Book Review: Princess Academy (Princess Academy #1); by Shannon Hale

The first I've herad of this book is when it is featured as a must read for the month book in every magazines I've read at that one particular month. Months went by and the book never left my mind, so I've decided to pick it up and read it. And what a surprise I get! It's a bit slow for me in the beginning but the pace races up to my kind of speed shortly after.
Gotta love this book. It’s so addictive too. I can’t get my hands off it until I’ve finished it.

Princess Academy (Princess Academy #1)
by Shannon Hale

Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess.
Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.

Finished Reading: 16th April 2006 (library copy)
Acquire: 07th July 2010
Rate } ♠♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Teens | Fairy Tales Retellings
Release Day }  April 2007
Publisher } Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Format } paperback  
ISBN } 9781599900735
Pages } 144 pages
Source } borrowed / bought
Age Group } 12+
Interests } Teens, Fairy Tales Retelling Junkies.    
Awards } Newbery Honor
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Book Review: Ella Enchanted; by Gail Carson Levine

This is one of the great fairy tales alternative stories available out there, and this ones is based on the famous Cinderella tale with a twist. This is written in a post modern style of writing, making it easier to actually connect to the characters and much more enjoyable for the young adults to above ages to actually enjoy for what used to be just a children's fairy tale. The first time I'd picked this book up, I can't seem to put it down. It's humorous and a page turner.

The main character is Ella of Frell, who had been given the 'gift' of obedience (more of a curse) by a fairy named Lucinda, giving her no choice but to obey anybody who orders her around ever since she was a baby. The only ones other than her mother who knows about it is Mandy, their cook who is also Ella's fairy godmother, who has this thing against doing any Big magic, which irked Ella most of the time due to her 'gift'.

When her mother died, her father remarried to Dame Olga who has two selfish idiotic daughters, Hattie and Olive, who sort of figure out they could take advantage of Ella's little flaw, though very clueless why she's easily to be made as their own personal slave. Then, there's Prince Char, the heir of the kingdom. Both Ella and Char enjoyed each other's company many times they are together and apart. But of course the 'gift' had come to its worse moments in this book for Ella in the sense of relationship with others. She tried whatever it takes to track Lucinda to take 'gift' back.

Throughout the book, I felt sorry for Ella, I mean who wouldn’t, but what can I do. But in the same time, I am really proud of her for being able to use that curse as a motivation to strengthened her other qualities.

Oh, if you're expecting it to be just like the movie (featuring Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy), forget it. You be surprised of how different they are from each other in plot wise. But nevertheless, I've enjoyed both version.

Ella Enchanted
by Gail Carson Levine

At birth, Ella is inadvertently cursed by an imprudent young fairy named Lucinda, who bestows on her the "gift" of obedience. Anything anyone tells her to do, Ella must obey. Another girl might have been cowed by this affliction, but not feisty Ella: "Instead of making me docile, Lucinda's curse made a rebel of me. Or perhaps I was that way naturally." When her beloved mother dies, leaving her in the care of a mostly absent and avaricious father, and later, a loathsome stepmother and two treacherous stepsisters, Ella's life and well-being seem to be in grave peril. But her intelligence and saucy nature keep her in good stead as she sets out on a quest for freedom and self-discovery as she tries to track down Lucinda to undo the curse, fending off ogres, befriending elves, and falling in love with a prince along the way. Yes, there is a pumpkin coach, a glass slipper, and a happily ever after, but this is the most remarkable, delightful, and profound version of Cinderella you'll ever read.

Quote to Remember

- ”I wished she’d never stop squeezing me. I wished I could spend the rest of my life as a child, being slightly crushed by someone who loved me.”
- It is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper.

Finished Reading: 01st February 2006 (Borrowed)
Acquire: 22nd December 2012 (Bought)
Rate } ♠♠♠♠
Genre } Fiction | Fantasy | Fairy Tales | Young Adult | Teens
Release Day }  01st January 1997
Publisher } Scholastic Books.
Format } Paperback
ISBN } 9780590920681
Pages } 240 pages
Source } BookSwap
Age Group } pg 15 yo +
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