Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Content Rating: 1.1.1
Category: YA, fairy-tale, fantasy
Published: 2008
Audiobook
Review: 3.5/5


Princess Ben is another in a growing list of embellished/expanded/reworked fairytales. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those who like Shannon Hale and Gail Carson Levine books. Ben, short for Benevolence, has been raised very differently than a normal princess would be and doesn't understand what is required of her to behave as royalty should. Her aunt tries to teach her how to behave properly but Ben is very stubborn and self-centered. Ben is the narrator so she doesn't say this about herself but you start to realize after a while that although she is funny and likable, she also has some character flaws. That's the thing that sets this book apart from some of the other fairytale books I've read. Ben is not the normal princess that we usually find. I've wavered back and forth between giving this 3.5 and 4 stars. I've finally decided on 3.5 but I'm not exactly sure why. The romance part of it was a little underdeveloped, I think, but it's worth reading if you like this genre.

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Rating: 1.1.1

Recommended audience: Tweens on up

Category: Fantasy, romance, children's and YA literature

Though I haven't read Ella Enchanted, also by Levine, I understand that the two books are set in the same fantasy world. Just as Ella is very roughly based on the story of Cinderella, Fairest has a few similarities to Snow White as you may guess from its title. I found the story entertaining and interesting and I was amazed by the talent of the author. The kingdom of Ayortha, where the story takes place, has a great heritage and culture of music and I was very impressed by the author's creativity in the many songs and lyrics throughout the book. This book also explores the ideas of self-image and the definition of beauty that I found interesting and a good example for girls of all ages in this beauty-obsessed world we live in.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Rating: 2.2.1

Recommended audience: Teen to adult

Category: YA fiction, fantasy, romance

I listened to this one on cd's and I really think I would have preferred reading it. The recording of this book is one with a different actor reading each voice and I found it quite distracting in the beginning. Eventually I got used to it and I didn't think about it anymore but I just have a feeling that I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it. This a retelling, not a twist, on the Goose Girl fairy tale. I had never heard of the Goose Girl before so the whole story was new to me but knowing many fairy tales, I was able to predict fairly easily what was going to happen but that didn't prevent me from enjoying the ride. It has a slow start but it gets much better. Like all of Hale's characters that I've read so far, the heroine is interesting and worth getting to know. I definitely recommend this book to any lovers of fairy tales, young and old.