Princess BenAuthor: Catherine Murdock
Series: ---
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
How Received: public library
Benevolence is not your typical princess and Princess Ben is certainly not your typical fairy tale. With her parents lost to unknown assassins, Princess Ben ends up under the thumb of the conniving Queen Sophia, who is intent on marrying her off to the first available "specimen of imbecilic manhood." Starved and miserable, locked in the castle's highest tower, Ben stumbles upon a mysterious enchanted room. So begins her secret education in the magical arts: mastering an obstinate flying broomstick, furtively emptying the castle pantries, setting her hair on fire... But Ben's private adventures are soon overwhelmed by a mortal threat facing the castle and indeed the entire country. Can Princess Ben save her kingdom from annihilation and herself from permanent enslavement?
I liked it. But... that was it.
I mean, Princess Ben as a character was amazing. I could get into her brain, understand her, and then when she reflected on how selfish she was originally, I completely agreed - at that point in the story. She was a fun character to read about.
But all the plots just seemed... smooshed together. The love plot line came together super abruptly; the magic plot line started and stopped and started again; the dragon wasn't real at all! and then it suddenly was...
The principal was good, but I wish she had dropped some of the plot lines, or expanded on them - made it into a trilogy, maybe?
Overall Rating & Final Thoughts: 6/10. Good characters, but smooshed together.
Cover Thoughts: They chose the perfect model.
Happy reading!
Glad to see I'm not the only one who thought so!
ReplyDeleteI liked Ben as a character, but the plot did seem smooshed and I remember thinking the love plot was ridiculous and thinking that the prince was a little too prince charming for my taste. I read this book a while a go, but in my review I said a lot of the same things you did. lol not as elegantly as you do, but I definitely agree.
I agree about the romance...way too hurried.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of what you said in your review, especially that it should have been expanded into a trilogy, but I gave my review of the book an 8/10. I think that I just liked how fun it was to read and how things tied together at the end...
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I didn't care for the Prince as a character though at all and the romance was lacking for sure. The fake-dragon bit had me laughing and the real-dragon seemed thrown in there to act as a 'come together' moment for Ben and Florian as well as an easy out on placing the blame for the deaths.
LOL. Funny you should review this one, I just looked at it the other day in our local store. Didn't purchase (wasn't quite sure if I would like it), but definitely had it in hand. Sorry to hear it was all that you dreamed it would be, but here's hoping your next read is that much better!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find out where Prince Florian actually found out she could use magic. I mean the book was totally awesome, but the love plot came together way to I just met you and I'm totally in love with you like the whole love at first sight thing. I like that sort of thing, but it could have been better considering the main plot.
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