Customer Reviews

The Stepsister Scheme (PRINCESS NOVELS)

5 star:		(13)
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Danielle De Glas, aka Princess Whiteshore, aka Cinderella, is having a hard time adjusting to palace life. She loves her prince, Armand, but going from the life of a slave to that of princess isn't easy. To complicate matters, three months after her wedding, Danielle is attacked by her stepsister, Charlotte. The assassination attempt fails, but Charlotte escapes - after telling Danielle she'll never see her beloved Armand again.

This is the set up. Danielle, along with two other princesses (Snow White and Talia, aka Sleeping Beauty), must rescue her prince. Along the way, the true histories of all three princesses are revealed, vs. the "tales" circulating about them. Hines makes excellent use of the darker versions of these fairy tales, rather than the dressed up happily-ever-after versions we are more familiar with.

I love fairy tales, retold fairy tales, and twisted fairy tales - and this book tops my list. Unable to put it down for long, I finished it in one day, and at the end, I turned the last page hoping for more. Very real, well drawn characters draw you in to the story, and fantastic descriptions, world building, adventure, and emotion keep you glued to the pages. At times, I was reminded of movies like Labyrinth or the Dark Crystal (for setting). Shades of Ever After, as well, but I say these only as a passing feeling of nostalgic warm fuzzies (all movies I liked or loved to one degree or another). This book stands completely on its own. Touches like Snow's snowflake "throwing stars" or Danielle's glass sword are unique and perfect for the story Hines is telling. I kept turning pages, not only for the story, but to see what lovely little bits of scenery Hines would include next.

Not quite as funny as his Goblin books, but then, this is a different kind of story (and goblins do, briefly, make a small appearance.) But there's still plenty of humor (three fairy tale princesses kicking butt and taking names!) The world felt fantastically real, and so did the characters. Each princess has a unique personality, partly shaped by the events of her story, as our experiences shape us. Well done, Mr. Hines, and may I say, I sincerely hope this isn't the last we'll be seeing of Danielle, Snow, and Talia.

I eagerly await the next in the series, Mermaid's Madness, and highly recommend The Stepsister Scheme. It's quite different from anything else out there.

Edited to add: Mr. Hines has confirmed that Danielle, Talia and Snow are the main protagonists of the series!

To be honest, I'm always a bit wary of books that take fairy tales as source materials. Too often, I've found, they fall into a few typical traps. One is they become enslaved by the structure of one cute explanation/cute twist per each plot point of the original fairy tale, so that the twists themselves become predictable: beat one, two, twist, beat one, two, twist. Another is they become so enamored in the humor aspect of their "humorous retelling" that they lose sight of the "telling" aspect--so the plot is unoriginal and dull. Another is that they think the reader brings the character to the story so they don't need to bother with actual characterization.
I'm happy to say that Jim Hine's new book, The Stepsister Scheme, sidesteps all these pitfalls nicely and is a thoroughly enjoyable and intelligent novel, one that returns to the darker roots of fairy tales rather than the later "prettied up" versions. The story opens soon after Princess Danielle (Cinderella) has wed her Prince (currently off on a trip). One of her stepsisters, wielding unexpected magic, tries to kill her but is prevented by Talia (Sleeping Beauty), whose birth gifts of fairy graces has turned her into a perfect warrior (if not a particularly cheery one). Before escaping, Danielle's sister lets her know that her husband Prince Armand has been kidnapped. Soon, Danielle and Talia, joined by Snow White wielding her evil stepmother's mirror magic, head off to Fairyland, where it seems Armand is being held. Fairyland is a dangerous place for mortals though, despite an uneasy truce signed long ago when the two races nearly fought each to extinction.
Throwing the three women together was a masterstroke, allowing him three times the material to play with. It also lets him show different possible readings/incarnations of the same old passive fairy tale "heroine". Talia is sleek and killer cold, and at the start it doesn't seem like there's much beyond that, though of course there is, and hers is probably the richest characterization. Danielle begins the book in her Cinderella mindset, figuring out what best removes stains from her clothes for instance (something her servants are for), and must round out into a queenly stature by the time all is said and done. The movement is realistically slow and back and forth. Snow is presented as curvaceous and flirty (and flighty), though like Talia there's more beneath her surface; though her characterization isn't as rich or subtle as the other two, it's still nicely three-dimensional, especially toward the end.
Plot-wise, Hine's first smart decision was to dump the idea of treading over age-old material by having his story take place after "and they lived happily ever after". We do, of course, get the backstories that fill in Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella's fairy tales, but by withholding that information and dribbling it out in flashback form, Hines is forced to come up with an immediate and original plot, along with strong characters, to hold the reader's attention. And those backstories are startlingly different, as well as darker than one might expect. Hines isn't simply playing "fill in the blank" with the stories we know so well; he's using them to reveal the origin's of character--a much more interesting choice. The story itself is pretty straightforward but never clichéd: fairyland is the mix of beauty and cruelty, order and capriciousness that one imagines it must be when it isn't Disney-fied. We meet a troll who is actually troll-like rather than troll-lite, evil stepmothers and sisters who actually are evil and not just temporarily mean, and the story encompasses defeats as well as victories. As well, it takes time, and though time passes quickly in the way a writer can make it ("it had already been three weeks . . . "), Hines at least makes time pass--the quest isn't a weekend jaunt.
The Stepsister Scheme, as seems required in fantasy nowadays, is the beginning of several books, though at least this one stands completely and happily on its own. As wary as I am of fairy-tale books, I'm even more wary of a series of them as it's so easy to go to the well too often. But skeptical as I might be, I'd be happy to try the next one based on how pleasantly surprised I was by the first. Happily recommended.

For those who don't know, Jim C. Hines's previous "Jig The Goblin" series (starting with Goblin Quest) is one of the best sendups of fantasy roleplaying games ever. If you have ever played any D&D or the like, you must read them. But ... The Stepsister Scheme is NOT the same sort of book at all.

That's not to say it's not funny, because it is. However, it's not a fairytale parody. Instead, it's a full-on action adventure that reimagines the fairytale world and characters. The closest thing to it that I know of is actually Buffy The Vampire Slayer (the series, not the movie). The humor abounds, and the irony even more so, but the book itself is "played straight".

If you only know the Disney version of these fairytale princesses then you may be a little surprised by some of the details revealed about their "true" stories. However, cruising even something like Wikipedia will reveal the older and darker tales that Hines uses for backstory. For instance, the original Sleeping Beauty was named Talia, and yes, the king that found her asleep did a bit more than just kiss her awake.

So don't expect the book to be as lighthearted as the Jig stories. Instead, you must expect that there are some painful and emotionally challenging scenes. But there is also a lot of fun and adventure, with swords and spells flying back and forth freely. And the kiss of a true love can still break the evil enchantments. It's just that you might not be expecting who the true loves end up being....

This is not, by the way, a book I would recommend for young kids. Teens should be fine, but it's really aimed at the adult audience. Again, I would compare it to Buffy TVS in this respect.

It's worth reading, and I look forward to the next two already-announced books in the series.

While this sounds like a silly, fun little book, I should mention that it does touch on a few dark subjects and sexual themes. It's aimed at adults, and perhaps older teens.

The story is highly imaginative, with fun and engaging characters. It's a wild ride worthy of any fairy tale, complete with wild flights, high-octane fights, good vs. evil (though not necessarily where expected), pixies, goblins, witchcraft, and more. Some of the "well-known" details of the original three fairy tales are subverted in imaginative ways (one of my favorites is the true identity of the seven dwarfs), and the process by which real events are changed into legends is examined in fascinating detail.

With all of this wonderful stuff, however, I'd have to say that the best part of it all is the complex relationship that develops between the wonderful main characters.

Jim Hines' The Stepsister Scheme is the first in a series of two (and at least a third in the pipeline books) that reimagine Fairy Tale princesses as more proactive heroines that are in no need of rescuing.

Or, to put it more flippantly, Disney Princesses meet Charlie's Angels.

The Stepsister Scheme introduces us to Danielle Whiteshore, Cinderella herself, newly married to Prince Armand (aka Prince Charming). Her new happy life as a Princess (and expecting a baby, no less) is short-lived, as her stepsisters, with unexpected abilities, kidnap Prince Armand for reasons unknown.

Fortunately for Danielle, that serving girl Talia is secretly working for the Queen, and is a Princess herself, better known in the stories as Sleeping Beauty. Even better, she is awfully good with weapons. And it turns out that the Queen has another Princess in her service, a certain dark haired Princess named Snow White. She has arcane powers, especially with mirrors.

Although Danielle cannot seemingly compete with this duo, she manages to get herself into their company on their mission to rescue Armand and figure out who or what is backing Danielle's stepsisters in this powerplay. Danielle proves to have powers and talents of her own, and takes possession of a weapon blessed by her mother, unusable by any save her. And thus, these three Princesses, armed and ready, set off to save a Prince.

The book is first and foremost a light, funny and fluffy take on the idea of Disney Princesses, turning them into action heroines. it is entertaining on that level alone, but the book does go further, giving interesting speculations on the nature of faeries, reinterpreting the fairy tales the Princesses spring from, and more. There is even a bit of unexpected and tragically unrequited love (that actually is important as a plot point).

Hines has clearly learned from his previous writing to make a readable and entertaining novel, whose sequels I definitely will seek out.

This book was an impulse buy, but I ended up reading through it immediately and enjoying it. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect at first; but I love fairy tales, and was intrigued at the concept of three well-known fairy tale princesses being the key characters.
It really was a fun read, and there's plenty of action, tricks, and references to the original Grimms fairy tales-- not the sugar-coated Disney versions. Each character has a dark part of their past they'd like to forget, so the overall tone is a little more grim than one would expect from the cover, though I sure wasn't complaining.

And of course I was thoroughly enjoying the fact that these three women were kicking butt, taking names, and rescuing the prince in distress. :)

#1 in the "Princess" fairy tale fantasy series in which Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White team up to rescue Cinderella's husband, Prince Charming from the clutches of her evil stepsisters Charlotte and Stacia who've kidnapped him and taken him off to Fairytown. But are the stepsisters really bright enough to have come up with this scheme, or is there someone more powerful and evil behind it all?

It sounds kind of cheesy and rather "chick litty" doesn't it? And when the blurb on the back of the book compared the trio of beauties to Charlie's Angels, I cringed inwardly. But I enjoyed Jim's "Jig the Goblin" series so much, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. And it's really not like that at all--it's great fun! Fairy tales mingle with myth, legend and fantasy (with the requisite dwarves, pixies, witches and fairie folk) in a light, adventurous romp.

These three strong but very different women work together (with a few odd helpers--some willing and some not so willing) to free the Prince against near impossible odds, each playing to her own strengths and helping each other out of various scrapes along the way. Quite enjoyable, and definitely looking forward to book two!

I was browsing the new book section of my library, looking for something new, when I happened to pick up this book. The cover wasn't very promising. It looked to me like it would be a tad too chick-flicky for my tastes, but then I read the back description. After reading: "Sleeping Beauty is a martial arts master", I knew that I had to read it. It was too funny to pass and I was rewarded for my pick.

The book was very clever, the plot was well planned, and the dialogue was flawless. The author created a world, built its own rules, and then followed them to perfection. Too many authors in fantasy genres create a world and then contradict themselves in the very laws that they made. Although the ending is quite predictable (it's based off fairy tales after all), there were plenty of small twists to keep me going. The pacing in this book is, in my book, perfect. The rise to the climax is steady, the climax is rewarding, and then, thankfully, there isn't a long "and this is what happened" boring explanation at the end. A couple characters fall into archetypes but it's too fun to watch them interact for me to care. For a paperback novel I just happened to pick up, this was a really great read. I can't wait for the later books in the series.

Once upon a time...is not like I remember it. Cinderella does marry the handsome prince, Armand, but her real name is Danielle de Glas, and her stepsister's are out to get their revenge on her for stealing their prince. Danielle soon discovers that Armand has been kidnapped and his mother, the Queen, enlists the help of two other princesses to bring Armand back.

Danielle's servant, Talia, is forced to reveal that she is actually Sleeping Beauty when Danielle's stepsister, Charlotte, comes to the castle and attacks her. Talia is a skilled fighter and defends Danielle, but Charlotte escapes. She then takes Danielle through a secret passageway to the queen where she encounters the princess, Snow White.

Danielle, Talia and Snow go to Fairytown in search of the prince. The political climate does not support their presence there and strong magic is being used to keep the prince's location hidden. They need Talia's physical prowess, Snow's magic and Danielle's connection to the prince to help them find the way. There are enchanted trees, goblins and all manner of creatures trying to prevent them from ever finding him.

The Stepsister Scheme is an amazing twist on the tales of the three princesses I grew up with. Each girl's story is woven in great detail as we discover what became of each "happily ever after" fairytale and their not-so-happy endings. Being a princess is much more difficult than I ever imagined, and there were some fun twists in turns in this story that kept me thoroughly engrossed. I laughed often, found myself sitting on the edge of my chair, and even shed a tear or two. I'm thrilled to know that two more books are on their way and will be watching for them. It was beyond my expectations, and I absolutely loved it!

Reviewed at Bitten by Books Paranormal Fiction Review Site by Jaded

I'm so glad I read this book. It is light hearted and fun. It's enjoyable to take something you know so well and give it even more details and life. I can't wait to read the next one. Jim C. Hines has been added to my author list!