Sunday, January 9, 2011

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George



book cover

Princess of the Midnight Ball
by Jessica Day George


ISBN-13: 978-1-59990-322-4
Hardback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Released: January 20, 2009


Source: Checked out from my local library.

Book Description from Goodreads (modified):
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. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well.

What they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all--true love.

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


My Review:
Princess of the Midnight Ball is a young adult fantasy novel. It's a re-telling of the fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." The story was set in a real-world type setting (including the Catholic church and pistols), but at the same time contained a magical cloak, white witch, evil magician, etc. While the characters were predictable and the romance rather superficial, the good characters charmed me and the evil characters did have a bit of complexity. I never doubted that the princesses would be saved in the end, but that's the type of story I was looking for at the moment.

(The novel I had scheduled to review today had various good guys murdered, tortured, and lose hope. The bad guys won in the end. I needed something upbeat after reading that, and Princess of the Midnight Ball filled that desire well.)

There was a very minor amount of "he cussed" style bad language. There was no sex. Overall, I'd recommend this charming fairy tale retelling.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

4 comments:

Ann Summerville said...

I stopped by your blog today. How refreshing to find reviews of "clean" books. That is the main reason I like to read and write cozy mysteries.
Ann

Debbie said...

Hi, Ann.

Thanks for dropping by and for taking the time to comment. I'm glad you like "clean" mysteries; I do, too! Maybe you can find some mysteries you'll enjoy among those I've reviewed. :)

brendajean said...

This was a fantastic story! All of Jessica's books are great. I really loved her Dragon Slippers series:)

bchild5 at aol dot com

Debbie said...

BrendaJean,

I'm planning on reading more of Jessica's books. Unfortunately, my library doesn't have her her Dragon Slippers series or I'd start with them. :) Thanks for the tip, though.