by Donna Jo Napoli, 2007, 308p, rating=2.5Hmm ... a "mute" princess, medieval Ireland, a slave ship, raidings and plunderings ... sounds like an interesting recipe for a fascinating tale. So much so that the other night I told part of the story (hadn't finished the book yet) to my kids at bedtime and my seven year old said of the story so far, "pretty good". Indeed, a seemingly pretty good tale.
Here is a young princess that will find herself kidnapped and discovers that playing mute gives her the avenue to figure out what's happening around her and also in turn plays a great part in her mysterious character that her captors find intriguing. Also, she will come upon characters that will give her aid in understanding her surroundings and stumble into a heartbreaking life that she will eventually discover must be her new life.
I was waiting and waiting to read of what I hoped for a consequential escape and return to her homeland. Opportunities did present itself but other courses prevailed. In the end, the princess finds a tangible hope, a strange one but according to the author a sense of acceptance for the princess. Surely, not your usual princess stories with prince charming coming to the rescue. The story line was interesting though strange but it was not executed well.
Here is a young princess that will find herself kidnapped and discovers that playing mute gives her the avenue to figure out what's happening around her and also in turn plays a great part in her mysterious character that her captors find intriguing. Also, she will come upon characters that will give her aid in understanding her surroundings and stumble into a heartbreaking life that she will eventually discover must be her new life.
I was waiting and waiting to read of what I hoped for a consequential escape and return to her homeland. Opportunities did present itself but other courses prevailed. In the end, the princess finds a tangible hope, a strange one but according to the author a sense of acceptance for the princess. Surely, not your usual princess stories with prince charming coming to the rescue. The story line was interesting though strange but it was not executed well.
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This was definitely not my favorite book (I gave it two stars on Goodreads and I'm generous with my stars). I felt like there was so much missing and it didn't work well to be told in the first person. My book club was mixed on it and several people want to write the sequel. It was slow, then fast and ended abruptly. It would have been interesting to read what her life was like when she got to the final destination. Anyway, I felt there was a lot lacking from it and gave my copy to someone else who did like it because I will never read it again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Mel. I learned that I should critique better in my reviews (so drop in rating). I did find the read not extraordinary but I did like the strange story line and went with that. The ending was abrupt but I chucked it up as "up to the reader's imagination" technique. --New to reading so I'm still learning. Hope you still continue to check this blog from time-to-time and point out some helps for me. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting me know about the book. I'll have to look for it, I had not heard of it before. Even if it's not quite a good book, I don't have any books with ratings under 3 that I remember lol.
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