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Oct 10, 2011

Miss Clark rated it:

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7 comments like (10 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2008

Monica rated it:

Started to write this here and realized it was developed enough to be worth posting on my blog. So here is my post:

I’ve read, loved, studied, and taught fairy tales all my life. Every three years I co-teach a graduate school fairy tale course and, since 1990, I’ve been doing a Cinderella unit with my fourth graders. So I’m always interested in new versions of these old tales as well as original ones. At the same time, because many of these come up short for me, I am a wary reader More...

1 comment like (20 people liked it)

Sep 20, 2011

Cara rated it:

I have got to say this keep me up at night. Literally. The urge to read the last word was so great I forced my eyes to pry open. At first it was slow going, but that was understandable. We needed the whole background. I had mixed feelings going in because I had already gobbled and enjoyed reading Dairy Queen and The Off Season by the same author. This series has one of the best protagonist I've seen in young adult books, so my expectations were almost unreachable but I was pleased to find that I More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2011

cecilia rated it:

I found the heroine extremely childish and intolerable in the first 3 parts, but I suspect Murdock deliberately made her that way. However, I do not think Murdock meant her to be so unlikeable that readers would not be able to stomach her. I did not truly like Ben until the last part when she finally grows up and recognizes the purpose behind the "princess" lessons, her responsibilities as the sole heir to the kingdom. When she got over herself, acted less spoiled, and actually got som More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 29, 2008

Jarrah rated it:

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5 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 05, 2008

Elysse rated it:

I wish I could give half stars because this book deserves four and a half. As the inside jacket says, this isn't your ordinary fairy tale. Princess Ben (short for Benevolence), is a whiny, overweight, spirited girl who recently mourns the loss of her parents. Her country is threatened by a neighboring kingdom, who claim no part in the murdering of the king and Ben's parents. Orphaned, Ben is put under her strict aunt's wings, Queen Sophie. Completely miserable, locked up and starved until she ca More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 25, 2011

Allison rated it:

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. First let me say that I'm not a fan of these realistic book covers, which seem to be all the rage recently. I much prefer the more artistic covers that allow me to imagine what the main character etc. look like. I'm also usually a little skeptical of fairy tale retellings because it seems that they can so easily go awry.

This one, however, did not. Yay! Murdock takes all the most familiar parts of the princess fairytales (the tower, the sl More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 02, 2009

Christine rated it:

I really liked this book. Until the end, but I'll get to that later. I love novelizations of fairy tales, and this was a good one with a bit of a twist. It was part Sleeping Beauty, part Cinderella, with some Jack and the Bean Stalk thrown in for fun. I liked the old fashioned verbage and was glad I was reading on my Kindle which made looking up words a breeze (there were quite a few).
Princess Ben starts out a bit spoiled, but I like how her character develops through the story, and I More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2011

Kristi (The Story Siren) added it

Princess Ben short for Benevolence is orphaned after the assassinations of her uncle, the reining king, and her mother, her father’s body is not found. As the last remaining member of royal blood, Ben is forced to move into the castle and endure her aunt, Queen Sophia. Sophia insists that Ben act like the princess she should and insists that Ben learn to dance, sew, proper penmanship, and control her appetite. She later learns these "lessons" are to make her appealing to a suitor, so t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 22, 2008

Kathy rated it:

I thought this book was rather charming and unique. I enjoyed Ben’s character, and reading about her many adventures. I thought she was easy to relate to because she wasn’t perfect, and things didn’t always turn out the way she wanted. It was fun to follow her progress throughout the book, as she turns from a somewhat spoiled girl to a Queen. I liked the concept of Prince Florian, but thought his character was underdeveloped. He didn’t really appear until about 200 pages and even then they barel More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2008

Margaret rated it:

First off, I must share my favorite line(s) from this book that sent me into fits of giggles:

With that, I hurled the slipper at him, not caring if I caused his decapitation. (I did not.) Marshaling what little dignity I yet possessed, I stomped down the corridor -- challenging indeed with one shoe -- and around the corner. I lay awake for hours. The prince had no right, not one, to indict me so, and if I had held the slightest hope of the book's assistance, I would have climbed at More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 02, 2008

Brooke rated it:

I remember something Diana Wynne Jones wrote that went something along the lines of this:

"In Fantasyland, a princess is either a

1. Wimp, or
2. Rebellious spunky swordswoman with a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her tip-tilted nose."

Needless to say, the rebellious-princess character has become something of a cliché. So it's quite refreshing when an author takes this setup (of an "ordinary princess" rejecting the frou-frou More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2008

Roxanne Hsu rated it:

This book both feels that it's for older readers -- some of the language is purposefully archaic or less familiar -- and very young -- the emotional twists and turns and the adversaries that Ben has to face are not earth-shattering, to say the least. It's a weird combination of very simple Tamora Pierce and Pride and Prejudice. The middle section of the story is fun and the last part is quite exciting but the set-up (80 odd pages of Part I) is a bit long and too leisure a pace, I feel. Defini More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2011

Liz rated it:

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3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 10, 2009

Christine rated it:

Enjoyable read although not on my top favorites list. Good princess/fairy tale type story although a bit slow in the beginning. Great style of writing though, funny and sarcastic viewpoint of the main character.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 22, 2009

Debbie rated it:

Meh. Pretty standard medieval world fairy-tale-ish fantasy. Really had difficulty liking "Ben" or believing in the predictable relationship. Also found prissy, pseudo-formal voice really irritating.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 24, 2008

Rebecca rated it:

Wonderful! She's a princess, true, but she's also overweight, and more completely unprepared for her role than any princess I've come across. (You know, they all claim to be unfit to rule, but this one Really Is! I was actually hoping she didn't get the throne!) The most clever, unusual and unexpected mixing of fairy tales I've seen. I haven't finished a book this fast in a long time! And have not laughed and cried like I did for this one in many years. It was at least as good as The Goose More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Katie rated it:

Princess Ben is not your typical princess. First of all, her name isn’t pretty and feminine – it’s Ben, short for Benevolence. Secondly, she is chubby and graceless. And her life is far from perfect, especially after her parents and her uncle, the king, die on the same day. It is assumed that they were killed by the neighboring Drachensbetts, long the enemy of Ben’s people. Ben goes to live with her widowed aunt, Sophia, who is now serving as the Queen until Ben is old enough to assume the t More...

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Mar 13, 2009

Debbie rated it:

I really like Catherine Gilbert Murdock's first two books (Dairy Queen and The Off Season - read them!), so I was looking forward to reading her first fantasy novel.

Ben is an only child, somewhat spoiled by her doting parents. When her mother is killed and her father goes missing, in what seems to be an attack by the rulers of the surrounding country, she suddenly finds herself the heir to the throne and under the tutelage of the cold Queen Sophia, her aunt. Ben is utterly uninterest More...

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Dec 28, 2008

Colleen rated it:

Last night I started and finished Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. This was definitely a different twist on a few old stories. Princess Ben is the niece of the king, who has no other heirs. When the King, his brother (Ben's father) and Ben's mother are killed while on a pilgrimage, Ben is taken over as Queen Sofia's pet project.

The story is told as an autobiography from a mature, adult-Ben perspective. Because of this, the narration voice is able to provide some analysis o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 22, 2008

Aaron rated it:

This modern fairy tale is a thoroughly good time! Princess Benevolence has grown up in the kingdom of Montagne, a small principality that is set in the shelter of a small valley abutting a large mountain that plays a major role in the lore of the kingdom Drachensbett, a larger neighboring one that has threatened it's sovereignty over the centuries.

Ben is the daughter of the of the king's brother. She was given every amenity and is a bit spoiled. She has a bit of spunk and a sarcasti More...

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Feb 10, 2012

Elizabeth rated it:

I gave this book a high reading because it was such an inspiring book that made me never put that book down. This book had something more than the pages in it. This book had a spirit that nobody could take away from me. This book will lift the spirits out of the ground and have the most amazing book that not even the highest person could take away. This book is my happiness.
The main plot of this book was about a girl named Benevolence who is the only remaining air to the throne by blood aft More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Rina rated it:

The full title is Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts. As the subtitle suggests this book is written from the perspective of Princess Ben whose goal in writing the book is to “provide the most accurate chronology” of her life and to correct “the erroneous legends and embroidered falsehoods that to this day expand, heady as yeast, across the land.” And thus it begins.

Cather More...

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Dec 29, 2011

wychwood rated it:

This was really disappointing - I'm a huge fan of her Dairy Queen trilogy, so I was expecting to enjoy this. Unfortunately it has tons of enormous gaping plotholes, impossible characters, and a bad habit of showing something entirely different to what it tells. And the thing is - this was her third novel published (and, as far as I can tell, written), so she'd already done vastly superior work.

<spoiler>So - why is it set up as though the important thing is that his feelings are h More...

0 comments like

Dec 14, 2011

Christopher rated it:

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0 comments like

Aug 23, 2011

Laura rated it:

I really enjoyed listening to this book as I started my professional planning week. It's usually a treat when an author records her narration for an audiobook and Catherine Gilbert Murdock does a wonderful job! I really enjoyed Murdock's Dairy Queen trilogy and found Princess Ben to be a very satisfying fairy tale.

Benevolence, known as Princess Ben, becomes the princess of Montagne after her parents are killed. Her aunt, Queen Sofia, is determined to turn Ben into a lady and a rul More...

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Jun 17, 2011

Margaret Boling rated it:

6/16/11 ** Day 19, Book 29 ** Fifteen-year-old Princess Benevolent is young for her age and has been largely protected from the intrigues of the Court. When her father disappears and her mother & uncle, the king, are found dead, apparently by assassination, Ben's life changes forever. She is wrested from her comfortable home outside the main palace and placed under the strict tutelage of her aunt, the queen regent. Shortly though, Ben finds a secret room of magic and begins instruction of an en More...

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Jun 11, 2011

Kiirsi rated it:

I've read this book once before but really, thoroughly enjoyed this recent re-read. Princess Ben has a hilarious voice...on the one hand, she kind of sounds like someone from "Pride and Prejudice," but on the other hand, she's just a normal teenage girl.

I loved the magic in the book, though I would've loved more explanations about why the magic was working, the history of it, and so on. I also loved most of the characters...and especially that they grew and changed; for More...

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Jun 08, 2011

Barky rated it:

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0 comments like

Dec 30, 2010

Karissa rated it:

This was a cute book and a fast read. I actually listened to it on audio book and the audio book was well done.

Princess Benevolence is not you typical princess; she is not beautiful and she wants nothing to do with being a princess. When her parents are killed on a journey she is left alone with only the dreaded Queen as her teacher and guardian. Every time Ben thinks she reached the lowest low in her life things get worse; that is until she stumbles upon a magic room that leads her in More...

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