PRINCESS BEN
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Houghton Mifflin, May 2008
I took FOR-EV-ER to read this book. All sorts of stuff (Christmas) kept getting (New Year's) in my way. Luckily, it held up amidst all the yuletide distractions.
At first I was a little worried Princess Ben might turn out to be just another feisty princess story. All the ingredients are there: unconventional princess, arrogant prince, mean queen, locked tower, fire-breathing dragon, girl-disguised-in-boy's-clothing, magical prophecies - you know the drill. Fortunately this story kept me on my toes. Catherine Gilbert Murdock manages to take all the familiar fairy tale elements and turn them on their head.
Oh, and the voice! Ben has sardonically appealing wit, done in a style that sounds like it was written with a quill pen on parchment. She even sent me to the dictionary a time or two.
Finally, might I just add for the record that I LOVE it when an author does something completely different than what she's done before, and does it well?
At first I was a little worried Princess Ben might turn out to be just another feisty princess story. All the ingredients are there: unconventional princess, arrogant prince, mean queen, locked tower, fire-breathing dragon, girl-disguised-in-boy's-clothing, magical prophecies - you know the drill. Fortunately this story kept me on my toes. Catherine Gilbert Murdock manages to take all the familiar fairy tale elements and turn them on their head.
Oh, and the voice! Ben has sardonically appealing wit, done in a style that sounds like it was written with a quill pen on parchment. She even sent me to the dictionary a time or two.
Finally, might I just add for the record that I LOVE it when an author does something completely different than what she's done before, and does it well?
