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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
This is a super cute book. I learned that C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien both read George MacDonald stories often, and that influence definitely comes through. There are several places where it felt like a Narnia book or a section of LOTR. So if you are looking for something similar to those this is a good place to start.
This book had some great moments, but the finale left me cold. I loved the comments the narrator would interject about how a princess should behave: she should be truthful, keep her word, be brave... All good things. The ending felt a bit unresolved and rushed, though. I loved the magic string and the experiences she had in her great-great-great-great grandmother's room (though I never really did understand what the deal was with her). I didn't really see how the title fit the book. There really wasn't a specific goblin that she related to. It was much more about her and the boy. The description of the goblin "pets" was intense. Kinda creepy for my little reading partner (age 7), but she powered through.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
This book was absolutely delightful. It was one of those stories that you both look forward to reading to children and that you will undoubtedly visit again and still enjoy.
This book is a classic! I used to watch the movie a lot and i haven't seen it in forever but then i heard there was a book! It's really great!
This was a sweet little fantasy first published in 1871. I appreciated that the author described the princess as "brave" and that the princess even rescued the boy character at one point in the book.
The princess meets her great-great-grandmother, a beautiful lady who lives at the top of the stairs and spins thread in the moonlight. Not everyone can see her, and the princess herself sometimes wonders if she dreamed her. I read some other reviews that questioned whether this lady was real or not, which surprised me. It never occurred to me to doubt her existence, but I did doubt her goodness and intentions. I wonder if I would have been so suspicious if I had read this as a child rather than as an adult.
I really liked this refreshing take on fairytales and the spin on the goblins and their behaviors. This read quite introspectively for a third person narration because the narrator invokes the readers directly which was not tedious but made it his lessons clear and distinction between vice and virtue.
I read this book for class and honestly it was a drag to get through. It was incredibly wordy, I didn’t like the writing style and it honestly felt as though the story could have been shortened by about 100 pages by eliminating redundancies. I can see elements of the story which inspired Tolkien and C.S. Lewis though, so that’s cool
2.5/5
2.5/5