Book Review: Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Title: Princess of the Midnight Ball
Author: Jessica Day George
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Genre: Young Adult (fantasy)
Why I read it/how I found it: Jessica Day George had been to a few of events I'd gone to as well, so I thought it was about time I read something of hers. Plus, I love fairy tales.

Description:
Returning home from the war, young Galen finds work with his mother’s family in the royal gardens. There he learns that the king’s twelve daughters have a secret: every night they dance their shoes to tatters, but no one knows how or why. When prince after prince tries and fails to find the answer, and the family is haunted by accusations of witchcraft, Galen decides to help. Armed with a pair of silver knitting needles and an invisibility cloak given to him by a strange old woman, he follows the princesses and unlocks the secret of their curse.


Review: I really loved the fact that this is based on a fairy tale you don't hear too much about, especially in retellings. There are oodles of Cinderella retellings out there, but a book dedicated to the Twelve Dancing Princesses you don't hear much about. From what I do know about the fairy tale, this stuck to it pretty well--the twelve dancing princesses with worn out shoes, the evil king/sorcerer, the princes who failed in discovering the secret and the common man who succeeded. It stuck much more closely than the works of Gail Carson Levine. Yet it's more than just a telling of the story. Each character is given depth, and the stakes are higher with the country just coming back from war, and the world is built so very fully. I did wish for a bit more background on the war and why they went at it for so long anyway to give the king a bit more sympathy. But overall, this is a magical read. I'm planning on suggesting it to my younger cousin.

Other information: You can find Jessica Day George's website here.

Utah Festival of Books

To quote Rapunzel:

I got there about 10:30 and picked up a sheet of events. As I went through and marked the ones I wanted to attend, I noticed that David Archuleta was there. So my friend is a huge fan of his, and I texted her about it, then realized how mean that was because she was at home in Nevada. That led me to buying a CD (which she said she would pay me back for...I didn't feel that guilty) and later that day had him sign it for her.

Whilst I waited for the events I wanted to attend start, I caught sight of Possession by Elana Johnson. Yeah, you know the one that comes out today? So I grabbed it and got it early. I also picked up a copy of Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George and another copy of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White for my sister's birthday this past Sunday.

I caught James Dashner's presentation and then got a copy of The Maze Runner signed for the give-away. Standing in line, I met Alice Beesley of Writing Snippets and had a nice little writer-to-writer exchange with her. And it was pretty cool, I got my own copies of The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials signed at LTUE back in February and he said I looked familiar. I missed Ann Cannon's presentation, but I did get my copy of Charlotte's Rose signed by her. She just sighed and smiled when she saw it. I told her how I read it back when I was ten or eleven, and there I was, a college student all grown up. Usually I ask authors to only sign the book (I don't sell them or anything, it's just something of mine that I like to do) but she seemed so enthused about it, I let her personalize it to me.

Then I got to hear Kiersten White speak for the first time. She's mentioned before on twitter and such that she speaks fast, but as a Gilmore Girls veteran, I kept up very well. And she's hilarious, it was so much fun hearing her speak. Then I got my copies of Spells and Illusions signed by Aprilynne Pike. Which, if you ever get books signed by her, she gives you a stick-on tattoo and each book has a designated color that she signs in, and their own phrase she puts. Then I waited for Kiersten White to sign my two copies of Paranormalcy. She was so awesome; I'm looking forward to the Supernaturally signing down in San Diego this summer.

Then I braved the David Archuleta fangirls. In the longest line of the day (sad, isn't it?) I waited and snapped pictures to send to my friend in line, and now have the CD stowed away for when I'll see her again in the fall. I went back down and got my copy of Princess of the Midnight Ball signed by Jessica Day George. While I waited in line for that, I told my roommate Emily to go talk to Kiersten White, because I told her she would get along great with her. After I finished with the signing, I met up with Emily who was indeed having a conversation so awesome with Kiersten, she bought a copy of Paranormalcy for herself and had it signed. She started reading it right away, laughing the whole time, and later in that day tried to find her again to talk to her. Kiersten, if you get a stalker...I'm sorry. She loves the book.

We also went to the Women Author's Panel, which was a lot of fun to hear them talk. Last, we saw Elana Johnson speak (well, I did, this was when Emily went off to find Kiersten) and then got my copy of Possession signed.

Now, I was bummed because they said Sara Zarr would be there, but she wasn't, and so my copy of Sweethearts doesn't have a signature on it.

Overall an amazing day! I'm looking forward to next year already. I might just be a BYU traitor and go over to the U of U when they have it in September.