Need a book where you can just kind of sit back and enjoy the ride? A book that's not trying to hard or attempting to cash in on popular tropes? It's always nice to find a book such as that and this, I must say, was a refreshing read. Going back to reviewing a fairy tale retelling, and having it actually be a positive experience, was just what the doctor ordered. Let's dive in.
The thirteenth princess of the kingdom of Cataluna has always been looked on like a curse, to the point where she doesn't even have a name other than Princess. Surrounded by her beautiful and talented sisters, Princess dreams of adventure and freedom from the home that looks on her like an unwanted problem. When whispers of rebellion force the princesses' uncle, the current ruler, to find them husbands, Princess isn't so sure at the prospect. With her sisters longing for love, her uncle scheming against them, and a long line of princes arriving from all over the world, Princess must step out of the shadows and be the hero she longs to be.
For a retelling of the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, this story takes things to a different level and balances the line of staying true to the story and adding enough details to make it more three-dimensional. It breathes life and personality into the existing characters and creates interesting new ones to build the world and enrich the story. Princess (who could totally be a Time Lord with that name, that would have been awesome) is a fairly spunky character without trying too hard and making her overly tough or willowy. She felt like a real person, the youngest child in a large family with successful siblings...yeah, her feelings in this story are pretty genuine and realistic and I appreciated that about this story.
Now, the story is a fairy tale and it knows it. That being said, we were allowed to have things like magic and faeries and spells, none of which I remember the actual story having. However, it doesn't feel forced given the story and established world that we're given. Even when the characters themselves are surprised that magic exists, the reader isn't. We could sense it from the beginning, because we're reading through the eyes of an intuitive character. The inclusion of a villain character also fits snugly and he had such personality and funny moments that he was probably one of my favorite parts. It kind of made me think that if Disney were to make a movie around the Twelve Dancing Princesses, it might look something like this.
If I had to nitpick, and I do, I will admit that the story does drag at times. Mostly this is due to the fact that the story is trying to establish twelve princesses and give them personalities. Yeah, the title characters of the fairy tale that we're basing this story off of are ironically the Achilles Heel in this story. There's a great deal of time to naming the sisters, naming their hobbies and interests, describing their dresses, meeting their princes, going to their parities, making their rings and on and on and on. I can appreciate it was trying to turn them into characters and not bland or uninteresting but I don't think it worked too well. At the end of the day....there's still twelve of them. I'm just not going to remember each and every one of them. It was a valiant effort, but the sisters probably had a bit too much time devoted to making them stand out.
Final Verdict
It was fun, it was light, it was interesting...yeah, I liked this book. Was it the best book I'd ever read in my life...probably not, but I did appreciate it and what it was going for and trying to do. The protagonist was good, the ideas were clever and I'd say this book is worth your money at your local bookstore!
Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Please make sure to Follow Midnight Readings for instant updates. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Powerless-Shelley-Miller/dp/1543482546/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519062043&sr=8-1&keywords=powerless+by+shelley+miller
Xlibris: https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001175242
Next Time: From the Ripper to the Impaler...this chick has her work cut out for her....
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