Princess Academy (Princess Academy, #1)

by Shannon Hale

Fourteen-year-old Miri lives on a mountain where her ancestors have quarried stone and lived in poverty for generations. Then just before winter's first snowfall, a delegation from the lowlands arrive with exciting news. The king's priests have divined that her small village is the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince will come himself and chose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, where every girl of age will be sent to learn the skills of a princess. But there is no way Miri can prepare herself for what lies in store.

• ISBN10: 0747598010
• ISBN13: 9780747598015
• Publish Date: 2 March 2009 (first published 1 July 2005)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 13 August 2012
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: http://bloomsbury.com/Trade/

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Princess Academy is a cute book.

In picking this one up, I was excepting something akin to Tuesdays at the Castle or Ella Enchanted, and more or less that’s what I got. The story is relatively light and easy, with many predictable twists and turns. The predicability doesn’t reduce the enjoyability, but some of the twists were a bummer for me. I didn’t think the ending satisfied. In general, the story felt a little stiff.

As a protagonist, Miri is likable. There was nothing about her that really made her stand out as a protagonist and make her memorable. She was a sweet girl who cares for the people around her and is kind to everyone She has a thirst for knowledge and a deep desire for fairness. There are a couple minor characters who stood out a little – Katr and Britta – but for the most part the characters blended together.

Shannon Hale regains a lot of points from me in her world building. Where the princess aspect of the story went down a tired path and the characters blended together, Mount Eskel was incredibly well-written. The pieces of this world came to life easily and with more dimensions than I’m used to seeing in a middle grade fantasy. Eskel has everything from seasonal celebrations to its own economy. The world comes to life easily and generally, I’m impressed. There’s not a lot of flowery writing and the depth isn’t quite as immersive as YA or adult novels, but it’s still quite good.

The time in Princess Academy is spent split between the princess academy itself and Mount Eskel. Perhaps if the book had been on Eskel the entire time, it would have been more impressive as a whole. The pacing in the book was good, the writing was fine. There were moments of decent action, including hanging off a cliff! But for the most part, the story was tame.

At the end of the day, Princess Academy was just okay. It’s a decent fairytale-style novel for those who enjoy the genre, but it’s nothing enthralling or groundbreaking on its own. While Miri’s tale continues, I don’t think I’ll venture past Princess Academy. The glimpse was sweet and certainly something I would have enjoyed more when I was younger.

[mrs_mander_reads]

Definitely an easy reader, probably for 5-8th grades. I liked the story. It had the little details that made it worth reading. I breezed through it. Definitely going to read the second book soon.

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Princess Academy is a delightful book full of adventure and family, not at all the glittery and girly read the title can suggest. Miri is a spunky but lonely mountain girl who is in love with her home on Mount Eskel, even if the work in the quarry can be hard on all the villagers and the winters there are long and cold. She finds value in the uniqueness of the mountain, its beauty, and the community it inspires among those who live there. Even when the chance of becoming a princess with beautiful clothes and a big home in the green lowlands arises, Miri remembers what makes her and Mount Eskel special.

Princess Academy is almost unique in that it places value on a variety of talents and characteristics. It is not more important to be a princess than it is to be a goat herd, and it does not make one better to be book smart instead of wise in the ways of quarrying. Learning is presented as being important and a great way to open life opportunities, but doing any job well makes a person special. It is also clear that everyone, whether in the scheme of the academy, the village, or the whole kingdom, has a role to play, and that every role is essential to helping things run as best as they can. None of these “lessons” come across as preachy or forced, however. They are simply built into the story and Miri’s own thought processes, and they make the reader feel as if she must be important somehow, too.

Hale’s management of the romance is equally as beautiful. Miri fluctuates between dreaming that the prince will fall in love with her and wondering why she would want to marry someone that she barely knows. There is also a boy at home who has recently caught her interest, so should she dream of the prince or of him? This is no annoying love triangle, and everything turns out quite perfectly. There is the sense everyone ends up where they belong, not that the author has contrived a bunch of pairings.

The focus is not really on romantic relationships, however, but on friendships and families. Miri is very close to her sister and her father, but sometimes feels a bit left out. She wonders how she can fix that. She also feels alone, and there are other girls who are something like social outcasts, as well—something authors often fail to imagine in a community so small. The way the villagers all come together as families, friends, and sometimes couples is very inspiring.

Hale has written a wholesome book for girls full of adventure, thoughtful questions, beautiful friendships, and just the right amounts of magic and romance. The characters grow through their time at the academy, and readers will grow with them as they ponder what it means to truly to be happy and a good person.

This reviews was also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.

[ladygrey]

This book wasn't what I expected at all. From the title I thought it would be something much more regency/romance, something much more familiar in the genre of girls training and hoping to be princesses. Instead this was a rougher world and much more interesting. At first I didn't like that Miri was only 14 because it makes the character harder to relate to. But then it was such a perfect choice to watch Miri grow up through the story and her innocence was an important part of the plot. I liked that there was nothing cliche about the story - not the villagers and not the academy. They were all unique and interesting and really good.