soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2015-03-08 04:26 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2015-03-08 04:26 pm
The Princess Curse, by Merrie Haskell
GODDAMN I AM SO INTO THIS BOOK, I am just heart-eyes in all directions, I don't even know where to begin.
It's pretty much a crossover between The Twelve Dancing Princesses and the story of Persephone and Hades. So it's like, the Twelve Dancing Princesses, except the main character isn't the retired soldier but a thirteen year old girl who does the saving of the day. And she does so by promising to marry the dragonish lord of the underworld who's been dancing with the princesses.
So the first half of the book is Reveka's determination to FIGURE THINGS OUT and FIX THINGS and all that, and then the second half of the book is a marriage of convenience story! Except REALLY TRULY DEFINITELY of convenience because she's way too young for things to turn romantic/sexual. And while there's a couple hints that that's where things might go in the future when Reveka is actually old enough for it to not be creepy, right now it is super platonic and not creepy at all. Except, you know, the totally reasonable creepiness of being stuck in a dying underworld. Except even that's not really creepy because Reveka is DETERMINED TO FIX THINGS and she totally can.
So it's a story about a capable girl doing her best in a difficult situation, and about stubbornness, and lying, and herbalist stuff, and family, and fantasyland politics, and awkward tentative friendship and caring between her and Dragos.
Pretty much Reveka is the best and Lord Dragos is the most interesting and I WANT ALL THE FANFICTION. Lord Dragos backstory from pre-king-of-the-underworld days? Lord Dragos backstory about him becoming lord of the underworld and being new and awkward and not knowing everything and trying and failing and all that? Reveka growing further into her role as queen of the underworld? Reveka and Dragos learning to know each other better over the years? Alethe's nymph's backstory? Fic about whatever's up with Reveka's handmaid Thela? More about the functioning of the underworld, and about underworld politics? OMG A FIC ABOUT REVEKA AND DRAGOS POLITICKING IN THE UNDERWORLD IS EVERYTHING I WANT IN LIFE.
And then there's Haskell's answer to a question on goodreads about the possibility of a sequel and SHE TALKS ABOUT UNDERWORLD POLITICS and I am struck with an intense desire to reread her other two books for references to Hekate because omg. And also I really want to read the book she thinks about in the shower every morning. DOES SHE HAVE TO WRITE THE SEQUEL AS A MIDDLE-GRADE BOOK?
It's pretty much a crossover between The Twelve Dancing Princesses and the story of Persephone and Hades. So it's like, the Twelve Dancing Princesses, except the main character isn't the retired soldier but a thirteen year old girl who does the saving of the day. And she does so by promising to marry the dragonish lord of the underworld who's been dancing with the princesses.
So the first half of the book is Reveka's determination to FIGURE THINGS OUT and FIX THINGS and all that, and then the second half of the book is a marriage of convenience story! Except REALLY TRULY DEFINITELY of convenience because she's way too young for things to turn romantic/sexual. And while there's a couple hints that that's where things might go in the future when Reveka is actually old enough for it to not be creepy, right now it is super platonic and not creepy at all. Except, you know, the totally reasonable creepiness of being stuck in a dying underworld. Except even that's not really creepy because Reveka is DETERMINED TO FIX THINGS and she totally can.
So it's a story about a capable girl doing her best in a difficult situation, and about stubbornness, and lying, and herbalist stuff, and family, and fantasyland politics, and awkward tentative friendship and caring between her and Dragos.
Pretty much Reveka is the best and Lord Dragos is the most interesting and I WANT ALL THE FANFICTION. Lord Dragos backstory from pre-king-of-the-underworld days? Lord Dragos backstory about him becoming lord of the underworld and being new and awkward and not knowing everything and trying and failing and all that? Reveka growing further into her role as queen of the underworld? Reveka and Dragos learning to know each other better over the years? Alethe's nymph's backstory? Fic about whatever's up with Reveka's handmaid Thela? More about the functioning of the underworld, and about underworld politics? OMG A FIC ABOUT REVEKA AND DRAGOS POLITICKING IN THE UNDERWORLD IS EVERYTHING I WANT IN LIFE.
And then there's Haskell's answer to a question on goodreads about the possibility of a sequel and SHE TALKS ABOUT UNDERWORLD POLITICS and I am struck with an intense desire to reread her other two books for references to Hekate because omg. And also I really want to read the book she thinks about in the shower every morning. DOES SHE HAVE TO WRITE THE SEQUEL AS A MIDDLE-GRADE BOOK?