Promise [Hardcover]

Monica Hughes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1992 | Age Level: 10 and up

Princess Rania is forced to leave everything she loves when she is apprenticed to a desert-dwelling ascetic, but she soon develops a love for her new life that will conflict with her eventual return to the world.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-7-- Twelve years before this story opens, in Sandwriter (Holt, 1988; o.p.) , Princess Antia of Kamilant and Jodril, son of the chieftan of the desert kingdom of Roshan, pledged their first child as apprentice to Sandwriter, an old woman who is revered as the mystical spirit of the kingdom. As The Promise opens, it is Princess Rania's tenth birthday, and time for the pledge to be fulfilled. Atbin, a young man from a desert village, is sent to escort her. At each step of their journey, items are discarded, until she arrives at Sandwriter's desert dwelling with all vestiges of her former life stripped away. For four years, living austerely, she learns the lessons of the desert, gradually forgetting her family and friends. One day she sees Atbin leaving their daily food, and her interest in the outside world is rekindled. Realizing she has demanded too much too soon, Sandwriter sends Rania to spend a year in the town of Monar, at the end of which she may choose an ordinary life or to return to the desert. As the year progresses, she misses and values her desert existence more and more, and, when the time for choosing comes, she returns to it and Sandwriter. Not as fast paced or as obvious in its message as some of Hughes's other works, The Promise nevertheless has much to offer thoughtful readers. --Li Stark, North Castle Public Library, Armonk, NY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Honoring her parents' promise, ten-year-old Princess Rania is taken from her lush palace and thrust into the arid desert home of Sandwriter, the powerful shaman whose magic is essential to survival in their world. When she's 14--wiser, stronger, but still ambivalent about dedicating her life to magic--Sandwriter sends her to choose her future, a choice made more difficult by the love of Atbin, the desert youth who took her to Sandwriter four years ago. Conscience wins: Rania decides that her responsibility to her people outweighs her personal happiness. The jacket shows Atbin and Rania perched far forward on a two-legged desert beast that, if the laws of gravity hold, is about to go snout-down in the sand; but this is fantasy, so the beast lumbers on. It's not a bad metaphor for the book: lots of suspension of disbelief required. That said, young readers will find some convincing details, while tales of selflessness still have their place. There may even be a subtext about the harsh price society exacts from women who choose wider responsibilities than love and family. (Fiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; 1st U.S. ed edition (June 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067175033X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671750336
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,901,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An astounding sequel, February 16, 1998

By 

Carissa Di Gangi ([e-mail]) (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Promise (Paperback)

Who can complain about this book? I can't say anything about it, it's just too good. Only read it. If you're looking for a book, read it. But read Sandwriter first. It's better, but this is a super runner-up.

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book!, April 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Promise (Hardcover)

The first time I read this book, I was in grade 7 or 8, and I loved it. I'm going to be graduating from High School this year, and I still love it. I must have read it about 30 times. In this sequel to Sandwriter, a young princess must travel to a strange land to learn the secrets of a mysterious old woman. The descriptions of the land provide ample subject matter with which you can imagine anything, and the characters are realistic and easy to identify with.