Customer Reviews

Water Song: A Retelling of "The Frog Prince" (Once Upon a Time)

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

 

 

Emma Pennington has been accustomed to a wealthy, comfortable life for as long as she can remember. She has never had to succumb to suffering, or been forced to work for the luxuries she has been shrouded in. And, while war is raging all around her, in the seclusion of her parents glamorous estate, she feels no different, give or take the sound of a gunshot or bomb exploding here or there. But then things change drastically. Young, beautiful Emma, and her mother travel from their home in Britain to their palatial estate in Belgium where they feel they will be safer, and will have less to worry about. However, upon their arrival, they see that the war is raging even closer in proximity in this location, and that they have placed themselves in grave danger by traveling this distance. Now, as enemy troops have claimed the estate as their own, Emma finds herself alone, with no family there to reach out to, and no way to escape from harms way. Now, the once material-obsessed Emma must focus her attention on saving herself from the danger that surrounds her in every nook and cranny, and that threatens her very existence, in an attempt to keep herself alive long enough to give her father, who is still faraway in Britain, the truth about what has happened to their beloved estate, and their once tight-knit family; while at the same time try and come to terms with the feelings of love she is experiencing towards Jack, a very peculiar man who is posing as her husband, in an attempt to keep the enemy at arms length.

I have never read the fairytale THE FROG PRINCE, so I feel that I truly have nothing to compare Suzanne Weyn's WATER SONG to. However, I can say that I enjoyed the tale very much, though I must admit that I found it to embrace more of a historical fiction genre in its writing than a fairytale genre. Emma is an enjoyable character, whose stubborn disposition, and oft-times overly-sensitive, emotional personality make her seem like a real person; while her interaction with Jack, is downright splendid. The two characters play off of one another perfectly, and the reader constantly finds themselves wishing that they would just admit their true feelings for one another. Suzanne Weyn has done an amazing job of combining a mixture of science fiction, historical fiction, and a slight bit of a fairytale together to create a magical combination that is utterly impossible to put down. From the first page, the ripple of words will pull you under, and not release you until the last page has been turned.

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

I quite like the "Once Upon a Time" series. They are usually fresh and original. Water Song is the 10th in this series. Some of the books are better than others and so I bought Water Song with some trepidation. I perhaps should have been more cautious. While there are some original, creative elements in the book, such as turning the "frog" into an American soldier from Louisiana, and the golden ball into a locket, the plot itself is almost painful to read. The first time the American soldier sees the heroine Emma he wants her love (pg. 33). Emma is continually frustrated with him (with good reason) and yet somehow this translates into her loving him. They seem to have a continually rocky relationship while falling in love with each other more and more. I do realize this is a fairy tale but the plot is highly unlikely. Call me a pessimist but the "love at first sight" aspect of the story is cliche and unrealistic.

"Water Song" is the latest release in the "Once Upon a Time" series, in which current teen authors take different fairy tales and put their own spin on each story.

"Water Song" is based on the "Frog Prince" fairy tale, which, in all fairness, doesn't have a lot to go on. Kudos to the author for taking such a short (and relatively conflict-free) story and fleshing it out into a retelling set in World War I Europe.

The story follows Emma, a young British teenager who finds herself on the WWI battlefront, unable to leave for home and alone in the world after her mother is killed in a recent bombing. She encounters Jack, a wounded American soldier, and cares for him at her family's estate while enemy soldiers take over and occupy her home.

As a historical fiction book, I thought this was great. As a fairy tale retelling, I thought it was lacking a little. It's obvious who the princess and the frog are, but what's not so obvious is the use of magic (other than some events the characters can't explain and healing ability). In many respects, the author could have taken the use of magic out of the book and it would have been a stronger story. Another element that seemed poorly used was the secret of the locket. We spend most of the story wondering what exactly makes the locket special. When we finally do find out, it's rather ordinary and anti-climactic, and it's introduced quickly and discarded even faster.

As Emma and Jack are both on the same side of the war, it's easy to view the German soldiers occupying her home as "the enemy." Granted, the books in this series are supposed to be quick reads. But some characterization on the part of the Germans - showing their human side, not the sterotypical bad guy way they're drawn - would have made them more interesting to read about.

If you're new to the series, start with Suzanne Weyn's other book "Night Dance" or any of the Dokey books. Those are more solid fairy tale retellings.

As far as "Water Song" goes - promising premise, but incomplete delivery.

I've read nearly all the books in the Once Upon A Time series, and I was looking forward to this one. However, it was quite a disappointing read. I didn't mind the beginning of the story; it started out okay, although it did seems to skip over a lot of things that might have made it easier to connect with the heroine. For example, her mother is killed by German bombs (this is set in WWI) while she is sitting next to her. We only hear about this, but don't actually experience it with Emma, the heroine. Not that I have a need to experience gruesome deaths, but I felt like the author just didn't feel like spending a lot of time developing Emma's character or her backstory. Suzanne Weyn doesn't spend a lot of time on the hero, Jack, either. She does take the time to explain that he knows some Native American/Creole healing potions that he learned from his mother. He apparently also learned how to "talk" to his mother's spirit, and maybe to even transport his spirit to other places...? What?? I think this is Weyn's way of introducing the "frog prince" connection; Jack is from the bayou and is a terrific swimmer, and his mother repeatedly "speaks" to him in dreams and tells him how he is a prince, and how he knows the water, etc. Emma and a minor character are both rescued from water by Jack while both are unconscious; this adds to the mystery -- "Who was that frog-man that rescued me?" Emma even asks Jack if he has magic to turn himself into a frog. This question, while German bombs explode outside, is just a bit of a silly paradox between fantasy and reality. I really think that Weyn makes the frog connection within the first part of the book. There are enough water references. She doesn't need to go so far as to have Jack's frogginess brought up nearly every page. Okay!! We get it!! Jack is the frog prince!! It just becomes silly, and almost seems like she is trying too hard. She didn't try too hard to create the relationship between the hero and heroine, though. They don't really have a relationship. I was surprised and bored when they decided they were in love with each other. They don't really have much connection at all, and therefore I didn't feel like I had any connection to them either. Weyn tries to make this a psychological fairy tale as many of the others in the series are. Themes of finding yourself, loving who you are, discovering truth, etc. are part of many of these books, but Weyn's efforts fall flat. She does try near the end of the story to have Jack realize that he is a great man, because Emma loves him, but that he was great all along, and it took her love to make him realize what was already true. Weyn's rendition of this self-discovery is even more awkward than the sentence I just wrote. What a shame. I was hoping it would be as good as some of the others in the series, but it wasn't. The best one so far in the series: The Storyteller's Daughter, by a LANDSLIDE. Read it and be satisfied.

So I wasn't expecting much because frankly I wasn't into Weyn's retelling of The Night Dance, but Water Song was SO GOOD! I loved it. I read up til page 15 the first day and the next night I finished the whole thing. Even after I finished it at 4AM I couldn't go to sleep. The historical bits were pretty accurate (from what I can remember from U.S. History class) and I was cheering the characters on every step of the way. High recommended to... well if you're reading this then you're already sucked in.

Going into it, I thought this book was supposed to be a literal retelling of "The Frog Prince" - including the magical aspects that go along with the title "fairy tale." Water Song leans much more into the historical, which I also enjoy. However, the story was rather confusing, jumping from point to point more often that I would have hoped. Once I realized that the story was overall very unlike the original story, and got over my dismay, I suppose it was decent enough. However, not decent enough that I will likely read it again.

I've just resently started reading the once upon a time books and have really enjoyed all of them so far. Water Song was no different. The story was original and the characters interesting. WWI and the frog prince were not something I'd think to put together. If you are a fan of the others in this series I would imagine you'd like this one too. It has a little less magic then some of the books, but I really don't think it distracts for the story at all. Magic is where you see it after all.

I truly enjoy most of the novels from this series. However this one I had a hard time getting in to. It was a weird and not so much version of the frog prince. But still a decent read and a good addition to this series.

The books in the "Once Upon a Time" series are pleasant, short retellings of old fairytales, in which magical elements are either removed or rationalized, with the familiar plots of traditional stories taking place in unexpected settings. The books themselves are beautifully designed with cover-art by the great Kinuko Craft herself and part of the reason I keep coming back to them (Is that shallow? Probably. But they're so pretty!)

Emma Pennington is stranded in Belgium in the midst of World War I. Her mother has been killed, her father is abroad, and the family estate is situated right on the border between the Allied Forces and the German troops. It is a precarious situation for a young girl on her own, but the story starts with a romantically-frustrated Emma throwing her locket into the garden well (it contains a picture of a disappointing suitor).

But soon she's got bigger things to worry about when she returns to the well and finds a gassed American soldier has dived in to save himself from mustard gas. At almost precisely the same moment, German soldiers take control of the estate and she hurriedly fabricates a tale: that the soldier is her civilian husband. In exchange for her services as a German spy in the village, she is allowed to save Jack Verde and nurse him back to health in her bedroom. What follows is a reasonably suspenseful story in which the couple attempt to outsmart the Germans, save another young soldier, get valuable information to the Allies, and make their escape to Dunkirk.

This installment in the series is a little different from the others considering it is better described as an historical romance than a fairytale retelling. Any "magical" elements come from mention of Jack's mother, a healing woman who seems to visit her son in his dreams. The rest is your standard war-story, and though I'm no expert on WWI, Weyn certainly creates a ring of authenticity in recreating this particular time-period. The fairytale that Weyn draws upon is of course, "The Frog Prince," in which the titular character appears as the disfigured Jack, whose skin is blistered and swollen from the gas. The golden locket takes the place of the golden ball, and Jack and Emma's somewhat prickly relationship emulates the spoilt-princess and kiss-seeking frog of the fairytale.

Emma and Jack are both good protagonists: brave, intelligent, compassionate and so on, but their interactions are based on the cliché of "bickering-to-hide-our-attraction" deal. Your mileage may vary, but I'm rather tired of this particular way of drawing together two lovers, especially since there were other options. Weyn doesn't take the opportunity to explore the awkwardness that might have ensued from the somewhat prim Emma having to share a bedroom with a man pretending to be her husband, and nothing much is made of Jack's horrific injuries or Emma's reaction to them (basically: he gets better, and turns out to be cute).

Suzanne Weyn may not be the best author among those contributing to this series, but she is certainly the most creative. As in the The Night Dance (Once Upon a Time), her treatment of the fairytale is wholly unexpected, and for the relatively short length of time it took me to read, I was entertained. It's not the best in the series, but it's certainly not the worst either.

This book is my favorite book and right after I read it, I had to buy it. Shows this girl(Emma)who tries to put on a brave side but sometimes just like everyone else she falters and this guy(loves her, is brave, and likes her for all that she is)I thought the characters were excelllent and the plot flowed along perfectley...and rate it 5 and recommend it to anyone whos looking for a great book to settle down with and read it over and over again.