I was very surprised at how fast I sped through this book; two days! The page-turning events kept my heart pounding and my palms sweaty the entire time. The Captive Maiden is a fairy-tale retelling (one of my favorite genres to read! One many of you may have read/seen the movie of is a favorite of mine – Ella Enchanted), and this particular re-telling is a classic version of the one of the most known tales, “Cinderella.”

At first, the story really reminded me page after page of one of my favorite movies of all time, Ever After. I had no problem with this – I love, love, love that movie and while The Captive Maiden wasn’t a modern spin by itself of Cinderella, it wasn’t completely like every Cinderella version – book or movie – I’ve ever known. Last summer, I read The Fairest Maiden and The Healer’s Apprentice, also by Melanie Dickerson. I loved both of them, so when I began this one, I expected it to be very similar to the other books. And, to my pleasure, it was!

I really love these books because in Melanie Dickerson’s amazingly talented way, she manages to turn these classic fairy-tales into a creative spin all on her own, yet still very much corresponding to the original story. In this version, “Cinderella” is named Gisela, and her Prince Charming is actually the brother of the last Prince in The Fairest Maiden, Valten Gerstenberg. Of course you all know the basis of the story line – princess is living with her horrible stepmother and stepsisters who treat her as a servant and the girl dreams of a true love and escape from the life she’s lived with since her father’s death as a little girl.

In Melanie Dickerson’s telling, Gisela escapes to the tournament where Valten is participating, and when he wins the tournament he chooses her as the Queen of Beauty and Love! But Valten’s enemy Ruexner is out to get him… and his queen of beauty and love. The two get captured by the scoundrel and it’s up to Valten to save his beautiful princess.

I was pleasantly surprised at how it ended; I was enchanted with all of the characters the entire duration of the book and Melanie is a fabulously talented author in how she writes her main characters and creates heart-pounding scenes for readers to enjoy. I absolutely loved it! Definitely go and read this! 🙂