Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Salamander Spell by E.D. baker

In this prequel to the Frog Princess story, Princess Grassina of Greater Greensward is the 13-year-old younger sister of the beautiful and charming Princess Chartreuse. 15-year-old Chartreuse is being groomed to be the next Queen and future Green Witch of their kingdom. But there's a hitch in this development. Chartreuse cannot seem to tap into her powers. Add a gang of Princes vying for Chartreuse's attention and hand in marriage, and you've got one grumpy and mean Princess who takes out her frustrations on her younger sister. Grassina, on the other hand, is expected to excel in all her "Princess Lessons" and later be married off to some Prince in a faraway kingdom.

But everything goes up smoke when their mother succumbs to the family curse. After her 16th birthday; if a princess of Greater Greensward touches even a petal of a flower she is turned into an evil hag. Now with her mother roaming the kingdom, creating havoc and mayhem within every passing second, their father being confined to the dungeon by their mother's magic, and the sudden onslaught of werewolves, the girls are forced to keep the peace in the kingdom. While Chartreuse steps up to run the castle, Grassina is left feeling like she's underfoot. And after a fight with her sister, she decides to runaway to the swamp, a place where she has always felt safe and free to be herself. Upon reaching to the swamp she discovers a way to help get things back to normal......or as close normal as it use to be.

Refurbished Fairy Tales are another one of my weaknesses, so I wasn't too surprised when I fell in love with The Frog Princess series. This story was great but I finished the book so quickly I was shocked when I realized that I was on the last chapter of the story. Like I said before, I liked reading Grassina's story. But I felt her adventure paled in comparison to that of her niece's adventures. I guess I expected more. But that's just me.

1 comment:

Axa said...

I love reading retold fairy tales also. I'll be sure to have my eyes on alert for this one.