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Princess Ben

by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

3.65 · rating details · 4,494 ratings · 775 reviews

Catherine Gilbert Murdock's talents for storytelling and creating strong female characters take a fresh turn in this spirited and sophisticated fairy tale.Benevolence is not your typical princess.
With her parents lost to assassins, Princess Ben ends up under the thumb of the conniving Queen Sophia. Starved and miserable, locked in the castle's highest tower, Ben stumbles ...more

Paperback, 352 pages

Published May 4th 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published March 18th 2008)

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Oct 10, 2011

Miss Clark rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fairytale-fantasy-sci-fi-mythology

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I liked the premise immensely, but was disappointed by how it was handled. I mean, dragons. Magic. Locked in a tower. Arranged marriage to the prince of your country's enemy, same enemy that probably killed your parents. Lots to love, but somehow these elements did not come together as I had hoped they would. I wanted more one on one time for the two protagonists and felt that, honestly, Benevolence was really a little too spoilt. She had next to no self control and even less of a desire to try ...more

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Apr 11, 2008

Monica Edinger rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fairytale

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...moreStarted 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 of them, especially those featuring feisty oppositional heroines who are too often pallid cousins of Gail Carson Levine’s Ella and Patricia Wrede’s Cimorene. So I was both curious and dubious as I started reading Catherine Murdock’s Princess Ben. And here I am, having finished it last night, having enjoyed it sufficiently to want to write about it at length. (I don’t write that many book reviews here and, in fact, started writing this casually over at goodreads and then realized that it might actually be decent enough to post here for more to see.)

So getting to the book itself, what was it that I liked so much? First of all, I was captivated immediately by the mannered writing style and voice. Murdock has really pulled off that old-fashioned first-person epistolary style and voice; it is very nicely done indeed. At first I was very conscious of this as I read (in a good way — I was simply enjoying her sentences and vocabulary) , but once I got into the plot I stopped paying attention; I’m guessing she sustained it all the way through. For the last few years I’ve been listening to a lot of Dickens, Collins, and now Eliot so I’m very conscious of this old-fashioned style and it grates on me when writers try it unsuccessfully. So bravo to Murdock for pulling it off.

The characters are all very complex — no one is totally bad or totally good; a very nice way of deepening and complicating the usual good/bad cast of characters in traditional fairy tales. I began thinking they would be stock versions or variations or opposites of the traditional types and enjoyed the way every single one of them turned out to be more nuanced than I originally thought they were. My main quibble would be with Ben’s parents. They are left as single-dimensional ghosts of her memory and perhaps that is as it should be, given her circumstances, but I did feel that I wanted to know more about them, especially her mother. For a while I did wonder about Ben’s gluttony, thinking Murdock was going for a large-princesses-are-lovable-too. But she went a different and original direction that I found worthwhile (and I’m not usual one for psychological meanings, but this was interesting enough for me to feel okay with it).

The plot is captivating, engaging, and kept me reading and guessing. If I were on an award committee this year I would want to consider harder the climax of the story and whether it is a bit out-of-nowhere. (Won’t say more for fear of spoilage.) But since I’m not, I’ll just leave it as is. It worked just fine for me.

So, all in all, a very elegantly written and satisfying literary fairy tale.

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Jul 24, 2009

Cara rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: fairytale lovers

Recommended to Cara by: Valerie

Shelves: fantasy, fairy-tales

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...moreI 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 was throughly satisfied. This is an incredibly different style for this author, but when you are gulping the pages down you forget that. Murdock has great talent; that much is for certain.

One point that has to made is that this has the typical fairy tale elements but at the same time it doesn't. Let's talk about what made it so different from the others. First off our heroine is rotund. Not the typical princess protocol. It was refreshing to see, but at times got to be too much for my taste. Don't get me wrong I love food, but you got to draw the line somewhere. I think it was to show how much she indulged herself, so it was reflective of her behavior in general. Anyways Ben (or Benevolence) is a bit whiny and well frankly immature in the beginning, but I for one liked that. Most of the time the princesses are almost already perfect. Which is fine, but can get boring sometimes. At the end we find that she had a lot more to do with her own predicaments than what she thought. Kind of like owning up that you have a lot more to do with what happens in your life than anyone else. That's a fine lesson to learn at any age.

I truly enjoyed the magic in the story. I want to own the mirror in that tower darn it!(You'll see what I mean when you read it) The plot was done well, even though I would have liked more character development in Prince Florian. We didn't get to see as much of him as I would have liked. You could see some things coming from a mile away, but you always need a little predictability in fairy tales. I can't finish without saying that Queen Sophia is the most interesting character in the book by far. Props to the author for being able to show us the many shades of her persona.

So go forth fariytale lovers! Enjoy, savor, and relish in reading the tale of Ben.(less)

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Apr 02, 2009

cecilia rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: green-covers

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

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Jul 29, 2008

Jarrah rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: author-catherinegilbertmurdock, genre-yafiction, dragons, girl-disguised-as-boy, magical-objects, magic-mirrors, orphans, princesses, princes, spells, genre-yafantasy, fairytales, setting-alternateworld

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. YA alternate-world fantasy. Chubby Princess Benevolence had a scrappy, indulged childhood: she was heir to the throne, but she was the daughter of only the king's younger brother, and therefore didn't actually have much to do with the court. When her parents are killed and Ben falls into the custody of her pitiless aunt the queen, she is entirely unequipped to deal with the strict and interminable lessons in courtesy, the tiny portions of ladylike food her aunt allows her, or, when relations wit...moreYA alternate-world fantasy. Chubby Princess Benevolence had a scrappy, indulged childhood: she was heir to the throne, but she was the daughter of only the king's younger brother, and therefore didn't actually have much to do with the court. When her parents are killed and Ben falls into the custody of her pitiless aunt the queen, she is entirely unequipped to deal with the strict and interminable lessons in courtesy, the tiny portions of ladylike food her aunt allows her, or, when relations with her aunt reach an impasse, her imprisonment in a bare tower room for everything but meals. But that little stone room has a secret, and soon Ben is learning magic from on an old and dusty book - magic that gets her in worse trouble than she's ever been in, but might also allow her to save her kingdom from the danger besetting it.

For most of the length of this, I thought it was a fun read - not great, but inoffensive and nice, in a not-quite-fairy-tale-themed way. My only real complaint was with the narrative voice: the frame is that the heroine is recounting these events as an old woman, and the voice really did feel like an old woman's. Which is a valid style, but not what you expect from YA, especially given the very contemporary-YA-ish cover.

I finished it with some niggling annoyance at a couple of character choices, but still with the impression that it was a fun, harmless read. But the niggling annoyance has grown, to the point that I'm actually angry at the book at this stage - and I didn't think I'd cared about it enough to be angry, but there.

The general gist of the book's message is that people aren't black-or-white, and that a rather immature sixteen-year-old's idea of wickedness is probably going to be rather overblown. Ben grows up a lot over the book, and realises that she's been doing several people rather an injustice, and making things worse for herself. In particular, she realises that the queen is actually admirable in a lot of ways, and that a good part of why they got on so badly was Ben's own immaturity and stubbornness. Which, all right, as far as it goes, complex characters are a good thing - except that the queen doesn't have any similar revelation, and never suffers or feels badly for her treatment of Ben. She locked up her niece for months and denied her enough food to eat. To turn around and say that this was her niece's fault and they're all going to get on like wildfire now that Ben's grown up some is, actually, incredibly disturbing.

The other character I wanted to strangle was the love interest, a prince from the warlike kingdom over the other side of the mountains. He and Ben fail to get on from their first meeting, and continue failing to get on through all their subsequent meetings. The author seems to be working with the idea that enmity-turns-to-love is more interesting than admiration-turns-to-love, but the thing is that there has to be a reason for the enmity to turn to love. Prince Florian is a war-mongering, arrogant, petty boy, who treats the heroine appallingly when he knows who she is, and even more appallingly when he thinks, as he does for a good part of the book, that she's a fat little peasant boy his soldiers have taken prisoner and chained in the kitchen tent. He also tries to invade her kingdom, and makes free comment to the fat-little-peasant-boy about how doltish and repulsive Princess Benevolence was. We as readers are let in on how he's really misunderstood and a true prince when the two of them have a heart-to-heart one evening in which Florian makes some atrociously sappy and entirely out-of-character revelations about his ideals for true love, which do nothing to establish his decency as a human being, only his rather tenuous grip on reality. When Ben confronts him later about the gap between his ideals and his plan to marry somebody he barely knows and dislikes, he has her thrown into jail with a death threat hanging over her head, for her disrespect.

Somehow she gets over all this when she thinks he's dying, and they have a rather rapturous kiss. This doesn't even need the Stockholm Syndrome thing to be a terrible romance, but I might be OK with it if there was even some acknowledgment that he was desperately unlikeable but she liked him anyway. Instead we just have Ben feeling terrible and apologising about having accidentally done something to humiliate him once, without even mentioning that maybe she's still ahead in the humiliation stakes, as far as their personal interaction goes. Just. Angry reader fists, all right?(less)

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May 05, 2008

Elysse rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

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

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Sep 25, 2011

Allison rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, strong-female-lead, ya-teen, fairytales-retold, for-the-girls

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

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Mar 02, 2009

Christine rated it

· review of another edition

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

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Oct 26, 2008

Kristi (The Story Siren) added it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

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

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Sep 22, 2008

Kathy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fairytale-or-princess

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

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Jul 17, 2008

Margaret rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: gals seeking adventure and needed a little growing up

Recommended to Margaret by: Jenny B. Jones

Shelves: pines, uncle-remus-library-system, historical, sc-fi-fantasy, dragons, suspense-thriller, young-adult, own, teen-princess-stories, ages-13-and-up, teen-fiction

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

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Jun 02, 2008

Brooke Shirts rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2008

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

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Apr 26, 2008

Roxanne Hsu Feldman rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 6-8grade, childrensbooks, youngadult, 2008

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

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Apr 01, 2011

Liz rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 10, 2009

Christine rated it

· review of another edition

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.

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Feb 22, 2009

Debbie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: ya, fantasy

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.

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Sep 24, 2008

Rebecca rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fairy-tales, bookclubpicks, favorites, fun, young-adult-fiction

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

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Jan 09, 2012

Katie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: dragons, fantasy, magic, princess, royalty, young, adult

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

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-scifi

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

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: YA girls

Recommended to Colleen by: Amazon.com matched it to preferences

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...moreLast 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 of Ben's actions and motives which provides the reader with appropriate depth - or shallowness - of Ben's actions. This is critical to making the story anything interesting or providing any tension, because the child-Ben is a shallow, food-obsessed, graceless girl who delights in succeeding at any resistance to Queen Sofia's attempts to polish her into a princess.

In her own description of herself, Princess Ben is a fat pig. In today's parlance, one might say that she has an "eating disorder" due to Queen Sofia's heartlessness, but the narrator makes it plain that Ben's overeating habits (problems) pre-date her parents' deaths. They also provide some of the redemption later on in the book, when Ben's attentions turn to a completely different set of obsessions.

You see, in the depths of her (redeemably non-stereotypical) exile in her Queen Aunt's castle tower, Ben discovers that she has magical powers. She discovers the secret passageways around the castle, and finds a tower with a spellbook in it that begins to teach her how to use her powers. In authorial brilliance, Murdock does not explain the powers of the tower and its contents. Like children (and like Ben) we the readers are forced to accept that the tower's contents simply are and do what they please.

The love/hate relationship with the next kingdom over the mountain gets old quickly. The plot devices with which Murdock moves Ben to the locations needed for interaction with the "enemy" are rather aged, though her particular flourishes on them are amusing and speedy. I'm too jaded to enjoy the "invading each other's dreams" plot filler at this point, so I must admit that I barely skimmed over the brief dream interludes.

The various foreign personalities are unfortunately limited by page size, so remain far flatter than one might prefer as an adult reader. Murdock does provide a strong nod towards the feminist fantasy crowd with a strong-but-brief rant by Princess Ben regarding how much work becoming an accomplished princess can be.

I will be interested to hear what my niece thinks of this book when I send it to her.(less)

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Nov 22, 2008

Aaron rated it

· review of another edition

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...moreThis 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 sarcastic tongue that gets her in trouble but keeps the reader laughing.

As with most fairy tales, our hero must overcome a terrible tragedy, and Ben's trouble is tied to the loss of her uncle and mother who turn up dead after a trip up the mountain to visit the tomb of her grandfather, who died heroically fighting the forces of Drachensbett. Her father has turned up missing.

Besides losing her loved ones, Ben is forced into the rule of being the future leader of her country. Queen Sophia, her aunt and new regent, has taken on the responsibility of training Ben for the future. She comes across as being quite harsh as Ben is forced to learn the skills and behavior that would serve any queen well. Life is by no means easy for Ben, but some of the harshness comes across because of her own insolence.

Before long, Ben finds herself imprisoned in a room in a high tower that would do Rapunzel proud. As she frantically seeks out an escape, she comes across a secret passage that leads her to a small magical laboratory that helps her connect with her family's magical past. She slowly uses a book in the lab to learn to control the four elements.

While she does this, she learns that the Regent Sophia is working on bringing about suitors for Ben in order to avoid an invasion by Drachensbett, which includes the crown prince of that kingdom. This seems to be a complete nightmare since many, including Ben, believe this kingdom played a role in the recent royal deaths.

At the conclusion of a ball designed to introduce Ben to the various suitors, Ben is able to flee the castle and end up in dire straights. Her adventures will help her realize what it takes to be both an adult and a good leader.

The story is presented by Ben, who is looking back on the adventures from the future. Her humorous tone and cozy narrative really makes the reader feel for her, even at the beginning when she is a bit spoiled. I really loved this story. It reminded me a lot of Shrek and Ella Enchanted. It is fun!(less)

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Feb 06, 2012

Rina rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-fairytale, romance

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

Shelves: fiction, sff, ya

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.

(view spoiler)...moreThis 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.

(view spoiler)

She can do so much better than this that I can't understand why she let it be published. It's not even a flawed first novel - her first novel was good. Man, I dunno.(less)

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Dec 14, 2011

Christopher rated it

· review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 23, 2011

Laura rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, audiobook, ya-lit

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

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-youth

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 Hellewell rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anyone. Very clean book.

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

· review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, magic, dragons, dragon-slaying, princesses, gutsy-girls, death-of-parent-or-parents, princess-training, marriage, duty-responsibility, young-adult-fiction, borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Princess Benevolence (Ben) is forced to become a proper princess when her parents and the King are killed (whether they are murdered by their enemies – Drachensbett – across the mountain Ancienne or by a dragon remains a mystery until the end). She detests the princess curriculum that Queen Sophia invents on the spot in order to whip her into marriageable shape – particularly the bits where she’s not allowed to satisfy her hunger. Sophia, at her wits’ end, finally locks Ben in a tower room to ...morePrincess Benevolence (Ben) is forced to become a proper princess when her parents and the King are killed (whether they are murdered by their enemies – Drachensbett – across the mountain Ancienne or by a dragon remains a mystery until the end). She detests the princess curriculum that Queen Sophia invents on the spot in order to whip her into marriageable shape – particularly the bits where she’s not allowed to satisfy her hunger. Sophia, at her wits’ end, finally locks Ben in a tower room to better monitor her, and Ben discovers a book of magic (as well as secret passageways that only she can access) that she begins to practice. When it comes time for the great ball where Ben is to be introduced to her potential suitors, Ben flees the proceedings and is mistaken for a witch (she leaves a sleeping doppelganger of herself behind). She barely escapes with her life. She is later captured by enemy troops, who believe she is a boy. She meets Prince Florian (of the Drachensbett) who elicits conflicting emotions – Ben believes Drachensbett is responsible for her parents’ murder, but she finds herself warming to him nonetheless. Escaping again from a dire situation, Ben returns to her home where she devotes herself to being a true princess and an asset (instead of a liability) to her people.

Not as tightly written as Murdock’s Dairy Queen novels, this fantasy could use some better world-building. It’s not completely clear where it’s set initially, and gradually one discovers that it’s probably this world, but with magic. This confused and irritated me for the longest time; others may not be as picky. Ben is likable enough, though her stubbornness gets in her way. The magic in this world is never really explained (except that wizards apparently lived in the fortress before the royal family) – why can Ben do it, why can no one else, why does it seek her out, is someone helping her? There are many loose ends, but most will not detract from readers’ enjoyment of the story. Light fantasy fare.(less)

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Dec 30, 2010

Karissa Eckert rated it

· review of another edition

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...moreThis 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 into an amazing adventure.

More than anything this book is about growing up. Ben is definitely not a likable character in the beginning on the book. There are a number of times when I think she deserved what the Queen dealt out; Ben is selfish and whiny. I kind of wish that a bit less of the book had been spent developing Ben's unsavory character. About a third of the book deals with Ben as she is forced to take on princess responsibilities that she detests. I would have been happier if Ben's character had been established quicker and we had moved on to more interesting parts of the story sooner.

After the first third or so the story picks up the pace. This story is a coming of age story clear and simple. It is not a complicated story and is an appropriate story for children and young adults; I enjoyed the story too. It was nice to read a good story that spans a large age group.

Although not the most wonderful or intricate story; this story is a cute twist on your classic princess and dragon fairy tales. It is simple and sweet story that doesn't tax your brain but still teaches some important life lessons. It was a fun read as Princess Ben has a dry sense of humor people should enjoy. I also enjoyed how Murdock wove some elements from classic fairy tales we all know and love into the story.

I would recommend this book and I look forward to more books by Murdock. If you like fairy tales and stories about princesses; this is the book for you. This isn't a life-changing story but it is a light and enjoyable read that has a good message in it. (less)

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Oct 28, 2010

Sarah L. rated it

· review of another edition

Princess Ben is a really good book written by one of my favorite authors: Catherine Gilbert Murdock. The main character’s name is Benevolence, whose father has gone missing and mother has been killed, leaving her all alone. Although, Benevolence (nicknamed Ben) still believes that her father is still alive somewhere in the mountains, no one agrees with her; especially the mean Sophia.
With the sudden turn of events, Sophia has become queen. She is very ill-tempered and not good with childr...morePrincess Ben is a really good book written by one of my favorite authors: Catherine Gilbert Murdock. The main character’s name is Benevolence, whose father has gone missing and mother has been killed, leaving her all alone. Although, Benevolence (nicknamed Ben) still believes that her father is still alive somewhere in the mountains, no one agrees with her; especially the mean Sophia.
With the sudden turn of events, Sophia has become queen. She is very ill-tempered and not good with children. Now, Ben is a princess and is being forced to marry under the request of Queen Sophia, only to gain an ally. This turns out to be a difficult task because Ben is plump and rebelious. She does not want to ever marry, and especially not forced. Soon, Ben gets moved to live in a tower, put in a dirty little room. She finds this very unsuitable until she discovers something about the mysterious room. This discovery is awesome and I don’t want to give it away. You’ll just have to read the book yourself to find out.
My favorite character is Ben because she is so head-strong and if she puts her mind to something, she always follows through. She is the narrator of the book and does a great job at it. I think that she has gone through some bad times with both of her parents dying within weeks of each other, but she still perseveres through a tough life living under the rule of Sophia, and finally finds true love.
I rate this book four out of five stars because it is really good. It is extremely exciting and well-written. It is also fast-paced and very interesting. Ben is a very fun character to read about because of all the situations she gets herself into. If you like books by Jessica Day George, such as Princess of the Midnight Ball, I think that you will enjoy this book. It would most likely appeal to grades sixth through ninth and to girls, although, I think some boys may like it. The author, Murdock, has also written Dairy Queen, The Off Season, and Front and Center. Hope you read Princess Ben, it is totally worth it!

(less)

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About Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I grew up in small-town Connecticut, on a tiny farm with honeybees, two adventurous goats, and a mess of Christmas trees. My sister claims we didn’t have a television, but we did, sometimes – only it was ancient, received exactly two channels, and had to be turned off after 45 minutes to cool down or else the screen would go all fuzzy. Watching (or rather, “watching”) Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds ...moreI grew up in small-town Connecticut, on a tiny farm with honeybees, two adventurous goats, and a mess of Christmas trees. My sister claims we didn’t have a television, but we did, sometimes – only it was ancient, received exactly two channels, and had to be turned off after 45 minutes to cool down or else the screen would go all fuzzy. Watching (or rather, “watching”) Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds was quite the experience, because it’s hard to tell a flock of vicious crows from a field of very active static; this might be why I still can’t stand horror movies, to this day.

My sister Liz, who is now a Very Famous Writer with a large stack of books, was my primary companion, even though she was extremely cautious – she wouldn’t even try to jump off the garage roof, which involved crouching right at the edge for ten minutes working up your nerve, and then checking each time you landed to see if you’d broken anything – and she learned early on that losing at games was easier in the long run than putting up with me losing. Now, of course, she travels all over the world collecting stories and diseases, while I stay at home scowling over paint chips, and losing on purpose to my kids. So the cycle continues. (Read an New York Times article by Catherine and Liz.)

People sometimes ask if I played football in high school: no. I ran cross country and track, badly, but I have absolutely no skill whatsoever with ball or team sports. Plus my high school didn’t even have a football team. Instead, I was part of the art clique – taking extra art classes, spending my study halls and lunch periods working on my latest still life. (Please tell me this was not a unique experience.) I didn’t do much writing – my sister was the anointed writer – but I read my little eyeballs out. I was the queen of our library’s YA section.

In college I studied architectural history. The formal name was “Growth and Structure of Cities Program,” but for me, it was all about buildings. I’ve always been fascinated with the built environment – how spaces fit together, how streets work, how they read. And curiously (Warning: Life Lesson approaching), it’s paid off in the oddest ways. For example, several of us in our neighborhood recently got quite upset about a enormous building going in across the street, and while everyone agreed that they didn’t like the way it looked, I was the one who stood up at public meetings and used words like entablature and cornice line and fenestration – all this architectural jargon I’d learned back at Bryn Mawr – and sounded like I knew what I was talking about. And because of that, the building ended up getting redesigned, and – in my humble opinion – now will look much more attractive and appropriate, which is nice because I’ll be looking at it for the rest of my life. So don’t be afraid to study what you love, because you do not know now, and you may not know for twenty years, how amazingly it will pay off. But it will. (less)

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Quotes from Princess Ben

“Every fairy tale, it seems, concludes with the bland phrase "happily ever after." Yet every couple I have ever known would agree that nothing about marriage is forever happy. There are moments of bliss, to be sure, and lengthy spans of satisfied companionship. Yet these come at no small effort, and the girl who reads such fiction dreaming her troubles will end ere she departs the altar is well advised to seek at once a rational women to set her straight.” — 47 people liked it

“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 once to my wizard room for a spell with which to punish him. Death, perhaps, or humiliation. A croaking frog would be nice, particularly a frog that retained Florian's dark eyes. I should keep it in a box and poke it occasionally with a stick; that would be satisfying indeed.” — 35 people liked it

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