Red Cloaks And Underground Princes

I've been going through my Rambling and Future Reading pages trying to clean it all up (more on that tomorrow) when I realized I never did a rambling on Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George, the last book in the Princesses of Westfalain series and that just won't due.  So without further ado, as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

In this book we see Petunia, the youngest of the the 12 sister princess almost all grown up.  She is in her way to go visit a relative when she is held up by bandits in wolf masks.  Petunia (with her red velvet cloak) soon discovers that the head of these wolf bandits is actually a young earl by the name of  Oliver.  Turns out that during the brutal war that we learn about in the first book the earl and his family lost their home through what turns out to be treachery.  Petunia is sympathetic but eventually continues her journey.  While at the Grand Duchesses house, Petunia and her sisters are soon caught up in a hellish nightmare come true, when it is finally revealed that the Grand Duchess is actually one of the Nine Daughters of Russaka which are rumored to have given birth to the King Under the Stones sons (this makes a lot more sense if you have read the other books).  The Duchess is now trying to get the 12 Princesses back to the underground world of the dark princes, to fulfill the intent of them all getting married.  The girls, their husbands, boyfriends, and friends all fight back with various magics, of course overcoming the bad guys in the end.  Oliver is restored to his earldom and he and Petunia have a thing and everybody appears to live mostly happily ever after.

Ok Ok, I know that is a super chintzy recap, but really that is all that happened.  Over all the book was supposed to allude to the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, but mostly felt like a rehash of the first book.  This time around the girls were better prepared, and much more knowledgeable about the underground horror's...but I don't know, it seemed a bit redundant.  As with the earlier books, I do appreciate the self sufficiency of all the girls, their ability to knit, sew, read, write, cook and persue their own interests is a refreshing change of pace for a typical princess.  I also enjoy the sheer number of princesses/sisters in that no single one is a super special, treasured, pampered only child, again a different take on your classic princess tale.  This book would be pretty difficult to understand if you had not read the other two, so keep that in mind.  Eh I know this short for a rambling, but there you have it.  This was not a bad book, just a bit flat compared to the other two.  Overall I give it a 6 out of 10 red velvet cloak and appreciate it for wrapping up the story in a neat little package.
How do you feel about the varying degrees of success of a book through out a series?  If a book pays homage to a well known story, how recognizable does it have to be?  How much of a cop out was this rambling?

Bratty Cinderella

Haven't been to bed in about four days so please forgive me if I am a tad incoherent (at least more so than normal).  Finished Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George.  This is a sequel/follow up to Princess of the Midnight Ball and mostly follows Poppy, the extroverted twin and one of the twelve Princesses forced to dance for the King Understone.  This is a blended story, partially a retelling of Cinderella and a bit of a continuation of the first story.

Spoilers Ahead For Both Books

Quick plot points.  We start with a creepy prologue in which a women is viewing a dark haired girl and a prince by magic.  It appears that these two are perfect for whatever nefarious plot she is thinking of.  Moving along we find that in the wake of the war that tore this part of the world apart and the untimely deaths of several of the princes owing to the curse of the twelve Princesses a sort of Princess/Prince exchange program has been put into place.  As a result the Princess Poppy ends up with a cousin in the country of Breton.  We see that although a master at it, Poppy refuses to dance now that the curse on her and her sisters has been lifted.  It seems while many people know that there was a curse, the exact nature of it is not widely known.  Meanwhile the Prince of Damerhavn , Prince Christian is also sent to Breton, where the king is determine to marry him to either one of his own daughters or some other woman of his kingdom.  To this effect several balls are thrown to try and get a suitable girl for the Prince.   At these dances and dinners that they attend, Poppy adamantly continues to refuse to dance, preferring conversation or shockingly cards

when they are available.  Prince Christian meets her and is taken in by her easy manners and lack of stuffy decorum.  Poppy's cousin Marianne is in love with Dickon and both sets of parents approve whole heartedly to the match.  It is decided that Marianne shall have her own birthday ball in between the Queens Gala and the matchmaking ball set up by the King of Bretnor for Prince Christian.  While all this has been going on a new maid has been employed by the house hold.  The lady Eleanora, now known as Ellen was an Earl's daughter who had fallen on hard times after the ruin and death of her family.  She is now in the employ of the house as a servant and she sucks at it.  She burns things, breaks things, drops things and to make it all worse she is sulky and sullen about her new position.  One day the household receives invitations to the gala, with the invitation going to every eligible lady.  Ellen asks if she may go and is given permission by Marianne's mother the Lady Margaret, she even offers to help the girl get a gown.  Ellen refuses, saying she won't take charity and she will find her own gown.  Lady Margaret reveals Marianne's and Poppy's gowns to them, Poppy's being a beautiful stunning dress embroidered with red poppies.  When they arrive at the ball everybody is very much enchanted with Poppy's beautiful and unique dress, when in comes a mysterious girl, wearing a glittering, dazzling version of Poppy's dress.  On the mysterious girls feet are glass shoes that shine like rubies.  From the moment she walks in, every males is instantly obsessed with her and every female hates her.  The girl, who is called Lady Ella, monopolizes the Prince for the whole night.  Only Poppy and the newly returned Roger, brother to Marianne's Dickon, can see that Lady Ella is actually the maid Ellen. Suspecting magic is at work, the two go to work on countering the effects.  Much to Marianne's dismay 

Dickon along with the Prince and all the other men are obsessing about the Lady Ella.  Poppy tries to confront Ellen about the ball, but the maid claims that she did not go.  We switch to Ellen's perspective and see her call to her "godmother" by walking through a doused fire, ending up covered in soot. She arrives at a palace of glass and is dressed and pampered by this mysterious benefactor.  The only bad part is when she is ready for shoes, her godmother pours molten glass directly on her feet to make them.  At Marianne's birthday ball, Lady Ella once again puts in an appearance, but this time copying Marianne's dress and stealing all the attention for herself.  Fed up with this affront to her friend, Poppy and Roger make a potion, and knit charms to protect their friends.  As the friends start shaking off the enchantment, Poppy and Roger follow Ella and see that she is indeed Ellen the maid, transformed by magic.  Poppy goes to confront the girl again and finds her in her bed, her feet turning to glass as a result of the spell.  Eventually they figure out that the godmother is actually a witch called The Corley who is trying to make up for her goddaughter's death.  After they figure out the plan, they decide that Poppy will take Ellen's place and try and stop the curse.  Poppy dresses up in Ella's dress and slippers and goes to the ball.  The witch figures out the plan and captures both Poppy and Ella.  She challenges Prince Christian to figure out which one is his true love, he correctly identifies Poppy even while under the spell.  A merry chase ensues, the witch is dealt with and the three couples (yes there are three couples, it does makes sense...kind of)all live happily ever after.

Lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me so making sense is totally optional from here on out :-)

I liked this book for the most part.  It was not earth shattering, or life changing, but I did enjoy reading it.  I liked that the story of Cinderella was actually parceled out over three girls, each one having a piece of the original story.  I liked how the flavor of Cinderella was clear through out the story, but the plot did not necissarly follow the original. Poppy was one of my favorite sisters from the first book, so having her be the main character in this book was fun.  I found myself appreciating the fact that the author showed us the after effects of the war and the curse from the first book.  Acknowledging that even thought he curse is broken, that does not mean everything just goes back to hunky-dory land.  The long lasting effects of decisions is a major factor in these books and is dealt with in a way that is usually not seen in YA books. I also like the way the author allows her characters to be of mixed temperaments  and to see the good and bad in different ways of thinking.  Poppy is a bit brash and used to doing as she pleases, but when Lady Margaret gently corrects her in certain situations, Poppy realizes that a bit of gentleness and courtesy are not bad things.

Marianne is shown as a bit of valley girl, but has her own mind and knows how to use it.  Ellen, our poor tragic fairytale princess is a brat, and I loved it.  Eventually you feel sorry for her and wish her well, but I loved that she wasn't all sweet and good and humble, accepting the lower status life had given her.  In real life I do not know a lot of people who could go from a lady with maids to being a maid to a lady without some sort of issues.  It would be humiliating, heartbreaking, and sad and Ellen reacts in a very realistic manner. I love the examples of families being there for each other.  So often in fairy tales we get wicked stepmothers, scary overbearing fathers, and jealous siblings.  In this book Ellen's employers are not only kind and generous, but try and help her get to the ball, and it is her own fault she gets into trouble.  A refreshing change of pace from the normal noble cruelty we see in the originals. As with a lot of books of this genre, the magic/curse plot resolution got a bit confusing, another example of how a good idea is hard to resolve in any coherent manner.  The love between Christian and Poppy was a little rushed for my taste, but not as bad as some I've seen.  Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it to people who like retellings,  fantasy, magic, and a quick easy read.  I give it 7 out of 10 glass slippers.

Knitting And Dancing

Flipping through my reading list and my to be reviewed list and realized I had not done a post about Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George yet, which would make it a little awkward to do a post about the sequel when I finish it shortly.  Anyways here we go.

As always SPOILER ALERT SPOILERS AHEAD

I initially picked up this book as it is a retelling of one of my absolute favorite fairy tales Twelve Dancing Princesses  which sounds about perfect.  Our story starts with a creepy prologue with a Queen begging a favor from the inhuman King Under Stone. He agrees to a bargain to grant victory to Westfalin in a war that has been going on for years.  Fast forward several years later and the war is finally over.  A young soldier by the name of Galen is making his way towards Westfalin to hopefully find a job with his Uncle, the head gardener in the Kings gardens.  On his way he encounters an old woman with whom he shares his meager store of food.  He also gives her a scarf he knitted, as all soldiers learn to do.  In return for his unusual

generosity the old woman gives him an old cloak that makes him invisible.  She also hints that the Princesses of Westfalin may be in a bit of trouble.  Galen is taken in by his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin, all of whom see a bit of resemblance to there own son who is presumed dead in the war.  Galen becomes his Uncles assistant in the what is known as the King's Folly, which is the name the towns people give to the elaborate time and money consuming garden that the king had built for his wife, to remind her of home.  After she died he has still maintained the garden in memory of her.  We head to the castle where the eldest Princess Rose and her sisters Lily, Jonquil, Hyacinth, Violet, Daisy, Poppy, Iris, Lilac, Orchid, Pansy and Petunia (there mother was very fond of flowers) are being berated by dear old dad the King for wearing out there dancing slippers yet again.  Everybody is frustrated because the girls, who are normally very good, are unable to tell anybody what is happening.  The King tries every method he can think of, locking them in their rooms, guards at ever door and window, maids sleeping in the same room, but to no avail, every third night the princesses shoes are found worn to shreds.  Back in their rooms we learn that after the death of their mother, the girls have taken on paying for their mothers bargain and are compelled to go dance for King Under Stone.  Rose heads to the garden to try and think and is startled by Galen, she falls into the fountain and as a result of her frigid dunking catches a nasty cold.  This does not prevent the girls from dressing up and dancing, as any deviation from the payment schedule results in sever punishment. The other girls end up sick as well, their immune systems worn down by the constant dancing and worry.  Galen does his best to make them feel better, sending them bouquets of their names sake tied with chains he knitted himself. He has taken to Rose in particular, especially after many conversations in the garden.  He knits her a beautiful shawl as a gift, which she takes to wearing constantly.  

Meanwhile the King is trying to find a way to solve the mystery of his daughters dancing and proposes that he will allow any noble who can find the solution to marry one of his daughters and inherit the kingdom.  This is actually the solution to several problems.  One, he can hopefully solve the mystery, two, it may be a way of re enforcing allies now that the war is over, and three, since he has no sons the husband of one of his daughters will inherit the crown.  King Under Stone is not happy about this, as he intends for the 12 Princess's to become the mortal brides of his creepy half mortal sons.  He ensures that none of the foreign dignitaries ever get a glimpse of what the girls are up to, and even worse, he arranges for a deadly accident to befall them after.  After a couple of the Princes die, the other countries start calling for an investigation, saying that the King and his daughters are using witch craft to kill off all the Princes. The church sends a Bishop to get to the bottom of this problem.  Until the girls are cleared the whole country is placed under an Interdict, which places great strain on the kingdom. Meanwhile Galen, with the help of the mysterious Walter who also works in the gardens has convinced the King to let him try and solve the mystery.  He uses a combination of cunning, knitting and his magic cloak to follow the girls.  He sees them get all dressed up.  After a while an enchantment puts everybody except the Princesses (and Galen who has a sprig of nightshade in his pocket) to sleep.  A rug in their room becomes a staircase and the Princesses descend.  They pass through a gate into a forest of silver trees and into boats rowed by the Princes of Under Stone.  They are then made to dance with their assigned Prince all night and then head back up to the above world.  Galen works out that the King Under Stone is at some point going to keep the Princess's from leaving, forcing them to marry his sons. Galen takes a twig from a tree as proof.  He uses the twig to knit a magic chain that he can use to lock the gate.  Back at the palace the Bishop is busy terrifying the Princess's, locking up their tutor on the charge that she is a witch and threatening excommunication for the whole family. Galen goes back with the girls as they are now required to dance every night and takes a goblet as further proof.   On the third night the King Under Stone senses Galen and decides to keep the Princess's under ground.  Galen awakes above ground to discover along with everyone else that the

Princess's are missing.  The Bishop declares that everybody is guilty of witchcraft and that the King must abdicate.  Galen goes to the Bishop's rooms and finds the Queens diary where she details the deal she made with King Under Stone to have children and a later deal to secure victory for the kingdom.  The Queen did not realize that King Under Stone was using her to produce wives for his sons and that he would eventually ensure the countries victory, but not until most of the world was destroyed by it.  The Queen died before she could fulfill her end of the bargain, leaving it to her daughters to finish out the terms of dancing, just as the evil King wanted.  Despite this proof the Bishop is determined to see the King stripped of his throne and the whole family ex-communicated.  Galen finds a way to the underworld, and helps the Princess's to escape.  He shows the proof to the King and the curse is broken.  The Bishop does not care and still insists on punishment...until the priest of the castle discovers a letter stating that the Bishop was just supposed to assist the castle priest and has no authority.  It turns out that the King Under Stone is actually an ancient foe of the country and many powerful magician's gave up a lot, some even their lives to seal the King Under Stone into his underground kingdom.  Walter and the old lady who gave Galen his cloak are two of the surviving magicians. Galen asks Rose if she will marry him, to which she consents.  They marry and everybody lives happily ever until the next book.

I liked this book, it was a retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, it combined magic with a more realistic world, it had a variety of believable characters and a knitting soldier which was just cool.  I love books that have an everyday talent, knittitng, cooking, metalsmithing, dancing, painting, writing, sewing, etc. and shows how you can make magic out of it.  I appreciated the fact that the author tried to give every character some sort of distinctive personality.  Obviously the book mostly focused on Rose and Galen, as it would be hard to have decent length book that focused on all 12 girls, but each Princesses still got a personality to set them apart.  I like how magic does not have a huge part in the above ground world, it is there, hidden and known only to a few, but by and large it is a representation of an Elizabethan era Europe, even the names of the countries are variants of real life places.  I like that religion came into play as it would during that time period and I liked that it was represented as both good, and when taken to extremes by certain individuals bad. I thought it was a bit of a risky decision to make their mother an unwitting "bad guy", being the reason the girls were cursed in the first place.  I loved that the author did not go with the perfect mother who the girls had to impossibly live up to. While pieces of this book were very original and fresh, the basic story and pattern were very familiar, not really deviating from the standard YA fairytale story giving a "have I read this before?" feeling on occasion. Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anybody who likes fairy tales, knitting or a good story.  I give it 9 out of 12 dancing slippers.

What fairytale do you want to be retold?  Do you like it when they mix religion and magic?  What household art do you find magical?

As a bit of an extra, if you want to read the original tale with the most beautiful illustrations try and get your hands on this book

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

It is stunning and detailed and amazing and I love it so much!