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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
A fun, sweet little old-fashioned fairy tale. Some nice moments of wonder and bits of allegory. Extra bonus: loving, supportive parents in a children's fantasy novel. I'm not sure why Curdie's parents let him investigate goblins alone for months, but in every other way they were fantastic and all other parents in fantasy books should take notes.
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
I remember watching the animated movie, based on this book, as a child and loving it. Sure the animation wasn't that great, but the story was fascinating! It's only now that I finally got around to reading the book and it was quite an interesting book! Very much a product of its time, I think, due to the writing style, but it was still enjoyable! Reading the afterword, which spoke of Macdonald's connection to Lewis Carroll and the influence his work had on such fantasy authors as Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, I'm not surprised. This book was full of magic, mythical creatures, and had that classical brand of fairytale mixed with morals that is endearing. It is also a further proof that stories for children have gotten a lot more tame in recent years. There's lots of fighting and even drowned goblins in this book. Loved it, though, and glad that I returned to this classic.
For my full, non-spoiler review: https://christianlovingbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-princess-and-goblin-review.html
I read The Princess and the Goblin almost purely because I have fond memories of the animated movie, which I spent a decent chunk of my young childhood watching. I didn't come into TPATG expecting something that shared more a basic similarity with the movie - I have too much experience with Peter Pan mythology for that - but wanted to get to know the original story more. I have to say that I am very impressed. TPATG is pretty much the last stop on the old, Grimms Brothers and folklore kind of fantasy road, as well as being the first stop on the path of modern fantasy. Consequently, the story bears many tropes of the older ways of storytelling (too-flawless characters, simplistic plots, very young children off on thier own, etc) as well the first attempts at newer methods (explaining backstories, building action/nonepisodic stories, focus on non-royalty as a main protagonist, etc). In light of its historical context, I found TPATG to be a entertaining and interesting read, although there probably are readers that will have found it boring and even offensive in places (as with many and even most older works, there are parts of TPATG that we would today find unacceptable if proposed for publish as a new novel; for example, there is a reason that the crown prince's name was changed in Froglip in the animated movie).
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
A reread from years ago when I read it out loud to my daughter. A lovely story that every child should read.
Cute story - wasn't predictable. Timeless - it was written over 100 years ago and you can barely tell. Can definitely see where CS Lewis was influenced.