 Review of “The Princess Search: A Retelling of The Ugly Duckling” by Melanie Cellier

While the previous book might be my least favorite in the series, the last book “The Princess Search” might be my favorite in the series. At first I wasn’t sure how it was an ugly duckling story, but it’s not about her being physically ugly, but her past was messy and unbefitting of a princess. But she learned from each stage of her past and blossomed into a bright future.

So, the story takes place in Lanover, and we continue with characters that we met in the previous book. It takes place a year after the last novel. We get princess Celine and her two older brothers Princes Fredrick and Cassian. Fredrick is being groomed to take over as King so he goes on a tour of Lanover, and Celine brings along the main character, seamstress Evangeline, or Evie. One thing I really like about this book, is that it is a travelling story. We get to see all the parts of the kingdom of Lanover as well as the Great Desert. We explore how the people are living in each location, and it does a great job at worldbuilding, which is something I’ve wanted more from in this series.

The group goes to the island, and then the jungle, and then the desert, and then the big southern city Largo. Each new place has a connection to Evie’s past, and they go in reverse order leading back to the city she was born in, Largo. At each point there’s a part of her past that she needs to reconcile and overcome.

Throughout the story there is also a looming threat of a new rebellion. Evie runs into an enemy from her past that is trying to kill her, and she feels the threat of his presence every where she goes.

Along the way, princess Celine is trying to find a future wife for each of her brothers. Celine is a fun character, and has matured a little bit since the last book. Frederick is a heroic type Prince, he takes his responsibilities as Prince very seriously, but also wants to help the people of Lanover as best he can. He often saves Evie, and of course the two have an unspoken attraction and romance, throughout the story. We get to know Evie’s past alongside the royal family, which makes for a good narrative flow. Changing location helps keep pace and there’s really no part where the story slows down.

Overall, I really loved reading this book, I’m not sure if I like it more than “The Princess Companion”, but it’s close. So, if I have to rank the five books (not the short novels), I’d say, “The Princess Companion”, then “The Princess Search”, then “The Princess Pact”, then “The Princess Game” and lastly “The Princess Fugitive.” Even though I really have liked all the books in the series, and I’ve enjoyed the short stories as well.

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Review of “The Princess Game” by Melanie Cellier

 

Review of “The Princess Game: A Reimagining of Sleeping Beauty” by Melanie Cellier

I’ve been enjoying The Four Kingdoms series so far, and I was curious how author Melanie Collier was going to reimagine the curse of Sleeping Beauty. Each of the books explore a different kingdom and this book takes place in the last kingdom left to explore, Lanover. The main character is princess Celeste, whom we briefly met in the first book “The Princess Companion”, as one of the suitors for Prince Max. In that book she was described as not very intelligent and this book explains why.

Princess Celeste was cursed as a baby just like Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. However, instead of going into an actual coma sleep, Celeste bargained with the godmothers and in exchange only her mind would be “put to sleep” in the presence of others. It’s a bit of an interesting and sort of confusing take on “sleeping”. Basically, in her head she is the same person, but the curse prevents her from being smart and clever in the presence of people who know her true identity.

So, to get around the curse the Princess assumes a secret identity calling herself Aurora, and acting as a spy in the night. She uncovers a rebellion plot, and is aided by Prince William, who is visiting the kingdom of Lanover with his sister, Marie which we met them in The Princess Pact. Marie is getting married to Rafe who is one of Celeste’s brothers.

I do like the inter-connectiveness of these books, but sometimes it is hard to remember who was introduced in which books. Instead of the evil Maleficent, the woman that cursed Celeste was her aunt Melisande who was banished to an island after the incident.

Prince William tries to court Celeste based on her beauty, but also is attracted to the intelligence and cleverness of Aurora. The princess then joins her brother on a cruise around the islands, along with her mother, younger sister Celine, Prince William and his sister, and Celeste’s uncle Horace. Celeste suspects the rebellion is trying to free her aunt from the island that is being protected by a magical hedge.

We get the real story about what happened to her aunt, and it is a sad story that makes Celeste reconsider the idea that her aunt isn’t the monster that she thought she was. Turns out her aunt had a young baby just before Celeste was born, but her baby and husband had passed away. In a fit of rage due to heartbreak, she cursed Celeste, but didn’t really mean it.

While the first half of the book sets up Celeste as Aurora and the whole rebellion plot, I find it to be a bit slow and not as interesting. It feels like a retread of the plot from “A Midwinter’s Wedding” in which her sister Cordelia was trying to unravel a treasonous plot against the royals. Once they all get on the boat, the story becomes more interesting, and I really liked the ending.

After learning the truth about her aunt and then finally meeting her aunt, Celeste has a change of heart and longer wishes to kill her aunt. With a twist of events, William and Celeste are thrown into a fight together, and he figures out that Celeste is Aurora. With a kiss, her curse is broken, and Celeste tells her mother and sister about her Aurora identity and how the curse actually affected her.

Overall, while I liked some of the characters, I found the whole rebellion plot and her desire to kill her aunt to be too generic and not really motivated. The twist to who was in charge of the rebellion also didn’t make much sense, because we never really got to know that character. However, the ending with Celeste’s aunt trying to make amends was really good. I also liked exploring the new kingdom of Lanover, and we actually go to a few places, not just the palace. It’s a decent entry into this series but not the strongest.

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Review of “A Midwinter’s Wedding” by Melanie Cellier

 Review of “A Midwinter’s Wedding: A Retelling of The Frog Prince” by Melanie Cellier

I’ve enjoyed this series so far, and I was curious what the author would do with the classic tale, “The Frog Prince”. Interestingly, the main character is not a prince but a new princess, Cordelia from Lanover. We have met two of her sisters, and her brother in previous installments. Her elder sister, Clarisse was married to Prince Konrad in “The Princess Fugitive”, her other older sister Princess Celeste was introduced in “The Princess Companion” as a potential marriage prospect for Prince Max, and her brother Rafe was in “The Princess Pact” book. So, by this point in the series we’ve met quite a few characters that all cross over into this novella, such as Prince Max and his wife Alyssa, Princess Ava and her husband Hans, and even Hanna from the novelette.

Despite all the returning characters, this novella is very much about Cordelia and her love story with Ferdinand. The main plot is Cordelia trying to uncover a mysterious plot to poison the royals. The book takes place over the course of about a month, and all the while Cordelia is looking for a potential husband. At first, she thinks Prince William, whom we met in “The Princess Pact”, however she finds him to be shallow and uninteresting. She strikes up a friendship with Ferdinand, captain of the guard. At first, Ferdy’s looks hold her back from thinking of him as more than a friend. But throughout the story Ferdy proves to be loyal, and caring, even saving her life when she fell into the ice lake.

One of the things that I like about this book is Cordelia’s journey of feelings for Ferdinand. It feels honest and realistic, having her want Prince William only to find that despite his handsome looks, she just didn’t have any feelings for him. The opposite happens with Ferdinand. She goes from finding him odd looking, and through his actions, she finds that she wants to spend her time with him.  By the end of the book, she literally must choose who to run to, Prince Will or Ferdy, and she doesn’t even hesitate to run into Ferdy’s arms for protection. It’s a well-done love story between the two characters.

The other main plot is that Cordelia is trying to figure out who is plotting against the royal families. We get small hints throughout the book, keeping up the mystery of what is going to happen. The resolution is well done, with Cordelia and the help of Ferdy, foiling the plan to poison certain royals. It’s an interesting motive, with some people upset that commoners are marrying royalty or members of the court. Prince Max married Alyssa, who was a commoner. Princess Ava married Hans who was not royalty. Lord Stefan married Hanna, a commoner, and even Princess Marie is not technically born of royalty. So, the plot to take them out, ties into the stories that have been told in this series. There’s a lot of crossovers with the previous books, but it doesn’t overshadow the story in this book. Plus, it’s fun to see all these characters interacting with each other, while continuing to build out this world.

I really enjoyed reading this novella, it’s an easy and fun read, that’s well paced. I enjoyed the romance plot with Cordelia as well as the mystery subplot. I have really enjoyed this series, and this is another solid entry.

 

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Review of “Percy Jackson: The Last Olympian” by Rick Riordan

Review of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian” by Rick Riordan

So, like the other books I went into this one not remembering what happens. I knew there was a battle in New York, but that was all I remembered. I was surprised to pick up with Rachel Elizabeth Dare, because I didn’t remember her character’s journey in this series. The opening fight on the ship the Princess Andromeda was good, but I wish we would have gotten to know Beckendorf more because it would have made his death more impactful. One of the weaknesses of this book is the supporting characters, that all of a sudden become important, even though we barely knew them.

Silena Beauregard was a character mentioned throughout the series but we never spent much time with her. So, it was hard to feel sorry for her when Beckendorf dies, just because we’re told they were dating. If we had seen them as a couple their deaths would have been more emotional. The twist of making Silena the spy was interesting, but she immediately dies, so it feels like it was an after thought just to tie up lose plot strings. I do like seeing Clarisse’s friendship with Silena, because it gives her more emotional depth and she’s not just a cliché mean girl. It’s also nice to have Clarisse be the one to defeat the drakon. I think my biggest criticism of this series is the lack of character development for the side characters like Clarisse, Silena, and Beckendorf. Instead, we get a whole book about Zoe, Thalia and Bianca, but two of them die and Thalia is barely in this book.

One of the interesting things in this book is that we learn more about Luke’s past. We meet his mother, and we speak to his father, Hermes, who knew Luke’s fate all along. This book gives us the backstory of Luke that I think we needed earlier in the series. It’s a little too late for me to care about Luke as a person that was troubled and could be redeemed, especially after the 4^th book, which I think did a good job of making him a villain. In the end he does the right thing and defeats Kronus, but I think the book series took too long to give him a redemption arc, and then he dies in the process. Kronus as the overall villain is also fairly weak. He doesn’t really do much, mostly his army does the fighting. Another weakness of this series is the lack of setting up Kronus and Luke as the villains. They’re just not developed enough and don’t do enough of the antagonistic work against Percy and friends. While Luke’s motives are decent, the execution of his plans weren’t well explained or explored.

We do get a good amount of Nico in this book, and he feels like he’s matured a bit since the last book. I like learning what happened with his family. As well as how it relates to the prophecy, and the oracle. I love learning more about the oracle of delphi, the curse that Hades put on it and how that ruined Luke’s mom. If Zeus hadn’t killed Nico’s mom, then Hades wouldn’t have cursed the oracle and Luke’s mom wouldn’t have been affected by the curse. So, it’s interesting how it all comes around in the end. It’s also nice to have Hades come in at the end and the house of Hades be accepted on Mt. Olympus.

Speaking of the Oracle, I love the character arc of Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I liked seeing her in the beginning sort of dating Percy and then having her become the new spirit of Delphi. It makes sense given that we know see can see through the mist, and in this book, she also paints prophetic images. I like that even though she did like Percy, she knew that her place was to be the new Oracle and that Percy belonged with Annabeth. At the end of the book Rachel gives a prophecy that sets up future stories in the Percy Jackson universe. The very ending of the book is Annabeth and Percy finally kissing each other. It’s a sweet ending to finally have Percy and Annabeth get together.

As the final book in the series, I’m not sure that it works well enough to wrap up the series nor does it stand alone. A lot of the things that happened in the previous books don’t play well into this book. What was the purpose of Bessie the ophiotaurus? Why didn’t Thalia play a bigger part? Why introduce Pandora’s Box only to give it to Hestia? And I don’t like the Olympic gods ignoring Percy about Kronos rising. The first third of this book, is good, but the middle section with the battle of New York is a bit slow and boring. I do like the resolution of having Luke be the one to defeat Kronos, it’s a nice twist since we’re expecting it to be Percy. Also, I like that Percy’s wish from the Gods is selfless. He just wants Half-Bloods to be claimed and more Gods to be included.

Also, a minor nitpick but the title of the book, “the last Olympian” refers to the goddess Hestia. I’m not sure why her character becomes the title of the book. At one point Percy leaves Pandora’s Box in Hestia’s hearth for safe keeping, but the box wasn’t that important to the story either. It feels like the author introduced the box then didn’t know what to do with it, so he gives it away. The box represents hope, the hope that Percy can’t give up if he wants to win the battle. But even that isn’t a part of Percy’s character arc, so it feels weird that the title of the book actually doesn’t mean much in the story.

So, overall, this book did some cool things, and we got some good reveals, however it didn’t do enough to capture my full attention and imagination. I think the book is crammed with too much minor stuff that’s not actually important to the plot and doesn’t focus enough on Percy vs Kronos/Luke. So, those are my thoughts about the book. I think it might be my least favorite of the five books. However, a new book has been released, Percy Jackson and t
he Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods, so I’ll have to read that and share my thoughts. Thank you all for reading my reviews of the Percy Jackson series!

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Review of “Percy Jackson: The Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan

 

Review of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: 

The Battle of the Labyrinth” by Rick Riordan

Going into this book, I barely remembered anything, other than they go into the labyrinth and meet Daedalus. I forgot that Tyson and Nico were in this book, and I didn’t remember going to these locations. I like the return of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, because I didn’t remember if we ever saw her again, so that was fun to bring her in on the quest. I love giving Annabeth her own quest, and I like spending a good amount of time at Camp Half Blood. We get Chiron in a bit more of that mentor role for Percy, which is what I’ve been waiting for since the first book.

This book follows a similar format of the other books but slightly different. We start off at Camp, then we get the prophecy to start the quest, then the group goes off on the quest and we stop off in several locations to fight various Greek monsters, Percy gets dream/visions and we resolve the battle at the end. But what’s different is, we use the labyrinth to travel across the US, and we don’t know where we’re going to end up. We also separate the group, and then bring in Rachel to help, and we get the twist reveal that Quintus is Daedalus. So, it follows the formula as the other books, but mixes it up to keep us surprised. Even though I didn’t remember this book that well, I liked what we got and where it ended up.

We also get to meet some new gods, we get Hera and Hephaestus as well as Pan. Hephaestus has been mentioned since the first book, so it’s nice to finally meet him. We also get more expansion on Greek myths. Such as Calypso, whom Percy meets as well as a reference to Hercules labor of cleaning the stables. And then we get Daedalus, and the legend of Icarus and King Minos and the labyrinth. So, I like building out the Greek mythological world as it exists alongside the human world.

We don’t get too many new characters in this one, we meet Grover’s girlfriend Juniper, but she doesn’t really do much. We meet Ethan Nakamura, but again he’s not in it much although he does play a part in the prophecy. It’s nice to see Clarisse again and we learn what she was up to off screen in the last book, and I like the subtle relationship she has with Chris Rodriguez, giving her a little bit of a character arc in the background of the story. Quintus AKA Daedalus is an interesting character. I like setting him up as this double agent for Luke, but then it’s really Daedalus. It’s an interesting twist, because throughout the whole book Annabeth admires Daedalus as a hero, and then we find out all the bad things he did, but in the end she gets his laptop of invention ideas.

Similarly, Tyson meets his hero Briares, and is at first let down by him, but then Briares comes to the rescue in the end fight. And it’s a great moment for Tyson, we get more character development from Tyson in this book. He doesn’t come off as childish in this book and proves to be quite competent at times. I also like Grover’s arc in this, something that was started in the first book, and him being the one to find Pan and spread the message seems very fitting for Grover, and it’s good to resolve his mission in this book, before the last book. It’s also kind of cute that Grover has a girlfriend.

Even though this is Annabeth’s quest, it’s still Percy’s story, and sometimes I feel like Annabeth should be center stage when she’s really not. But we do get a lot of jealous Annabeth in this book. She’s clearly jealous of Rachel, even though Percy is a clueless teenage boy and has no idea what to do about these two girls that like, because he might not even know how he feels about them. I do wish we got more character development from Annabeth. Percy does try to talk to her about Luke, but I feel like we still need to explain more about why Annabeth is not willing to give up on Luke, and how Luke feels about Annabeth. I just feel like we never really got to see Luke and Annabeth being great friends, and this is a case where we need to show not tell in order for me to be invested in the redemption of Luke.

Speaking of Luke, I think this might be his best appearance. He finally feels like a villain, and threat, and then he literally embodies Kronos. So, I do like that we’ve taken Luke to a point of no return, because up until now, I just don’t think he was used as a good villain. I do like following up with Nico DiAngelo, and his character arc that we get in this is nice. He starts off hating Percy and using his powers, and talking to the ghost of King Minos, hoping he can bring back his sister. But in the end he stands up to King Minos, proclaims that he is the Ghost King and learns to accept his sister’s death and forgives Percy.

We don’t really get a character arc for Percy in this, but he does get some good moments, I think this book is more about Percy transitioning from that kid that we met in the first book, to a young man that needs to make big decisions about what’s to come in the war against Kronos, as well as figuring out his feelings about girls.

I also like the return of Rachel, I think she’s a fun character and a nice foil for Annabeth. And it’s interesting seeing a mortal being brought into this world of Greek mythology come to life. I also like the ending of the book with Poseidon showing up to Percy’s 15^th birthday party and calling him his favorite son. I do wish we got maybe more interaction between Sally and Poseidon though, because I want their story. Like how did they meet, and when did she learn that he was a Greek God? There’s a lot of questions there. But I think it’s a sweet way to end the book.

Overall, I think this book does a great job of following the Percy Jackson series formula, while adding in some new surprises and twists. I like meeting new gods as well as some of the minor Greek mythological characters. I don’t remember anything from the last book, so everything will feel new to me, and I’m curious how the series is going to wrap up. So, that’s it, those are my thoughts on Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth.

 

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Review of “The Princess Pact” by Melanie Cellier

 Review of “The Princess Pact: A Twist on Rumpelstiltskin” by Melanie Cellier

This is the third book in the “Four Kingdoms” series and after having enjoyed the first two and the novellete, I was looking forward to this tale dealing with Rumpelstiltskin. As someone who watched the show “Once Upon a Time”, I couldn’t get that portrayal of Rumpelstiltskin out of my head while reading this book. I’m not very familiar with the original story of Rumpelstiltskin, so I appreciated the author giving a short retelling of it.

This book takes place in the kingdom of Northhelm and follows Princes Marie, whom we meet in the first book. We quickly learn that Marie was adopted, and that her real father is Rumpelstiltskin, although his real name is a mystery until the end of the book. So, instead of retelling the original tale, this serves more as a continuation of the story.

After learning of her parentage, Marie runs away to seek her father only known as R. She wants to investigate a rebellion that he has created. Marie runs into Rafe a young man that the King had sent to spy on the rebellion. She also left because she suspected that her brother had run off to the rebel camp as well.

At first she is excited to me her real father, and even entertains the idea of joining his rebellion. After learning his true intentions, she decides that she needs to free the rebels, who were only there because of an enchantment. I like that Marie has conflicting emotions about being adoptive, and in the end learns that family are the people that truly love you, whether biological or not.

Marie also falls in love with Rafe, who she believes is a commoner that lives in the forest. Luckily, a twist is revealed and Marie is allowed to marry Rafe after all. It’s a sweet love story, and Rafe comes off as a charming character. There are also side characters that are interesting as well. Marie’s friends at the rebel camp, Lisa and her brother Danny, are also fun characters, as well as Marie’s brother William.

Overall, this was a fun, and interesting take on Rumpelstiltskin. I really enjoyed learning more about Princess Marie because I liked her small part in the first book. The story is well paced, and the character relationships were engaging. So far, this is my second favorite book in the series, the first being the first book, “The Princess Companion”. I’m enjoying the crossover of characters and worldbuilding of these stories.

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Review of “The Coronation Ball" by Melanie Cellier

 Review of “The Coronation Ball: A Four Kingdoms Cinderella Novelette” 

by Melanie Cellier

After reading The Princess Fugitive where we learn about a character named Hanna, the sister of the love interest Hans, we get this novelette that tells us Hanna’s story with a bit of a Cinderella inspired ending. Even though we never met her in The Princess Fugitive, Hanna was a critical part of the guilt that Princess Ava felt and needed to overcome, so it’s great to finally be able to meet Hanna and tell her own story.

The novellete opens with Hanna working as an apprentice pastry chef in the castle of Northgate located in the kingdom of Northhelm, which is where she was sent to after an incident with Princess Ava five years ago. We quickly learn that Hanna is being bullied by another apprentice, and the head chef has no respect for her. But she does have one friend, young man named Stefan who she believes to be a footman.

Hanna is a relatable female character that is struggling to prove herself to her boss, while constantly being thrown under the bus by her female co-worker that thinks she better than her. The female co-work is a stereotypical mean girl. The kitchen staff prove to be helpful when Hanna is given an opportunity to bake a cake for a ball that a family of the royal court is hosting.

It turns out that her friends Stefan is not a footman but actually the son of a royal Lord, and the family is hosting the ball to find him a wife. The mean girl had her eyes set on him, and when she tries to take credit for Hanna’s cake, Hanna decides she needs to warn Stefan. This is where the book turns into a retelling of Cinderella. Hanna’s godmother comes in and gives her a magnificent dress and masque for the ball. Hanna infiltrates her way into the ball, and ends up dancing with Stefan, warning him about the mean girl. As she runs away just before the strike of midnight, Hanna loses her glass slipper. Stefan convinces his family to let him marry the girl that the glass slipper belongs to, and eventually he finds Hanna and she tries on the slipper. Perfect match.

It’s a clever retelling of Cinderella, with some charming characters. I really like Hanna and Stefan as a friends and then a couple. Stefan comes off as a charming prince to the rescue type character, but you can tell that he is torn between his love for Hanna and his duty to his family. His conflict of where his heart and honor lie, make him a compelling character. Hanna as the everyday working girl type makes her sympathetic, and the use of the godmother ties it all in with the other princess stories.

This is a short, fun, easy read if you like fairy tales and princess stories, even though Hanna isn’t a princess, it’s very similar. I enjoyed having a story about a character that was previously set up in another book. The author continues to build out her Four Kingdoms world, and it’s an enjoyable setting for these retellings of classic fairy tales. If you have read the main books in the series be sure to read this novellete.

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Review of “The Princess Fugitive” by Melanie Cellier

Review of “The Princess Fugitive: A Reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood” by Melanie Cellier

Having really enjoyed the first book, I was looking forward to reading this book. It is supposed to be a reimagining of “Little Red Riding Hood”, but really has nothing to do with the classic fairy tale. There are some homages to it, like the red cloak, and the wolf, but that’s about it.

Going into it, I assumed this book would be a new world and story, but it focuses on the villain that was in the last book, Princess Ava. I like the idea of continuing to build on the world that was established in the first book. While I hated Princess Ava in the first book, I grew to like her by the end of this book. We learn about her past, and that she is more emotionally complex than we thought.

The book opens with the assassination of Ava’s father, the King. As well as an attempted assassination of Ava. It’s later revealed that her brother was behind it, to ascend the throne early.

The first third of this book has Ava on the run, hiding from her brother’s forces. She is stripped of her princess identity, and she learns what it’s like to live as a simple traveling merchant. It humbles her and she befriends two young women. Her guard and companion is Hans, a young, handsome man that is extremely loyal to her. Throughout the book, Hans and Ava build their relationship and reveal their love for each other. It’s surprisingly a decent love story plot, even if it is a bit cliché.

While I really enjoyed the beginning and ending of this book, I thought the middle slowed down pace a bit, and I lost interest. I do love the new friends that she makes, Evelyn, who is a merchant guard, and Sarah who is her cousin. They have a great dynamic that feels like they are family, and Sarah provides the heart and levity of the book.

Halfway through the book Ava meets the High King, who is king of the fairies, and he tells her that she can redeem herself and take back her kingdom from her brother. Throughout the story, Ava learns to open up her emotions, and gains compassion and sympathy for the commoners.

The last part of the book brings in a few characters from the first book. We catch up with Alyssa and Prince Max which I really enjoyed. Then Mathilde and her husband Aldric join Ava’s team. Mathilde was a great, fun character from the first book, so I loved seeing her return here and help Ava.

The climax of the book involves Ava competing against her brother for the crown. She eventually is able to outsmart him and wins the competition with the help of her friend. Ava learns the value of love and emotions and having friends. She embraces her feelings for Hans and it turns out to be a decent romance story.

Even though I hated Ava from the first book, they do a great job giving her a character arc that explores her emotional journey. I love bringing in characters from the first book, as well as developing the new characters, Hans, Sarah and Evelyn. It does a great job expanding the world that was established in the first book. I’m not sure what Little Red Riding Hood has to do with it, but I still enjoyed this story.

 

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Review of “The Princess Companion” by Melanie Cellier

Review of “The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea” by Melanie Cellier

I’ve decided to step into the world of Princesses and fairy tales. Author Melanie Cellier has created her own fairytale world based on retelling and reimagining classic fairy tales with a slightly more modern context but not world. As someone who enjoys classic fairy tales, I was interested in this book as a new twist on the old fairy tale of the “Princess and the Pea”. While this wasn’t what I had in mind, it turned out to be even better than I initially thought. Instead of the story being focused on a princess, it’s the story of how a commoner becomes a princess. The pea only comes into play if you’re looking for it, but it’s not fully revealed until the end. One of the things that is also implied but never fully spoken is the fact that Queen Ella, is really Cinderella from the classic story. It’s a nice little twist, and gives insight into what may have become of Cinderella after she marries her true love, Prince.

The characters in this book are fairly stereotypical but are charming and enjoyable to read. The main character Alyssa feels like a real, teenage girl that is becoming a woman and learning about politics and love. Prince Maximillian is charming and more complex than he comes off as, in terms of his feelings for Alyssa. The minor characters are also fun and charming. I love the gossip nature between Alyssa and Mathilde, who is a servant. I do wish we had got more from Alyssa’s family, and the fact that we don’t return to her aunt and cousin towards the end of the book, makes it feel like things were rushed.

Of course, a fairy tale wouldn’t be complete without a villain. I do think that the villain’s plot was not explained well and too generically evil. However, I was always intrigued by the spy plot and Alyssa helping the King to uncover the treachery.

There were a few confusions I had while reading, mainly between the use of Arcadie and ArcadiA. I thought it was a typo until I realized Arcadie is the capital of Arcadia (I had to look at the map). I think that it could have been made more clear in the text. The book could have used a bit more worldbuilding in order to really understand the political nature that was behind the whole spy subplot. As well as the geography of where everyone was traveling to and from since it takes weeks to get anywhere.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I do think that the ending was a bit rushed, and we should have had an epilogue to catch up with the new Princess. The book just ends with them getting married, which I guess is a typical fairy tale ending, but this book is supposed to be more subversive than that. Overall, I this book was a fun, easy read, and recommend it to anyone that likes Princess type stories.

My new book now on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Chimera-Prophecies.../dp/B0C4QX4RZW/

"The Chimera Prophecies" consists of eight short science fiction/dark fantasy short stories. Themes of how reality and identity shape our journey and humanity.

Review of "Ruin and Rising" by Leigh Bardugo

 

Review of "Ruin and Rising" by Leigh Bardugo

After enjoying the second book, I had hope that the third and final book in the series would be good and turn my view around for the series as a whole. While the first third of the book was a bit slow and boring, the rest of the book was well paced and interesting. Things finally came to a head, we learned more about the history of the amplifier’s creator, Morozova. The new information fills in some questions and illuminates the relationships between Alina, the Darkling, and the Darkling’s mother, Bahgra.

While I haven’t liked the melodramatic relationship between Alina and Mal, we finally gets a resolution to them. When they finally get together, they end up being a cute couple. We also get some resolution for a character that I’ve enjoyed, Genya. She gets some redemption for betraying Alina, and she gets a love interest of her own. We also get the return of a character that I loved from the last book, Nikolai. He gets an interesting character arc in this book, but is still the fun character that I’ve come to enjoy.

One of things I liked about this book is that Alina and her group and traveling and planning their actions against the Darkling. Alina uses the power that the Darkling used in the last book, where she can project herself and talk to him, and gains information that way. It’s a cool use of her power and I like them working as a team.

There’s also an interesting twist that involves Mal, and why he has a connection to Alina and the amplifiers. It’s interesting and reminds me of what they did in the last Harry Potter book. I find the ending resolution to be satisfying and I like the little epilogue that we get with Alina and Mal.

After reading this trilogy, I think the books get better with each installment, but my biggest criticism is that I don’t think this story needed to be stretched out into a trilogy. I do find large portions of these books to be boring, where not much happens. Overall, I think it’s an interesting fantasy world with a fairly generic plot at it’s center. I like the worldbuilding, and I love some of the characters, but can’t say that it’s a series I would return to in the future.

If you like the young adult fantasy genre that deals with the ‘will they/won’t they’ romantic love interest, then you will probably like this series. Author Leigh Bardugo has created a great world with the “Grishaverse” and I look forward to reading another book set in this universe. I want to read “Six of Crows” because those were my favorite characters from the TV show. So, I look forward to reviewing that in the future. That’s it for this review, thank you for reading, be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.

 

My new book now on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Chimera-Prophecies.../dp/B0C4QX4RZW/

"The Chimera Prophecies" consists of eight short science fiction/dark fantasy short stories. Themes of how reality and identity shape our journey and humanity.

Review of “Siege and Storm” by Leigh Bardugo

Review of “Siege and Storm” by Leigh Bardugo

I wasn’t impressed with the first book Shadow and Bone, so I didn’t have high hopes about the second book. Luckily, Siege and Storm starts off strong and ends strong. The middle parts have its ups and downs, but overall this book, for me, is an improvement over the first book. The novel opens up with Alina and Mal captured by the Darkling, and their sailing on a ship in order to seek out a sea serpent for the next amplifier. We get a new character Sturmhond the leader of the mercenary ship, who we later find out is Prince Nikolai Lantsov. I like Nikolai as a character, because he has some fun dialogue and is the only that has an interesting personality. Unfortunately, Genya is leaves the book early on, and even though she is a supporter of the darkling, I still enjoy her character and relationship with Alina.

After Alina gets the second amplifier from the serpent, that Mal helps track, Sturmhond betrays the Darkling and Alina and Mal get taken away to the palace. The darkling only shows up as mind illusions to mess with Alina. Back at the palace Alina becomes general of the second army, which is an army of Grisha. We meet some other new characters, brother and sister Tolya and Tamar who are a bit mysterious but loyal in protecting Alina. In addition to new characters, we spend more time with some minor returning characters, like Zoya and David. Zoya is a squaller which his basically an air bender and David is a magical fabricator that created the Stagg collar amplifier that Alina wears. I do like what we get with the Grisha in this book, Alina breaks down barriers between the different kind of Grisha users.

While I do like the new characters and the other Grisha, I will say one of the problems I still have is with the main characters, Alina, Mal and the Darkling. The Darkling is a cliché villain, who doesn’t get to do much for the entire middle of the book. His motives are too generic and there is still some weird, lingering sexual tension between him and Alina. Speaking of sexual tension, I am tired of this will they won’t they between Alina and Mal. They’re melodramatic relationship where she won’t tell him how she feels about him has become tiresome.

Overall, I think this book is more intriguing and engaging than the last book, but I still find this series to be a bit dull. We spend too much time hearing Alina’s monologues in her head, and not enough time actually doing things. The pacing of this book was better than the first, but the middle section does slow down a bit. I will read the third book, just because I am curious to see how this all ends, but I don’t have high hopes that I will like it. Hopefully, I would love to be surprised.