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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
I really did love this book. It well deserved these five stars.
Ben’s journey was very well written, and this story was not stereotypical in the slightest. I liked all of Catherine’s references to other stories, with the boy and the emerald ‘beans’ and Florian being the name of the Prince Ben later marries. Also the glass coffin.
The fact that Sofia also prisoned her in a tower reminded me of Rapunzel. I really liked this book.
Ben’s journey was very well written, and this story was not stereotypical in the slightest. I liked all of Catherine’s references to other stories, with the boy and the emerald ‘beans’ and Florian being the name of the Prince Ben later marries. Also the glass coffin.
The fact that Sofia also prisoned her in a tower reminded me of Rapunzel. I really liked this book.
All the elements for a grand fairy-tale are contained in this book, but it just does not pull it off. The story contains hidden magical rooms, dragons, talking mirrors, spells, broomsticks and numerous references to other fairy tales.
Princess Ben is a fat rebellious princess who loses her parents and becomes the heir to the throne. She is put through monarch schooling to prepare her to rule her people, but she is not interested in the finer arts of governing. She mostly thinks only of food and the comfort it brings to her. Benevolence is eventually locked into a castle tower where she learns the art of magic and is able to escape the castle. Her escape by broomstick leads her to enemy territory, where she becomes a prisoner war, with her enemy mistaking her for a young boy. She eventually manages to escape and returns home. Due to her experiences as a prisoner of war, she is a better behaved princess who wins the heart of her people and eventually she marries her prince.
I found myself having a hard time liking Princess Ben, her character just was not well developed and her Prince Florian is interesting, but his character is not explored enough to really understand who he is and why he falls in love with Princess Ben.
The fact that Princess Ben is fat is intriguing, but by the end of the story she is slimmed down and everyone rejoices over that fact, so slim is better?
I was left wondering what the whole point of the story was. Was it about being over weight and still being able to be a Princess, was it about finding yourself during tough times or was it a love story? There simply are too many themes in the book and none of them are fully explored and the books leaves you feeling unsatisfied.
Princess Ben is a fat rebellious princess who loses her parents and becomes the heir to the throne. She is put through monarch schooling to prepare her to rule her people, but she is not interested in the finer arts of governing. She mostly thinks only of food and the comfort it brings to her. Benevolence is eventually locked into a castle tower where she learns the art of magic and is able to escape the castle. Her escape by broomstick leads her to enemy territory, where she becomes a prisoner war, with her enemy mistaking her for a young boy. She eventually manages to escape and returns home. Due to her experiences as a prisoner of war, she is a better behaved princess who wins the heart of her people and eventually she marries her prince.
I found myself having a hard time liking Princess Ben, her character just was not well developed and her Prince Florian is interesting, but his character is not explored enough to really understand who he is and why he falls in love with Princess Ben.
The fact that Princess Ben is fat is intriguing, but by the end of the story she is slimmed down and everyone rejoices over that fact, so slim is better?
I was left wondering what the whole point of the story was. Was it about being over weight and still being able to be a Princess, was it about finding yourself during tough times or was it a love story? There simply are too many themes in the book and none of them are fully explored and the books leaves you feeling unsatisfied.
Struggling to decide what it is that ultimately made me fail to love this book, and what I think is this: it never has the chance to have a whole plot. None of the parts were a problem, per se, but smooshed together into 300 pages or whathaveyou, they are ultimately a muddled stew. There was too much going on for this book to ever actually spend any time getting to know any of its characters. What this book needed was depth. Maybe it needed to be somewhat as long as its original working title suggested--I don't know. Ultimately, I felt reading this that I was skimming the surface of a plot covered in a very thick gelatinous layer of something that I couldn't quite pierce enough.
Spoiler
in which she fails to become a princess, learns magic, runs away and gets captured and enslaved by the enemy, returns and succeeds in becoming a princess, fights off an invading force and ultimately falls in love with the bratty Prince Florian
2.5 Probably my least favorite Murdock book to date. I just did not connect with Ben and something about the narrative style was cumbersome. Ben learned all of this cool magic, and then forgives the terrible neighboring Prince way too easily.
Summary: Benevolence is not your typical princess. With her parents lost to assassins, Princess Ben ends up under the thumb of the conniving Queen Sophia. Starved and miserable, locked in the castle’s highest tower, Ben stumbles upon a mysterious enchanted room. So begins her secret education in the magical arts: mastering an obstinate flying broomstick, furtively emptying the castle pantries, setting her hair on fire . . . But Ben’s private adventures are soon overwhelmed by a mortal threat to her kingdom. Can Ben save the country and herself from foul tyranny?
Summary: Benevolence is not your typical princess. With her parents lost to assassins, Princess Ben ends up under the thumb of the conniving Queen Sophia. Starved and miserable, locked in the castle’s highest tower, Ben stumbles upon a mysterious enchanted room. So begins her secret education in the magical arts: mastering an obstinate flying broomstick, furtively emptying the castle pantries, setting her hair on fire . . . But Ben’s private adventures are soon overwhelmed by a mortal threat to her kingdom. Can Ben save the country and herself from foul tyranny?
Good book. I liked the story however I feel like there were some liberties taken with developing certain turns in the story. Like somehow things happened and it wasn't clear to me how. Could just be that I'm chronically fatigued lol. But I did really love the story, just lost a star for the missing paragraphs.
This was a fun, light read. I didn't love it as much as all my library buddies did, but I enjoyed it. Cute.
A totally fresh take on the Sleeping Beauty tale. The writing is charming and the characters are engaging. I loved it!
It's always nice when princesses in fairytales have personality. Better yet when they have a realistic one. Ben is a child and acts like one. She fails to understand the world around her and the reasoning behind decisions that affect her. Then she has an adventure and it changes her - she gains wisdom and even starts to grow up a bit.
I was surprised by this story; Benevolence doesn't want to be a princess, and she doesn't behave like one in any way. She works on her identity and her projects to suit herself, and is therefore in the perfect position to deal with the threats to her kingdom that arise. Thrilling adventure make this a great suggestion for readers who liked Tamora Pierce's Alanna stories, or Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine.
The first part of the book I was not so interested, but then the book got really really good and I am very satisfied with the ending. For some reason i really really like this book and recconmend it to people who want a super good read and story.