A Vintage Reads Review: Princess of the Midnight Ball
A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn…First Sentence:
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.
Because he had once been human, the King Under Stone sometimes found himself plagued by human emotions.
Okay, so, I was sold on this book from the very first sentence of the book. Look above and you'll see why this book instantly pulled me in. *makes you want to read it now, right?!?*
While Princess of the Midnight Ball is not the first retelling of the Tweleve Dancing Princess that I've read, it was only my second, okay, but it was definitely unique and...and brilliant. My thoughts upon reading my first Jessica Day George book was, "Why, oh why have I not read this before!!" I'm going to say it now, read this book and see why this book was so, so richly written and just all around perfection.
I'm not even sure were to start when it comes to Princess of the Midnight Ball because all I want to do is shove this book in your face. So, I'll (try to focus) and start with what I thought of Jessica Day George's writing.
I just really, really loved her vision of the Twelve Dancing Princess and how she re-imagined the story. Her writing and the way she portrayed the sisters, most especially Rose, and Galen and even the King Under Stone is why this book is a most read. The characters, even that of the villains, just drew me in because I need to know their stories and whether or not they stood a chance of being freed from their chains of slavery to the King Under Stone.
While I loved the characters themselves, it was their individual stories that drew me to them. For one, I really enjoyed her vision of the sisters and their sisterly relationship with its ups and downs. I enjoyed seeing them pull together to try and break free of the fate passed onto them by their mother and how the stress of the curse affected each of them differently. Then, add in Galen's story and how he winds up entangled in their curse and you have an excellent character driven story that just draws one in.
See, I just cannot help but gush about Jessica Day George's Princess of the Midnight Ball because it is that GOOD. It was one of those books that you know you're going to love the moment you open it and die into the world. While this is just my second retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princess, not sure if there's more than two, I admit that it is right up there with the other one as a favorite of mine. While both retelling's are good in their own rights and completely different, as they well should be, I loved seeing the differences between the two and how each author imagined things for the girls and the overall story.
Final Verdict: Princess of the Midnight Ball- Wonderfully written and thoroughly enjoyable. This is one book that I hope you'll read!
Princess of the Midnight Ball earns
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