Tuesdays at the Castle Pt. 2

Tuesdays at the Castle, where the living Castle often gets bored and expands or contracts , and where Princess Celie is the Castle's favorite person.

Disaster strikes partway through the book, and Celie's parents disappear, putting Celie's older brother on the throne before anyone is ready. Traitors amongst the king's council show their true colors, as they attempt to manipulate him into choosing a visiting prince as his heir.

What's left of the royal family - Celie, her brother now considered king, and her older sister - is now practically forced into hiding. The Castle provides them with a tower no one else can seem to access, keeping them safe.

The Castle also provides many other small favors, such as shrinking the traitors' rooms until they're little more than jail cells and assisting the children in pulling pranks on them.

The pranks, if I recall correctly, were merely annoyances; they didn't do much to change the situation as a whole. However, as this is a kid's book from a kid's perspective (Celie is not yet in her teens), I've decided to just roll with it.

The new friends that are made along the way are pretty interesting, as well as the method used to get Celie and her siblings to trust them. One new friend is gained because the Castle has provided him with a very roomy and colorful chamber. Another new friend is gained because, even though he was pretty much just a flirt at the beginning, time proved him to be a loyal friend.

Really, this book is very fun overall. Even with all the evil running around, the tone maintains a pretty upbeat attitude. If I remember correctly, though, there's one part where Celie feels as though her best friend has been killed. That wasn't fun. But a really good book in general.

Tuesdays at the Castle

Another of Jessica Day George's books is Tuesdays at the Castle, and it begins an entirely new series.

Our protagonist this time is Princess Celie - no connection to any of the princesses in the last books. Celie and her family (with the exception of her oldest brother who is off at wizard school) currently live in an enchanted castle who is really a character in and of itself. So, I'm going to capitalize the Castle now.

The kingdom, whose name I forget, is a very unique one, and that fact is mostly due to the Castle. The Castle chooses who the king's heir will be; the current king does not. As a result, the kingship does not always (sometimes, but not always) pass to a descendant of  the current king. It's a matter of pride to Celie's father that their family has inherited the kingship for several generations in a row, and the Castle has chosen Celie's second oldest brother as the heir to their father.

The Castle does more than make decisions. It actually grows or shrinks, depending on the visitors or lack thereof, or just when the Castle gets bored and feels like messing with everyone, which tends to happen on Tuesdays more than any other day.

Celie is the only one who has undertaken the impossible task of mapping the Castle. Therefore, she is the only one who can always find a room she's looking for. People are always asking her for directions to the kitchen or certain bedrooms or some other place that the servants need to find before they can do their jobs.

Wow, that's a lot of background and not much else. Maybe tomorrow I'll add in just a bit of plot and then my opinion.

Princess of the Silver Woods

Princess of the Silver Woods is Jessica Day George's third (and hopefully final) book in the Princess series.

The protagonist this time is Petunia, the youngest of the twelve princesses we met in Princess of the Midnight Ball. The lead male character is named Oliver. The story itself twists together Little Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood.

I'll be honest. I don't remember much about this book because I only read it once and didn't really care for it. It seems, sadly, like George's Princess series went from great to good to meh. I'm not a big fan of Petunia herself, although maybe her personality is the direct result of being the baby in a royal family.

The story takes things back to the first book, cleaning up what strings could conceivably be thought of as left unstrung. There's a new King Under Stone, and he wants the princesses back... for reasons I forget. Maybe for the same reasons as the first King Under Stone.

I also remember very little about Oliver. So I can't say for sure, but I feel like he didn't have anywhere near the adorably mature charm as Galen or the sweet boy-becoming-a-man as Christian. He was a crook, albeit a Robin Hood, but it just didn't really seem to play out well, I guess.

If George comes out with a fourth Princess book, it'll be really hard to decide if I want to buy it or not. Out of respect for the first book, I just might; but it's more likely I would rather wait until it's offered free somewhere like a library or something.

Princess of Glass

Jessica Day George's Princess of the Midnight Ball is actually the first book in another series; the next book of her Princess series is Princess of Glass, starring Rose's sister Poppy and a prince named Christian.

The story takes place a few years after the Galen broke the twelve princess's curse, and Poppy is visiting her mother's kingdom just as her other unmarried sisters are visiting other kingdoms, hoping to solidify the tentative peace that is slowly forming after the end of both a war and the less-than-subtle manipulating of the King Under Stone.

A friendship is soon forged between the charming Prince Christian and the decidedly nontraditional Princess Poppy, but friendships seem to be a delicate thing when witchcraft is involved.

A servant girl named Eleanora, who can never seem to do anything right, has a bit of a pride issue anyways. So much so that she keeps a certain mysterious benefactor, who helps her go to multiple balls to capture the heart of a prince, a secret.

Eleanora's target, according to her fairy godmother, is to be Christian. However, Eleanora's heart is constantly trying to tell her differently.

When the witchcraft can no longer be hidden, Eleanora spills all her secrets and begs for help.

Poppy, armed with a gun and a knife, plans on doing her best. But can they really fool such a magical creature as Eleanora's godmother? Where on earth is Galen, who knows more about breaking curses than anyone? Is there more going on with Christian than just a powerful spell directed mainly towards him?

This was a pretty good book. It doesn't really compare to the first in the series, but it's a good book nonetheless.

Princess of the Midnight Ball

Next up by Jessica Day George is my personal favorite book from her: Princess of the Midnight Ball.

This book is based on the fairy tale "Twelve Dancing Princesses," and the two protagonists are the soldier Galen and the oldest princess Rose.

First of all, I want to say that George does a remarkable job giving individuality to each of the twelve princesses. It would be so easy to leave the focus on Rose and let the others fade into the background, but George refuses to let that happen.

This story's skeleton is the original fairy tale, with twelve princesses dancing all night every night and waking up with tattered slippers and the king getting super worried enough to ask for help from all areas, even allowing a soldier to help with the reward of marrying one of his daughters.

This story adds so much meat to the tale, however. George takes the time to explain many things, from the origin of the curse to the details of breaking it to even having a separate section in the back of the book showing readers how to make curse-breaking charms of their own - or just how to knit certain items in the story, anyways.

I loved every single character except one in this story, and the only one I didn't love was not meant to be loved. However, part of the reason I didn't love him was that he had little to no character background or anything to help us get to know him. He was the villain of the day, while even the villain of the night had a background story and a reasoning that let us know why he wanted what he wanted.

Well, that was just a very minor complaint. In all, the story was fantastic.

Dragon Spear

Dragon Spear is Jessica Day George's final book in the Dragon Slippers trilogy.

Our heroine Creel finally feels like she's received her happy ending. Her dragon friends are safe on a land uninhabited by humans, the dragon queen is about to give birth to eggs that will produce the next heir, and Creel herself is about to marry her true love. What could go wrong?

Well, for one thing, Creel's family could show up. The aunt who was bent on shipping Creel off to a dragon's lair so a knight would save and marry her? Yeah, we find out she's really as crazy as that; she smarts off to the king and he lets her, for goodness' sake! If you've read the previous two books, you know what a statement that is.

Creel escapes her own kingdom to spend some time with her dragon friends, and she finally begins to relax again. So of course something terrible happens.

The pregnant dragon queen Velika is kidnapped.

How can someone kidnap a dragon right out from under the noses of thousands of other dragons, you may ask?

Good question. The better question is: Can they get Velika back with all of her babies none the worse for the wear?

Great ending to a good series! The dragon kingdom is far more vast and complicated than I ever thought, and Creel agrees. I also didn't hate every member of her family; Creel's brother was a lot of fun to get to know! I should reread this series soon.

Dragon Flight

Dragon Flight is the second book in Jessica Day George's Dragon Slippers series.

Creel is still our protagonist, though her status has drastically improved from country bumpkin since her assistance in the war. She now co-owns her own seamstress shop, although it's admittedly a little boring compared to her adventures in the previous book.

Then adventures and perhaps even another war is thrust onto Creel's lap when she and her friends discover that someone, somewhere, is breeding and controlling dragons, preparing for an invasion.

I remember who and how, but honestly I forget half of the why. The half that I remember is hatred, but it's for a someone that I don't know would merit a full-scale invasion of one kingdom to another.

The who has a strong connection with Creel's closest dragon friends, and the how seems to be almost the opposite of the method used in the previous book.

The ending... Oh, how do I put it? Maybe just this: It is a very good thing that there is a third book, because this ending was not satisfactory for any dragons - although, granted, it was a far cry better than being bred like dumb animals.

Stay tuned and I'll let you know about the last book. =)

Dragon Slippers

Dragon Slippers is the first book in Jessica Day George's trilogy of the same name.

This book's protagonist is Creel, the damsel in distress who can handle her distressing situation on her own.

Her aunt plunks her down in front of the cave of the local dragon, hoping that the resident knight in shining armor will rescue and then marry her. Creel, however, is not going to stake her life on some knight, and she manages to talk her way out of the dragon's den and into a new pair of slippers.

Then Creel sets off for the capital city, bent on hiring herself out as a seamstress.

Creel seems to have either the best luck in history, or the worst. Throughout this book, Creel meets another dragon, a high-maintenance princess, a dashing prince or two, a boss she really can't figure out what to expect from, a new best friend, and a traitor, not to mention she uncovers a history that has been buried and then lied about.

And then - war.

This book was a fun read. I'm not Creel's biggest fan; she makes a few mistakes where I truly believe she should have and could have acted better. But I believe she learns her lessons by the end of the book, and I am a big fan of some of the other characters. I also wanted to throttle the traitor long before I found out that character's status as a backstabber.

The world is also built really well and believably. George has worked out, and will continue to work out in the other two books, the culture very well; her inclusion of other countries has helped that conclusion too.

And even though this book is the start of a trilogy, it wraps things up pretty well by the end. Of course there are some loose threads we want answered, but this book could almost stand alone.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Jessica Day George's Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow is based on the fairytale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon."

The story is set in Norway, and the protagonist has no name. Seriously, her mother took one look at her and refused to name her because she hadn't wanted another child, especially another girl. So this girl grew up without a name, until a certain magical creature granted her a name. Yet, we the readers and basically everyone else in the book don't know her name until the very end.

When our hero saved that magical creature, she was granted two gifts: a name and the ability to talk with animals. Word about her ability spreads quickly, through people and animals.

Our hero eventually came to possess a wolf for a pet, but it wasn't the only predator she attracted. One day during a blizzard, a great white bear burst into their home and demanded she go with him.

Eventually, she goes. They arrive at an ice palace, where several things are incredibly odd. The only servant she's allowed to see is a faun, several commonplace household objects are on display as if they're great trophies or remarkable antiques, and there are several symbols etched into the walls that tell a strange story.

Our hero tries to unravel the mystery of why she's needed at the palace, but she quickly discovers that her attempts to help only prove fatal for many of the castle's inhabitants. (She could not let the secret of who the other servants were remain secret for long.)

This was a really good book; well-written and engaging through our heroine's entire story. The bones of the story are basically just like the original, but George has added in so many new details that make the story work better than before.

Victoria Hanley

Victoria Hanley has written four other books as far as I can tell, but I have not read them.

Indigo Magic is a sequel to Violet Wings. I found a free sneak peek of the book on amazon, and I was hugely disappointed. The style of writing seemed childish at best, and I felt like Hanley's instant jump into an insane battle between the protagonists and gnomes was just a cheap way to grab her readers' attention. I would possibly still be interested in reading it if I found a copy at the library, but there's no way I'm forking out any money for this book.

Hanley's other three books (Seize the Story: A Handbook for Teens Who Like to Write, Wild Ink : Success Secrets to Writing and Publishing in the Young Adult Market, and Wild Ink: How to Write Fiction for Young Adults) seem to be instructional, teaching her readers how to write. If Hanley's work was of a consistent quality, I might be inclined to peek into one or two of them.

However, even though Hanley has written one of my all-time favorite books, The Seer and the Sword, her books like The Healer's Keep and what I've seen of Indigo Magic have kind of turned me off from viewing her as an awesome over-all writer.

Anyways, please don't believe that I dislike this author. I love Hanley; I'm just disappointed that I can't see that she has written something new and instantly say "I want that!"

Of her books, I definitely recommend The Seer and the Sword and The Light of the Oracle. Perhaps you would enjoy Violet Wings as well; just be braced for having some unanswered questions by the end if you don't plan on getting Indigo Magic too.

Violet Wings

Another of Victoria Hanley's books is Violet Wings.

This book's protagonist is named Zaria, an orphaned fairy who lives with her strict teacher. When the book begins, Zaria is about to turn fourteen, the age at which fairies and genies (by the way, all fairies are female and all genies are male) receive their wands and watches.

Wands enable them to use magic above a certain level; watches show them how much magical energy (radia) they have and up to what level they can perform magic. Zaria and her best friend Leona are rare in their extraordinary abilities - high levels and tons of radia.

But those of you who know even a little bit about Spiderman know that with great power comes great responsibility.

Sadly, our girls don't handle the power high very well, Leona especially. Worst of all, Zaria is attracted to and entranced by the very place that killed her family: Earth.

This book was okay. Its quality, I guess, is similar to Light of the Oracle. Thankfully, it's certainly not as confusing as The Healer's Keep because before every chapter, Hanley adds an excerpt from a history-research genie that explains more about the world into which she's dropping us.

The book leaves a lot of questions unanswered, though. The only thing it really resolves in the end is Zaria decides to become a better person for all that happened. Who knows if that will last long in the sequel?

The Light of the Oracle

The third companion book that Victoria Hanley has matched with The Seer and the Sword and The Healer's Keep is called The Light of the Oracle.

This third book has very little to do with the other books in the trilogy. The deities have changed, from one God to multiple gods and goddesses. Many abilities have changed, from object-based to bird-based and prophetic.

This book's protagonist is Bryn, a girl who never fit in at home because her ability to see visions was misconstrued as laziness and daydreaming. Then she was relocated to the Temple to be with other prophets and prophetesses of the Oracle, but she also couldn't really fit in there.

It wasn't that she didn't make friends at the Temple - she did, eventually. Part of her problem was her lack of knowledge of propriety; she made several large blunders just in her first few weeks - or was it merely days?

And then when she finally got manners down, what happened then? She got cursed by the spiteful rich girl who had been chosen by a vulture.

Perhaps I should explain that. There's a certain day each year where people take turns just standing on a platform, waiting. They wait for a bird to come to them and choose them by plucking out one of their feathers for the waiting person. If they are chosen by a bird, the kind of bird determines the chosen one's powers.

Bryn was not chosen by a bird, which would have been an extreme disgrace had she not been chosen by something much more powerful: the wind.


Along with Bryn's personal problems are much bigger ones, problems that affect the entire kingdom. All is not as perfect as first presented in the Temple. Bryn and her new friends must do something before people die.

The Healer's Keep

Once upon a time, I told you about The Seer and the Sword, by Victoria Hanley; that super awesome and fantastic book has two companion novels.

One of them is The Healer's Keep, and one of the protagonists is Torina and Landen's daughter, whose name I forget. Although this book takes place after the events of The Seer and the Sword, this book can be read separately.

Honestly, I wish I had not read it at all. As amazing as The Seer and the Sword was, this book was on the opposite extreme for me.

I only read this book once a few years ago, and I didn't like it because it confused me. The first part of the book was okay; Hanley set up the background of healers at the Healer's Keep nicely. I also seem to recall a scene that took place in another continent with the half-sister of the male protagonist.

However, once different abilities from the expected began to show themselves, once some eye-candy boy ditched the princess after using her, once the adventurers set out from the Healer's Keep - that was when Hanley lost me.

I can remember bits and pieces of the events they participated in in the other continent. However, there were also drastic and important scenes that took place in some kind of dream world. I didn't get it.

I'm not sure how Hanley could have produced both The Seer and the Sword and The Healer's Keep; they seem like books of completely different qualities. The Seer and the Sword was wonderful; The Healer's Keep was dark and confusing.

E. D. Baker

Well, I think I've pretty much covered all of E. D. Baker's books.

Seriously, she's such a trustworthy author that I've read almost every single book she's published.

I haven't read her newest book, The Bravest Princess, only because it just came out this month. It's a third book about the very non-magical Princess Annie. According to the description on the website Goodreads, this book is supposedly about Annie lending a helping hand to Snow White.

The only other book of E. D. Baker's that I can find is called The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker, and it will apparently be published this upcoming October. Goodreads describes this book as following the adventures of a tooth fairy named Cory who wants to be anything except a tooth fairy. So she quits in search of some other random job, and someone eventually asks Cory to set up a date.

Hmmm, the book cover that Goodreads displays shows Cory holding a bow and some arrows. Is Cory going to become Cupid?

Sadly, I guess we're going to have to wait until October to find out.

Until then, prepare for that fateful day by reading Tales of the Frog Princess, Fairy Wings, Tales of the Wide-Awake Princess, and A Question of Magic! =D

Ta-ta!

A Question of Magic

The final book I have read from E. D. Baker is A Question of Magic.

This book is a lot different from Baker's other books in that the protagonist, Serafina, has great relationships from the very beginning. She loves all of her family except one of her brothers-in-law, she gets along with the rest of the town, and she even already has a love interest.

A little too perfect, right?

Serafina soon leaves all of that behind for a few days, or so she thinks. Little does she realize that, as a result of checking out a letter from her supposed great aunt, she may very well never see her loved ones again.

Serafina has become the new Baba Yaga.

Although she can physically leave her chicken hut, everything she needs in order to survive as Baba Yaga is in that hut. New clothes, for when she grows when each question asked makes her age; blue rose tea, to return her to her normal age; the hut itself, to take her to different places quickly; and more.

Although with the (sometimes annoyingly late) help of a cat, Serafina eventually gets good at her new life, it's a far cry from the life she wants. She does make a couple of new friends, but those are only out of the thousands of others who speak with her only to use her magic.

This book. It was actually pretty awesome. Even given Baker's track record of good books, I was hesitant when I picked this one up. But I really, really enjoyed it. I grew to love Serafina and all those she loved as well.

Fairy Lies

Fairy Lies is E. D. Baker's sequel to Wings.

Tamisin and Jak have returned as our protagonists, and this time Tamisin seems to be going a little crazy.

Last time, the fairy queen gave Tamisin a kiss on the cheek, which Jak explained would draw Tamisin back to the fey world one day.

That day has come - or is trying to, anyways.

Tamisin is growing irrational, with a bigger temper each time Jak sees her. She really explodes when she finds out that Jak's backyard portal had been open one night and he hadn't told her she could revisit the fey world finally.

So Tamisin finds her own way back - in the form of being kidnapped by the fairy king.

Jak sets out on a rescue mission, even losing his own memory at one point but still determined to find Tamisin.

This book is a great sequel to Wings. I loved seeing Tamisin and Jak again, as well as other recurring characters. Even those who tend to be annoying I found had grown on me.

Wings

Another of E. D. Baker's books is Wings.

This one seems to have a little bit of a darker tone than her other novels just because of the existence of goblins, who at one point stalked the protagonist because she was the only one who could see them.

Our protagonist, or one of them, is named Tamisin. She's your average girl in your average household going to an average school, except for a few physical oddities.

Tamisin has spreckles: freckles that sparkle. She also has pointed ears. And full moons make her dance.

Oh, and did I mention that, one day, actual wings sprout from her back?

The other protagonist is Jak, the new kid at school who is actually a goblin half-breed. Because of his half-breed status, Jak is constantly made fun of in his home world and magic doesn't always work for him the way it's supposed to.

Jak has found advantages to his scandalous heritage, however. And one day, he is given a mission: bring Tamisin to his uncle.

This book is pretty great. I really enjoyed watching Tamisin and Jak grow up; and then for much of the rest of the book, I really loved how their journey together played out.

I've heard that this story is loosely based on Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. I guess I'll hae to take that person's word for it, since I've never read that play.

Unlocking the Spell

Unlocking the Spell is a sequel to The Wide-Awake Princess, and it follows Annie and Gwen and their lovers as they attempt to break the spell put on Gwen's fiance.

The journey gets extremely tedious, considering Gwen is completely unused to not having the best of everything.

Another difficulty resides in finding the dwarf that enchanted Gwen's love, Beldegard, in the first place. After all of Disney's talk about how small of a world it is after all, you'd think it wouldn't be so tough to find one dwarf.

Yet another of Annie's problem's lie within her own heart. Her love, Prince Liam, has been acting odd lately. He won't do much PDA - Public Display of Affection. Annie is worried that he changed his mind about her.

Honestly, I don't remember this book all that well. I only remember that I liked it, and I should probably read it again sometime soon.

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Side note: I skipped posting this past weekend, and I think I'm going to start doing that on a regular basis now. It's kind of difficult to remember on Saturdays, and Sunday mornings can be pretty busy.

The Wide-Awake Princess Pt. 2

Okay, so E. D. Baker's The Wide-Awake Princess, plot time.

As I mentioned in the last post, Annie's older sister Gwen is Sleeping Beauty, though not yet asleep at the beginning of the book.

It's Gwen's birthday, and the paranoia is practically tangible. Annie and all of the guards are on the lookout for evil magic.

It's pretty safe to assume it doesn't work.

Annie is the only one on the entire castle grounds that doesn't fall asleep; it's up to her to run to Gwen's fiance and bring him back to kiss Gwen awake.

With the help of one guard who had been away when the curse fell, Annie roams multiple kingdoms, bringing back every prince she could find just in case Gwen's fiance is not really her true love.

Will any of them be able to wake Gwen? What if Annie herself has fallen for one of the princes? What if that prince is the one that wakes Gwen? What if Gwen gets stuck with one of the nasty princes because they try to cheat?

I really, really enjoyed this book. Like The Frog Princess series, the book's overall tone is light, though of course there are danger or heartbreaking moments. I wanted to strangle the prince into whose contest Annie had entered.

Best of all, there are tons of references to other fairy tales. Hansel and Gretel is one of the obvious references. How many others can you find?

The Wide-Awake Princess

Another book by E. D. Baker is The Wide-Awake Princess, and it follows Sleeping Beauty's sister as she tries to break the sleeping curse.

Princess Annie, younger daughter to the perfect and wonderful Princess Gwen, is plain and almost forgettable. There's only one thing that makes it impossible to forget that Annie is in the room.

Magic has no effect around her.

Background information: This world is steeped in magic. Fairies give blessings to practically everyone, from royalty to commoners - although of course royalty tends to get more. As a result, practically everyone in Annie's life is magically beautiful, talented, or tamed.

However, Annie was blessed (or cursed, as sometimes people believe) with only one magical gift: No magic can touch her, ever. Not only does that mean she cannot be cursed to eternal slumber like Gwen or blessed with incomparable beauty also like Gwen, but it also means the people around her who have been blessed or cursed will slowly begin to lose those blessings or curses.

You can imagine that few people actually want their beauty and talents to vanish.

Aside from the fact that few people want her nearby, Annie has found her own place in the world. She figures out what things Gwen cannot do, then she learns to do them. Her skills come in very handy throughout the book.

Wow, that's a lot of background information. Should I let it hang here and say go get the book for the rest? Or should I make another post tomorrow that mentions more plot?

Tales of the Frog Princess, concluding

Hmm, you know what? I don't really want to give away too much of Princess Emeralda's life, so I think I'll cram the rest of E. D. Baker's Tales of the Frog Princess series into this post.

Once Upon a Curse is about Emma trying to break the curse that has tormented her family for centuries.

No Place for Magic has Emma's wedding, although many things try to get in the way of her happily ever after.

The Salamander Spell actually goes back in time to show how Grassina became the Green Witch.

The Dragon Princess shows Emma's daughter, who has anger management issues much worse than normal.

Dragon Kiss follows Emma's daughter's suitor as he tries to find a way to do the impossible: become human for his one true love.

A Prince Among Frogs... Hmm, honestly, I don't remember much about this book. All I can remember is that Emma's infant son has been kidnapped.

This series is fun, generally lighthearted, fraught with irritations that are easily let go by the characters and overlookable (is that even a word?) by the readers. In later books in the series, Baker includes many references to the series itself, which is really exciting at first.

As it draws on, though, it can sometimes feel like the author is running out of new ideas, especially for villains. However, that might just be my opinion, because from what I can remember, each time someone or something returns, it's with a new aspect or twist or something.

This is a great series to read if you're looking for some lighthearted entertainment. Of course there are ups and downs in each book, but it's not a series that tries to make you and the characters suffer until the dramatic conclusion.

Dragon's Breath

The next book in Emma's adventures is E. D. Baker's Dragon's Breath.

This book takes place only a day or two after the conclusion of the previous book. Emma has reverted back to normal, been proposed to, learned about her family's curse, realized she actually does have some magical talent, and reunited Grassina with Haywood, her lover turned into an otter.

I think she's been pretty busy. Your thoughts?

Anyways, this book mostly concerns Emma's magic and Haywood's curse. Emma and Eadric set off to learn how to turn Haywood back into an otter. Grassina is way too distracted to be of much use, and Emma's magic is still liable to go askew. Eadric bounces between being highly annoying and being extremely sweet, and Emma is seriously considering rejecting his proposal.

Despite all that, the book really isn't focused on the drama. It's focused on the quest.

I really enjoy Emma's perspective of things. Though she's a princess, she's not bratty or even really spoiled. She can get her hands dirty without a second thought, and in the process, she grows into her magic.

Oh, and did I mentioned there's a war going on during all of this?

It's Grassina's job to help, but as I mentioned earlier, she's way too distracted with Haywood.