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.

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 “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.

 

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 “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.