| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: None Violence level: Low Back Cover: “Having once been cursed to dance every night with her sisters, Princess Poppy has vowed never again to put on a pair of dancing slippers. Which is why she's reluctant to participate in the royal exchange program that her father and some of their neighbor kings have cooked up. Life in far-off Breton isn't so bad, not when there's money to be won playing cards and a handsome prince promising friendship...and maybe something more. But when a hapless servant named Eleanora enters the picture and sets her sights on the prince, too, which girl will win his heart? And who is behind the magnificent gowns and slippers that the penniless Eleanora has been wearing to the balls? Only Princess Poppy can see through the magic that holds the rest of the kingdom in its spell. And having fought against one curse before, she's just the girl to take on another!” |
It's a study in the idea of “be careful what you wish for.” It's actually a great idea to really think about the kind of wishes that people make in fairytales. I mean, if you're wishing to go to the ball and marry the prince, that means the prince doesn't have any choice in the matter and you may end up shackled to someone who doesn't love you. If you're wishing to make a fortune by being lucky in games of chance, that means you may end up ruining someone else. Actually, even if you manage to wish for something that won't hurt anyone else at all, there's a good chance you may harm yourself, since people have such a tendency to wish for things that are bad for them. And that doesn't even take into account the fairy godmother's possible ulterior motives. Seriously, if some stranger came along and promised me that I could have anything I wanted, I'd be pretty suspicious. I'd at least want some guarantees in writing, and I'd definitely be on the lookout for the catch. (And pouring molten glass over my feet sounds like a pretty big catch, not to mention a deal breaker.) But the best part, at least for me, is that the magic was totally unnecessary. All the problems that the Corley promised to solve with magic could have been handled so much better without it. There's a moral in there somewhere...
Princess Poppy was always one of my favorites of the twelve dancing princesses from the first book, because she's just so—well—feisty. It makes her a great choice for the sequel main character, and she totally carries the feisty personality over. Actually, most of the joy I found in this book was just watching Poppy deal with her situation. I know, that's the joy of most books, but I especially liked it in this one. I enjoyed the parts where Poppy is realizing that something is seriously wrong, but everyone else is still clueless because they don't have her experience. And then I like the way she tries to fight the Corley using what she learned against the King Under Stone before. And, okay, I admit I just love that Poppy is perfectly willing to break with what a “proper” lady is supposed to do. She knows how to shoot a gun, she knits, and she plays cards like a man—and she doesn't dance because she doesn't want to. It's nice to see someone who pays attention to what she actually likes rather than what society thinks she ought to like. I think more people would be more happy if they followed that example.