Princess of the Midnight Ball
by Jessica Day George
Series: Princess #1
Published: January 20, 2009
Genres: Fairy Tale, Retelling, Young Adult
Format: eBook (280 pages)
Source: Purchased
Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.
I went into this book expecting a new and interesting take on The Twelve Dancing Princess’ fairy tale. What I got was a re-telling. I didn’t find anything new or original added to the story. That being said, it was still a decent fairy tale re-telling. The narration was a little stiff like I was listening to some old person tell it in a dry, 3rd-person manner. The narration made it hard to care much for the characters. I wasn’t emotionally invested in the story at all. Her writing was good and now that I know this series is strictly a re-telling I will still pick up the second book, Princess of Glass. The main reason I didn’t like this book much was how predictable it was. I knew from chapter 2 what the characters should do and they actually got around to doing it 100 pages later. I walked away from this book feeling like it had so much potential that it didn’t quite live up to. If she had changed the narration so I could get in the character’s heads a little bit and care about them, it would have made a world of difference.
Content Rating: Everyone. It was a fairly clean read.
About Jessica Day George
Jessica Day George earned a BA in Humanities/Comparative Literature from Brigham Young University, where she enjoyed classes in Pottery and Old Norse, and dutifully forced herself to take Algebra and Biology. Originally from Idaho, she now resides in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband and three young children.
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
What did you think of Princess of Glass?? I LOVED it. I would love to hear your opinion!
I haven’t read it yet. Is it as predictable as Princess of the Midnight Ball?
I didn’t think so, at first I thought it might be as it is a Cinderella retelling, but I was interested because how do you take a princess and do a Cinderella story? I thought it had some good twists and turns, although the 3rd in the series is probably my favorite, it is a little more predictable as it is a mix of robin hood and little red but it is good.
You will have to let me know what you think of them if you read them!