Customer Reviews

Red Hood's Revenge (PRINCESS NOVELS)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Roudette may be known as "Little Red Riding Hood," but her innocence was taken when she saw her grandmother brutally murdered by the Hunt. Now, Roudette is a deadly assassin. Her latest mission lands her in the presence of three legendary princesses - Danielle, Talia, and Snow (also known as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White respectively). The princesses go in search of the person who sent Roudette. But their journey leads them to Arathea, Talia's former home - where she's still wanted for murdering the prince who woke her.

The princesses have all gone through various changes in the past couple books. Danielle is now a mother. Snow was in a serious accident where her head was damaged, which has been affecting her magical abilities. And Snow now knows of Talia's unrequited feelings for her, which brings awkwardness to their friendship. Despite their shortcomings, the ladies continue to kick butt and hold their own against the deadliest of enemies.

More dramatic than previous installments, this latest story revolves mainly around Talia and Roudette, bringing to light more of their dark and horrible pasts. But that doesn't mean the adventure is lacking. There's plenty of the suspense and action that make this fantasy series great. Hines' princess heroines from fairy tale lore are truly unique and completely enjoyable from start to finish. I can't wait to see what comes next from this highly talented fantasy author. His Goblin series remains one of my favorites to this day.

A quick read, but worth buying. I enjoyed the ongoing tension between Snow and Talia. Roudette is a fascinating character because, in many ways, she is what Talia could have become had she not had the network she found after waking up.

I am continuing to enjoy Danielle's arc. She has grown up so much over the books. In this volume we see how she integrates the person she's become with her marriage and motherhood. I like that, unlike in some novels, there isn't a switch between being awesome and being a wife/mother. Instead the two support one another, making her a well-rounded and great character.

I was uncertain about this series after reading the first book, but the story just keeps getting better.

[Full disclosure: I personally know Jim C. Hines and have worked with him in the past.]

Red Hood's Revenge is the third in Jim Hines' "Princess Novels". I used to describe this series as "Charlie's Angels meets Disney Princesses, but with plot." I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do that anymore - simply because this series has grown strong enough that such comparisons don't do justice to Jim's books.

Sure, the three main characters - Danielle, Talia, and Snow - are based on Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. But they - just as with Roudette (Red Riding Hood) - are not the saccharine helpless maids marketed by the mouse. They are fully realized characters set in a rich world of thier own. Red Hood's Revenge is inspired by these fables the same way that O Brother Where Art Thou is inspired by the Odyessy. Familiar elements (a red cloak, a spell of sleeping) show up, but in a fully imagined original world.

I cannot recommend Jim's books strongly enough. They are a great blend of epic fantasy elements with fully realized characters and setting, while dodging the problems (and weight) of a typical fantasy epic.

One small note: Issues of sexuality and romance are addressed in this book. The action takes place "offscreen", so to speak. If it were a movie, I'd rate it PG, and I'm comfortable with my 12-year-old reading it.

The story centers around an assassin named Roudette (better known as Little Red Riding Hood) targeting Talia (Sleeping Beauty) with the aim of bringing Talia alive to her employer (never a good thing). Mess ensues as Talia, Danielle (Princess Cinderella) and Snow (White) go to hunt down the bad guy in Talia's old kingdom... while trying to stay out of trouble there (easier said than done, of course).

As one might expect from my duration of reading, the book progressed along at a good clip. Since this was a somewhat action-y book, I thought it worked rather well. The fights also tended to be rather short affairs (which is a good thing) so the quick pace is more a function of actual plot, character development and story (especially character development). The plot is pretty straightforward overall, consisting mainly of Talia's past coming back to bite her in the rear and threaten the people she cares about. The book is also clearly Talia's story for the most part as she undergoes the most development past her singular overpowering issue of how badly mistreated she had been in her past. It's good to see her finally start to move beyond it with help from the people she cares about.

I liked most of the heroines to start with, but I was most pleased to find that Snow was much less annoying to me than the last story arc. Clearly putting some limits on how much magic she can use and those impacting her serial flirting have improved her character for me a great deal. The villains seemed more secondary in many ways, primarily because they were mostly defined with how they exerted power (or tried to) over Talia or how she perceived them to have power over her. The main driving force of the plot is how she's trying to get them to leave her alone and how she doesn't have the option from running, hiding or ignoring them in her life. I like how this played out with Roudette acting as a mirror and counterpoint for Talia and how this book was far more a character tale rather than a "save the kingdom" story. Maybe we can call it a "character saves self" kind of narrative instead. I liked how the ending was handled regarding Talia's sons. It was very delicate.

Although it did not have the fun plot twists that The Mermaid's Madness had (nor did it have the neat side characters whom I hope will show up again) I do think that this kind of story does have its place in any series and will happily read it again. It can sit on the shelf next to the Terry Moore graphic novels. ^_^

In Jim C. Hines's wonderful Princess Novels series, Red Hood's Revenge falls after The Stepsister Scheme and The Mermaid's Madness, and before The Snow Queen's Shadow. In RHR, we get to see Danielle developing as a princess; the waxing and waning tensions among the three companions (in particular, between Snow and Talia); and the mysterious homeland Talia has only alluded to in previous books. Her tale in particular is a dark one, hardly the sanitized popular version, and she knows that to return to her home means death: she killed her husband, the prince. Yet if she wants to save her home from the schemes of the fairies, she'll have to go back.

The characterizations are, as always in Hines's tales, fantastic. Danielle is learning to be a princess rather than a servant--no easy task. Snow is facing the fact that her magic is harming her and aging her, and yet she needs it. Talia is a deadly fighter, but strength of arms is not what she'll most need when she has to face her old mentor, a former lover, and a host of enemies--as well as potential allies. Roudette seems like a straightforward enemy at first, but of course there turns out to be much more to her than meets the eye.

Talia's homeland is richly detailed, making it easy for the reader to see, taste, and smell the cities and deserts. Hines as always mixes the darkness of what comes after the supposed `happily ever after' with tidbits of humor, but the series does get darker as it goes. I can't imagine not getting sucked into the fears, adventures, and successes of the three princesses and the formidable queen they follow.

Maybe damsels under duress, but never damsels in distress. With RED HOOD'S REVENGE Jim C. Hines steps even further away from the lighthearted fractured fairy tale tone he'd brought to THE STEPSISTER SCHEME, this series's inaugural book. RED HOOD'S REVENGE tends to echo more of the grim, dark sensibilities which threaded thru those original fairy tales, long before Walt Disney got a hold of them and turned them into cute singing and dancing bedtime fables. Back in the day, I mean, really back in the day, woodland creatures weren't only fluffy bunnies and birds that frolicked with the girl and helped her clean house. There were also ravenous wolves. Just as there were also princes who were less than noble.

Hines takes the fable of Little Red Riding Hood and injects a sinister, tragic twist. Decades later, Roudette, bitter and scarred and armed with her enchanted red cloak, has fostered a reputation as a fearsome assassin, and she now sets her eyes on Princess Danielle Whiteshore née de Glas of Lorindar... or so we initially assume. Danielle - once upon a time known as Cinderella - isn't your typical princess, and she and her friends, the formidable warrior Talia and the sorceress Snow (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, respectively), bring the fight to the Lady of the Red Hood. Once upon a time, there were princesses who didn't need rescuing.

I am really high on this series and, if anything, this third book RED HOOD'S REVENGE only elevates the mad love. Danielle, Talia, and Snow are so very well-written and fleshed out, and I love the interactions among the three (although the established relationships get thrown out of whack with the introduction of an old friend of Talia's). Hines then inserts a brooding, tragic anti-heroine in the person of Roudette (maybe Talia wasn't holding down the fort in that department). Roudette and Talia are essentially the same side of the coin, the difference being that Talia has gotten a few breaks, whereas the Lady of the Red Hood never had a chance. Roudette was always fated to go down her bleak road.

Danielle takes more of a back seat in this one, the story focusing more on Snow and decidedly more on Talia. RED HOOD'S REVENGE presents a decidedly more Arabian Nights flavor as Hines writes of Sleeping Beauty's eventful return to her arid homeland of Arathea, a kingdom co-habitated by fairies and humans, humans being the subservient race in this equation. In the course of their adventures, the girls fall prey to the eldritch Wild Hunt and are caught up in a sweeping conspiracy to overthrow the Arathean throne. The irony is that Talia would prefer nothing better than for a revolution to come about. Arathea's current ruler desperately craves the death of Sleeping Beauty. Talia, after all, did murder her son, the Prince, even if the circumstances were entirely mitigating. And a living (and awake) Sleeping Beauty, the kingdom's true hereditary monarch and back from exile, is a perennial threat to the crown. In this go-around, the writer offers treachery, twists, revelations, unrequited love, old friends, requited love, handsome princes who sit at home while the women do the work, Danielle's cleverness and statesmanship, Talia's rousing heroics, Snow's costly mirror magic... and a not at all guaranteed happily ever after. RED HOOD'S REVENGE is darker and richer, is set on a larger scale and, well, is it the most satisfying of the three books? It's certainly the best read so far. Even if I'm growing more and more concerned about Snow and that head injury of hers.

I bought this book.

With this book I'm finally caught up on this series (until March at least) and it's this one that has the most complex, detailed world building of the three, which is saying something. Hines' Princess books follow the further adventures of Snow White (Snow, a talented sorceress), Cinderella (Danielle, happily married princess and mother) and Talia (Sleeping Beauty whose tale is possibly the most vicious of all), fairy tale princesses whose stories didn't quite turn out as legend would have you believe.

In Red Hood's Revenge Danielle receives a letter from Red Riding Hood (who is now a widely feared assassin), a bold proclamation of her intent to kill Danielle for no other reason than she's been paid to. But like in all of Hines' books the plot (and the emotional story) is not so simple. When Snow and Talia come to Danielle's aid, the three of them find themselves magically transported to the exotic desert land where Talia's legend began--and where the Queen has put a death sentence on Talia's head.

Talia must save old friends, defeat (again) the insidious fairy plot that was put in place when she was first "gifted" as a child, and save her kingdom from the Wild Hunt, which savages towns from dusk to dawn. Hines spins out the well-known fairy tale into a semi-religious and definitely political plot to destroy the human rulers of Talia's land and bring the world under fairy rule. Likewise the subplot of Talia facing up to her own rage over what really happened to her (I'll give you a hint if you haven't read any of these books yet--it wasn't the prince's kiss that awoke her) makes for a satisfying read on many levels.

Readers won't be able to help but become personally involved with these princesses. They're brave, bold, strong and anything but helpless women waiting to be rescued. But Hines also holds respect for the classic feel of fairy tales, creating something strong enough, and interesting enough to stand on its own in the weight of the classic art of storytelling.

I very much enjoyed the previous two installments in this series, but this one was just a definite improvement over the previous two. More complex, more personal, and with an excellent portrayal of a new portion of this world. The story revolves around Talia and dealing with her past, but since I've always found her the most interesting of the three, that was a plus for me. I would still recommend reading the other two books first, as this one builds on the development and characterization of the first two.

Third book in the Princess fantasy series--which I had thought was going to be a trilogy but now I see another coming out next year. Featuring several fairy tale legends as the main cast of the book--Sleeping Beauty (Talia), Snow White (er...Snow) and Cinderella (Danielle), the women on this trip encounter Roudette (aka Little Red Riding Hood) who has spent her life seeking revenge against The Wild Hunt that killed her family. The fairy tales don't get it quite right...the woodsman was the bad guy, and Roudette has 'bonded' with the Big Bad Wolf in such a way that she's a bit other-than-human.

Roudette is working now as a paid assassin, and the Princesses must first of all figure out just who has hired her wolfiness, and which of them she's specifically targeted. Eventually they realize it's Talia, and they are off to Talia's homeland of Arathea, where she's sought for killing the son of the current queen who also happens to be the father of her twin boys, who are now under the care of said queen. Can Snow overcome fairy magic in order for Talia to get at the evil fairy who hired Roudette? Not by herself, of course--as always, it's a team effort, with Roudette even helping along the way.

I am still surprised by how much I enjoy this series, not being one for girly-girl stories. But these three are anything but your typical girly girls. Great story, easy-to-read writing style and enjoyable fusion of fairy tale, myth and fantasy. Very much looking forward to the next one!

This series keeps getting better and better. After telling us Cinderella's story in 'The Stepsister Scheme' and the Little Mermaid's story in 'The Mermaid's Madness' Jim this time takes us deeper into the fairy realm and introduces us to a grown-up version of Red Riding Hood. Jim's stories have little to do with Disney's fairy tales. As a matter of fact he did a marvelous job in unearthing the (often gruesome) old fairy stories and begun to weave his own tales about the abused heroines.
I have to admit that my favorite person in this series is Talia (Sleeping Beauty). And this time we learn more about her background and the hard reality of her past.
'Red Hood's Revenge' is an amazing story and I look forward to the next (and last) book in the Princess' Series 'Snow Queen', release date July 2011.