Palace of Stone

Shock and surprise - we actually get a repeat protagonist with Shannon Hale!

Miri returns as the heroine in Palace of Stone, the sequel to Princess Academy. Miri is actually leaving her mountain in order to attend her best friend's wedding.

What is waiting for her in the lowlands is more than she could ever have imagined. So many kinds of people, good and bad, rich and poor, most unhappy, enter into Miri's life. She begins to question herself all over again, and there are even times she wonders about her best friend.

While Miri is busy doing what she loves best, learning, her friends are also getting involved in activities in which they can shine.

For time out of mind, the people of Mount Eskel have been considered too stupid for any task but quarrying. To be able to change that stereotype is an adventure, and most of Miri's friends are up to the challenge.

I really enjoyed the repeat protagonist. Miri started out the series completely naive and ignorant. By the end of the first book, she had learned a lot more about herself and her family and her mountain.

But in this book, there is clearly so much more left to learn. The world is much bigger than her mountain; the lowlands are so vast, full of so many strange customs. Miri learned about some of them during her time in the Academy, but actually living them is so different.

Miri's solution to her problem is very Miri-like. Just like the flower she's named after, she eventually finds a way to survive and even thrive against all odds.