The Princetta [Paperback]

Anne-Laure Bondoux (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 27, 2008

Princess Malva--the Princetta of Galnicia--flees her kingdom and an arranged marriage, only to find herself betrayed by the very man who promised to help her. Orpheus is the son of a sea-captain-turned-pirate and is determined to make a name of his own commanding a ship in Galnicia's royal armada. But when their paths cross on the high seas, so do their destinies. Together the Princetta and Orpheus will travel to edges of the Known World and beyond . . . a journey from which only one of them will return alive. Shipwrecks, shark attacks, barbarians, and mysterious archipelagos await readers in this lavish fantasy-adventure written by one of France's most celebrated authors.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-10–Malva chafes in her role as Princetta of Galnicia. Her head is filled with fantasies of faraway adventure rather than focused on her upcoming wedding. When her teacher, the Archont, gives her a way to escape, Malva flees from her parents and their rules. Boarding a boat, she and her maid learn of a perfect island, but discover that they have been betrayed, and the girls must fight to stay alive. This is only the start of the trials of the Princetta, who walks for weeks, lands in a harem, is rescued by ship again, and eventually finds the island that she has been seeking. Throughout the book, readers will have difficulty relating to the characters. Malva's insistence on looking for her island is tiresome and baffling, and her realization of the truth comes very late in the book. Because the writing holds readers at a distance, the adventures are not particularly compelling. By the end of the lengthy story, the series of encounters has become rather overwhelming. Tamora Pierce's books have the strong female protagonists, humor, and good pacing that this story lacks.–Tasha Saecker, Menasha Public Library, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

On the eve of her arranged marriage, 15-year-old Malva, Princetta of peaceful Galnicia, hides inside a wine barrel to be smuggled out of the palace. Malva yearns to choose her own future, and gleefully embraces shipboard life as she sails to freedom in another land. Treachery is afoot, however. Young Orpheus McBott sets out to rescue the Princetta, and the two join forces in an odyssey that carries them far beyond the Known World, into the mysterious Archipelago--the realm of the fearsome Catabea. Joined by an eccentric band of comrades, the two must survive a horrifying series of trials that test their courage and loyalty. Rich descriptive language enhances this swashbuckling fantasy, which is chock-full of action, as the Princetta and her followers encounter sharks, pirates, fierce gales, monsters, villains and temptation. Readers who first encountered Bondoux's spare prose in the evocative The Killer's Tears (2006) are in for a surprise--as this is a totally different reading experience. Lynn Rutan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159990098X
• ISBN-13: 978-1599900988
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,133,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars ANOTHER STORY RUINED BY THE ENDING, December 12, 2006

By 

Phillip B. Spotts "cintibookworm" (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Princetta (Hardcover)

A pity really. It was a really nice story to begin with; a runaway princess (princetta), a pirates son out to rescue her, ships, monsters and magic. What more could anyone want in a story?

A decent ending maybe? Not going to find one here. Okay, so it's a "bad" ending. Bondoux is obviously one of those authors that think needlessly killing off a few protagonists is the height of literary excellence. I admit I don't like those kinds of endings, ruins the whole story for me, but it might be a little more palatable if it weren't done in such an off-handed and abrupt manner.

Anyway it did spoil the story for me and I went away from it with a bad taste in my mouth.

NOT RECOMMENDED.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unfulfilled Potential, January 2, 2009

By 

Caeli1926 "Cellphones + Driving = Pedestrian ... (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Princetta (Paperback)

I'll admit, what first caught my attention about this book was the cover (I bought the newer version of this book). However, what really convinced me to actually buy this book was the brief summary on the back and the letter in the prologue. I thought this books was going to be about a strong, independent heroine who would do anything to preserve her freedom. Perhaps I did think that this book was going to be a bit cliche and somewhat like a romance novel for young adults, but that was still okay with me. I'm generally easily satisfied as long as the main characters have true strength. However, all my preconceptions about this book were very, very wrong.

The book started off well, with much potential to go in several directions. The main one I was thinking (especially from the description on the back) was that the heroine, Malva, the princetta, would stow away on some ship, be discovered by the captain, and they would fall in love and blah, blah, blah. Pretty cliche, but I like cliche, as long as it's well written cliche. This story did none of that, which I was pleasantly surprised by, but not for long.

I'm not really going to go into a step-by-step detailed outline of the plot or how this story progressed, by what I am going to do is discuss what I thought were some major flaws in the book. Poor editing (and uncreative place names) aside, Malva is one of the main reasons why this book was so hard to enjoy. As I was reading the novel I had a really hard time relating to her or even liking her very much. For someone who worked up the nerve to run away from home, and abandon her position more or less in the lap of luxury, Malva was an incredibly weak character.

For all her claims of wanting to be independent, at every turn Malva could do nothing by herself. First she has to depend on her maidservant to give her strength and take care of her. Next, when Malva and her servant are separated, and Malva is captured and sold off to be a part of a harem, she becomes sniveling and weak. She becomes dependent on another girl in the harem named Lei. Without Lei, Malva would have been fish food long ago. I find it ironic that there are strong female characters in this book (although they still don't have much personalities, but at least they take action), the leading lady is not one of them. She constantly has to be rescued by someone else, be it man or woman. Her final rescuer is the male lead, Orpheus, who she almost instantly becomes dependent on. This brings me to another flaw in the tale.

The love between Malva and Orpheus seems to spring up from out of nowhere. They all of a sudden become very important to each other, even though they just barely met. What's more is that once Malva starts liking Orpheus she starts becoming (pardon my language) a b*tch to Lei (who was rescued along with Mava from the harem) at times.

Another thing I want to mention is that once Malva is rescued from the harem the book just kind of seems to fall apart. Not many things make sense. They have to face obstacles and ordeals that aren't really quite clear in their prupose. Also, there seems to be pointless deaths along the way. And just when you think things are going to have a happy ending. Bam! You're sideswiped with ANOTHER pointless death that occurs in the most ridiculous of ways in my opinion. I'm not even going to go into what I think about the villain in this book, and personally, I thought the ending of the novel was horrible.

I could have forgiven the confusing episodic ordeals the characters had to go through. I could have forgiven the inexplicable romance between Malva and Orpheus. I could have even forgiven Malva's lack of likeability, weaknesses, and her utter dependence on others (it's not until the very end that she shows any ability to act on her own at all, which occurred far too late to make her likeable) if the ending had just been good. I can forgive a lot when there's a cheesey happy ending. There wasn't one in this book. The ending was depressing, unnecessarily so.

If you like weak heroines, confusing episodic tales, romance with no foundation, and lack of imagination and creativity, then this is the book for you. If you like strong female characters with and powerful and imaginative plot, then I'd suggest you skip this book. It's a shame this book ended up the way it did when it started out with so much potential.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WARNING: SPOILER IN MY REVIEW!!, October 9, 2010

By 

Leilani Nei - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Princetta (Hardcover)

All I am going to say is that her love interest dies because he happened to sneeze while shooting the bad guy. Yes, a sneeze!!! How lame is that?!! They defy death, prevail against all odds, and when they are finally safe back at home, he sneezed. The end.