Princess of the Silver Woods Book Review

Princess of the Silver Woods

Jessica Day George 

Rating (out of 5): 5

Genre: Fantasy 

Release Date: December 11, 2012

Series: Twelve Dancing Princesses 

Series Volume: 3

Profanity: Very Mild (if any)

Violence: Mild

Sexual Content: None 

Age Recommendation: 12 +

Author Website: http://www.jessicadaygeorge.com/

Summary (found on Author's website):

Princess Petunia has been kidnapped! Except...it was really more like an accident. Oliver, the leader of a band of thieves known as the Wolves of the Westfalin Woods, didn't mean to do it. And now he must make things right. He will confess to the king and deliver the princess to the grand duchess's estate.

But Petunia's safety is far from secured. As children, she and her eleven sisters had been cursed to dance endlessly at the midnight ball of the fearsome King Under Stone. Troubling dreams of the ball are once again haunting Petunia, and she can't be sure they are mere nightmares. When she and her sisters fall into a carefully laid trap, who but a handsome woodsman can save the day?

Jessica Day George's romantic and adventurous new tale is part Little Red Riding Hood, part Twelve Dancing Princesses, and wholly enchanting.

Review:

Princess of the Silver Woods is the third installment of Jessica Day George’s fantastic Princess of the Midnight Ball series. This book focuses on the youngest of the 12 sisters, Petunia. When she first appeared in Princesses of the Midnight Ball she was very young so I was excited to see how she’d progressed. We also get to see more of her other sisters and get a glimpse into their lives and what’s been going on since the events of the previous two books. 

Petunia has grown up to be quite loveable. She is dead set on making it on her own and can be deadly with her pistol when needed, but she’s not quite as tough as Poppy. When the story starts she is on her way to meet old friends.  Her plans run awry when her carriage is attacked by a pack of wolves, or rather a pack of thieves calling themselves the Westfalin wolves. Things are further thrown into disarray when she finds out the reason they are robbing carriages and meets their handsome leader, Oliver. Her spunk seems to fade a little bit as the book progresses, but she never loses her charm. 

Oliver as a character is your pretty basic ‘prince’ and while others may see him as bland I thought he was perfect for Petunia. This story was more about action and unraveling the mystery behind the Palace Under Stone and I thought Oliver fell into place very well with how late he’d been pulled into the girl’s predicament.

As with the other two books in this series Jessica Day George paints a beautiful story filled with romance, adventure, mystery, and suspense.

Princess of the Silver Woods is a perfect finish to this series. In this book we finally get to find out more about the origins of the King Under Stone and his sons as well as unravel more of the mystery behind the curse the sisters have been fighting against since the first book. I was very excited to see the big reveal and it wasn’t anywhere near a disappointment.  

Princess of the Silver Woods was a great wrap up for this whole series. I really enjoyed seeing all of the princesses back, and loved getting to know Petunia more. I’d recommend this series to any fan of Fairy tale retellings or just good princess stories.

 

~Dawn

The Silver Rings Book Review

The Silver Rings

Samuel Valentino

Rating (out of 5): 4.5

Genre: Children's Fantasy

Release Date: July 1, 2014

Series: None

Series Volume: N/A

Profanity: None

Violence: Very Mild

Sexual Content: None

Age Recommendation: 10+

Author Website: http://www.samuelvalentino.com/



Summary:

Alice and Celia are identical — as twins, and as the recipients of ghastly treatment from their horrid stepmother and stepsisters. To escape, they flee to their fairy godmother Mozzarella’s house. There, Mozzarella advises them to separate and make their way in the world, offering them the rather dubious assurances of troll skin disguises and silver, somewhat magical, rings.

Alice manages to find an abandoned cave of treasure, and settles in to blissful solitude. Celia, on the other hand, runs afoul of a bad-tempered witch, and is promptly turned into a frog. Informed by her magic ring of Celia’s peril, but not her whereabouts, Alice sets out to rescue her. Instead, she finds herself atop a glass mountain, avoiding the love-struck Prince Randall. With Alice’s quest at a standstill, and Celia still enchanted, will the sisters ever realize the high hopes that their godmother envisioned?

Review:

The Silver Rings caught my attention with it's fairy tale mash up plot and adorable cover, so naturally I was excited to start it. After reading the first few chapters of The Silver Rings I wanted to hate it. The whole thing seemed too over the top for me. I was expecting it to be a little ridiculous from the book's summary but what I was given was almost overwhelming. Thankfully I stuck it out to the end and was pleasantly surprised by the delightful story, hilarious characters, and silly hijinks of the plot. The writing style really grew on me, and I found myself looking forward to the next wild thing to happen.

This book tells the story of twin sisters who, despite their evil step mother's intentions, are bright and optimistic. Upon the most recent failure of one of their stepmother's many schemes to get rid of them they finally decide to leave home and seek their fortune's elsewhere. The story is every fairy tale you've heard and more with it's delightful mash up of characters and altered stories.

The Silver Rings is a hilarious story that teaches some surprising lessons along the way. Both children and adults will enjoy Alice and Celia's adventures. The author's refreshing views on love at first sight and perseverance remind us all that things don't always go the way we've been taught. This story is a wonderful introduction into fairy tales and adventure stories for girls and despite the situations that could come across as dark the stories atmosphere and the girls reactions to each situation keep it from getting too serious. 

I said earlier that I wanted to hate the book for it's almost overwhelming amount of zany situations, which at first did seem overwhelming. But the more I read the more I actually enjoyed it. It's just the sort of thing I use to read and write when I was younger and I think that kids would really enjoy it. Alice and Celia's awareness of the world around them adds just enough sanity that readers will stay grounded even when everything else is going haywire. 

The characters are well written and stay true to themselves through the plots progression. I found myself really growing to like each of the characters in the book from the over zelous Randall to the tale-telling fox, Rant. Each one had their own silly charms and added to the story. Rant was probably my favorite character because despite his outrageous stories he was a loyal friend who could make the best of any situation. 

Overall The Silver Rings was a delightfuly silly story with good lessons and fun illustrations. I'd recommend this to anyone wanting a good read and a laugh. I am very glad that I decided to finish this book. 

Note: I received an electronic copy of this book from Netgalley for my fair and honest opinion as I have stated above. 

~Dawn

 

The One Book Review

The One

Kiera Cass

Rating (out of 5): 5

Genre: Young Adult Romance

Release Date: May 6, 2014

Series: The Selection

Series Volume: 3

Profanity:Mild

Violence: Mild

Sexual Content: Mild (but clean)  

Age Recommendation: 13+

Author Website: http://www.kieracass.com/




Summary (Found on Author's Website):

The Selection changed America Singer's life in ways she never could have imagined. Since she entered the competition to become the next princess of Illéa, America has struggled with her feelings for her first love, Aspen—and her growing attraction to Prince Maxon. Now she's made her choice . . . and she's prepared to fight for the future she wants.

Find out who America will choose in The One, the enchanting, beautifully romantic third book in the Selection series!


Review:

The third and final book in the selection series is one I have really wanted to read for a while now. I must say I am pleased with how it turned out. When I first started reading this series I thought for sure that The Selection (book 1) would be the only book in the series. Imagine my surprise when there is not only one but two more books! In the beginning I wasn't sure how Kiera Cass could write three books from what I'd seen in The Selection, but coming to the end of this journey I now see a wonderful and fully formed story.

The Selection trilogy felt like one story all the way through, which speaks of a lot of planing before hand by the author. This is something that I feel like doesn't happen often enough with trilogy's these days. It seems to me that lately authors (mostly YA authors) write a trilogy because it's popular and not because it's what their story demands. I didn't feel this with Kiera Cass's Selection series, something I am immensely grateful for.

Now I'll step off my soap box and give you a review of the book.

The One picks up right where The Elite left off, with America working out a plan to enact her new found determination to win. Things between her and Maxon still have their ups and downs through the book, and Aspen always seems to pop up. But things are changing, and America is finally starting to push back.

Many of the relationships in this book grow and change, and not just America's relationship with Maxon and Aspen, but also her relationships with the remaining members of the elite, her family, Maxon's family, her maids, and even a few new characters all go through major changes and testing. I found these growing relationships even more interesting than the main love story because I got to see a new part of many of the characters. We get a deeper look into the other elite girls and I found myself growing to really love each of the girls, including Celeste. I loved getting to see America's family again as well as getting to know some of the new characters. Overall I really enjoyed the character development in this book, Kiera Cass did a wonderful job of keeping the relationships realistic over the course of the book.

The story was so much more than just America's love life, but at the same time the unrest in the country didn't overwhelm the story. It was used to propel the story but it never took over this romance completely. One of the things I really liked about the Selection series was that it was overall a romance story. Yes it had it's dystopian elements but they never overwhelmed the story like I've seen happen. Kiera Cass made sure to keep the books true to the story she was telling, and that was America's journey through the Selection. That said, I loved everything we got to learn about the rebellion and what was going on in the kingdom. It was very interesting to see what was going on behind the scenes and get to learn a little bit of each sides intentions.

There wasn't anything I really disliked about this book. The romantic scenes got to be almost a little much at times, but they never went too far or got too mushy for me. I enjoyed America's struggle with saying I love you though, it seems to be something I think a lot of people deal with in relationships. When is the right time to say it? Who should say it first? These were questions she struggled with and their eventual resolution left nothing to be desired.

Overall The One was a great read and an excellent conclusion to the Selection trilogy. I would love to see more books by Keira Cass and would recommend anything she's written. If your new to the Selection series or just trying to decide if the finale is for you I say read them, read all three and you won't be dissapointed.

~Dawn

The School for Good and Evil Book Review

The School for Good and Evil 

Soman Chainani (Author), Iacopo Bruno (Illustrator)

 Rating (out of 5): 3.5

Genre: Fantasy 

Release Date: May 14, 2013

Series:  The School for Good and Evil

Series Volume: 1

Profanity: None

Violence: Mild

Sexual Content: None 

Age Recommendation: 8+

Author Website:

http://somanchainani.net/
http://iacopobruno.blogspot.com/

Summary:

At the School for Good and Evil, failing your fairy tale is not an option.

Welcome to the School for Good and Evil, where best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

With her glass slippers and devotion to good deeds, Sophie knows she'll earn top marks at the School for Good and join the ranks of past students like Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the villains in the School for Evil.

The two girls soon find their fortunes reversed—Sophie's dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School for Good, thrust among handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.
But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are . . . ?

The School for Good and Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one.

Review:

The School for Good and Evil looked to be a very promising read, and turned out to, just not in the way I had expected it to. I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting when I began reading the book, maybe a short term at the school then the two girls being sent off into their own fairy tales or something but whatever it was the book threw me for a loop within the first chapter. This story was far darker than I had imagined it being, told more in the style of a Grimm fairytale than most that we see today. By the time I had finished the book I had enjoyed it but I also had some issues with it.

First of all while the story gets on to a very interesting start it is slow. Overall it's a pretty slow book. Yes there are times where things heat up and the action/story really get going but for the most part it moves along at a pace all it's own. While I liked the detail the author went into about the school the huge cast of characters began to confuse me and many of them blurred in my mind. I often found myself wondering 'Who was that again?' and 'When did they show up?' Another thing that really bothered me about the book was the way Sophie treated Agatha. They were suppose to be best friends but one minute she's all nice and the next she's mean and cruel. I can almost understand why it was done, but the story would have been better if their friendship had been done in a more natural way. Yes friends fight and they can be mean to one another but that is something that strengthens them. These fights were never really resolved, they just magically disappeared or in some cases got worse. It frustrated me.

And the ending, what can I say about the ending? It didn't feel like one for starters. The whole ending scene felt very rushed and while it tied together plot threads it did it in a way that was both weird and almost uncharacteristic for the book. At the same time other plot threads were tied together neatly and very characteristic. And the books last chapter felt like the author just stopped writing and said 'See you next book!' giving us a conclusion without actually giving us a conclusion. It left me feeling very frustrated and eager for the next one to come out to find out what really happened. 

Now that I've gotten all the bad out of the way let me tell you what I did like about the book. The magic! The classes! The different schools! The fairytale history! I loved how it took the fairytale lore we know and love and put a different spin on it. I enjoyed both Agatha's and Sophie's character growth through the book, and while at times it seemed like one or the other was regressing in growth I appreciated the fact that the girls changed. Too often do I read a book where the main character grows a little but is stale for most of the book, this book did not do that. Even the more prominent minor characters began to grip me with their growth and personality. These are the one's that the author seemed to put a lot of time and effort into and stood out to me more than some of the others that tended to get jumbled in my head. By the end of the book I had really grown to care for each of the main characters and their closer friends. 

The story itself was great, as slow as it seemed in many parts it did keep moving. The story was very original, I loved seeing the way the two schools interacted with one another and how each class progressed. The different tests and games were amusing and I found myself very interested in the school's history. Just enough clues about whats really going on are provided for both the characters and the reader to begin to unravel what may have actually happened hundreds of years before, though you are still left going 'Say what?' when everything is finally reveled.

Overall I have to say this book is a good read if you need something or are a fan of fairy tales, just keep going through the slower parts and it will pick up again and again often enough to keep you interested and pining to find out what does happen. I do however recommend reading it only after you've got your hands on books 1 and 2 at least. (Though it's suppose to be a trilogy so if your one who hates reading then waiting just wait for all three to be released.)

~Dawn