Customer Reviews

Princess at Sea

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I read The Decoy Princess, I hadn't known what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised. It went on to my top shelf with all my other favorites. By the time Princess at Sea came out I had high expectations, but I was also doubtful that the sequel would be as good. Fortunately, Princess at Sea is as good if not better than the first.

The book begins not long after the last with Tess, as an ambassador, accompanying her sister the queen and her sister's new Misdev husband on a holiday to meet the people of Costenoplie. Tess's new skills as a player are challenged when pirates overtake their ship and capture the queen and the prince to ransom them. In Princess at Sea, Tess struggles to survive terrible beatings, a near rape, a deadly bite from a poisonous animal, near insanity from harnessing the power of the wind, betrayals from those she trusted and her own vast and uncontrollable powers. I was deeply caught up in her struggle to save her sister even at the expense to her own life and mental suffering. The characters are rich and believeable and the world that Dawn Cook has created is captivating.

I enthusiastically recommend Princess at Sea. It's a great follow up to a great book. I just hope Dawn Cook changes her mind and writes another one!

With so many fantasy novels glutting the market right now that seem to be carbon copies of each other, it's refreshing to find an author like Dawn Cook. Her latest, "Princess at Sea," is another shining example of how talented an author she is.

"Princess at Sea" is a sequel to "Decoy Princess" and in many ways, it's necessary to have read the first book to understand some of the people and concepts in "Princess at Sea." Tess, formerly the crown princess and now with a much deeper position in the royal government, is the new ambassador to the kingdom and is accompanying her sister and her sister's new husband on their honeymoon voyage. When they are kidnapped and held hostage by pirates, Tess goes all out to save them.

As with so many of Cook's books, the storyline seems straightforward until the author throws a major twist in the plot. You just never know what she'll come up with, which is what makes her books so fascinating. I find the premise behind the Princess series one of the most ingenious I've read in a long time, so I'm hoping that there will be more books in this series. Unfortunately, the author states on her website that she was only planning on writing "Decoy Princess" and its sequel. Let's hope she changes her mind!

Princess at Sea, follows The Decoy Princess in Dawn Cook's Princess series. Tess is escorting Queen Contessa and her Misdev consort Alex on their honeymoon. With them on the journey are the rouge Duncan and Jeck, the Captain of the Misdev Royal Guard and fellow player. Needless to say, the honeymoon goes awry when Tess and the royal couple are captured by pirates. True to form, the pirates want a ransom for the roal couple. Tess, however, has gotten on their bad side by killing a few of their crew. The pirates want rid of Tess, since she is troublesome. Duncan, on the other hand, is becoming buddies with the pirates. Duncan does try to help Tess out by saving her from ravishment and probable death. After a series of misfortunes, Tess and Jeck win free of the pirates, leave Duncan and the royals behind, and race to the capital to head off the kidnappers. No, I didn't give it all away. This is a twisty, tricksey, one regardless of the predictableness in some of it. Read only if you have read the Decoy Princess, you'll be lost without it.

So far, this series seems to hold more potential for cleverness than the Truth series and the books in the Truth series are also good reads. Can't wait for more!

"Decoy Princess" was great, but "Princess at Sea" is even better. It was basically excitement all the way through. Tess of course gets into more scrapes, but she handles them very humanly; by the end of the book she'll have gone through so many changes and discoveries (pleasant and unpleasant) you can't help but cheer her on. I like Dawn Cook's writing style. She has a way of drawing you in to the story and characters, making you want to continue reading. Before I knew it, I was finished with the book; maybe it was because the action hardly ever slows. The characterization, smooth writing, fast-paced plot, exciting revelations, and new possibilities make "Princess at Sea" a fun and quick read.

In this sequel, Tess must rescue her sister and her husband Alex from pirates who want a ransom. She teams up with Jeck and Duncan, and along the way, alliances change and Tess finds herself questioning her relationships with almost all the characters she thought she knew.

I'm not usually fond of sequels. They are either reincarnations of the first, lacking in originality, or they are so far off story wise from the first that it's just an unbelievable stretch. That being said, I was excited and apprehensive to read "Princess at Sea." I felt like The Decoy Princess just left me hanging at the end and was happy to find the story did indeed continue. (I did find out later that the author actually wrote these 2 books as 1 and the story was split into 2 books by the publisher.)

Tess, the former Crowned Princess and now ambassador and third in line to the throne, is accompanying her sister and new brother-in-law, Queen Contessa and Prince Alex, on a honeymoon tour of their kingdom to visit their people and for Contessa to learn how to be and act like a Queen. Along for the ride is Duncan, the cheat who Tess in enamored with. Passion is still high between Tess and Duncan, even though Tess is only willing to take it so far. Escorting the royal pair are 2 warships, with Captain Jeck aboard one with his ever watchful eyes.

The royal pair, Tess, and Duncan are taken by pirates, intent on a large ransom. Duncan turns pirate in an apparent attempt to secretly help Tess. Many adventures follow, including escape attempts and Tess' growing power, thanks to a punta bite she receives.

Tess in an emotional girl, never sure of what she wants. She feels herself falling in love with Duncan and finds comfort from him, his touch, and his bold statement that he loves her. She also finds a curious attraction to Jeck, her former captor and rival player, and a new attachment is slowing building between them from constant close quarters, shared game-player interests, and new venom induced links. Such a contrast between these two men! One seems content to let her do all the work, which she believes is from his new double role as lover and pirate. The other isn't afraid to do the work himself and let her fend for herself and trudge along in her self-imposed misery of misunderstanding, which she believes is from his desire to interpose his game play on her playing field, that he is a superior player, and emotionally detached from everyone around him.

Because this book, like it's predecessor, is from Tess' point of view, we see what she sees, sometimes a bit more clearly since she is blinded by quick judgments, assumed "tell signs", and her quickly glancing over things. The end came as a complete shock to me with a twist I didn't see coming, but in hindsight, all the signs were there. I, too, was blinded to them because I read and saw from Tess' point of view and REALLY wanted things to work out a certain way. All I could do was read on to find out what happened next while my eyes were wide and my brain kept saying, "Wow!"

I do wish that there was a 3rd book in this series to really complete Tess' story and develop her relationship with her newly found sister and the man she chose.

I pounced on this book the minute it arrived, having loved The Decoy Princess and the Truth series, but when I started reading it things didn't go so well. I found myself not that interested in the "game" and the player mentality of molding and meddling now that Tess knew about it and was a knowing participant. The initial scenes aboard the Sandpiper had no hook for me and left distaste. I put it down about 60 pages in and didn't pick it up again until I'd read the other books I'd gotten at the same time. However, shortly after where I'd left off things got more interesting, the mentality shifted with the need to survive and protect more than to manipulate. Jeck got twisted up in things again, and I loved him from the first book. And when things got back to thinking more player-like, it had changed enough that I didn't mind. The end had a twist that I'm not entirely sure I'm comfortable with, but since it favored the character I like better I'm not complaining too much. There will obviously be a third book, and I'm looking forward to it.

One thing I discovered in re-reading the Truth series is that there are tons of hints of things-to-come in the earlier books, and I didn't pick up on them until I'd read all the series and then re-read the earlier ones. That may be also true with the Princess books, and I may be missing things I'll discover and appreciate later.

I didn't like it as much as the Decoy Princess, but still a good sequel. She kept me guessing about Duncan. I was never sure if I should hate him, feel sorry for him, or like him. As far as Jeck, I wasn't sure if he was friend or foe. What bothered me about this is that it is so not orginal for Cook. Her last series had the triangle thing going on to. Granted, I like reading the "triangle thing," but I don't want my authors to become too predictable. Granted, the end was a bit surprising.

At the end of book one, Tess becomes the new ambassador and goes to sea. She makes a really dumb decision to invite the captain of an unknown ship aboard and her sister and new brother-in-law (hello? the king and queen, are kidnapped) as well as her and Duncan. During this kidnapping, she discovers that she is expendable, Duncan appears to join the darkside, and Tess develops abilities that no player can do.

It's all quite action packed and difficult to put down. I just hate the obvious mistakes Tess makes, but I suppose you can chalk it up to growing up believing yourself to be a pampered princess.

Princess at Sea by Dawn Cook is the second in a series and is a fun read. Somehow, Tess's character takes on more meaning as the story develops but without any specific intentions......more like unfurling of a yarn.
My favourite passage is where she wants to get the wind, to make it obey her wishes. The prose is almost lyrical and it's amazing to encounter such literature in today's fantasy genre'. Tolkiens was an exception and fantasy writing these days mostly is not about the quality of prose and language.

Awaiting the third book eagerly.

This is an easy to read, fun book., The heroine is spunky yet vulnerable. There is a nice romantic tension with male protagonist and I wish we had another book in this series so that we can complete their relationship. The book feels oddly unfinished since we never find out if the heroine and hero will ever resolve their differences and get togther.there needs to be a third book!!

This sequel to The Decoy Princess is even better than the first one. Tess learns more magic, and gets in more trouble... and Captain Jeck has a big part on this book too. We learn more about the Players and how they work as well. A mystery and a conspiracy are introduced and solved, which change your whole thinking about certain characters. It made me want to read the first book again. I enjoyed getting to know Princess Contessa and Duncan better but especially getting to know more about Jeck. A fun book I recommend to everyone.