Customer Reviews

Sondok: Princess of the Moon and Stars, Korea, A.D. 595

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In ancient Asia, females, as a general rule, were not allowed to rule. They could only be the wives of kings and emperors. However, in Silla in 595, it's a girl who is heir apparent to the throne of Silla (now called South Korea). Fourteen-year-old Sondok has no brothers and her mother is too old to have any more children. Her father's brothers are all dead and they didn't have any sons either. Thus, it is she who must inherit the throne.

Sondok thinks she's up to the job. She comes across as forthright and intelligent as she writes in her diary. She's especially fascinated by astronomy, and displays her skill at it by correctly predicting an eclipse. Unfortunately this earns her the wrath of the Chinese ambassador, also an astronomer, who predicted the wrong date. "Astronomy is not for women," Lin Fang says. "Go do something female like look after silkworms." Sondok tries to win him over, but he is unmoved. Worse yet, her father agrees with the ambassador and forbids his daughter to study the moon and stars!

This is the principal conflict in this narrative. There are some others: Sondok's father casts aside his old wife and takes a new, younger one whom he hopes will bear him a son. Sondok is in love with someone whom she cannot marry, as he is below her station, and when he goes off to be a Buddhist monk she wonders if she'll ever see him again. She wonders a lot about religions: Korean Buddhism vs. Chinese Confucianism.

Sondok: Princess of the Moon and Stars is one of my favorite books in the royal diaries, entertaining and quite historically accurate. I'd recommend it to young girls nine and up, especially those interested in Korean culture and astronomy.

This Book is about Sondok,Princess of Silla(present day South Korea). Sondok has a lot of troubles for a 14 year old girl.Her mother becomes a nun and leaves her because she failed to produce a male heir. Sondok has a dream to build a observetory. But because of her gender, it is forbidden. Oh,and she is also the future Queen of Silla. Sondok was the first Queen to rule in her own right.
If you like this book I Guarantee you will like Lady of Ch'iao Kuo, Warrior of the South, Southern China, 531 A.D.
This book is about Princess Red Bird. She is 16 years old. She is Princess of The Hesian People in southern China.

This is a book about a 14 year old Korean princess who, because of her mothers failure to bear a son, is the heir to her kingdom's throne. Sondok has a dream of building a great stargazing tower for she has a love of astronamy, although, because of her gender her father forbids her to measure or calculate the stars. From the haughty Chinese Lord Lin Fang who comes to teach her and her sisters the wisdom of Confucsism to her fear of the spirit possesed mudangs, this book is filled with adventure and the thoughts of a girl who is easy to relate to. This is a fabulous book.

This book was a pleasant surprise for me, a Korean female looking for books in English for little cousins. Queen Sondok has been the most famous & beloved queen to Korean children, especially to girls, like the amalgam of Joan of Arc and Queen Elisabeth the first.

She was the first princess who came to the throne in whole Korean history, and her succession was possible due to the special succession law of ancient Shilla dynasty which put a higher value on the pure royal birth than the genders of heirs. There was no male heir whose both parents were royal then, so Sondok was raised as the heir apparent with formidable duty to answer to love and hope of her own parents and her people in the time of endless wars and diplomatic intrigues. And she did more.

Until this book, I always imagined her as a grown-up, like Athena with full armors springing from Zeus's head, partly because of all stories in historical texts such as the famous her 3 prophecies and the anecdote of Mun-Hee(a lady saved by Sondok from burning at stake) showing her silent bravery, deep understanding of human nature, and somewhat supernatural, shman-like foresight, all three of them which were necessary for ancient rulers.

Holman portrayed her as a little princess rather than a queen who ruled successfully her kingdom for 15 years in a very turbulent time with love of arts and intelligence and deep Buddhistic faith. And it was an interesting move. Even young readers without any knowledge of Korea may enjoy it. Thank you Holman for saving the difficulties of finding an easy and good book.

This book is about Princess Sondok. Because her mother wasn't able to bore a son, Sondok was chosen as heir to the throne. The young princess dreams of building an astronomical tower, but her father refuses for she is a girl. She tries to befriend the arrogant Chinese ambassador, Lord Lin Fang, but he finds it impossible and strange for a woman to rule in her own right. While Lin Fang stays, he is asked to teach Sondok and her sisters about Confucianism when they are Buddhist. A problem brews so she decides to go to a mudang, a shaman, as her last resort.

I just finished this book a few hours ago. I thought it was terrific! Since I am Korean, I was really eager to get it and read through its pages. The problem is, there's a bit of wrong information in there. Like the part about the hwarangs practicing Tae Kwon Do (which is pronounced tek-kwon-do, BTW). Hwarangs practiced Um Yang Kwon!!!!! Plus, Tae Kwon Do wasn't even made then!! It was born hundreds of years later! And chima? It's a dress. The ladies of the court wore hanboks! Well, at least I was able to read the Korean correctly. Anyway, even if it had a bit of wrong info, the story was great!

By putting notes in an ancestral jar of her grandmothers ,Sondok princess of Korea began a diary about the happenings in her life and around the palace.Having an interest in the planets and stars Sondok was quite excited when a chinese astronomer was coming to visit the Korean royal family.But after being rejected by the astronomer and her father and being told that astronomy isn't for ladies ,Sondok sees red.Sondok buried her astronomy case and took on weaving,sewing and studying vowing she would never study astronomy again.But after breaking her vow ,she looses one of the most precious people in her life.This is an excellent new addition to the Royal Diaries Series and should be read by all fans.

Sondok is the oldest daughter to the King of Silla. Much to his disapproving she enjoys astronomy. But when Lord Lin Fang comes he shatters Sondok's hopes of being friends as fellow lovers of astronomy. When her father hears that on the 10th moon (tenth month) there is to be an eclipse according to the chinese calender. But the astronomer is Silla say otherwise. Sondok's father must preform the ritual during the eclipse. As legend has it if the sun is swallowed up by the Fire Dog and the world will be destroyed if the king does not perform the ritual. If the King of Silla does not do it by the chinese calender he might offend the Chinese who he hopes to gain an alliance with and the world might be destroyed, but if he is wrong he will look like a fool. Sondok being experience in Astrology believes that Silla is right. As time progresses Sondok tries to prove him wrong in many places. Lord Lin Fang has Sondok's best friend Chajang exiled making silent war on Sondok. But then things turn even worse and he talks her father into exiling her mother and getting a new wife since his current one provides him no male heir (no male heir means Sondok is queen). The day finally arrives will there be an eclipse or will Sondok's father be humiliated? I liked the book very much.

This was a delightfully enjoyable book. The adventure, astronomy
and the courage she shared in her journal(,even if some was fictionally written,)gave the reader a fantasy which they wish they could live just like Sondok's life.

This book started out slow. I was afraid I wouldn't get interested in it and considered switching to Mary, Queen of Scots. But I'm glad I stuck with it. There are a few things that struck me. She always talks about puting things (notes, rice, ect) in her Grandmother (immortilzed in some kind of jar) but never takes anything out. I wish it had been explained. Do the leave it in for a day? A week? Does it disapper? Does the Jar ever get full? And the feasts to the Gods, who eats that food? Does it go to waste? I think from one part of the book they (the people) eat it but I wish it had been explained better. For someone who isn't Korean and not familair with the traditions it leaves a few questions. BUT I loved the relationships her boy friend, her sisters, her mother all of them are heartbreaking! A very good story over all.

As a Asian-American I was really interested in reading this book about Sondok, Princess of Korea, and it didn't disappoint me. In fact it is one of my favorite Royal Diaries. It tells of 14-year-old Sondok, Princess of Silla, part of North Korea. However times are not well for her kingdom. Her father, King Chinp-yong of Silla, is constantly at war with 2 other kingdoms, Koguryo, and Paekche. The headstrong Sondok feels it is very immature of these three kingdoms to be constantly at war just for supremecy and their different views of three faiths, Shamanism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. For Sondok, as a girl, there are many limitations. She desperatly wants to study atronomy but her old fashioned grandmother refuses to let her. This book, like Lady of Chiao Kuo, shows a girl who lives in a region of civil war and who is smart to come to the rescue of her people. This is one of my favorite Royal Diaries. I recommend all fans of Dear America to read it!