Palace
of Stone by Shannon Hale
Coming
down from the mountain to a new life in the city is a thrill to Miri. She and
her princess academy friends have been brought to Asland to help the future
princess Britta prepare for her wedding.There, Miri also has a chance to attend
school-at the Queen's Castle. But as Miri befriends students who seem
sophisticated and exciting she also learns that they have some frightening
plans. Torn between loyalty to the princess and her new friends' ideas, between
an old love and a new crush, and between her small mountain home and the
bustling city, Miri looks to find her own way in this new place.
Picking up where Princess Academy left off,
and celebrating the joys of friendship, romance and the fate of fairy tale
kingdoms, this new book delivers the completely delightful new story that fans
have been waiting for. (summary from amazon)
I still love these characters that I met in the
Princess Academy and one of the best things I love about them is that they have
such a strong sense of identity and community because of how Mount Eskel has
shaped them. This is another interesting tale about Miri a smart, brave, and
intelligent girl who has new experiences in a whole new setting. At first I
didn’t really enjoy the revolution storyline because it felt like Miri fell
into it too easily. I felt like she should have thought of her friend Stephen
and Britta more, as she went to all those meetings, but Hale give Miri real
consequences for betraying her friends. I like how Miri had to feel those
consequences and scramble to make things right, as that made the characters and
plot feel way more realistic. I also really did love how the ending was
resolved mostly peacefully, but there were definitive reasons for why it ended
that way. I especially liked seeing the King grow and reevaluate his decision
and judgments. Hale did an excellent job with that and with the Queen too. I
loved how she recognized that she could have a say in things and she followed
the example of a previous Queen to find her courage. An excellent and worthwhile read.
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