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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
Wonderful tale! Princess Ben is a great example for girls (mostly). She learns from her mistakes and doesn't wait for the prince to come to her rescue. I love how she came into her power and maturity. Ben is a lot like D.J. from Dairy Queen & The Off Season.
Loved this, would recommend it. Rated G.
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Recommended by AJ's friend who is a children's librarian. She said: When young Benevolence, or Ben’s parents are killed by invaders, along with the king, she is next in line for the throne, and under the thumb of the imperious Queen Sophia, who is determined to turn her into a — horrors! — “proper princess.” Ben’s rebellion against this idea leads to her imprisonment in a castle tower with a secret room, in which she learns all about magic. But is her lack of interest in politics threatening her country’s stability? Ben’s development into adulthood is a fairy tale that keeps you guessing. As an added perk, it’s written in an arch 19th-century prose style, and it just beautiful.
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Recommended by AJ's friend who is a children's librarian. She said: When young Benevolence, or Ben’s parents are killed by invaders, along with the king, she is next in line for the throne, and under the thumb of the imperious Queen Sophia, who is determined to turn her into a — horrors! — “proper princess.” Ben’s rebellion against this idea leads to her imprisonment in a castle tower with a secret room, in which she learns all about magic. But is her lack of interest in politics threatening her country’s stability? Ben’s development into adulthood is a fairy tale that keeps you guessing. As an added perk, it’s written in an arch 19th-century prose style, and it just beautiful.
This was a really good fairy tale, with a strong female protagonist more concerned with real life than being a good princess. Until she realizes how important being a good princess is to her land and her people. But she learns that being a good princess doesn't have to mean giving up her identity either.
I liked the premise and beginning of this book, but the resolution does not sit right with me at all. Ben loses weight and behaves more docilely, thus becoming acceptable to folks in the castle. She's not thin at the end, but has obviously lost a significant amount. That left a bad taste in my mouth, especially because this had been praised for having a fat heroine.
Her aunt was interesting, but her actions are too abusive to be excused as a misunderstanding. Also, the prince sucks and I was pretty disappointed he and Ben ended up together. He was legitimately horrible to her, but somehow they fell in love with each other?
There was a lot to love in the premise, but the execution was not it.
Her aunt was interesting, but her actions are too abusive to be excused as a misunderstanding. Also, the prince sucks and I was pretty disappointed he and Ben ended up together. He was legitimately horrible to her, but somehow they fell in love with each other?
There was a lot to love in the premise, but the execution was not it.
I kind of thought it'd be like Ella Enchanted version 2.0, but alas it was far inferior.
One Sentence Review: Fun in much the same way that [b: The Princess Academy|22529349|The Forgotten Sisters (Princess Academy, #3)|Shannon Hale|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1418629528l/22529349._SY75_.jpg|25216920] or [b: Ella Enchanted|24337|Ella Enchanted (Ella Enchanted #1)|Gail Carson Levine|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1410727190l/24337._SY75_.jpg|2485462] are fun, and generally it's a great book but there was some little element or added kick that prevents it from joining the ranks of the truly great princess fare out there.
I was slightly disappointed in the final turns of events that concluded the novel, however, I cannot say that I was incredibly disappointed, as I've thoroughly enjoyed the journey I have taken through its pages! I loved the narrative, too! For sure this novel deserves a place in my book reviews on my blog!
I was pretty mad at Murdock for deciding to write fantasy novels with princesses in them instead of continuing her Dairy Queen series, about an athletic girl from a farm family in Wisconsin who decides to play guy's basketball. Because although I love fantasy novels (with or without princesses), there are a lot of people who write about them and not a lot of writers who can make me fall in love with a character named D.J. Schwenk. But I have to admit this series is also very good. Basically I would read a laundry list by Catherine Murdock.
Good fun, some nice plays on various fairy tales. Younger me would've LOVED it.
I went into this book expecting a fun story, but not much else. What I got was...
- an interesting (if wordy) main character who had some flaws not commonly found in fantasy princesses
- low-magic, high-history setting, heavily based on germany and france
- a story about a girl coming to terms with who she is, growing up and maturing, owning and apologizing for her mistakes. Otherwise known as character growth (holy shit right?).
But of course, there are problems.
- The world-building is inoffensive and does its job, but only just barely. The world does not feel lived-in or believable and ends up being a (minor) distraction.
- That stupid fucking love plot being shoved in the last fifty pages. What the hell was that? Why did that need to be there? No really, I was all set with Princess Ben being all happy and matured and learning MAGIC and then all of sudden she's in love with this asshole prince? I mean, was this really fucking necessary? The answer is: no. If its a detriment to the plot, any element can be left out. I have to wonder if said love plot was put in at an editor's request because as we alllll know girls don't read books without love stories right? /sarcasm
So, in closing, Princess Ben was enjoyable (if mediocre)....up until the end. Then I wanted to throw it across the room. Instead, I closed the kindle file and set about forgetting it ever existed.
- an interesting (if wordy) main character who had some flaws not commonly found in fantasy princesses
- low-magic, high-history setting, heavily based on germany and france
- a story about a girl coming to terms with who she is, growing up and maturing, owning and apologizing for her mistakes. Otherwise known as character growth (holy shit right?).
But of course, there are problems.
Spoiler
- The writing is a treasure trove of run-on sentences like you wouldn't believe. I understand that a certain amount of wordiness is called for to portray a well-read princess, but in this case? Overboard.- The world-building is inoffensive and does its job, but only just barely. The world does not feel lived-in or believable and ends up being a (minor) distraction.
- That stupid fucking love plot being shoved in the last fifty pages. What the hell was that? Why did that need to be there? No really, I was all set with Princess Ben being all happy and matured and learning MAGIC and then all of sudden she's in love with this asshole prince? I mean, was this really fucking necessary? The answer is: no. If its a detriment to the plot, any element can be left out. I have to wonder if said love plot was put in at an editor's request because as we alllll know girls don't read books without love stories right? /sarcasm
So, in closing, Princess Ben was enjoyable (if mediocre)....up until the end. Then I wanted to throw it across the room. Instead, I closed the kindle file and set about forgetting it ever existed.