Scan barcode
scheu's review against another edition
4.0
Although I can see why this book has such a low rating, it certainly doesn't deserve it. If I came into it with a lot of expectations (since the publishers marketed it as though it were some kind of romantic YA fantasy), I'd rate it low too. It's basically a 400+-page prelude to the next book. Half of the narrative doesn't involve the main characters. The pace is positively glacial. However, the premise and the world of the novel (an alternate Romania) are both really fascinating and they kept the downsides from being huge deterrents. Instead of romantic, the story is grubby and deceptive. It also makes me want to go back and read the other two books in the Celestis trilogy. Well, the whole trilogy really.
So ignore that low rating, it's worth it.
So ignore that low rating, it's worth it.
skybalon's review against another edition
1.0
Couldn't finish this. Boring and rambling with pretty unlikable characters. Just couldn't convince myself that I cared about what happened to any of them.
ceridwyn's review against another edition
1.0
I didn't finish this. It started out really interestingly and the 'real world' portion at the beginning were great. Then the 'adventure' got started in the alternate universe and I got terribly bored with the dreariness of it all. The main issue for me was that the antagonist, who the reader spends a lot of time with, was self-involved and boring.
I simply ceased to care.
I simply ceased to care.
invisibleninjacat's review against another edition
3.0
The premise was interesting, but unfortunately I only really got hooked in the last 150 pages or so. I'm having mixed feelings on whether I'll continue with this series.
wmhenrymorris's review against another edition
Not enough happens for a first novel even though a lot does and one doesn't really get to know the heroine very well, especially in the latter part of the novel, and yet in some ways the way she is obscured or stunted makes sense and in the end the uniqueness of the world and the characters and the movement of the plot come together to create a whole that is atmospherically resonant -- a haunting that is achingly muddled with human weakness and ambition.
Only one quibble: I really wish the Romanian words had been spelled with the correct characters. I'm used to seeing, for example, piata (piaţa -- the ţ is pronounced 'ts') because of accommodations for the Internet, but there's no reason it couldn't have been done correctly in print.
Only one quibble: I really wish the Romanian words had been spelled with the correct characters. I'm used to seeing, for example, piata (piaţa -- the ţ is pronounced 'ts') because of accommodations for the Internet, but there's no reason it couldn't have been done correctly in print.
nwhyte's review against another edition
2.0
http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2644747.html
I'm afraid that I gave up on this not quite half way through; it seemed to me a fairly standard portal fantasy, similar to say the Fionnavar Tapestry, with the difference that where I thought Kay took the established Arthurian mythos and did vaguely interesting things with it, Park didn't really do much with Romanian lore and if anything veered very close to stereotype territory in the portrayal of a lot of the characters. I've read many better examples of this sort of story, and so I moved on.
I'm afraid that I gave up on this not quite half way through; it seemed to me a fairly standard portal fantasy, similar to say the Fionnavar Tapestry, with the difference that where I thought Kay took the established Arthurian mythos and did vaguely interesting things with it, Park didn't really do much with Romanian lore and if anything veered very close to stereotype territory in the portrayal of a lot of the characters. I've read many better examples of this sort of story, and so I moved on.
woodge's review against another edition
4.0
This is the first book in a new trilogy and the title character is a young woman named Miranda Popescu, a girl in her teens living in western Massachusetts. But all that's about to change as she soon learns that she's a princess from an alternate world where Roumania is one of Europe's power players in the 19th century. She and two of her friends find themselves back in this world and somewhat changed in the process. There's political intrigue and interesting characters doing weird things. There's conjurers, spirit animals, simulacrums masquerading as real people, and other oddness. It all makes for a curiously bizarre yet sometimes confusing tale. But ultimately you start piecing together the confusing elements and it's an enjoyable book. Looking forward to continuing this trilogy. (Also, I've read this author before and he's got a unique imagination.)
kmccubbin's review against another edition
4.0
Paul Park is one of those writers that you didn't realize you had been looking for until you find him.
Much is made of the autobiographical accents of these books, but what I find most fascinating is his turning of the standard "hero's journey" narrative on its head. To give too much away is to deny some of the vertiginous joy of the narrative, so I won't say much other than, what happens when your hero refuses to play by the rules of the formal narrative construct you've put her in?
Make no mistake, this is no simple metafictional trickery. Miranda is a deeply compassionate character in a morally difficult situation and she makes choices that shocked and delighted me.
I look forward to the next two books in the series.
P.S. I am curious about Park's relationship to World War I in this book. It pops up in name in one of the more shocking reveals in this book, but it also seems to be a sort of constant model for Roumanian/German conflict throughout. Germany seems to be waiting for that one spark, which misfires a few times. Fascinating.
Much is made of the autobiographical accents of these books, but what I find most fascinating is his turning of the standard "hero's journey" narrative on its head. To give too much away is to deny some of the vertiginous joy of the narrative, so I won't say much other than, what happens when your hero refuses to play by the rules of the formal narrative construct you've put her in?
Make no mistake, this is no simple metafictional trickery. Miranda is a deeply compassionate character in a morally difficult situation and she makes choices that shocked and delighted me.
I look forward to the next two books in the series.
P.S. I am curious about Park's relationship to World War I in this book. It pops up in name in one of the more shocking reveals in this book, but it also seems to be a sort of constant model for Roumanian/German conflict throughout. Germany seems to be waiting for that one spark, which misfires a few times. Fascinating.
lanikei's review against another edition
2.0
Glad this was a freebie from someone else's discarded file. Mediocre fantasy about multidimensional magical travel. The book is literally about an outcast of an orphaned teenage girl who finds herself to be a long lost princess from another similar but alternate reality. I found a lot of the story difficult to follow and the main characters annoying. I think the book is the first in a series, but I have no interest in reading more.