![]() ![]() What follows brings the best of fairy tale lore alive with fantasy and determination. ![]() Show More herself into the task with no concern for herself. A pleasant read and one I can freely recommend to all ages who love a good fairy tale. On the whole, though, I found it refreshing to read a fairy-tale retelling in which the heroine is smart, kind, practical-minded and largely free from the romantic cliches and personality-squelching love triangles that seem to populate the genre in recent years. There is a little turn toward the end, which I shall not spoil here, that may not sit well with everyone, but it was probably inevitable. While the end implies potential continuation, the story does have enough closure to stand on its own. Some of those imperfections even become interesting connections as the book unfolds. The book isn't perfect: there are minor issues - the conflation of Romanian and Greek mythic references, for example, though interesting and ostensibly logical through the Roman connection, comes across as muddled on occasion, but sorts itself out more or less by the end - and more significant ones - our protagonist frequently speaks like someone way older than her years - but the story carries the reader through. ![]() Haskell has created likable and unlikeable characters in equal measure, but each is more complex than he or she seems at first, which is a pleasure to find in a children's novel. I was on board with this heroine from page one. ![]() Show More dancing princesses in order to use the reward money in pursuit of her career. ![]()
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