Princess of the Midnight Ball

 

Author: Jessica Day George

Release Date:  January 20th, 2009

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Genre(s): YA Fantasy (Retelling of a Fairy Tale)  

Pages: 280

*Part of a series: 1st book*

Summary (Goodreads):

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above. 


Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.

Review:

 Eeeee! I'm such a sucker for fairy tales.  Galen is so swoon worthy;)

     I really like this book; it's so pretty, both the content and writing style.  It's simple, yet it feels like a gentle waltz to read-which is really appropriate, considering this book is about dancing.  Galen is pretty sweet, with his values of respecting girls and elders, and treating each princess, even the younger set, with a lot of care and compassion.  He's a total prince charming, even if he is a soldier.  I might complain about his perfectness, but, hey, this IS a fairytale.

     I LOVE how this book didn't focus on the romance; it w's more focused on the girls and Galen finding out the truth about the girls.  It may seem odd, considering this is a retelling of a fairy tale, but it worked lovely. The romance part is the growing attraction between Galen and Rose; however, it's addressed in spurts throughout the book (the moments are small enough that they feel sweet and discrete, but big enough you know they like each other).

     All the little quirks and relationships with each sister Rose has is very sweet.  They really care for each other, and all their interactions add to that.

    It's hard to connect with the characters because this book does read like a fairytale, obviously (you love them, but you leave them after they live happily ever after).  Otherwise, I really don't have other complaints. (The only reason this book doesn't merit a higher rating, is because this book wasn't very memorable.  It's one of those books I read and forget the title, but not the gist of the story.)

Definitely recommended to fans of Gail Carson Levine!!

Thanks for reading~:)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5