The Fairy Tale Retelling with a Fairy Tale Ending

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Summary: A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn…

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above. 

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.

Review: A very fairy tale, fairy tale retelling.

I have heard of this fairy tale before, but I had never read a retelling of it. I am not sure how much of a twist can be put on this story and this book did feel pretty traditional. I enjoyed this book, but I liked the fairy tale retelling of the second book, Princess of Glass, since there was more of a twist. I did really like the fairy and magic elements. I wish I had gotten more information about the realm of King Under Stone because it seemed like a cool and scary place.

I liked Galen. I can't say that I really liked him, but I did like him. He certainly was sweet, kind, very dependable, and determined, but he was boring. There was no spark of personality. Of course I wanted Galen to be the one to save the princesses since the princes were quite useless and/or jerks. He also was very balanced for having been through war and having killed one person (one person isn't many, but it is still taking a life). The ending was expected and was a very fairy tale ending. I am interested to read the 3rd book in this series since it will die with Little Red Riding Hood.

Rating:

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to fans of young adult fairy tales and fairy tale retellings.