Review: Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters

Book three of the Princess Academy trilogy
By Shannon Hale
Available now from Bloomsbury
Review copy
Read my review of Princess Academy: Palace of Stone

Shannon Hale returns to Miri and the world of the Princess Academy novels for a final time.  War is on the horizon, and the only way to stop it is a royal marriage.  Therefore, Miri is sent to the swamps to teach three of the king's cousins how to be princesses.  The catch?  Miri can't tell them she's grooming them to be offered to marriage to a neighboring, elderly king.  But if the king does marry one of them, ownership of Mount Eskel will be given to the girls of the princess academy.  And Miri would do anything to keep her home from being sold off to greedy merchants.

In many ways, THE FORGOTTEN SISTERS is a lighter read than PALACE OF STONE.  There's quite a bit of fish-out-of-water comedy at first, and the rural cousins resisting the efforts of their citified tutor.  However, that doesn't mean darkness isn't lurking.  There are a large number of lives at stake, especially as the war begins to break out before Miri, Astrid, Felissa, and Sus can leave the swamp.

For those who are eager to see the other characters, such as Britta and Peder, again, they have pretty minor roles in this adventure.  Most of the story is Miri and the three princesses, which does make THE FORGOTTEN SISTERS welcoming to new readers.  However, the reoccuring characters do appear enough to tie off lingering story lines, including the question of whether Miri and Peder will get there own happily ever after.

The Princess Academy trilogy is a real treat.  I particularly love the subtle feminism Hale weaves throughout.  We see women from all walks of life, and women who are fighters and women who are political and women who work hard at whatever their job is.  We see Miri, who is clever and determined, but whose greatest wish is to complete her duty so that she can go home and get married.  And that's fine because it is what she wants.  THE FORGOTTEN SISTERS is a funny and thrilling conclusion to an excellent middle-grade series.

Guest Blog: Teen Writing Conference Goes Virtual

You shouldn’t judge a book by the age of its author. After all, one of the most well-known pieces of literature was written by a 13-year-old girl barely out of grammar school. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl has been published in nearly seventy languages and has sold tens of millions of copies.

I’ve been writing for twenty years. Longer than that if you count my 7th grade research paper on the Lochness monster—which you really should because it was an EXCELLENT report. Regardless, when I see at what level some teens write, I feel intimidated. Teenagers are phenomenal writers. Their creativity and drive is amazing.

This has become even more obvious to me ever since I became involved with the Teen Author Boot Camp, one of the largest teen writing conferences nationwide. For the last three years, this Utah-based conference gathers some of the smartest teenagers and most talented published authors together. This year will be even better because the conference is going virtual.

The Live Broadcast of Teen Author Boot Camp will allow teens all over the world as well as teachers, librarians, and writers of any age to attend the conference. The cost for the TABC Live Broadcast is less than $5 for the entire day.

The keynote address by Newbery Winning Author Shannon Hale will be free for anyone to watch. It will be on March, 16th, 2013 at 9 a.m. MST. A subscription to the Live Broadcast costs $4.99 and includes the following:

9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.—Writers Cubed: Welcome

9:15 a.m. to 9:55 a.m.—Keynote by Newbery Award winner Shannon Hale (Princess Academy)

10 a.m to 10:45 a.m.—Tyler Whitesides (Janitors) Class: Imagine and Create.

10:55 a.m. to 11:40 a.m.—Janette Rallison (My Fair Godmother) Class: Bad dialogue can kill a story.

12:50 a.m. to 1:35 p.m.—NYT bestseller Kiersten White (Paranormalcy) Class: Plot Like a Villain.

1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.—J. Scott Savage (Farworld) Class: Finding Your Voice.

2:50 p.m. to 3:25 p.m.—Journey to Publication Panel: Agent Amy Jameson & authors Chad Morris, Tess Hilmo, J. Scott Savage, Cindy Bennett

3:35 p.m. to 4:20 p.m.—NYT bestseller Aprilynne Pike (Wings) Class: World-building is the invisible foundation to your book.

 4:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.—Writers Cubed: Winner of the First Chapter Contest and closing remarks.

If you just can’t get enough of TABC, there is also an All Pass Subscription to the rest of the conference (including more than fifteen awesome presentations, including mine--haha). That only costs $9.99 and, as if it wasn’t a sweet enough deal already, you can watch the whole conference whenever you want for an entire year.

To register to watch Shannon Hale’s Keynote for free, visit www.teenauthorbootcamp.com and click on Livestream. It only takes a minute. While you’re there, check out the other presenters who will be teaching at the conference under the tab "Drill Sergeants."

Stay tuned for details on how to win a subscription to the TABC Live Broadcast for FREE on this blog.

Lois D. Brown is a co-founder of Writers Cubed, a group of Utah writing activists who created the Teen Author Boot Camp in 2010. She is also the author of CYCLES, a top five finalist of The Kindle Book Review 2012. Please visit her website at www.writerscubed.com.

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I have one subscription to the TABC Live Broadcast (ARV $4.99) to give away.  If the winner would prefer the All-Pass subscription, they will receive a $5 coupon instead. Contest is open internationally to anyone 13 years of age or older.

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Review: Princess Adademy: Palace of Stone

Book Two in the Princess Academy series
By Shannon Hale
Available now from Bloomsbury
Review copy courtesy of Nicole of Paperback Princess

Fans of young adult literature are often called upon to defend it, to explain that YA books are not dumbed down or simplified.   Rarely do you hear the same protests from middle grade fans.  But the best middle grade books - THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH, A WRINKLE IN TIME, MATILDA - can be read and loved by adults as well as children.  Good middle grade fiction doesn't condescend to the reader any more than YA does.  And no one could accuse Shannon Hale of condescension in PALACE OF STONE, the second Princess Academy book.

(Be warned: this review spoils PRINCESS ACADEMY.)

Revolution.  Miri brought change to Mount Eskel, empowering the poor people of the mountain to ask for a fair price for their labor.  The lowlanders noticed, and discontent with the nobility is spreading.  And Miri's best friend Britta is about to marry the prince, making her a target for the revolutionaries' rage.

It's been ages since I read PRINCESS ACADEMY.  But Hale brought me right back into the world of Danland, and soon I remembered clever, radical Miri and loyal, hardworking Peder and all the rest.  Now a lady of the princess, Miri has traveled to capital city Asland to support Britta and study at Queen's College.  There she meets Timon, a young boy who introduces her to a group of radicals.  She sympathizes with their ideals - until it becomes clear getting rid of nobles means death to nobles.

Much of PALACE OF STONE getting to know and like the members of the Salon, but on the other side, Britta is known and liked.  There is no clear cut solution to save the country.  There is no dragon to be slayed.  And the characters are in mortal danger.  Miri could be beheaded for treason.  Britta could be beheaded for being the princess-to-be.

I also liked how much of PALACE OF STONE flows logically from PRINCESS ACADEMY.  There's the inspiration from Miri's actions mentioned at the beginning of the review.  Then there's the fact Britta pretended to be an orphan to reunite with her childhood friend and love.  Without her, Miri - a commoner - would be the prospective princess.  Miri might've forgiven Britta, but that doesn't mean everyone has.  And Danland needs to learn to forgive if it's going to heal the grievances between the peasants and the aristocracy.

PALACE OF STONE is a terrific character-driven political thriller, for kids or not.  Fans of history will appreciate the ersatz French Revolution that hangs heavy over the characters' heads.  Once again, Hale delivers a terrific story.  PALACE OF STONE is worth the wait.