Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Engaging fairy tale retelling, January 20, 2009
If you are familiar with the Grimm fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses, then you already know the main plot points of this retelling. Author Jessica Day George adds depth to the story of the young solider charged with finding out why the kingdom's 12 princesses wear out their dancing shoes every night by setting it in a place with magic even darker than the original.
Galen makes a fine hero, he's a noble orphan who knits and is kind to old ladies (traits which serve him well as the story progresses). He's taken in by his uncle, the King's gardener, and that's how he meets the cursed Rose and her sisters. Galen and Rose are the only characters that we ever really get to know beyond one defining characteristic - the other 11 sisters run together in a haze of flower names and are treated more as a group than individuals. The romantic elements of the story were also a bit thin, even for someone like me who isn't necessarily a fan of romance.
Despite knowing the fairy tale, I found this retelling adequately suspenseful and read eagerly, rooting for Galen to break the curse and usher in a happily ever after. 3 1/2 stars
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining read, March 31, 2009
I have always been a lover of fairy tales. One of my favorites from childhood has always been the story of the 12 Dancing Princesses. So, I was excited when this book caught my eye during a recent trip to Barnes and Noble.
The story begins as Galen, a lifelong soldier despite his youth, is returning home after the completion of a war which has lasted 12 long years. Orphaned and alone, he seeks out his Aunt and Uncle. Galen's uncle is employed as the royal family gardner, and offers the hard working youth a position in the family firm. It is in the gardens that Galen first meets Princess Rose, the eldest of 12 royal princesses, and finds himself swept up in an unexpected adventure as he tries to free Rose and her sisters from a powerful curse.
There are many things to like about this book. Galen, the hero, is a charming character, and not just because he is an accomplished knitter. I was rooting for him to succeed after the first few pages. I found Galen's history particularly interesting. The author also did a nice job of including many of the details from the original fairy tale that I know and love. The story flows along quickly, and there really never is a lull in the action. Young adults will likely appreciate this retelling as it provides a handsome and dashing, yet kind and sensitive hero, and some wholesome romance. The character of Princess Rose is also no fainting blossom waiting to be rescued. She and her sisters all seem to be doing their best to save themselves.
I did find the writing at times a bit disjointed. At some points, I found myself noticing particular sentences that didn't seem to flow very well. For example the author described a character as, "he was so very much not happy." I'm not usually such a picky reader, as I prefer to lose myself in the story, but at times the authors voice seemed a bit unrefined. All that being said however, I found this a very pleasant read, and one that I would recommend for fans of fairy tale retellings.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another disappointment, August 21, 2009
In Princess of the Midnight Ball, Jessica Day George tackles the story of 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses.' A mystery has plagued the kingdom of Westfalin for many years: each morning King Gregor finds that his twelve daughters have worn out their slippers...again. This is an occurrence that takes place every morning, and despite attempts to get an answer from his daughters, who, unbeknownst to him, are cursed, the king, as well as the servants, have no idea what is going on. Enter the main character, Galen, newly returned from a long-lasting and costly war. The closest members of his family are all dead, so he seeks out those he is related to but has never met, thus gaining himself a place of residence and a job at the king's palace as a gardener. Oh, and he also knits, which is a different hobby for the main male protagonist of a novel.
This is the third Jessica Day George book I've read, and I again found some of the same problems. I have noticed that I don't have many feelings for her characters. In this case, Galen is the only exception, though he is also not as satisfactorily characterized as I would have liked. Out of all twelve princesses, Rose is the one the reader spends the most time with, but she remains one-dimensional the entire story. She also came off very weak. In one instance...
----MINOR SPOILER----
she is startled and falls into a fountain. Well, by the time she returns home, (which is, what, a few feet away, seeing as how the fountain was in the castle's garden) she begins coughing. Later, she becomes ill, and, eventually, all eleven of her sisters catch the same thing. When she fell into the fountain I actually wondered if she would get sick. When she coughed, I knew she would become deathly ill. I thought this was really cliché, not to mention predictable.
----END MINOR SPOILER----
Not only does the above minor spoiler happen, which ties in with why she is a weak, helpless female character, but upon hearing some shocking news...Rose nearly faints. At other parts in the story, as Galen is trying to help the princesses, they do one dumb thing after another, from standing around helplessly while they could be looking for an escape to just plain getting in the way. There is only one female character (also largely one-dimensional) who I would commend, and that would be Lily. I have never liked weak, female characters, especially when there are so very many of them.
Speaking of Lily and Rose, this leaves ten other sisters. The remaining sisters are randomly brought into the story, and some only get mentioned once or twice, which makes it difficult to remember who's who. Sometimes it was difficult to even think that there were twelve sisters because a few of them are hardly ever in the story and the ones that were weren't described well, nor did they seem like independent characters. The younger sisters behaved similarly to one another. The older sisters, other than three of them, also were pretty much the same. And when a new sister was randomly brought in, my reaction: who's that? Oh...but which one?
Which brings me to my next point: descriptions. The twelve princesses are under a curse that forces them to go to an enchanted place and dance all night, every night. Imagine my surprise when the princesses finally arrive there and the author describes tapestries as merely being black, purple, and blue (was it blue?). That's it. There was no elaboration. Most of the descriptions in this book were about the same, very basic, with little or no elaboration or emphasis. This made the more magical part of the story, not only hard to visualize, but so very boring. I do not like over-descriptiveness but this was, like Rose, weak. This method of description is dull and does nothing to help the story.
I was bored until about page 168 (took a note when the book caught my interest), which is more than halfway through the story. Galen is obviously the love interest of one of the girls. As with Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, another book by Jessica Day George that retells a fairy tale, any relationship building is passed over. Galen talks to this character about two(?) or three(?) times before the plot picks up and right before these two characters realize that they care for one another. But...before they realize their feelings, the rest of their relationship is described to the reader; it goes kind of like this: Galen had spent many days with unnamed love interest and her sisters doing such-and-such. This cheats the reader out of 1) seeing this female character developed through interactions and conversations with another character and 2) developing their relationship in a believable way. Did I end up believing the relationships? No. This not only cheats the reader; it also cheats the author out of a better story.
If the above issues were fixed, this could have been an excellent book. Jessica Day George has some promise, so should she come out with something else (other than things part of a series), I might try a fourth book by her. I am a little old for this book, though I have not outgrown fairy tales or YA and children's books, therefore I am giving this a 3-star rating instead of 2 stars (which I want to do...). At best, this story is okay. I didn't love it. I wasn't impressed by the characters or descriptions. Even Galen's unusual knitting just seemed...bland. After reading a majority of high reviews, I am, again, disappointed. When compared to other fairy tale retellings and fantasies for teens, there are better books to be found. For those who enjoy fairy tales, I recommend trying a different book.
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