Customer Reviews

Once a Princess (Sasharia En Garde)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all, ignore the cover of this book. It's not a bad cover exactly, but when I look at it, I think "chick lit" or possibly "contemporary urban fantasy," neither of which this book is, and if you read it hoping for either of those things, you'll probably be disappointed. It also looks like Sasha's shirt says "Got Booty?" which is kind of funny, but really just the result of a poor font choice distorting what her shirt really says - "Got Books?" On the plus side, I think they got Sasha's hair totally right.

This book is the first half of the "Sasharia en Garde" story. I would NOT recommend starting this book unless you also have the sequel, Twice a Prince (Sasharia En Garde), ready and waiting to be picked up as soon as you finish; this book ends right when the story really gets going!

Now, on to the review. Without giving too much away, Sasha, a princess born in the kingdom of Khanarenth on the planet of Sartorias-deles, has lived the last fifteen years of her life on Earth in California. Although a princess from another world, she doesn't act like it. On Earth she's a waitress who loves to read fantasy novels; they remind her of home. Sasha and her mother, Sun, or Atanial as she is known on Sartorias-deles, were forced to flee to Earth because of political unrest when Sasha was a child. They spend the next fifteen years constantly moving, changing names, and hoping that if and when someone comes for them from Khanarenth that it's Prince Mathias, Sasha's father and Sun's husband, and not one of King Canardan's people.

Sasha is sucked back through a portal to Khanarenth, against her will, by a couple of resistance fighters. There she learns that her father has been missing since she and her mother fled to Earth. Sasha's kidnappers want her help to find him. Sasha has her own ideas about what she wants to do though.

As soon as Sun realizes Sasha has been taken, she returns to Khanarenth herself with the intention of rescuing Sasha. She ends up a "guest" of King Canardan - as attractive and charming as she remembered him, he's still scheming and determined to hold on to his ill-gotten throne at all costs.

While Sun plots a way out of Canardan's clutches, Sasha ends up on a pirate ship with Zathdar, the fashion-challenged, but kind of attractive, pirate.

What follows are sword fights, intrigue, some heavy-duty attraction, and even a little bit of magic!

Overall, it's a light, fun read. Fans of Smith's Crown Duel (Crown Duel / Court Duel) (also set on Sartorias-deles) will most likely enjoy this book as well.

This is a great story line. If you're looking for a gooey, sappy romance novel, this isn't for you. If you're after a good read without all the "extras", if magic, pirates, royalty, and travel between worlds piques your interest, give this one a try. Yes, it ends kind of mid-story, but don't many good series end the individual books that way? Aren't series known for cliff hanger endings to get you back for more? It's a good ploy, all the better, as it works so well. Don't we just hate not knowing what happened next?

First of all, be aware that this book cannot be read as a standalone novel, unlike other books by the same author that form part of a series. It basically cuts off in the middle of events without any closure whatsoever, presumably so you buy the sequel. Why they did not publish the two books in one is a mystery to me as they're not all that thick, but I felt cheated by this trick.

The story and the characters are fun enough, if a far cry from Smith's other books like the Crown duel and Inda series, but the plot is rather superficial. Again and again I found myself thinking that the author is asking for a lot of suspension of disbelief from me.

Spoilers!

What I found hardest to believe is that a prince could have a double identity as a pirate admiral and even ends up fighting his own men, thinly disguised with a bandanna and colourful clothes. Not one of them recognizes his face? And nobody in the prince's entourage notices he's absent an awful lot - as he has to be playing pirate? As they say, if more than one person knows a secret, it's a secret no more.

End of spoilers

In conclusion it's an okay read if you're not looking to engage your brain too much, but if you're a critical reader, I'd recommend the Crown duel series instead (Crown and Court duet). Also keep in mind that you have to buy two books to get a story that could easily fit in one!

Sasha was born a princess in another world. She and her mother fled to Earth when she was ten, when her grandfather died and her aunt's husband took the throne for himself. Her father promised to come get them when it was safe, but fifteen years has passed and there's been no word from her father.
Sasha gets kidnapped and taken back to the other world by agents who claim to be her father's supporters. She is forced to run for her life from the king's soldiers, but she can't trust any of her companions since they were the ones who kidnapped her in the first place or the pirate Zathadar who saves her life but has his own agenda.

OK do not look at the cover! These are great books and the cover is horrible! They are clean and fun to read. I would recomend them to any teen girl who wants a little action and romance. Very fun to read! If I had to start over again I would read all her books in order of publication. She has the same world over and over again in many different books and I am all mixed up about a lot of the history that gets mentioned in every book. Just say-en.

Once a Princess - now out in print - is part of Smith's overarching Sartorias-deles world and set in a time which previous books have already touched on (although I don't think there were any familiar faces so far, the one truly mysterious group showing up obviously has ties to characters we already know, but I haven't read about them yet), which makes certain references to military training or the inheritance of magic powers much easier to understand (I do have a feeling that the situation and flair of the hero had quite a bit similarity to Vidanric of Crown Duel (Crown Duel / Court Duel), but as we get point of view from him as well it's not as frustrating for the reader as it was then).

What I read Sherwood Smith most for are the women however. I love the set-up at the start: mother and daughter, nominally princesses in Sartorias-deles, have to flee from a successful coup and wait for the father/prince to come get them. The mother having been a flower-power hippie had embraced the other world with all joy, being aware of her own beauty and strength she even had flirted with the usurper - hoping to turn into a successful Mata Hari, maybe - even though the love she shared with the missing husband (whom we don't get that much an impression of) comes across as quite real.

A loving woman, happily married, who is NOT beyond machinations, if it's for the good of her family: I love it. I also love the despair and eventual disillusion when after 15 years there's no sign of husband/father coming for them, but occasional attempts of the bad guys trying to find them on Earth. It makes the mother cranky and she finds herself a beau who can keep her in style (the only thing that didn't quite ring true in the one scene with that sympathetic if sceptic character is my severe disbelief that he would have spent so much money just for the pleasure of her company in cultural interests, and not have eventually expected to share her bed, too).

Her daughter, eventually fed up with having to move every few years, settles down to waitressing and studying in LA, never building closer friendships (but still able to be a part of fencing and martial arts dojos and compete at an amateur level, which is not how organised sports usually work over here: you get to take part in competitions if you're part of the club and not just because you're a brilliant outsider). She's got a great body and very frizzy hair, she's tall and has a hawk nose like her dad.

Which eventually lets other interested parties (for the return of the missing prince/heir to the throne) find her and drag her back to Sartorias-deles. I'm not going to recap all that happens, just that I was mightily impressed with her keeping her head and being really mistrustful of everyone (even the ones that the author sets up clearly as well-meaning) because they all have their own agendas and she has a big secret she can't trust to anyone. And how in the course of the story, she makes mistakes and they have consequences and so does the hero, and some they realise and some they don't. There is attraction between the two, but this is not a romance novel as such, so no consummation or Happy Ever After at the end.

Actually the mother, coming after her daughter after it is clear that she's missing, fairly soon ends up in the grasp of the ursurper and has to do a very careful dance, as this man STILL is charming and good-looking, as well as utterly egoistic and amoral (planning to do away with his wife and marrying his son to her daughter so that his reign finally gets some legal underpinnings).

And then there's the help-meet at the head of the army who usually does all the dirty work without having any scruples and thinks his son/nephew (I wasn't quite clear on that) would make a great next king and certainly not the wimpy, arty prince from the usurper's previous marriage.

Even the side characters are detailed: Gill with her crush on her captain, Elva and her scepticism which makes her finally leave the whole situation and just go looking for some quiet, Kaelende the cook and his wife with her perfumed fans, Owl (who almost smothers Sasharia in a quilt), and Devlaen who's really hoping they have a wanted poster of him with a reward (as he has joined the resistance now).

This book is NOT stand alone, but finished in Twice a Prince (Sasharia En Garde).

This was a fun read-although this is the first half of the story. The sequel is out and finishes the story up with a great deal of fun, adventure, and romance. As a previous reviewer commented, don't pay any attention to the cover.

This is a great book! At first I was a little leery about reading this because of the title and the cover art. But I figured I would give it a chance and I'm glad I did. It was really good. Not many books can throw me a curve ball or surprise me. But this one did. Give it a shot. :)

It was a entertaining book.The beginning is a little boring but gets better as you read.
If you're looking for a light but entertaining read,this is a good one to try.I want to read the second book.

This is a good introduction to a very readable author. Not the best of his work (though I ranked it four stars, I'd give several of his five stars). Since it's free you can't really lose. I'd certainly call it Young Adult, which I don't see mentioned anywhere.