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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
The best of the trilogy. Very surprising turns but way too fast of an ending. Cute series over all!
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Out of all the Palace Chronicle books, Princess Desmia is the least likeable protagonist. She is cagey, judgmental, and suspicious of everyone around her. But it is clear that she is distrustful because of her traumatic and stifling upbringing. In fact, she has been so sheltered throughout her life that she initially cannot look at the open daytime sky without screaming. I loved these flaws in Desmia’s character because they made her compelling and interesting. They created more space for her to grow as a character.
Unfortunately, every other facet of the story was either bland or underdeveloped. I think this series is supposed to be YA (it is certainly marketed as such) but it reads more like middle grade. This was fine in the first two books, where the plots weren’t very complex. But this third installment is much longer and more convoluted than its predecessors, leading to one-dimensional characters and lots of plot threads that don’t go anywhere.
I know I am not the target audience here, so I am trying to be lenient. But I did not enjoy this one nearly as much as the first two.
Unfortunately, every other facet of the story was either bland or underdeveloped. I think this series is supposed to be YA (it is certainly marketed as such) but it reads more like middle grade. This was fine in the first two books, where the plots weren’t very complex. But this third installment is much longer and more convoluted than its predecessors, leading to one-dimensional characters and lots of plot threads that don’t go anywhere.
I know I am not the target audience here, so I am trying to be lenient. But I did not enjoy this one nearly as much as the first two.
Desmia has been trying to come to terms with her new life. She is now sharing the throne and responsibility with her 12 other sisters. When an attack on the palace separates the sister, Desmia must journey on to sign a peace treaty that will keep the rest of her kingdom safe.
This is the third book in the Palace Chronicles series. This time around we follow Desmia, who has ruled over the kingdom since she was a child. Desmia wasn’t my favorite character in this series. I found her to be extremely boring.
She has lived such a sheltered life within the palace. She is truly blind to what has been going on in her kingdom. When she travels with three other people to sign a peace treaty, I thought we would see some character growth.
But everything about this book felt so rushed and dragged out at the same time. I thought the journey was rushed through, the ending was just too perfect, and the romance appeared out of nowhere.
I am giving this book a C. While I enjoyed the read, it wasn’t my favorite in the series.
This is the third book in the Palace Chronicles series. This time around we follow Desmia, who has ruled over the kingdom since she was a child. Desmia wasn’t my favorite character in this series. I found her to be extremely boring.
She has lived such a sheltered life within the palace. She is truly blind to what has been going on in her kingdom. When she travels with three other people to sign a peace treaty, I thought we would see some character growth.
But everything about this book felt so rushed and dragged out at the same time. I thought the journey was rushed through, the ending was just too perfect, and the romance appeared out of nowhere.
I am giving this book a C. While I enjoyed the read, it wasn’t my favorite in the series.
Desmia has been trying to come to terms with her new life. She is now sharing the throne and responsibility with her 12 other sisters. When an attack on the palace separates the sister, Desmia must journey on to sign a peace treaty that will keep the rest of her kingdom safe.
This is the third book in the Palace Chronicles series. This time around we follow Desmia, who has ruled over the kingdom since she was a child. Desmia wasn’t my favorite character in this series. I found her to be extremely boring.
She has lived such a sheltered life within the palace. She is truly blind to what has been going on in her kingdom. When she travels with three other people to sign a peace treaty, I thought we would see some character growth.
But everything about this book felt so rushed and dragged out at the same time. I thought the journey was rushed through, the ending was just too perfect, and the romance appeared out of nowhere.
I am giving this book a C. While I enjoyed the read, it wasn’t my favorite in the series.
This is the third book in the Palace Chronicles series. This time around we follow Desmia, who has ruled over the kingdom since she was a child. Desmia wasn’t my favorite character in this series. I found her to be extremely boring.
She has lived such a sheltered life within the palace. She is truly blind to what has been going on in her kingdom. When she travels with three other people to sign a peace treaty, I thought we would see some character growth.
But everything about this book felt so rushed and dragged out at the same time. I thought the journey was rushed through, the ending was just too perfect, and the romance appeared out of nowhere.
I am giving this book a C. While I enjoyed the read, it wasn’t my favorite in the series.
I kind of liked that I could pick this up, years after reading [b: Just Ella|18333966|Just Ella|Annette K. Larsen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1376671654s/18333966.jpg|25881589], never having read [b: Palace of Mirrors|2208767|Palace of Mirrors (The Palace Chronicles, #2)|Margaret Peterson Haddix|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348977828s/2208767.jpg|2214543], and follow the story with zero confusion. Even though it works as a standalone, I don't think it would be worth reading if the side characters of Ella and Jed (and Ella's Prince Charming) weren't there to imbue the whole thing with a sense of depth. There's not a lot of depth to Desmia; she's just a princess who's too wrapped up in being a princess to be a decent person (and, sure, she grows a bit by the end...but most of the story comes from an entitled and self-absorbed perspective that's not very endearing or interesting). And why does having freckles make someone hard to take seriously? Why would Desmia's narration say that? It's beyond shallow, it's just weird.
I guess Desmia's lack of depth is supposed to be due to her youth. The book is definitely more middle-grade than young adult. Not a big fan, though.
Also: the epilogue contained way too much essential plot resolution to be a proper epilogue. It was more like a final chapter. Someone needed to re-edit this with a "you don't need to have an epilogue" mantra or something.
And the e-book version I read had some pretty big gaffes: an orphaned "it" all by itself on a page about 52% through the book, and a bit of horrible grammar in the escaping-the-fire scene that seemed like it might have been evidence of an editorial decision to shift from third- to first-person ("I told herself").
I guess Desmia's lack of depth is supposed to be due to her youth. The book is definitely more middle-grade than young adult. Not a big fan, though.
Also: the epilogue contained way too much essential plot resolution to be a proper epilogue. It was more like a final chapter. Someone needed to re-edit this with a "you don't need to have an epilogue" mantra or something.
And the e-book version I read had some pretty big gaffes: an orphaned "it" all by itself on a page about 52% through the book, and a bit of horrible grammar in the escaping-the-fire scene that seemed like it might have been evidence of an editorial decision to shift from third- to first-person ("I told herself").
Link: https://holedupinabook.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-palace-chronicles-series-by.html
I’m actually quite shocked that this series took 16 years to write. You see some series where the author practically vomits out books and publishes like 20 books in 5 years and then you see authors who take their sweet ass time writing and publishes 3 books in 16 years. It’s crazy, really. Anyways, that’s all for my little tidbit for the day.
Moving along with the actual review, I thought these books were quite fun. It seemed as if the author originally wanted the books to be a fairytale retelling with obviously Cinderella as the main theme but then she kind of went astray with this whole other kingdom in books two and three that can also be seen as a spinoff for the dancing twelve princess story. But I’m not even sure if the last two books are actually spinoffs for the twelve princess story because it wasn’t as if there were 12, there were actually 13 and there was no dancing involved but that’s the closest similarity I can think of. So, at the end, the only thing I can say for certain is that book one is definitely a Cinderella retelling.
Book one was fun – I enjoyed reading about Ella but she didn’t really seem to know what she wanted for most of the book. Even though she didn’t really like being told what to do, she still went along with it for the most part until the really end when she finally decided to break out and escape. It was interesting though because she was portrayed as a girl who was a little confused at times but still semi-headstrong but since she was still an important character in the rest of the series, she was later portrayed as the mature one. Personally I didn’t really see any major growth in her character in the first book so it was a little surprising to find that people regarded her highly and whatnot as the books continued.
Book two and three mainly followed along Desmia and Cecilia as well as the other eleven princesses. It was obvious that something crazy was happening and to be honest, the ending was a bit obvious. I don’t think there were really any other way for it to end. It was more of the journey to the ending as opposed to the ending itself that was fun to read. In the last book, the conclusion felt very rushed because it seemed that the author just wanted to squeeze everything into the epilogue even though it could have clearly been drawn out a little longer with a more comprehensive ending.
Overall, the books were entertaining and a quick read. I thought they were fun so if you’re looking for a light, summer read with a fairytale element to it, then definitely check these out.
I’m actually quite shocked that this series took 16 years to write. You see some series where the author practically vomits out books and publishes like 20 books in 5 years and then you see authors who take their sweet ass time writing and publishes 3 books in 16 years. It’s crazy, really. Anyways, that’s all for my little tidbit for the day.
Moving along with the actual review, I thought these books were quite fun. It seemed as if the author originally wanted the books to be a fairytale retelling with obviously Cinderella as the main theme but then she kind of went astray with this whole other kingdom in books two and three that can also be seen as a spinoff for the dancing twelve princess story. But I’m not even sure if the last two books are actually spinoffs for the twelve princess story because it wasn’t as if there were 12, there were actually 13 and there was no dancing involved but that’s the closest similarity I can think of. So, at the end, the only thing I can say for certain is that book one is definitely a Cinderella retelling.
Book one was fun – I enjoyed reading about Ella but she didn’t really seem to know what she wanted for most of the book. Even though she didn’t really like being told what to do, she still went along with it for the most part until the really end when she finally decided to break out and escape. It was interesting though because she was portrayed as a girl who was a little confused at times but still semi-headstrong but since she was still an important character in the rest of the series, she was later portrayed as the mature one. Personally I didn’t really see any major growth in her character in the first book so it was a little surprising to find that people regarded her highly and whatnot as the books continued.
Book two and three mainly followed along Desmia and Cecilia as well as the other eleven princesses. It was obvious that something crazy was happening and to be honest, the ending was a bit obvious. I don’t think there were really any other way for it to end. It was more of the journey to the ending as opposed to the ending itself that was fun to read. In the last book, the conclusion felt very rushed because it seemed that the author just wanted to squeeze everything into the epilogue even though it could have clearly been drawn out a little longer with a more comprehensive ending.
Overall, the books were entertaining and a quick read. I thought they were fun so if you’re looking for a light, summer read with a fairytale element to it, then definitely check these out.
adventurous
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes