Lisa Dawn's Blog: The Princess Blog, page 43
August 27, 2021
World Princess Week Wraps Up with Disney Princess Remix Special!
My favorite aspect of the Ultimate Princess Celebration is the beautiful new artwork that Disney released on Instagram of the princesses interacting with each other for the first time since Wreck-It Ralph 2 . I love this beautiful imagery of my favorite Disney heroines hugging, holding hands, and sharing secrets with each other. World Princess Week enhanced these interactions by giving younger fans an opportunity to feel like they can interact with their favorite princesses directly as well. One method they used to achieve this is the Disney Princess Hotline, which allows young fans to call (877) 70-DISNEY and listen to a special message from Ariel, Belle, Tiana, Moana, or Jasmine with bonus messages from queens Anna and Elsa available online. Each princess relays a short story about her experiences chasing after her dreams and encourages her listeners to do the same and to remember to be kind to everyone they meet. I love the idea behind this, though I thought that Ariel and Jasmine were the only princesses who sounded like themselves.
Character interactions in the Disney Parks are limited right now, so for World Princess Week, Disney released a new webseries called the Disney Princess Courage and Kindness Club in which young fans can live vicariously through little girls and boys who get the opportunity to meet with a Disney Princess from the theme parks, learn a lesson about courage and kindness, and do a fun activity based around it. So far, the club members have met Tiana, Ariel, Mulan, Moana, and Cinderella. I'm not sure if today was the last episode or if it will continue after World Princess Week, but I think this webseries is a cute idea. It made me wish that I had a kid to share it with! The webisodes allow us to feel a little closer to the theme park experience of meeting a Disney Princess in person even if we are watching from home. My favorite episode so far was the one where Ariel encouraged two girls to learn sign language, which was a wonderful throwback to my favorite episode of Disney's Little Mermaid series.
Disney Princess Remixed: An Ultimate Princess Celebration is the grand finale to all of these exciting World Princess Week festivities. The special is like a kiddie version of the many "Disney Nights" that take place on the show Dancing With the Stars. Like Dancing With the Stars, Disney Princess Remixed contains remixed versions of classic Disney Princess melodies in modern-day musical styles, but this special is much shorter, containing only four Disney Princess songs--"Almost There," "Part of Your World," "Home," and "Into the Unknown." Though I am not a fan of teen popstars butchering my favorite Broadway-style princess ballads, I was still impressed with the staging in this 30-minute special.
The performances were stitched together by a running narrative about a girl named Harper with an Alexa-style smart device that allows her to select princesses and singers to perform new versions of their songs. The technological aspect of the narrative was incorporated directly into the performances with stunning projections and backdrops. My favorite backdrop was for "Part of Your World," which had water projections on the walls and floor that made it feel like the performers were actually dancing under the sea. As much as I loved the flowing rose petals that surrounded the stage in the performance of "Home" from Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, I was horrified by the way this emotional ballad was desecrated into a punk rock ballad that didn't suit its melody or lyrics at all. I was surprised they picked that song since it's fairly obscure and wasn't even include in the 2017 remake.
The special concluded with the world premiere of Brandy's music video for "Starting Now," the newest Disney Princess anthem, and I was underwhelmed, to say the least. Brandy performs the song in a white dress with a bodice made of two enormous ruffles that hang off her shoulders and meet in a V-neck in the front. I thought it looked tacky, especially compared to the elegant dress that she wore in the 1997 adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. The rest of the video was interspersed with images of princess fans including boys, girls, women, and men. I appreciate the attempt for inclusivity and acknowledging that there are male Disney Princess fans as well as female ones, but it lacked the sense of wonder and whimsy that I got from Auli'i Cravalho's music video for "Live Your Story" in which she climbs through a magical library filled with imagery from Disney Princess movies.
Overall, I'm pleased with how Disney's first ever World Princess Week turned out. The princess interactions from the hotline and webseries made me feel a little closer to my favorite princesses while continuing to social distance. I wasn't thrilled about the Disney Princess Remixed special, but I did like the hi-tech visual effects and the fact that it was short. The new music video for "Starting Now" made me appreciate the original lyric video of Disney Princess clips even more. I'm looking forward to seeing more beautiful artwork of the Disney Princesses interacting with each other on the Ultimate Princess Celebration Instagram and the new Fairytale Designer doll series and artwork that will be released in October. How did you celebrate World Princess Week? Let me know in the comments!
August 22, 2021
Did Disney Just Kick Laura Osnes Out of Her Own Concert?
When Disney announced this year's Ultimate Princess Celebration, they simultaneously teased a touring concert called Disney Princess: The Concert, which had way too many familiar names in it to be just a coincidence. It was later confirmed that this concert was none other than Laura Osnes's Broadway Princess Party, an intimate event that I had seen twice. I had a great deal of respect for the fact that it celebrated all princess musicals, regardless of which studio owned them, which is why I became concerned when I learned that the show had been sold to the mouse. Laura Osnes would not be the first wide-eyed innocent to sign a contract with Disney having no idea how it might affect her future and reputation. At the time, I seemed to be the only person who was skeptical about the possible negative ramifications of selling out. Now, it seems that Laura Osnes has paid the ultimate price for signing away the passion project that she started with music director Benjamin Rauhala at Feinstein's/54 Below roughly five years ago. Disney has quietly replaced her role in the first leg of the tour with Christy Altomare, who originated the role of Anastasia on Broadway, in a decision that was likely inspired by a recent controversy involving Osnes.
A little over a week ago, a Broadway gossip column called Page Six ran an article claiming that Laura Osnes had been let go of an upcoming concert called "Crazy For You" because she "refused" to get vaccinated. Osnes was quick to defend herself in a now-famous Instagram post where she clarified that she withdrew of her own volition. "I was informed that protocols had changed, and I would now need proof of vaccination to participate. I was disappointed but responded that I would have to withdraw, as I have not yet gotten the vaccine." She also stated in her Instagram post that she was not given the option to take a COVID test prior to the concert. "I would have tested in a heartbeat -- something I have been doing for months, and will continue to do so, in order to keep working safely." It all sounds like the "Crazy For You" concert situation was very civil, but the damage to Osnes's reputation had already been done. Once word got out, Disney likely became worried that parents would accuse them of allowing a "superspreader" into their concert, which takes place at a delicate time when live shows are only starting to reopen after recent events. Whether this decision was made by Disney or Osnes herself is unknown at this time, but a Disney rep stated that the concert "will follow Disney Concerts' COVID-19 safety policy, requiring cast and touring crew to be fully vaccinated, and will adhere to all local health protocols at each tour stop." They were also quick to replace the promo photos on their website, which were probably prepared in advance because Christy Altomare had already been scheduled to take Laura's place during the 2022 leg of the tour.
Regardless of your stance on vaccines, it seems like a pretty low blow for Disney to buy out the Broadway Princess Party and then tell one of the founding members that she is no longer able to participate. Laura Osnes never quite fit in with the three women who premiered the show. Even though Laura was the headliner, she was the only one who did not initiate a Disney Princess role on Broadway. Her enormously talented and kind-hearted co-stars, Courtney Reed and Susan Egan, were the first to star in the roles of Princess Jasmine and Belle, respectively, for Disney on Broadway. Laura Osnes played Cinderella in a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's production from the '50s, a show that Disney adapted in a made-for-TV movie starring Brandy in 1997 that Andrew Lloyd Webber recently released his own reimagining of. As someone who was almost--but not quite--Disney royalty, Laura Osnes most likely started the Broadway Princess Party so she could become "part of that world" and sing some of her favorite Disney Princess songs alongside other women who had previously performed as Disney Princesses. I relate to that desire to belong all too well and can only imagine the excitement that Osnes felt she was offered the prospect to make the show an official Disney Princess production and the heartbreak she must have experienced when she realized she could no longer be a part of it.I have tickets for the Disney Princess Concert in February 2022, and personally, I'm looking forward to seeing Christy Altomare perform live. I've already seen Laura Osnes in this show twice, and everything I've seen of Christy online has been incredible. She is a perfect soundalike for Liz Callaway, who sang for Anastasia in the original Don Bluth film. Though the ladies of the Broadway Princess Party performed songs from both Anastasia and Thumbelina in the original show, I'm not sure what Disney's policy will be on this as they now own both of these films but have not promoted either of them to official Disney Princess status. The Anastasia production that Christy Altomare headlined is also not part of the official Disney on Broadway series, even though it contains songs that Disney now owns the rights to, so they can bend either way they want with them for the concert. I'm curious to see what sort of changes Disney will make to this once intimate production, but I can't help thinking the replacement of Laura Osnes is likely to create at least a little drama amongst these sugar-sweet drama-free actresses.
This announcement comes at a particularly awkward time for Disney. As part of the Ultimate Princess Celebration, tomorrow marks the first day of World Princess Week, a week-long event aimed at inspiring princess fans to be courageous and kind. This is juxtaposed by a cruel irony in the way that Disney has treated its actresses as of late including both Laura Osness and Scarlett Johansson. Their plans to start charging for FastPasses in their parks, and, in some cases, for individual rides follow in the footsteps of other poor decisions they made prior to the lockdown. As much as I want to be excited for World Princess Week, it seems like nothing more than a label they are using to cover up their lack of princess-inspired decisions as of late. Even the Disney Princess Remixed special, which will premiere at 7:30PM on Disney Channel this Friday, August 27th, seems to be nothing more than a lineup of mediocre pop remixes of some of my favorite princess songs akin to the recent onslaught of live-action remakes and their failed attempts to replace the magic and wonder of the originals. However, this is only my opinion, and I hope that other princess fans are less jaded than I have become. Do you support Disney's recent decisions about Laura Osnes and their theme parks? Let me know in the comments!
August 15, 2021
Review: The Beast and the Enchantress
The Beast and the Enchantress by Camille Peters is the first book in a new collaborative series of fairy tale retellings called A Villain's Ever After. Each week for the next three months, a new villain-inspired book will be released by a new author, many of whose fairy tale books I have reviewed in the past. The series follows the latest trend in which villains are treated like princesses or heroes who made mistakes or were misunderstood. This trend first gained popularity ten years ago with Gregory Maguire's Wicked in 2011 and its corresponding musical and has grown exponentially in recent pop culture and animation. Though I may not have time to read every book in the Villain's Ever After series, I was fortunate to receive an ARC of The Beast and the Enchantress, which just came out this weekend.
This is the second adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast" I have read by Camille Peters. The story is quite different from Enchantment, so it didn't feel like reading the same book twice. It had more in common with Disney's official reverse retelling, The Beast Within by Serena Valentino, as both books are about witches who cursed a prince for breaking their sister's heart. While Camille Peters' version has a stronger emotional core than its Disney counterpart, it is also more simplistic, which is not necessarily a good thing since the darker elements are one of the things that make "Beauty and the Beast" so appealing. By combining the "beauty" character, who knew nothing about the beast's curse, with the enchantress who cast it, the mystery and intrigue are eliminated from the fairy tale, and it becomes a straightforward love story.
The enchantress in this version of "Beauty and the Beast" is a young woman named Astrid who trains under the tutelage of the royal enchantress, Ivy, to learn how to control magic for the good of the kingdom. When Astrid's sister is rejected by the crown prince, Astrid decides to take revenge by casting a spell on him to make his physical appearance reflect the ugliness in his heart. She immediately regrets it when she realizes the spell affects her to a lesser extent, and she has no idea how to break it. This is the only version I have ever read where the enchantress takes on such a significant role in the story, and for that, I have to give it props for originality. Astrid takes on the role of the "beauty" character from the original fairy tale by casting a disguise spell on herself and pretending to be a different person so she can get to know Prince Gladen and figure out how to break the curse.
The romance in this adaptation is healthier than more traditional versions of "Beauty and the Beast" because Astrid never becomes Gladen's prisoner and is completely in control of her secretly planned meetings with him. She finds him whenever she dons her disguise in places that she knows he is likely to turn up. The downside of this is that their relationship feels less intimate and more rushed because their meetings are so brief, and they never get stuck in a situation where they have to spend time together whether they want to or not. In that respect, the love story was a little hard to swallow at times. I was surprised that someone who was as sick of being courted as Gladen would go out of his way to try to find a girl he had just met when he had been trying to ignore women up until that point. If you can overlook this aspect of the book, it is a sweet story overall.
The Beast and the Enchantress serves as a good introduction for what to expect from the rest of the books in A Villain's Ever After. It is clear that these stories are complete reimaginings of the fairy tales they are based on in which the villains' motivations are altered, and their roles will be combined with the heroes and heroines of the original stories. Though this book lacks the tantalizingly dark elements of the original "Beauty and the Beast," it is a sweet and predictable romance that makes for a pleasantly light read.
August 8, 2021
The Princess Blog Turns Four!
I wish had a brand new princess book to offer this year, but I've been so distracted between my job and my upcoming out-of-state move that I haven't had much time to work on my writing. My latest project is Forgotten Love Spell, a screenplay that I am working on with my husband. You might recall that I recently shared a short story from one of the scenes, but the script is only halfway done so far. What I can share with you are some other fantastic promotions on princess books I've reviewed in the past that happen to be free this weekend. This is a great opportunity to stock up on your princess reading materials and decide whether or not you agree with my reviews. First up is Princess of Shadows by A.G. Marshall, from one of my absolute favorite princess series, Fairy Tale Adventures. The first book in J.M. Stengl's Faraway Castle series, Cinder Ellie , is free this week well. "Beauty and the Beast" retellings Enchantment by Camille Peters and Kingdom of Beauty by Deborah Grace White are joining the princess bandwagon along with Deborah Grace White's fantasy novel, Heir of the Curse . Hurry up and collect these magical adventures while you can!
When I started this blog, coming up with new princess content was easy. There were four different princess shows on the air at the same time, three of which were on the same channel. Disney was heavily milking their princess franchises for remakes, and princess culture was reaching the tail end of its peak era. Today, finding new content is a bit more challenging. Overtly feminine characters are now considered sexist or taboo by modern western media, and Disney is celebrating a very different type of princess for this year's Ultimate Princess Celebration. I'm beginning to find that I need to expand my reach a little further to find the sort of princess content that I love to write about. Time Princess, my favorite new app, is made by IGG, which is based in Singapore, and releases new princess stories with beautiful fashions once a month or more. Anime from Japan is still embracing empowering feminine archetypes with shows like Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle. Aside from that, I've been depending on indie authors to bring me new imaginings of the adventuresome and kind princesses that I love.
At the end of the day, my blog means very little without people like you to read it so I want you to know that I'm grateful for each and every one of you, whether you email me and leave comments or silently lurk on my social media pages waiting for new posts. If you have any suggestions to improve my blog or new content that you would like me to write about, never be afraid to reach out in the comments or by email. I've been fortunate enough to be introduced to many wonderful new authors through my blog who reached out to me for reviews that I never would have known about. Thanks to an avid reader, I learned about Andrew Lloyd Webber's new Cinderella musical, which I absolutely adore! I write these posts to keep other princess fans informed, so I love hearing from you, even if it's just to say "hi."
Four years ago, I wasn't sure how long I could keep churning out new content for such a niche audience, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn about all sorts of wonderful shows, books, and media through my readers. At this point, I think I can confidently say that I will never run out of things to write about as long as I have people who want to read them. Thank you for all that you've done to give me the confidence to keep writing. It's been a crazy couple of years, and I'm more glad than ever that we have such beautiful fantasy stories to escape to.
August 1, 2021
Review: Time Princess - Princess Sissi Visual Novel
Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria, known to her friends as "Princess Sissi," was a royal woman who married the Emporer of Austria in the mid-1800s. Unlike Marie Antoinette, Sissi was an adventuresome type who preferred climbing mountains and riding horses to dressing up and making polite conversation like her ladylike sister, Helene. Her rebellious nature granted her an allegiance with the Hungarians, who revolted against Austria and many of their policies. In this visual novel, the Hungarian rebels are represented by Ida, who Sissi rescues from an officer early in the story. Though Sissi treats Ida with the utmost kindness, Ida is brash and inconsiderate and often seems unworthy of Sissi's unwavering respect for her. Ida's character design, which consists of a pretty green dress and flowers in her hair, doesn't seem to fit with her scrappy vagabond lifestyle and makes her look more like a faery princess than a starving rebel peasant. Over the course of the story, Sissi gains romantic feelings toward a royal office named Ryszard while her sister prepares her own engagement to Emporer Franz Joseph. I knew from the cartoon that Sissi would end up with her sister's fiancé, so I wasn't sure how Ryszard played into the story but this was explained closer toward to the end.
This is the first story I've encountered in Time Princess with only one distinct love interest. The other two companions are Ida, the Hungarian rebel that Sissi helps, and Helene, Sissi's docile and kind-hearted sister. The course of the story is mostly affected by how much the player is willing to trust and support Ida. There were a few times that I got a "bad" ending because Ida leads Sisi down a dangerous path, so I occasionally picked the "safe" option for the sake of self-preservation and wound up suffering some sort of tragic end anyway. I soon realized that the game asserts that Sissi's daring and rebellious nature is the very thing that made her so successful and famous as a monarch as well as the reason that the emporer was more interested in her than her submissive sister. Since the visual novel is so short, its linear path does not allow the player to unlock an alternate chain of events that might have taken place if Sissi decided not to aid the Hungarians to change history in the way that the Queen Marie story does.
My favorite thing about this story is the artwork. It is packed with stunning imagery of royal balls, gorgeous outdoor landscapes, and pretty dresses. The fashions are similar to the ones in Queen Marie, but more elegant and Austrian-inspired. My favorite outfit is Sissi's pink and purple riding dress, which consists of a lace-up corset top, lace apron, and matching braided purple hair. Sure, it's not historically accurate for someone from the 1800s to have purple hair, but it sure looks pretty with the dress. This story also contains the most Cinderella-like dress in Time Princess so far with Sissi's glittering starlight ballgown. The other two craftable dresses are more historically accurate to the Victorian era with their feathered caps, bustles, and high neckline collars. It is a challenge to present impressive new fashions after collecting so many from this game, but the gowns are stilllovely and unique compared to some of the previous options.
Though Princess Sissi is one of the shortest visual novels in Time Princess, I appreciate that it takes the time to tell a complete story that gives a taste of all the drama and excitement in Elisabeth of Bavaria's life prior to her marriage. It is an excellent option for newer players who loved the historical fiction aspect of the Queen Marie story and are seeking something that's less frustrating to get through due to all the decisions they had to go back and recheck to make sure they've unlocked every possible branch. The dresses have something to offer for both fans of historical fashion and fantasy fashion. I liked that the requirements to complete this story were easier than some of the other recent visual novels and that I only needed to raise my companions' goodwill to level 5 instead of level 7 to unlock everything. Princess Sissi is a step in the right direction for pleasing fans of Time Princess, and I hope to see more stories like it in the future. A Queen Victoria or Elizabeth story might be interesting if they continue down the route of historical royalty.
July 25, 2021
What It Means To Be a Disney Princess in the 2020s
The first post I wrote in this blog was called "How the Disney Princesses Stayed Modern for 80 Years." The answer was a combination of creating new princesses to match the times along with branded promotional videos, events, and merchandise that combine the old with the new. The latest example is this year's Ultimate Princess Celebration, which is an attempt to celebrate all of the Disney Princesses, including ones that may feel outdated by today's standards, by releasing imagery that makes it look like they're all friends. This is a wonderful method of keeping some of my favorite childhood characters relevant, but it is also a shield used to cover up a darker truth that many of these characters would not be deemed acceptable by today's standards. We have reached a point in Hollywood in which traditional feminine traits are considered weak or problematic. As such, characters like Raya are considered the only acceptable way to portray a woman in the media, princess or otherwise. Just as I did for Mulan, I intend to use this post as a breakdown of what traits would be most likely to qualify a character as Disney Princess for the remainder of this new decade.
She is a leader.Much like Elena of Avalor, modern princesses are in a hurry to take on their roles as queen and would gladly skip over the "princess" phase if their society allowed them to. Raya demonstrated this by recruiting and leading a team of warriors on a quest to restore her kingdom. Being a leader is certainly a good skill to teach children. It encourages cooperation, collaboration, and builds the groundwork for a strong career as a manager or CEO. The downside of this is that it forces children to grow up too quickly and doesn't allow them time to be creative or come up with their own hopes and dreams for the future like how Cinderella took the time to learn how to sew, befriend the mice in her house, and dream of living in a castle. Princess stories are supposed to be "coming of age" tales, but there is little growth left when the heroine already feels she is of age at the beginning of her story.She is a warrior.Every female character in the current decade without fail is a full-on warrior. Not only is she able to defend herself in a dangerous situation, but she also is a master of her preferred martial art, the best of the best, and can defeat any man who would dare stand against her. Raya fits these qualifications as she is able to easily take on Namaari singlehandedly without needing any assistance from her companions. Disney introduced this tradition to their princess line with Merida, who was a master archer in 2012's Brave. One might argue that Mulan paved the way before her in 1998, but in the animated film, Mulan had little knowledge of how to fight until she trained with Shang. The discrepancy between princesses using brawn over wits to solve their problems in modern film was made particularly apparent by the differences between the original Mulan and the 2020 remake.
She has no love interest.The purge of romance in modern media is something that has hit Disney the hardest because so many of their classic films were traditional love stories at their finest. Beginning with
Frozen
in 2013, Disney began to debunk their own tropes about romance by teaching girls that they shouldn't marry the first man they meet, something that many Disney Princesses had done in the past. As obvious a message as this should have been to any girl who grew up with Disney Princess movies and became old enough to start dating, Frozen's immense popularity made Disney realize that people were digging this anti-romance trend and proceeded to give the following princesses no love interest at all. Even the Tangled series downplayed Rapunzel's love story with Eugene in favor of the LGBT undertones of her friendship with Cassandra.She is the hero of her own story.This is an absolute requirement for any modern movie with a female protagonist. To understand this trope, we must first understand the difference between a "hero" and a "protagonist." A protagonist is the main character in a story, which applies to every official Disney Princess with the sole exception of Jasmine. A hero is someone whose actions determine whether or not the story will have a happy ending. This could refer to Prince Phillip throwing his sword at Maleficent to save Aurora, Snow White's prince saving her life with a kiss, or Prince Eric driving his ship into an overpowered Ursula. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when princesses became their own heroes because it was a gradual process that lasted throughout the '90s, whereas today's movies make it clear from the very beginning that the princess will be the one to save her kingdom. Moana is tasked very early in her film to return the heart of Te Fiti and restore her people's destiny as voyagers. Raya was trained to protect her village's magical relic from childhood. Even The Nutcracker and the Four Realms changed the narrative from Clara saving the Nutcracker and going on an adventure with him to her saving the entire kingdom almost singlehandedly. Gone are the days of princesses waiting to be rescued. Now, they are the ones who do the rescuing.
She rejects traditional feminine values.This is a tough one to get behind because it is the exact opposite of what made princesses so appealing to me in my youth. The attempt to mix this new trope with the more traditionally Disney Princesses through the Ultimate Princess Celebration is likely to cause some scandal. It seems to be a requirement in modern mainstream films to make the female characters act as masculine as possible. Though not a Disney movie, this trend was first made obvious in 2018's Charming, an independent princess parody film, in which all of the princess characters acted like vapid lovesick puppies, while the actual love interest disguised herself as a man in order to be accepted by society and hide her true feelings from the film's hero. Since then, Disney Princesses have followed in this film's footsteps, most notably leading to last year's
Secret Society of Second-Born Royals
in which stars as Sam, a rebel princess who would rather play rock'n'roll on an electric guitar than sing ballads to birds and wear jeans and tank tops emblazoned with the word "feminist" than a ballgown. Unfortunately, this does not only applies to original female characters but is also being used to retcon characters in nostalgic remakes and reboots and alter their personalities. The most recent victim of this treatment is Teela from the Masters of the Universe: Revelation series on Netflix.
These are the new traditions that have been established over time to pave the way for the coming decade, and I don't foresee them changing any time soon. Therefore, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that I find myself looking forward less and less to new princess movies. That is one of the reasons I have been posting so uch about Time Princess lately since the dress-up and romance aspects of that game are more relatable to me than modern princess movies have become. The past few years of Hollywood and Disney in general have pushed such a massive shift of what it means to be a fairy tale princess or heroine that it is no longer something that I feel I can enjoy or relate to. The postfeminist era of the '80s and '90s that gave us balanced male and female characters who complement each other and have equal but different roles in their stories has ended. Disney does not want to admit that traditional princesses are becoming obsolete, so I believe that they are using the Ultimate Princess Celebration to cover it up. This is only my opinion, of course. Do you find modern princesses relatable compared to the ones from previous eras? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
July 18, 2021
Review: Reclaiming Ryda
Reclaiming Ryda by Rachel Rossano is a book I've had on my backburner for a while after I saw a recommendation for it in an author newsletter. Now that I've finally gotten around to reading it, I just wish I had done so sooner. This is the second book in the Once Upon a Duchy series that worked just fine for me as a standalone. It is an original romance story even though the cover claims that it is based on the fairy tales "Rapunzel" and "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." My only complaint is that it is a little longer than it needs to be, but that is a small price to pay for such a beautifully crafted love story. The book doesn't have any magic in it, which allows the plot to devote itself entirely to its characters and their relationships. Any lover of romance would be sure to devour this book.
Reclaiming Ryda is a "lost princess" story that doesn't follow the traditional modern-day narrative. Ryda has no need or desire to reclaim a throne or rescue a kingdom. She simply wishes to escape the library where she has been imprisoned for most of her life and find a new place to call home. Her skills are more intellectual than physical, so she realizes that she would be unable to escape without assistance. This book isn't afraid to give its female protagonist traditional feminine traits, something that is frowned upon in most contemporary princess stories. Ryda is a skilled writer, singer, and researcher, but none of these talents can help her stand up to the wicked duke's son who holds her captive in the library. If not for her awful captor, her prison might not be so bad. She spends her days reading and organizing the duke's library, occasionally receiving company from traveling scholars. Until she receives an audience from a nobleman named Crispin, none of her visitors show much interest in helping her with her tragic circumstances.
Crispin is unique for a fairy tale love interest. He is not a dashing rogue who slays dragons nor does he enter Ryda's library with the intention of rescuing her. Instead, he is a scholar who visits the library to do genealogy research to help his family find a lost heir. Once he meets Ryda and learns of her situation, he feels he has no choice but to help her escape because it is the right thing to do. The two have a slow and realistic romance that develops over the course of the time he spends working on his research. Ryda is intimidated at first by Crispin's unusually large stature for a scholar until she realizes that he is a big softie with a heart gold. Something else that makes Crispin unique is his sidekick, Pip, a young orphan boy who aids him with everything from serving food to delivering messages to assisting with Ryda's rescue mission. Pip reminds me a little of Batman's Robin and gives Crispin more of a superhero feel to make up for his lack of physical prowess.
The book slows down a lot after the rescue mission and shifts gears to Ryda trying to earn the approval of Crispin's strict father. I thought the second half of the book could have been trimmed down since it takes a long time for anything important to happen and makes up for the bulk of its length. Still, it was written so beautifully that I didn't mind spending time with Ryda as she got to know Crispin's brothers and worked hard to impress his family. As much as I would have loved to see a thrilling climax in which Ryda and Crispin get revenge on the duke's son who held her captive, Crispin's disapproving father turned out to be a unique sort of intellectual villain, albeit a much less dangerous one. It was cute to see how hard Ryda was willing to work to become part of his family, and it added an extra layer of realism to the already strong romance in the book.
If you are looking for non-stop action and adventure, Reclaiming Ryda is not the book for you. However, if you enjoy old-fashioned love stories, damsels in distress, and realistic character development, this book is an excellent choice. It is one of the best love stories I have ever read with unique and believable characters, a daring rescue, and timeless themes about what it means to be part of a family. I would strongly recommend it to any fan of romance or fairy tales.
July 14, 2021
Review: Time Princess - Si-woo's Sight
After almost a year of playing Time Princess for fantasy and historical visual novels, I was a little disappointed that the newest one times place in modern times. It was probably long overdue considering how many different eras and cultures the game encompasses. Si-woo's Sight is a ghost story that takes place in Korea and focuses on the trials and tribulations of becoming a pop idol, a type of celebrity that is specific to Asian cultures. Depending on their contract, American pop stars typically have more freedom than idols in the respect that they don't have to follow strict rules about who they can spend time with in their private and professional lives and how many years they can perform for. This story opened my eyes to some of the problematic elements of Asia's restrictive celebrity culture. However, the supernatural elements revolving around ghosts and exorcists felt a little too similar to the game's last visual novel, Tang Dynasty Hunter.
You play Si-woo's Sight as an aspiring k-pop idol who joins a training group in spite of her mother's concerns about the unstable nature of the industry. The story begins when Si-woo mysteriously gains the ability to see ghosts and is haunted by fragments of memories that she doesn't recall experiencing. She enlists in the help of an exorcist named Ha Jin-hyuk to aid her with these new abilities. After a little practice, she realizes that one of the ghosts, Choi Hyun-woo, might knows her better than she realizes even though he appears to be a stranger. The Korean naming conventions made the characters in this story a little difficult to keep track of for me. Every name starts with a short last name and ends with a hyphenated first name, which makes them all look somewhat similar. It was something I needed to get used to in order to fully enjoy the story.
I had little interest in the supernatural elements of this story, possibly because I read enough about demons and ghosts already in Tang Dynasty Hunter. Instead, I was more invested in Si-woo's passion to become an idol in spite of her the many obstacles that stood in her way. It shed light on some of the darker aspects of celebrity culture such as eating disorders, backstabbing, and giving in to powerful men's desires to get ahead. The gameplay aspects of the story allow you to commit to Si-woo's dream without needing to compromise her morals. Hyun-woo's resistance to her path to stardom serves as a constant reminder of the potential dangers that she has yet to face. I preferred Hyun-woo as a love interest over Jin-hyuk because it seemed like he was more concerned about Si-woo's well-being. However, I was surprised when I learned the secret of his true identity. The story delves into aspects of Korean mythology that many people are unfamiliar with. I didn't find this story particularly romantic compared to previous visual novels like Romy and Julius or Little Women.
Si-woo's Sight had some of my least favorite outfits in Time Princess so far. I am not a fan of contemporary clothing, and some of the outfits are not particularly glamorous considering the celebrity setting. I liked the sparkly white dress the game provides when you begin the story as well as the shiny purple schoolgirl-like ensemble, but that's pretty much it. Everything else ranges from grungy to downright trashy. I guess it would be impractical for a popstar to be able to dance jump around in a full ballgown, but I wish they had put a little more effort into the designs. There seemed to be no consistency between looks, though I liked that one of them included a microphone accessory. In my opinion, some of the ghosts that Si-woo encountered had better outfits than she did.
I think Si-woo's Sight is the darkest visual novel in Time Princess to date, even more so than Gotham Memoirs. It reveals the depths that some girls are willing to sink to become famous and the tragic fates that await those who make the wrong choices and die too young. There isn't much light to balance out the darkness aside from the main endings, which are pretty satisfying overall. I'm glad that Time Princess finally released a story that doesn't leave hanging, but I wish they had reserved that honor for one that I was more invested in like Saga of Viera. If you are playing Time Princess for the fantasy, romance, or historical visual novels, Si-woo's Sight might be a good one to skip. However, if you are interested in celebrity culture, this is one cautionary tale isn't afraid to explore some risqué scenarios.
July 11, 2021
Review: Fae's Deception
After reading so many fairy tale adaptations, you might think I've been obsessing over the same stories again and again. Oddly enough, the fairy tale books I've read have proven to be more imaginative and diverse in content than the original faery princess stories that I've switched to as of late. Each one seems to have the same plot. An ordinary girl with a difficult life discovers that she is a lost princess of a magical land that she is magically transported to, often by a handsome young man, and overcomes a number of insurmountable odds to take back her kingdom from a greedy and powerful villain. I loved the way this story was presented in Selina Fenech's Memory's Wake trilogy, but it started to lose traction after I read another book with the same plot. Fae's Deception by Michelle Lynn and Melissa Craven suffers from a similar lack of originality along with inconsistent characters that made me disinterested in reading the rest of the series. This was the second time I've been fooled by a Facebook ad that looked interesting without knowing anything about it.
The inciting incident in a story is often the most important part because it sets up everything that is about to happen. In stories like this one, the inciting incident is usually when a girl who's down on her luck getting taken to a magical world where all of her dreams come true. While that does sort of happen in Fae's Deception, it is not the event that kicks off the story. Brea Robinson is your average YA fiction heroine--a troubled ordinary girl who knows there's something extraordinary out there for her. When a school bully makes fun of her for the time she spent in mental hospitals as a result of her supernatural abilities, her best friend, Myles, tries to defend her and gets caught up in a magical blast that she emits involuntarily. She is then arrested and accused of murdering him. This is a girl who lives in a world where everyone believes that there was no such thing as magic and institutionalized her for even considering the prospect. If they think her magic is a delusion, why is she suddenly accused of murdering her best friend when she never laid a finger on him? For all intents and purposes, it seemed like any ordinary witness would have seen the bully try to strike Brea when Myles jumped in the way. Why didn't they arrest the bully? No one should have understood that she used magic, and if they did, they should have apologized for institutionalizing her. Not to mention the fact that she is a minor who clearly cared for Myles and was taken to be tried as someone who intentionally plotted to kill him. What?
After that, the story follows the traditional"lost princess" routine. Two handsome young men show up at different times to break Brea out of jail and bring her to the magical kingdom of the fae, where she learns that she is a changeling princess. This is where Brea's personality, or lack thereof, starts to create problems. It seems like she trusts everyone and no one at the exact same time. She goes along with Loch when he breaks her out of jail and then Griff when he tells her Loch is bad. As soon as one of them stops being of use to her, and then she runs back to the other one. She ran from Loch to Griff and vice versa so many times in this book that it felt like an intentional gag, even though it wasn't supposed to be. Then all of a sudden, she was falling in love with Griff until she was falling in love with Loch for seemingly no reason. She ran away so much that she never took the time to truly get to know either of these opposing brothers. It's probably no coincidence that the book has two authors since the main character is constantly being pulled in two different directions.
This wasn't one of the worst books I've ever read, but it wasn't quite my cup of tea. It did a good job of capturing the dark lore of fae mythology in a creepy and dangerous setting. I think it would have some appeal among teen readers who enjoy gothic supernatural fiction such as the Twilight crowd. As far as faery princess stories go, it depended too much on the shock value and not enough on the characters' actual motivations. At times, it felt as though it was only written to convince readers to buy the next book, a technique that isn't generally effective for fleshing out a complete novel. Brea's impulsive and self-doubting nature makes her a good candidate as a Mary Sue for young readers who want to imagine themselves as her. The love triangle, superpowers, and secret royalty aspects might be enough to appeal to audiences who aren't interested in anything deeper, but it didn't work for me.
Overall, I got the impression that the Fae's Deception series is written solely for teenagers who like dark and brooding main characters that get everything they desire without needing to earn it. As an older reader, the lack of logic that went into the inciting incident and Brea's inconsistency in who she trusts made the story difficult to swallow. Though it wasn't based on a fairy tale, it had a similar enough story to so many other books I've read in the past that it didn't feel particularly original. I would recommend this series only to younger readers who are fans of Twilight and similar novels.
July 9, 2021
You Can Listen to Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella Right Now!
After a long series of lockdowns and delays, Andrew Lloyd Webber's new Cinderella musical finally premiered on June 25th at the Gillian Lynn Theatre in England. Being on the opposite side of the globe, I have no way of seeing this show in person, and I'm sure neither do many of you. It's time shine up your glass slippers because we're in luck! The official cast recording of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella was released today, and both acts have been uploaded to the official YouTube channel in chronological order! The songs recount the complete story of this new fairy tale adaptation, which is the next best thing to seeing the actual show. I am pleased to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this new version of "Cinderella" and can't wait to tell you all about. There will be a few spoilers in this post, so if you would like to avoid them, you can listen to Act 1 here and Act 2 here before reading it.
The story is pretty much how I interpreted it based on the first few singles that were released from the show. Cinderella is a trouble-making rebel without a cause similar to Princess Sam from Secret Society of Second-Born Royals. The superficial residents of Belleville openly mock her after she breaks their 49-year record of being voted "Most Beautiful Kingdom" when she desecrates a monument. She sings to their faces that she is not affected by their taunts, but in private, she sings "Unbreakable," revealing that her tough skin is only a façade. The kingdom loses rapport and money as a result of Cinderella's vandalism, so the queen decides to hold a ball to find a wife for her son to build back Belleville's reputation. The problem is that Prince Charming, the favorite of the queen's offspring, disappeared on a daring mission and never returned, so the queen is forced to resort to the "spare," Prince Sebastian, to take his place. Prince Sebastian was mocked by the townsfolk just as much as Cinderella and sees her as the only person in the kingdom who truly understands him. Yet, as soon as preparations begin for the ball, the women of the kingdom suddenly find the prince a lot more attractive.
Overwhelmed by his newfound responsibility, Sebastian begs Cinderella to go to the ball so he doesn't have to be alone the. She is hesitant at first, telling him balls aren't exactly her style, but she comes around. After one of his servants tells her that he isn't interested in women who look like her but is too polite to tell her himself, Cinderella decides to get a last-minute makeover so she can look just as glamorous as all the other women of Belleville to please Sebastian. That leads to one of my favorite newly released songs from the new album, "Beauty Has a Price." This song sounds like it could have been written for an '80s adaptation of "Cinderella," which is neat because the two most famous versions both came out in the '50s. I love how it sounds like the Fairy Godmother character seduces Cinderella into giving up her most treasured possession to get a princess makeover and how it is implied that the glass shoes are as painful as walking on broken glass, reminiscent of the original story of "The Little Mermaid." It is a fresh new take on the "Cinderella" trope compared to countless other soulless retellings.
As a result of her over-the-top makeover, Prince Sebastian doesn't recognize Cinderella at the ball and treats her the way Simon treated Daphne when they first met in Bridgerton. She gets offended by his behavior and pushes him away. At midnight, Cinderella's stepsister, Adel, forces herself on Sebastian at the Stepmother's behest, and the queen announces that she is Sebastian's choice. It is at that moment Sebastian recognizes Cinderella, but she tells him it is too late because the queen has already announced his marriage to Adel. This leads into my favorite song in the show that was released several months ago, "Far Too Late." There are several things that I love about this twist. First, it addresses the fact that the original prince from "Cinderella" was a snob who refused to show interest in any of the other women attending the ball besides Cinderella. Perhaps if he had given some of them a chance, he may have found out that they were just as interesting. His stubbornness causes him to not even recognize Cinderella when she is right in front of him. Second, this is the scene that encompasses the show's theme of staying true to yourself. Prince Sebastian wanted Cinderella exactly the way she was, which deconstructs the problematic "makeover" fad of the '90s.
I am absolutely delighted to have the pleasure of listening to this soundtrack long before I will be able to watch the show. "Cinderella" is a story that has been done so many times that it is difficult to tell again in a new way. Andrew Lloyd Webber hits the mark perfectly by combining both modern and timeless aspects of the tale. Like most modern princesses, Cinderella is a feminist who has little interest in romance or dressing up. However, like most humans, she still has a desire to be loved and is just as capable of heartbreak as anyone else. I think the reversal of the modern "strong woman" trope is where the musical truly shines and grounds the contemporary princess archetype back in reality. Do you have a favorite song from the new soundtrack? Let me know in the comments below!
