Customer Reviews

The Princess Diaries, Volume VI: Princess in Training

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

When I first started reading the Princess Diaries series, before it became famous for the movie, I really enjoyed the books. Mia genuinely seemed like an individual. I loved the descriptions the author gave of New York. Unfortuantely, each subsequent book has been losing that special flare, and now the characters seem like completely different people altogether. (I haven't enjoyed a Meg Cabot book after the movie came out--all of her series seemed to change, especially the Mediator series.) In this book, Mia repeats the same thing over and over, perhaps to take up page space where a real plot could have taken place. The actual subject doesn't bother me in the least, but she obsesses over it so much, as if she's a 12 year old who's never heard of sex before. I also agree with another reviewer about the stereotypes that Meg Cabot incorporates. Mia always says she herself is a freak, but when someone at school does it, she gets mad. Also, as someone else said, Mia spends 4/5 of the book being shy and then becoming someone else at the end, only to be a whiney shy person at the beginning f the next, as if nothing happened at the end of the previous book. The English class sub-plot was highly improbable--what kind of English teacher who be swayed by the (bad) speech of a student? English teachers teach persuasive writing and should be able to hold their beliefs. This book didn't really seem to have a plot, just many subplots. I can't really say any major event took place in this book. Nothing really happened, except Mia worrying througout the whole book. I don't think I'll be reading the next installment.

Mia is back in this latest Princess Diaries book. In this installment of our favorite self-actualizing princess, Mia is starting her sophomore year of High School. Unfortunately she's starting it without her boyfriend Michael who is now in College. He's a college guy and according to archenemy Lana he's going to expect her to "do it". Not only that Lilly has nominated her to run for Student Council President against Lana. Not to mention the snail incident and the fact that her mom and step-dad are taking Rocky to Indiana to meet the grandparents. Plus she gets a B in ENGLISH!! Really, it's more than a princess can take!

As always this tale of Mia is loaded with humor and pop culture references. I loved this volume of Mia's life. Mia is growing up and standing up for herself. But her insecurities and paranoia that make her a realistic teen are still in tact. Meg Cabot's writing style keeps me laughing. I was not disappointed.

I despised this book. Even at Midnight I wasn't tired enough to put aside the numerous and visible flaws of this book. The series has been going downward from the first, and I believe (and hope) that this is the low point and that it's only upwards from here, but I doubt it. This review may contain a few spoilers.

First, I hate the stereotypical cheerleaders in these books. No, I'm not a cheerleader and I don't approve of the fact that it's just girls in tight uniforms cheering and doing difficult gymnastics while a boys' football game is happening (it should be separate, if at all). But Lana and her cheerleader friends are rich, snobby and mean to poor little Mia. Meg Cabot shouldn't promote stereotypes like this.

Also, Mia's whining and obsessions are becoming tiresome. I mean in book 5 she's obsessing over how Michael doesn't want to go to the prom, and now she's obsessing over Michael wanting to have sex. It's getting old, if you haven't noticed.

Third, Mia gets a B in English. And she obsesses over it. How it crushed her hopes of being a writer (tragedy!) But finally, after her wonderful and moving speech at the presidential debates, her English teacher decides that pop culture references are fine to have in her schoolwork!!! No one is convinced that easily. And she shouldn't be either.

Also, what is with Mia's fixation with the care of her little brother? I mean I know what it's like to care for someone, but you gotta feel sorry for that kid when he gets old enough to know about the world, she probably won't let him eat anything for fear of E. Coli and won't let him go out for fear of injury.

And yeah, this book isn't reality, but it is supposed to be fairly realistic, not so fake you get a headache reading it. Reading this book is, in my opinion, a waste of time. Thanks for reading.

Ok, so I know this isn't supposed to be a serious series or anything, which I love. In fact, the main reason I read these books is for a break from mindnumbing chemistry and biology textbooks. However, just because something is "popcorn" fiction doesn't mean there shouldn't be any character development. Mia is nearly the same in this installment as she was in the first. Perfectly oblivious to anything other than herself and her own problems, which could make for good reading if done humorously enough but this was just done ridiculously.
I'm also getting sick of all the liberal crap being written into this series such as the world running out of oil in a decade and the environment being destroyed, ect. ect.
The worse part, however, was that half the book was wasted with Mia agnozing over "doing it" and subbornly referring to sex with that term like she was some ignorant seventh grader instead of the high school sophomore she's supposed to be. And the ending of "I'm not going to wait forever, Mia" was absolute male bull. I was appalled that Cabot had Mia actually buy into and put up with that idea. While that would be terrible enough to write into any book to put it into a book geared at "tweens" is morally reprehensive. It's on par with Meg Cabot saying: Ok girls, it's ok to turn down your boyfriends for the time being, but you better realize that eventually you will have to give in to sex or you'll lose him.
Honestly, if that was the case with every guy, we'd all be better off single.

Mia begins her sophomore year dreading high school life without Michael. After she helps him move into his dorm at Columbia, she finds herself busier than ever between Princess lessons, trying to understand geometry, taking care of baby brother Rocky, and now --- thanks to Lilly --- running for Student Council President. And that just covers the first day of school.

Soon, other worries enter her sphere. She wonders if Michael will expect her to be intimate with him now that he is in college. She is now running against Miss Popularity herself, Lana, for President. Her efforts to save some of Genovia's waters have resulted in strained international relations. Lilly is her campaign manager and teams up with Mia's Grandmere. And her new English teacher wants her to write about something more serious than popular culture.

The "Princess Diaries" series is as funny as ever, and Mia proves once again that running a country will be easy for her after surviving high school. While there is a lot of fantasy here, Mia remains in many ways a normal teenager with boy, family, school, and confidence issues. Readers will enjoy watching her start to grow up and deal with these matters.

Meg Cabot keeps enough surprises coming to retain freshness for the many devoted fans of this series. Obviously, through Mia's reactions to the critical English teacher, Cabot is trying to fight back at some reviewers who may think she writes fluff, but she is preaching to the choir here with points about the value of entertaining reads.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

Oh dear, is it me or is the quality of this series starting to get stale?

I mean, I loved the first few books, before Mia and Michael got together, and Mia was actually showing character growth.

Now, however, the series is settling into a safe, safe, boring formula. At first, this was an awesome series that stood out from the typical teen fare (Which I avoid like the plague. I do NOT care about my peers whining about having no boyfriends or no popularity and junk like that.). I loved the witty writing, sassy heroine, the pop culture references, and the fact that Meg Cabot realized that being a princess didn't just involve sitting around eating bonbons and giving orders. Meg Cabot seemed to know that ruling over a principality involved work, and the series seemed to be going in the direction of gradually giving Mia the maturity to accept her role in the world, take her responsibilities without whining, develop a mature relationship with a decent guy (i. e., who I thought was Michael) and finally realize that life doesn't revolve around what's hot right now in society and her own shallow problems.

However, instead of ending the series at its best when Mia finally got Michael, she decided to keep writing. Unfortunately, courtship in books, movies, and television is usually far more entertaining than describing the actual relationship so all of Michael and Mia's French-kissing in the later books got old fast.

The character development was nil in this book. Mia is still a shallow, irritating, whiny brat. I used to love her saucy personality, thinking that after a few books she will develop into a far more mature but still saucy girl. However, she seems to have forgotten EVERY SINGLE LIFE LESSON SHE LEARNED IN THE FIRST FEW BOOKS. She's STILL is almost exactly the same as she was in the beginning. I wish she would stop obsessing over little things like a "B" on a English paper. A "B" is a decent grade. As for everyone else, they haven't progressed beyond stereotypes. Am I hoping for too much? Is a little more complexity for the supporting cast too much to ask for? People are WAAAAYYY more complex than that. I mean, I'm no cheerleader and don't think much of it, but there ARE nice, intelligent cheerleaders in the world.

I was irritated with the snail-dumping issue. Sure, the snails may eat the algae, but what effect will they have on the environment? It's usually a bad idea to introduce new species into other habitats. Look at kudzoo and snakeheads, they were introduced into the States, and now, kudzoo is eating up the South, and snakeheads, if they multiply, will endanger species of fish that are not only important to maintaining the fragile balance of nature, but also are important to the fishing industry.

I wish Meg Cabot had spent more time on the issues of ruling a principality. You know, that Mia's actions, if not properly thought out could have A MAJOR, CATASTROPHIC EFFECT ON THE LIVES OF SEVERAL THOUSAND PEOPLE! I was hoping that Mia will start to really understand and take seriously her duties around this time. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. In fact, I liked the way it was handled in The Princess Gift better than in here.

I didn't like the the English teacher subplot and didn't like the fact that Ms. Martinez's opinions were so easily swayed by a teenage girl's speech. I'm afraid I agreed more with the teacher's former views. Sure, pop culture IS important and has its place, but IT DOES NOT LAST. Fads change, silly teen stars fade into obscurity, and the cycle begins anew. Comparing a work of possibly the world's greatest playwright, William Shakespeare, to the short-lived "marriage" of Britney Spears? Gah, Spears is just another vacuous, uneducated, so-called star. Who cares about what goes on in her life? She is in no way someone who can be looked up to. What about people like Condoleeza Rice? She was a Stanford professor, an advisor to the president, and now, as the Secretary of State, the most powerful woman in the world. Not everyone agrees with the way she does things, but you have to admit, she has accomplished way more than celebrities like Spears have done.

To get back on track, sure, pop culture is important. However, how can Mia ever be taken seriously as a writer if she keeps on writing like that? And why can't she take a little criticism? Ms. Martinez was just trying to help her reach her potential. Wasn't that one of the themes of All-American Girl? There is more to life than what's in. Great writers like Jane Austen (I happen to adore Pride and Prejudice.), remain fresh over the years because the themes they use always remain relevant to the human experience and don't rely on elements like references to pop culture. Real writers remain realistic even in fantasy books like The Lord of the Rings. And I'm afraid that Meg Cabot's works, no matter how popular they are at the moment, will soon fade into obscurity because of what they are. Entertaining, quirky, but ultimately forgettable novels.

By the way, I happen to be a teenager. And I was irritated by the comment by Tina about what is there to Jane Austen besides Colin Firth in a wet shirt (Though I do respect him as an actor). It's things like this that make me grieve for my generation. Or at least moan that people seem to think that all teens only care about stuff like The O. C.

Jeez, those last two statements are a bloody oxymoron, weren't they?

Meg Cabot seems to be on a roll. This book is fun to read, you can't help but to turn the page and see what comes next. The book is involved in both her relationship with Michael and the fact she's a princess, which is nice. Every page I turned, I laughed- there is not a book I have read that is as entertaining as Princess in Training.
If you like any books written previously in the series, I suggest this book. It's more PG-13 than the others, but this book is also a closer look at her life.

I thought Princess in Training was a very nice addition to the Princess Diaries books. I will admit that this was not my favorite book in the series, but I still couldn't put it down. Meg Cabot always does a wonderful job of capturing real teenage problems in her books. I could totally understand and relate to the problems Mia had. Like other reviewers, I thought this book did go a little over the top on the whole sex thing, but it was still a great book. Also, how could you not love Mias student council debate speech? I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend Princess in Training to everyone who likes the other books in the series.

This was a little bit shorter then the other books, but it was still great!

Mia starts out the novel with a major problem. That problem being she dumped algae eating snails into one of nearby bodies of water of Genovia. Now, she has to worry about Genovia and whether or not it will be kicked out of the EU (European Union).

At the assembly during the first day of school, Lilly nominates Mia as school president, and of course, she will be going up against her rival, Lana. Also during that first week, Lana sticks the idea in Mia's head that college boys are going to wanna get a few steps further, something that scares Mia because her love, Michael has just started college.

Mia is excited about school though, because her English teacher seems very enthususatic about the subject and besides being Queen when she gets older, she wants to be a writer. Unfortunately, her teacher, Ms. Martinez, grades Mia a little lower then usual because of her usage of Popular Culture in her writings.

All of this, and being a new older sister is almost too much for Mia to bear! And she gets very surprised when rivals, her Grandmere and best friend Lilly, work together too make Mia have a good campaign. Tina, another good friend of Mia, tells her to talk to Michael about her comfort level relationship wise, and when Mia does talk to him, she gets upset because she finds out that Lana was right.

Finally, the pre-voting debate happens. Mia gives a speech that convinces everyone, and becomes president. Ms. Martinez apologized after Mia made a comment in her speech anout "Teachers of a subjective subject coming down on students' dreams," plus her Dad tells Mia that the snails actually started eating the algae!

Then Mia works things out with Michael, and everything turns out okay between them.

Mia is back, and starting her sophomore year. Michael is off at college. Mia is ready for a great year, but naturally, things go wrong. She is in major trouble because she dumped millions of snails into the Genovian Bay in an attempt to help with the ecosystem. Now Genovia is in danger of being kicked out of the EU! Lily nominates her for student council president without her permission, and she's running against Lana! She even has to do a debate.... Lana also whispered to Mia about exactly what college boys expect of their girlfriends, and now Mia is terrified that she'll lose her boyfriend. With boyfriend worries, crazy campaigns, Genovian trauma, and her best friend secretly conspiring with her grandma, can Mia come out on top...or is her sophomore year doomed from the start?