Not too long ago I read Michael Mullin’s 8: The Previously Untold Story of the Previously Unknown 8th Dwarf and loved it, so I was excited to read his newest rhyming story, The Plight and Plot of Princess Penny, and you have to admit, it is the perfect P title. I liked the concept: Penny is truly a princess, but she was totally unpopular at school. A former friend, Darcy, is the queen of the class and is who Penny blames for everyone disliking and misjudging her. So she decides to get revenge and hires the witch in the woods, who she found through an advertisement, to give her a spell. Spells are tricky things though, as are witches, and of course not everything turns out the way Penny expects.
Two things I like:
- The rhymes. It’s witty and fun.
- The story’s self-awareness:
He scolded her for visiting the cottage. His
patience was wearing thin.
“Don’t you read,” he pleaded his case,”any stories
like the one you’re in?
You pay an old hag to give you lessons in the fine
art of being cruel,
So you can attack some misguided girl who also
attends your school?” (28%)
Two things I didn’t like:
- The high school angst. Others might find the lessons in the story worthwhile and meaningful. We shouldn’t pick on people. High school is a tough place full of cliques, but to be honst I don’t care. I was looking for light fun, and this one just hadn’t too much real life for what I was expecting.
- The witch. Well, I like her as herself, but I wasn’t fond of the witch Mullin chose to use. She was the one from The Frog Prince and Beauty and Beast. In The Frog Prince I don’t remember the witch having a big part and if I remember right it was an evil fairy who cursed the Beast.
It’s a quick read, but I might not have been the perfect audience. I was looking for something laugh-out-loud funny and irreverent like 8, and Princess Penny just didn’t live up to my expectations.
2½ out of 5 stars
Category: Young Adult- Fantasy
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Published February 2, 2012
30 pages
Book source: For review
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Sounds cute, but I can’t take too much angst either.
I do love the looks of that cover. lol. Sorry it was only a 2.5, but sounds fun. 🙂 Thank you!
I love that she finds the witch through an advertisement. That’s funny. I’ve never heard of either of these books. I’ll have to check out the author.
Michelle 🙂
They’re only .99 each for the Kindle.
Perfect ‘P’ title indeed! Cute cover, and I do enjoy stories that rhyme! Might have to check out 8.
J.C. Martin
A to Z Blogger
I loved 8.
You have to really like MG or YA in order to love angst books. Some of mine have angst, some don’t, it depends on the characters. Of course, live with a teenager and you’ll never want to read another one of those books again, because they are so real. LOL Great review.
I think it depends too if I’m expecting it. Based on Mullin’s first story, I just wasn’t expecting so much real life, if that makes sense.
This sounds like a neat modern day dark fairy tale! I’m intrigued. So, though its just 2.5 stars, I might try to get a hold of it, I’d like to see the author’s insight into a teenager’s mind! 🙂
Visiting from A to Z challenge.
http://skaypisms.blogspot.com/
Loving the cover of the Princess Penny book. I agree with you totally about too much high school angst – I’m still recovering from Bella in the Twilight books.
That’s too bad. It sounded promising…I’m sticking with the P theme 🙂