4 stars
Jessica Day George
Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above. Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.
George starts with a familiar fairy tale; this time, it's "The Twelve Dancing Princesses". Rose is the eldest princess, cursed along with her eleven sisters (all named after flowers) to dance every night at the ball of the King Under Stone. Galen is an soldier returned from war, now an undergardener with some unusual skills. Now they must work together to free Rose and her sisters from the dreadful bargain made long ago between the King Under Stone and the queen, who died years ago. As in most fairy tale retellings, the author has to add complexity in order to make a short tale into a longer book, and George does a good job with this. She adds political intrigue around the proposed betrothals of the princesses, so that their kingdom is threatened not only by the King Under Stone but by enemy countries above ground. It's tough to make the twelve princesses distinguishable from each other, but she manages at least to give each one or two unique characteristics, and some are more complex than that, notably Rose. Though it was a bit confusing in trying to keep all the princesses names straight And I really loved Galen -- he knits! And it's an important plot point! More than that, he and Rose develop a nice relationship and make it believable that they would end up together at the end, beyond the simple "and the soldier chooses the eldest daughter" solution at the end of the fairy tale. I would recommend this book to any who would enjoy a fairytale with a bit of flair.
