Wow! Two posts in one day! (actually I wrote much of the last post yesterday…). I just finished reading Princess Ben last night so time for another book review!
Princess Ben
Princess Benevolence would infinitely prefer to be running around the town playing in mud with friends, and gorging herself silly on cakes and pasteries than being forced through princess training. However, when her Uncle the Crown King of Montagne is killed along with her mother, and her father deemed missing in the same attack, Queen Sophia is forced to accept Ben as the only remaining heir to the throne. Swept from her humble abode and thrown into the pompous environs of the castle, Ben quickly learns she is not cut out for Princess life. Embroidery, dance lessons, penmanship and restricted food portions drive her mad, and her lack of effort and improvement leaves her despised by her aunt the Queen. Ben soon finds her living quarters restricted to a tower cell where she miraculously discovers a hidden room of Wizadry. Teaching herself magic by night Ben uses the spells as an escape from her harsh life, but her new skills may prove more useful than not when their neighbouring country seems set on invasion, and total war seems inevitable. With all thoughts set to Ben being too incompentant to rule, she is determined to prove otherwise and puts in all efforts to become the Queen her country needs to survive.
Princess Ben is a fantastic adventure. It took a little while at first to get into the rythm of the language, which is distinctly written to suit the timeset of the novel, but once I got into it the story flowed so smoothly. The story is written from Ben’s point of view which is delightful as she is such a witty, outspoken and truly comedic character. Her running commentary on events and her own self appraisal is truly hilarious. My favourite line is when Ben puts her lessons from the art of idol talk with the Queen to good use, when Queen Sophia learns of her absence from her bed. When questioned, Ben states that she must have been too well hidden in the covers, and apologising, delivers the line “And I promise henceforth always to sleep in a manner that best reveals me to others.”!
An element of the story I truly liked was Ben’s constant pursuit of food. Never once did she want to look or eat like a ‘typical’ princess, and cared nothing for how others perceived her. Food was a comfort to her and acted as a physical representation of her childhood memories, demonstrating an emotional connection to food with which I could easily relate (her pursuit of food more intent than even my own!). When her food servings were reduced, she felt it was a severing between her past and current life, adding more strain to her already dismal situation. Food representated the life she had and loved, and giving it up meant she would have to grow up. When her people and country became more important to her, the childish desires subsided and she found herself working towards a new goal. Benevolence certainly did a lot of growing throughout the story.
Princess Ben is definitely in the fairytale genre with histories of dragons, giants and wizards richly incorporated into the novel. Princesses (even Princes!) could be awakened by the kiss of another and witches can perform magic and fly broomsticks. But to add all this is the comedic air of incompetence as Ben stumbles through the story, in no way elegent, moving from one event to the next in a constant display of mud and dust, which adds the magic of laughter to the story. I loved reading Princess Ben.
In short very funny and highly recommended!
