princess academy by shannon hale

Princess Academy, we finally meet! After about three years of hearing about you, I’ve FINALLY opened your wonderful pages. And I was not disappointed! I don’t know why I would be, though. So many people have been telling me to get you! It took me a while to get through the first few chapters, I will admit, but it was well worth it.

emily

 

About the book:
Title: Princess Academy
Series: Princess Academy #1
Author: Shannon Hale
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publication Date: April 17th, 2007
Source: Purchased at 2nd & Charles (local chain used book store)

Synopsis: Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king’s priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year’s time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king’s ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess.

Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.

Basically: this book was creative master-mindedness. Sometimes, I really don’t know how authors come UP with this stuff! Does it just pop into their little brains, or do they spend years mastering the art of making up highly intelligent imaginary worlds and sciences and stuff? I SHALL NEVER KNOW. But I do know that Princess Academy was amazing.

So, little mountain girl named Miri can’t work in the quarry that her whole town, Mount Eskel, works at, because she’s too small. Then one day a prince comes a’calling, and all the girls ages 12-17 in Mount Eskel are required to attend the princess academy, because one of them will be the Prince’s bride! BOOM. Miri’s world flips upside down, secrets unfold, you get the gist of it.

emily

Only you don’t! Because unless you’ve read the book, you don’t understand how (secretly) awesomely powerful Mount Eskel is. It’s INCREDIBLE. Again, how, Miss Shannon Hale?? I was shocked at everything that happened in Princess Academy. Totally wasn’t expecting it. I admit I pre-judged this little gem linder (if you’ve read the book you’ll understand that reference!) 😉

I was told that the book was like a Middle Grade Selection series, so I was really hyped up about that. There was a little romance sprinkled in – you know, 15-year-old school crush type thing, but I’m excited to see where that goes in the next two books, as Miri gets older. It definitely wasn’t exactly like the Selection because a) this is an MG, The Selection is YA (Young Adult), and b) both of these books are incredible, but are both unique in their own rights. The Selection is 400 years or so into the future, but I got the feeling that maybe Princess Academy took place a long time ago. It was more a traditional fairy tale, if you know what I mean.

emily
fun fact: that shirt’s on backwards because it had the name of my school on it.

I was also expecting there to be more meetings with the prince as the girls learned more and more about being a princess. That way the prince could get to know each of the girls. But, as it turned out, the girls didn’t meet the prince until a year had passed, and they were ready to meet him as princesses. And then the prince was to choose his bride after one meeting with the girls. I was like “WHHAAAT? Surely he won’t make someone his bride after only one 2-minute dance with each of them.” But never fear, Shannon Hale had the whole thing in her hands. Everything ended perfectly.

The book ended with a lot of questions hanging in the air, but the kind that are sort of answered, so it’s left to the reader’s imagination. With that type of ending, Princess Academy could be a one-stand book. But noooo, there are TWO MORE BOOKS. TWO more books in the series. I’m delighted!

Princess Academy gets 4 stars!

emily emily emily emily

 

 

I know several of you have read this book! What are your thoughts, now that we can gab about it?? Is the rest of the series good? (I’m SURE it is!) Any books like this one? Do you think Princess Academy is like The Selection? Do you think this one could have ended differently? And do you want to read it?! I MUST KNOW!

Emily

 

23 thoughts on “princess academy by shannon hale”

  1. I LOVE YOUR BOOK PHOTOGRAPHY!!! And beautiful review! I’ve heard of this book, of course, but I’ve never even tried it at all, but now I WANT TO 🙂 It seems so interesting! Somehow this book reminds me a lot of The Selection, but oh well. I’ll definitely read this soon! It’s just sounds so amazing 🙂

    1. Thank you! It’s all iPhone done, lol. I’d really like to get a good, professional camera and learn how to take better pictures. 😉
      It’s so intriguing! You’d love it!!

  2. This sounds really interesting! I would like to read it. You have introduces me to so many good sounding books, I want to read them all! 😉

    1. You should! I’m so glad.
      Haha, that’s exactly how I feel!! All the blogs I read have such GREAT book reviews, I’ve got like 100 I want to read!! 😀

  3. You need to get the rest of the series! The last one is my favorite. I’m glad you liked it. Its a pretty unique book.
    I’m tryingb to decide wether I should go shopping with my mom today or stay home….. hmmmm……
    Read anything good?
    My letter is only a page and a half. Its so small.

    1. I will! I’ll put them on hold for the next time I go to the library.
      I always have to face that: stay home and read or go with mom and possibly get a new book?? But I love hanging out with my mom, and since my dad works from home Anna can stay home with him whenever she wants. So it’s usually just my mom and I, so that’s awesome.
      YES. Chasing the Milky Way; it has some language so in my review I’ve got the pages listed where it was said. (UGH.) And Finding Ruby Starling – IT WAS AWESOME. I seriously LOVED Finding Ruby.
      That’s okay. 😉 I’ve got loads to say, just be warned. 😛

      1. Okay, just wanted to let you know I put four books on hold at the library. They didn’t have the 2nd or 3rd books in the Princess Academy series! But I did get Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, Fairest by Gail Carson Levine, The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan, and I’m going to try Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson. (I’ll let you know how that one is.) 😉

        1. Lol. I ended up going. I had fun. Besides the fact I had to try on a bunch of clothes.
          I need to get my hands on all those books. I recommend rereading Ella Enchanted before you read Fairest. Tell me if Goose Girl is good. Ooh. All these books sound good.

  4. I loooooved the first Princess Academy book, but the second one just didn’t click for me. (Granted, I did read it about three years ago so my tastes may have changed since then. :p) I finished the third book, Forgotten Sisters a couple days ago and really loved it. I wish I liked the second one better. Maybe I’ll have to reread it again.

    1. The first one was amazing! I hope I like the second one. I hate it when I like one or two books from a series, but there’s some I don’t like, so the series as a WHOLE isn’t 5 stars. Let me know what you think if you re-read it again. I’ll probably get it from the library soon. 🙂

  5. This book was soo good! Shannon Hale started writing books at age ten, and she’s truly inspired me to write novels (even though that commitment thing involved when writing novels is usually why I don’t finish them…)
    I have a different cover ha ha, and it’s all bent because we’ve read it so many times! Personally this cover art is my favorite because the girl is so interesting to look at! http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fNKnsVs7Gr8/T9nZ7D9GMJI/AAAAAAAAEAQ/d_lPbgmG1XQ/s1600/princess+academy+pb.jpg
    But your cover is rather beautiful 😀
    [and no, the beginning of the book did NOT remind me of the Princess Bride. No. Way. 😉 ]

    1. TEN?! I had no idea! I’m just… wow. Just like you, commitment and procrastination keep me from writing books. Plus I’m a total panster, and I hate planning out my books. Argh. >_< I like that second cover, too. It reminds me of the cover for Ella Enchanted - well, there are different ones, but I like the one with a real picture of the girl on the front. (Not the drawing.) And I bought the book at the used book store, so I'm not complaining. 😀

  6. I swear, every time I open up your blog, I add probably 5 more books to my TBR list. I’ve heard great things about the princess academy and this review just confirmed it for me. I’m broke like any other teen on this planet and right now with all the books I want to get, I’m negative $250 dollars in my wallet. 😉

    1. SAME FOR YOURS. Like I told Naomi, between all the blogs I follow, I’ve got like a 100 books I want to read.
      Negative 250?! Wow. I wish I had someone to even loan me that much. Or maybe I don’t, since I’m surviving off of $5-10 a week (depending on how many chores I do.) It would take me FOREVER to pay that off. 😛 But hey, you’ve got books, right?!

  7. No one has loaned me 250 dollars! I wish! 😛 But no, i mean I counted up if I buy all the books/series I have on my TBR list, it would cost about $250! Since I dont have anything in my wallet (yet) and I’m already spending my money before I have it, I’m negative $250. 😉 ….

  8. I remember reading this a few years ago, Emily. I remember enjoying it a lot, but not the actual plot apart from… there was a princess academy. My library didn’t have the next books. But i definitely see parallels with the selection. Great review!

  9. I really have to read this!!

    Did you read Finding Ruby Starling?? You probably loved it. In my heart I gave a ZILLION star, but being the person I am, I had to give it 4.5 stars cause there were some parts I just didn’t understand.

    1. You really do!

      YES AND I DID LOVE IT. I probably should have given it four or four and a half stars, but I gave it five ’cause I LOVED IT. 😉

  10. I haven’t read Princes Academy yet, but I own it, so maybe it’ll be the next book I read. I love books where secrets abound and nothing is as it seems. It always makes for such intriguing and complex stories! I’m pretty confident that I’ll enjoy this book as much as you did.

    1. You definitely should read it. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about it.
      I know! Those are the best kinds of books. I try not to use those words for every book I read, but I just eat it up! 🙂

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