Lisa Dawn's Blog: The Princess Blog, page 44

Review: Kingdom of Beauty

It's hard to get back into the fairy tale retelling grind after completing such a great original fantasy series. Some fairy tale retellings are unique, while others stick pretty closely to the original story. Kingdom of Beauty by Deborah Grace White fell somewhere in the middle. It was just similar enough to the original "Beauty and the Beast" that it suffered from a case of sameness after so many other retellings. That is not to say that it was bad or poorly written. In fact, it was quite good for the first book in a new series of fairy tale retellings. It's just very vanilla.

Kingdom of Beauty is about a girl named Felicity who lives with her eccentric father and brother, Ambrose. Ambrose is friends with a bully who forces his affections on Felicity no matter how much she rejects him. Though his name is Kurt, he is such a cookie-cutter archetype that it might as well have been Gaston. Every other chapter in the book switches to the perspective of Justin, a prince who was cursed to have the body of a beast in a castle that became virtually invisible to outsiders. Only someone who looks at him and likes what they see can break the spell. The third-person narrative eliminates any confusion about whose perspective each chapter is told from, which I appreciated after reading books that swap around a lot in the first-person narrative.

We all know what happens next. Felicity's father goes on a business trip with Ambrose and disappears in the mysterious castle while trying to steal a rose for his daughter. When Felicity learns what happened, she seeks to find the castle and volunteers to take his place. There was one portion near the beginning of the book that I thought the story was going to take a very difficult turn from the fairy tale in which a dragon swoops down from out of nowhere and starts having a casual conversation with Felicity. However, things quickly fall back into the old routine and don't get interesting again until near the end of the book.
One thing I liked about this book was the way it fleshed out the magic and the kingdom as a whole. It clarified Justin's place in the monarchy as well as the corruption that went on behind the crown. It also explained that the enchantress's curse that turned him into a beast was separate from the one that hid the castle away, which makes sense since that would make it a lot harder for him to find someone to break the spell. I liked the dragon lore that will likely become a connecting thread throughout the series, although I would have liked to see more dragons since they were the only thing that made this book stand apart from other "Beauty and the Beast" retellings.
Overall, this is a standard and safe adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast." It's easy to predict most things that happen leading up to the climax, but it is still written well with a  strong setting. I would recommend this book to fans of "Beauty and the Beast" that want to read every retelling they can get their hands on as well as people who have not read a lot of fairy tale retellings already. There were some elements that made it stand apart from other adaptations, but you have to be willing to read through a lot of familiar territories to get to them.

We Finally Have Footage of Camila Cabello as Cinderella!

It's been over a year since the announcement that Camila Cabello would be starring in a new film adaptation of "Cinderella." After numerous delays, I am pleased to announce that the movie has finally released its first teaser six months after its original anticipated release date. Like so many adaptations that came before it, the movie is simply titled Cinderella and is set to release on Amazon Prime on September 3rd of this year. This 30-second teaser gives us a taste of Camila's version of Ella in the corset dress that was revealed in Entertainment Weekly's first look. Though there isn't enough time to reveal all the characters in such a short teaser, it also contains footage of as the first gender-neutral Fairy Godmother, and he very much looks the part. Other changes to the story are hinted at in the teaser as well, which you can watch below.

The most notable change in this version of "Cinderella" is that Ella seems to have a job outside of slaving for her stepfamily, or at the very least a career ambition. We see her using an old-fashioned version of a sewing machine surrounded by numerous design sketches that give serious Cruella  vibes with a voiceover about her dream to become a world-renowned designer. This new twist on the familiar tale is followed by a brief clip of Camila singing her heart out over beautifully choreographed footage of the classic ballroom scene. I love the idea of Cinderella wanting to be a designer because it goes so well with the story of transforming her rags into a beautiful ballgown and gives her a believable ambition to get away from her wicked family other than marry the prince. My biggest question is why she would need the fairy godmother to give her a magical dress when she seems perfectly capable of creating her own, but I'm sure that will be answered in the film.
The final clip in the teaser is a bit jarring for two reasons. First, it interrupts the beautiful taste that we get of the movie's musical numbers, and second, Camila's line feels out of place and makes me worry about what kind of tone the movie will have. Up to the 22-second mark, the film seems to take itself pretty seriously. Ella's genuine passion to achieve her dream shines through in her voiceover, and the efforts of the filmmakers to create an authentic-looking royal ball radiate through the costumes and sets of the royal palace. The spell gets broken when the Fairy Godmother abruptly asks "Do you want to go to that ball?" and Ella responds "Yes, I was crying and singing about it, like, two minutes ago." It looks like she isn't sure if it's supposed to be delivered seriously or satirically. Her casual diction feels even more out of place than the gender-neutral Fairy Godmother, who can appear however s/he wants since they are a magical being.
The sharp break in tone at the end of the teaser makes me uncertain whether I'm excited or worried about this movie, but it's probably a combination of both. I've always loved Camila Cabello's voice and her cute and innocent demeanor, and she looks wonderful in the role of Cinderella. The new musical number gives me hope that the film will contain some original songs even though it was already confirmed to have several covers, including Beyoncé's "Single Ladies." However, the tongue-in-cheek comment about "singing about it like two minutes ago" makes the movie feel more like a princess parody than a genuine retelling. I'm all for a few light-hearted moments to keep things in perspective, but it needs to take itself at least a little seriously if it expects its audience to. I think Mirror Mirror  is a good example of a princess movie that took itself just seriously enough to get away with some questionable jokes that occasionally break the fourth wall. If this movie can match that style, I think it will turn out decent enough.
September 3rd isn't the only date you'll need to mark on your calendar for your princess streaming needs. Disney just announced the release date for their Ultimate Princess Celebration special that will air on Disney Channel and Disney+. The special was teased for this August when they launched the celebration, but it has now been confirmed that Disney Princess Remixed - An Ultimate Princess Celebration will air on August 27th. It will feature remixes of classic Disney Princess songs from the teen stars of High School Musical: The Musical - The Series and the premiere of the official music video for the new Disney Princess anthem, "Starting Now" by Brandy. So get ready for a princess-filled summer! Disney Princess Remixed will be the perfect prelude to get us pumped up for Sony's Cinderella on Amazon Prime the following week. Are you excited for the new Cinderella? Let me known below!

Review: Time Princess - Tang Dynasty Hunter

My favorite smartphone game allowed a bit more of a break to prepare for the next visual novel, which allowed me to complete it within a week's time. Tang Dynasty Hunter is another Asian-inspired story set in China this time instead of Japan. The little I know about Chinese mythology comes from my binge-watch of Netflix's Ashes of Love, a gorgeous fantasy drama about gods, goddesses, and mystical realms. This story had a few minor similarities in that immortal beings are spirits of inanimate objects or elements that take on human form. The Tang Dynasty is a period of Chinese history that lasted from 618 to 906 A.D. and is considered a golden age of Chinese arts and culture. The dress-up elements of this story had some creative and exciting new hairstyles and stunning artwork.

Tang Dynasty Hunter is about a demon hunter named Pei Jin, who is on a quest to help her master that got poisoned by a demon. In order to do this, Jin must find a series of magical memories from various people in a nearby village and collect the tears that these memories invoke. Many of the people she encounters have little connection to her or her master, but she must still help them make peace with their past to achieve their goals, which emphasizes an aspect of Chinese culture that encourages community. Jin is armed with a series of enchanted talismans to ward off would-be demon attackers, which makes her less helpless than some of the previous heroines from this game. This ability would be more interesting if it were woven directly into the gameplay, such as a mini-game to find the correct talisman or to try to knock off a certain number of hit points, but this is not that type of game.

The new visual novel introduces three new companions. Wen Lengxiang is a mysterious woman who is too beautiful to be mortal, Xie Cheng is a soldier who allows Jin to stay with him during her quest, and Chu Yunqing is a playful merman with an instant connection to Jin. I had been waiting some time for Time Princess to include a mermaid story must admit that I never expected a merman as a love interest! Chu Yunqing is a fun and unique character with his impulsivity, devotion to Jin, and compassion toward other mystical beings. Xie Cheng is more of a generic love interest, though his sickly brother plays an important role in the story later on. Tang Dynasty Hunter is laxer on the player's choice of love interests than Swan Lake, which requires specific choices in nearly every level if you wanted to get a certain character's ending. Here, you can choose your ending in the final chapter without any prerequisites or even elope with Chu Yunqing early in the second chapter to trigger a "bad" ending (though it didn't feel like a bad ending to me)!

Fashion is a vital aspect of the visual novels in Time Princess, and Tang Dynasty Hunter is no exception. This book incorporates brightly colored versions of ancient Chinese styles. Since I've already collected so many beautiful dresses in this game, the thing that stood out to me the most was the hair. Ancient Chinese women have elaborate hairstyles that seem to defy the laws of physics, which they decorate with exotic pins, beads, and floral ornaments that are out of this world. I liked the dresses enough, but I was particularly enamored by all of the unique hairstyles I could collect within this story. My favorite is a green satin dress and hair combo that fills a cloud of hair with flowers, combs, and beads to make it look like a true work of art that becomes even more elaborate after the player takes the time to collect enough pieces to alter it.

Though it is two chapters long, Tang Dynasty Hunter feels shorter than many of the recent one-chapter releases due to its lack of major story decisions. It is possible to get every ending without needing to replay more than one or two levels. This makes the boom more relaxing than other stories in this game, but I would not want it to become a permanent change since part of the fun of visual novels is making different decisions to see how much the story changes. This book follows the trend of unsatisfying endings that many recent visual novels in Time Princess suffer from. I'm not sure why the game developers continue this trend when so many players have voiced a desire for more conclusive endings. The story was simple enough that it would have been easy to wrap everything up if it had been taken it in a different direction.

Overall, I thought Tang Dynasty Hunter was just okay and would not recommend it over some of the stronger visual novels in Time Princess like Saga of Viera or Taishō Adventures. It gets confusing at times due to the number of characters, though it is faithful to Chinese mythology about spirits appearing in the forms of people. It taught me about a few things I didn't know, such as the musical instrument called the zither. My favorite things about this story are the faithful merman love interest and collecting all sorts of uniquely shaped hairdos. I would only recommend Tang Dynasty Hunter to people who have already completed the other visual novels in Time Princess and want to start something new to pass the time.

These Disney Princess Movies Are Being Shot Now!

The COVID-19 pandemic put a lot of things on pause last year, including a number of film and television productions. Now that things are slowly returning to normal, Disney is heading back into their seemingly endless grind of sequels and remakes by resuming production on a lot of highly anticipated films that got delayed. Most of these are being shot overseas in Europe, whether due to the scenery, because they have more workable restrictions than Los Angeles or a combination of both. Whatever the reason, it looks like the live-action Little Mermaid film starring Halle Bailey and the Enchanted sequel nearly 15 years in the making are finally underway.

"The Little Mermaid" is my favorite fairy tale, so I'm excited to see a new adaptation of it even though I know nothing will ever compare to the 1989 animated classic. Since this is a Disney remake and not just any adaptation of the fairy tale, many people were concerned about whether or not Ariel would have her iconic red hair. These leaked set photos from Just Jared reveal that her hair was given a natural-looking shade of red for the film. This adds a realistic feel but also takes away the whimsical fantasy of Ariel's fire engine-red locks that made her look like she was from another world. The leaked photos from the set in England appear to portray a scene that takes place shortly after Ursula transforms Ariel into a human while she is scrounging for clothes and transportation to find Eric. Instead of Scuttle lending her a ship sail to cover herself with, we see her hiding in the back of a wagon and wearing a burlap sack that would have likely been used to transport goods into Prince Eric's village.


Another set of leaked images from Just Jared reveals footage of  as Prince Eric with as Carlotta, will have a bigger role in this film than she did in the original. A lot of fans were hoping  would make a cameo in this role, but that will not be the case. However, considering how active she still is with the Disney fan community, there is a possibility she will show up somewhere else like in the new Mulan . These images show an open-shirt Prince Eric wading in the water with Carlotta along with other people who likely work or live at his castle. One of them appears to be a princess. She looks similar to how I would picture a live-action Vanessa, but this scene seems to take place before she shows up. Since it has so much footage of Eric searching the water with his servants, it's possible that they added a new scene where he actively tries to find for the girl who rescued him before Ariel turns human and goes after him herself.

Another Disney Princess movie that recently started shooting is Disenchanted, the long-awaited sequel to Enchanted that is due on Disney+ next year. The movie is summarized by CinemaBlend as follows: "Taking place 15 years after the events of the first Enchanted movie, Disenchanted sees Amy Adams’ Giselle, Patrick Dempsey’s Robert Phillip and Morgan Phillip, who’s now being played by Gabriella Baldacchino, moving to a new house in the Monroeville suburb. The community is overseen by Maya Rudolph’s Malvina Monroe, who has nefarious intentions for the family. Things start getting out of hand when Giselle wishes that their lives could be like the perfect fairytale, and when the spell backfires, she’ll have to race to save both Robert and Morgan, as well as Andalasia, before the clock strikes midnight."
 
Could this story suffer from a case of sequelitis? My main question here is if Giselle wanted her life to be the perfect fairy tale, why would she have left Andalasia in the first place? The whole point of the original film was that she realized she wanted something more even though she had the option to stay in the animated world and become a princess. The DisInsider has shared some photos of the film's set in Ireland (pictured above) that are largely reminiscent of Once Upon a Time's Storybrooke. With fairy tale-inspired storefronts such as "Bibidi Bobidi Butchers" and "A Whole Food World," it looks like Giselle's wish places her new hometown under a Storybrooke-like curse that she will likely have to unravel before the end of the movie. Director Adam Shankman recently posted about the ongoing filming on Instagram about what a pleasure it was to watch 75 dancers "rehearse their masked faces off." If nothing else, we can at least look forward to new Alan Menken songs.

A live-action Disney Princess remake that has yet to begin shooting is Snow White, which has unfortunately been greenlit to replace Walt Disney's groundbreaking first feature-length animated movie of all time. , the star of another upcoming remake, West Side Story , has been cast as the titular Snow White, furthering Disney's diversity and inclusion agenda. She may not have skin as white as snow, but she can sing and has an innocent look that is reminiscent of the fair princess. While this decision hardly comes as a surprise, I am so numb to these soulless remakes that the news of another one on the horizon no longer excites me. You can look forward to the new The Little Mermaid and Disenchanted movies next year with the yet-to-be-shot Snow White likely arriving in 2023 or 2024.

Review: Memory's Wake

I had been a fan of Selina Fenech's fantasy artwork for many years before I learned that she is also an author. After I discovered one of her books in a fairy tale anthology, I started reading the first book in the Memory's Wake Trilogy and was instantly hooked. This series contains all the things I love about princess stories--a magical fairy tale kingdom, romance, a strong cast of characters, a dash of real-world perspective, and gorgeous illustrations from the talented author/artist. I haven't been this excited about a book series in a long time. I am halfway through the second book, Hope's Reign, and can't wait to find out what will happen next.

Memory's Wake has two distinct protagonists, who are both appealing in different ways. Eloryn is the traditional fairy tale princess with flowing golden locks who is kind to everyone she meets and maintains a positive outlook in spite of the danger that has been following her since birth. Memory is a jaded girl from the real world with a more grounded outlook on life who fits perfectly into the "lost princess" trope. Together, the girls fit the archetype of Saban's cartoon princesses from the '90s in which the gentle light-haired princesses always have a cynical dark-haired foil. In this case, however, Eloryn and Memory are not rivals. They trust and support each other intrinsically despite their differences just like so many pairs of princess sisters do in animation. Eloryn and Memory compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses in the same way as Anna and Elsa from Frozen  or Elphaba and Glinda from Wicked.
The story begins when Eloryn finds a girl trapped in the mystical veil that acts as a gateway between worlds and pulls her out. The mystery girl panics when she realizes that she has no memories of herself or her past, so Eloryn gives her the nickname "Memory." Though Memory does not know who she is, she knows about many things that someone from the fairy tale world shouldn't such as smartphones and larping, so it is clear that she grew up in the real world. After they travel together for a while, Memory learns that Eloryn is a princess who was raised in secret by a kind wizard in the hopes of overthrowing the wicked king who killed her mother. Memory is clever and sneaky, so over time, she manages to learn more information about Eloryn's situation than Eloryn herself and is faced with the decision of whether to be honest with her new friends or choose a darker path.

Though this trilogy contains two love interests, it often feels like a love triangle between Eloryn, Memory, and Roen. Roen is a devilish rogue who takes it upon himself to help the girls when he realizes that Eloryn is the lost heir to the throne. Despite his duty to Eloryn, he has more in common with Memory since both are blunt cynics who aren't afraid to speak their minds even if it goes against social norms. He gets into more than a few risqué situations with Memory that he never fails to use as an excuse to flirt. Most love triangles make it obvious which couple will prevail, but in this case, I wasn't sure which girl Roen would end up with or which one I wanted him to be with. Will, on the other hand, is clearly meant to be with Memory. He is a savage boy from Memory's past who lives in the forests of the fae and devoted his life to protect her after she was pulled through the veil. Due to some sort of confusing time magic, Will knew Memory when he was younger than her, but he aged beyond her in the magical kingdom while she remained the same.

The books have a powerful and intriguing villain. Thayl took over as king after the death of Eloryn's mother, but Memory believes that he is not as evil as everyone else thinks. He has a powerful connection to Memory that allows him to talk to her in her dreams and reveal things that Eloryn never knew about their pasts. It makes sense that he would form a bond with Memory over Eloryn because Memory doesn't trust anything she hears, which makes her more willing to listen to both sides of the story. Meanwhile, Eloryn is pure and set in her path to find the wizard who raised her and taught her everything she knows, so she would never listen to anything Thayl has to say. The girls' dissenting viewpoints about Thayl is something that carries over into the second book of the trilogy.

If you enjoy princess stories, the Memory's Wake Trilogy is a must-read. It is beautifully written, beautifully illustrated, and has something for everyone. Whether you relate more to Eloryn's innocence and faith in humankind or Memory's brutal honesty and skepticism, this series plays on the strengths of two very different types of princesses. It is filled with passion, romance, and plenty of fantasy elements. I had fallen in love with the fairy and mermaid artwork of Selina Fenech a long time ago, but now I have fallen in love with her writing as well.

Story Saturday: Henrietta's Nightmare

I have been working on a screenplay with my husband called Forgotten Love Spell, so I thought it would be helpful to write out a scene to give myself a better understanding of our protagonist, similar to the short stories I wrote for The Stolen Jewel. Forgotten Love Spell is a tragic romance between a princess and a wizard who gives up his memories to cast spells. I may or may not keep this scene in the screenplay, but it provides a good insight into what's going on in Princess Henrietta's head. If you read this, please let me know in the comments what you think and if you have any suggestions.

Forgotten Love Spell: "Henrietta's Nightmare""No!" Princess Henrietta looked on in horror as her father took his final breath. Graylor had never been the best father or king, but he was the only thing standing between Captain Lars and full control of Brodor. Lars laughed maniacally as he removed the bloody sword from Graylor's chest. If her father had only listened to Agatha's warnings about trusting Lars, maybe things could have been different.
"Princess, you must do something!" Agatha shouted from beside her father's corpse. Her voice sounded stronger than it should have for her old age. "You cannot let him take control!"
As the royal advisor, Agatha usually had all the answers. The problem was that Henrietta was the only one who ever listened. What was she supposed to do now when everything was already lost? She wouldn't stand a chance against Lars in combat with his years of training. She tried to step forward but found herself frozen in place. No matter how wide she opened her mouth, she couldn't scream. All she could do was tremble in terror as Lars approached her.
"Now," his deep voice boomed, "it's time to take care of the final thorn in my spine. This little princess thought she could save the kingdom all by herself. How quaint. You will never understand what it truly takes to rule."
Henrietta gasped, struggling to breathe.
She felt a sharp sting in her side that she was certain was Lars' blade but was too scared to look. The throne room went blurry around her.
"Princess?" asked a soft voice, probably a desperate servant checking to see if she was still alive. It would all be over soon.
"Henrietta!"

Somehow, the voice got louder. Two firm hands grasped her by the shoulders. Her eyes shot open, and she gasped for breath as she realized she wasn't in the throne room at all. This wasn't even her own room. She reached for her mattress and felt a hay bale beneath her. The stabbing pain that she thought was Lars's blade had only been a poke from a sharp piece of hay.
"You were having a nightmare," said Malakai, who had been shouting her name in her sleep. He abruptly removed his hands from her shoulders, afraid she might take the gesture as a sign of impropriety.
The room was almost pitch black. Henrietta struggled to see the two sparse beds of hay and meager surroundings of the elder's home that they were staying at as her memories of the past few days came flooding back. She had run away when she learned that Lars, the captain of her father's army, intended to kill her. Malakai, the young wizard who now looked over her with concern, had helped her escape. If it hadn't been for him, she would likely be dead.
If she were still at the castle, it would be her duty to pretend that she was fine and reassure anyone who found her in such a vulnerable state that it was a momentary lapse of judgment that would never happen again. Yet, she was not at the castle, and she was not fine. She clung to Malakai, her only source of comfort during this difficult time. He hesitated as he placed hand hands gently back over her shoulders, doing his best not to take advantage of the situation.
"It was awful," she sobbed. "I dreamt that Lars killed my father and took over the kingdom. He was coming for me next."
"It's all right. You're safe now."
"Perhaps I am, but what about my people? I left them suffering under a council at odds against each other. What if I can't return? What will happen to them then?"
She tugged on his shirt, and he pulled her just close enough for her to feel his warmth crushing her tears.
"There is no use in dwelling on what you cannot control. All we can do is focus on what the here and now."
That was easy for him to say. When she read his spellbook, Henrietta learned that wizards sacrificed memories to cast spells. He had no past to burden him the way she did. It must be so freeing to release all of one's problems in a burst of magic. Perhaps she could ask him to teach her a spell or two so she could forget about how Lars was terrorizing her, but that was a request for another time when she wasn't troubling him in the middle of the night. For now, she would try to forget about Brodor and focus on the impoverished village where the two runaways had ended up.
"You're right," she said. "We should find a way to improve the wellbeing of these poor people."
The thought of being able to help another community while she couldn't do anything for her own eased her back to sleep as she tried to get comfortable in the bed of scratchy hay. She heard a squeak from Malakai's familiar, Cheers, a furry mouse with oversized ears, as he curled up in the corner of her rough pillow.
"That isn't quite what I meant," said Malakai, who was more accustomed to moving from place to place than getting to know the people from the kingdoms he visited. However, Henrietta was too tired to continue the conversation. Malakai smiled at the sleeping princess and the rat who had traded his bed for hers.
"Keep an eye on her," he said to Cheers as he returned to his own bed of hay. He never expected to get so close to a princess in his travels and only wished there were more he could for her.

Review: Day of Wishes and Wonder

After I completed Waiting in the Water, I jumped right into another fantasy series by Anne Stryker. Day of Wishes and Wonder is the first, and so far, only book in her Starlight Fae series. It had a tonal shift from Waiting in the Water and even Crumbling Towers, her "Rapunzel" adaptation from the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology that motivated me to read more of her work. I realize that in older mythology, the fae are a dark, mischievous, and often deadly species that hardly resemble the sparkly faery princesses that we see in modern media. As fan of the latter, I prefer some sort of middle ground when I read books inspired by this mythology, such as Brittany Fichter's Autumn Fairy trilogy. Even the Disney Princesses update their fairy tales and characters every few years to go along with the times. The other books that I had read by Anne Stryker gave me certain expectations that this missed, despite its gorgeous cover.

Day of Wishes and Wonder follows the "lost princess" archetype of a girl living in unfortunate circumstances who is introduced to an opulent world from her past that she was either too young to remember or forgot due to reasons beyond her control. In this case, the forgotten world isn't exactly a glittering kingdom that wants to welcome her with open arms. Ella finds that she is just as much of an outcast in the fae world of Tir Na Nog as she was in the orphanage that she came from. The story begins in modern times, but the "real life" setting has very little impact since so much of it takes place in Tir Na Nog, and Ella is too poor to afford any sort of modern technology. I actually would have liked to read more about her life in the real world before she gets flung into the land of the fae since that is the only identity she has in this book, and the story flounders in Tir Na Nog for quite some time before anything of importance happens. A flaw that I find with many books that are intended to be the first in a series is that the author is afraid that if she reveals in the first book, there won't be enough story left to tell for the next one.

One of the things I had trouble with in this book was connecting with Ella, which is important since the book is told from her perspective. She had so little interest in anything that was going on around her, and her lack of memories of her past in Tir Na Nog made it difficult to see the other characters and events through her eyes. Since she does not regain any of her memories in this book, everything the fae say to her has some sort of double meaning that we never learn as readers. The fae prince, who calls himself Knight, tells Ella that she broke his heart in their past life together, even though she had far more chemistry with Flint, the fae elf who recovers her necklace and rescues her from her life at the orphanage. Flint is brutally honest, a bit mischievous, and annoyingly mysterious about his own past with Ella. If the author was trying to build up a secret romance between Ella and Knight, she failed. This book has Flint written all over it.

As much as I love a good fantasy story, there was very little to love about the version of Tir Na Nog presented in this book. It is a frightening place filled with monsters that Ella was able to see even when she lived in the orphanage on Earth. The fae kingdom is ruled by a heartless queen, and everyone in the land is out to get Ella and her companions by using her name to steal her soul or calling Flint out for being banished after he committed a crime that the book never reveals. There are several times where the characters jump through portals to return to Earth, but even those parts feel rushed or unimportant. Normally, I love stories that bring magic into the real world, but in this case, it seemed like the only thing the fae brought with them was trouble. The book was pretty short overall, yet it seemed to drag endlessly during the time that Ella spends exploring Tir Na Nog with Flint and Knight. It felt more like it was about a bunch of fugitives on the run than an ordinary girl discovering a magical land.

At this time, I have little interest in reading the next book in the Starlight Fae series. Ella's amnesia in Day of Wishes and Wonder is a huge detriment to the story that gives little motivation to know or care about her relationships with Flint and Knight and her connection to Tir Na Nog. I have yet to read something else by Anne Stryker that resonates with me in such a powerful way as Crumbling Towers, even though that book also ended with a cliffhanger. As much as I appreciate that this book incorporates some obscure fae mythology, I do not feel that it adds anything new nor does it contain the same innocent undertones that modern faery stories incorporate. If you are a fan of the dark lore of Tir Na Nog and the fae, you might enjoy this book. However, as someone who loves stories about ordinary girls who discover enchanted worlds, it has little appeal to me.

The Lost Princess Trope

Tangled wasn't the first movie to feature a mistreated girl who learned she was a princess, but it was the first to popularize the "lost princess" archetype. Why is this trope so appealing throughout so many recent books and films? Secretly being a princess is a fantasy that many little girls have when they're growing up, especially when they face difficult times. This popular story narrative gives a literal interpretation Sara Crewe's philosophy from A Little Princess that every girl is a princess even if they don't know it. One of the reasons this is such a common theme in princess stories is that it goes along with one of the seven basic plot archetypes, the "Rags to Riches" trope. In the past, that trope was used more often for stories based on "Cinderella," but the "lost princess" trope has become more common in modern media due to the lack of dependency on a man that the "Cinderella" trope requires.

The first "lost princess" movie that made an impact on me was Don Bluth's 1997 animated classic, Anastasia. To my 11-year-old self, it seemed like such a novel concept to watch an ordinary girl who was down on her luck become a princess without needing to marry a prince. The shift in power between Anya and Dimitri added a depth to their relationship that I believe Disney was attempting to recreate in Tangled. The trope also captures the classic princess ideology of freedom from a life that they don't feel they were meant for. In the case of princesses like Kaguya or Jasmine, who are raised with the pomp and circumstance of royalty, they often long for a simpler life where they are able to make their own decisions. The lost princess, on the other hand, has more in common with Cinderella. She works hard and struggles to get by in the hopes that one day, her situation will improve.

Though the lost princess trope doesn't require a love a interest for the heroine to find her happy ending, it still carries the classic theme of love that exists in every good princess story. At its core, every "Rags to Riches" story revolves around a character who is lacking in healthy familial relationships, whether it is due to their parents dying when they were very young or being stolen away by a greedy villain. In the case of Cinderella, she not only escapes her wicked stepfamily by marrying the prince, but also finds a new loving family to call her own. For lost princesses like Rapunzel or Anastasia, they discover families that they didn't realize they had after spending most of their lives feeling lost or alone. Even though this is a different type of love, it is not any less significant, which is why this trope is so prevalent.

The Barbie cinematic universe is no stranger to the lost princess. Three years before Tangled, they released Barbie as the Island Princess, in which Barbie grew up as a stranded child on a deserted island who was raised by the local wildlife. When she is eventually discovered by other humans, her identity is revealed as the lost princess who was presumed dead after her disappearance. Barbie: The Pearl Princess re-imagines this concept in a whimsical and creative mermaid universe. Another Barbie movie that explores this idea is Princess Charm School, in which a magical tiara reveals Barbie's identity as the lost princess with a Magical Girl transformation sequence. The concept of an ordinary girl becoming a princess is one that fits well with the Barbie universe due to her slogan that girls can "Be anything."

The "lost princess" trope is an update on the timeless "Cinderella" archetype. It gives heroines the freedom to find unprecedented success, wealth, and comfort without needing to marry into it. It also encourages girls to dream big with the promise that they might discover something special about themselves that they never knew about. It guarantees a happy ending after a lifetime of feeling alone in the world with no real purpose. I think that's why this trope has become so popular in recent years when romance has been heavily downplayed by the media, but princesses are just as popular as ever.

Review: Waiting in the Water

My favorite book in the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology was Crumbling Towers by Anne Stryker. I was so impressed by her innocent and whimsical imagery that I decided to look into some of her other works. From what I've seen on her website, she appears to be very good at starting series, but not at continuing them. She has a number of fantasy series that only contain one or two books each. I selected two of her books to introduce myself to her fantasy realms. One is about faeries, and the other is about mermaids. Though I was going to start with the faery book, Day of Wishes and Wonder, I had trouble opening it on the Kindle Cloud Reader, so I switched to Waiting in the Water instead. Waiting in the Water is the second book in Anne's Beyond the Veil series. It made no references to any earlier story or series of events, so it can easily work as a standalone.

Waiting in the Water is inspired by "The Little Mermaid," but not based on it. It reads like a gender-bent version of the tragic fairy tale but is very much its own original story as well. The title may sound a little unsettling, but it leans far more toward fantasy than horror. In fact, it possesses several similarities to Barbie in a Mermaid Tale. The protagonist, Asaria, is modern-day surfer girl who feels a close connection to the sea and doesn't understand why. She is unhappy with her life on land because of her abusive family, so it is a dream come true for her when she is rescued by a merman-like creature and given a magic potion by a nefarious squid that turns her into a mermaid. The rest of the book is an enchanting underwater adventure in which Asaria explores the magical kingdom of Ocea as well as the dark waters of her own subconscious.

In general, love books that are short because they grant the opportunity to absorb the entire story in a timely manner. However, I think this book could have benefited from a few extra chapters. Parts of it were confusing or rushed, and it would have been easier to understand the characters' motivations if they had been explained a little better. Yuval comes off as the man of Asaria's dreams right from the get-go, but she gets mad at him later when she learns that he broke the laws of space and time to find her even though his intentions toward her are quite honorable. The sudden shift in her feelings toward him is explained later on when we learn that Asaria suffers from severe anxiety and self-loathing, so it is more likely that she didn't find herself worthy of Yuval's love, which, to be fair, comes on quite strong. Over the course of the book, she discovers her own inner strength and grows into a healthier person, even if that means she can't remain at Yuval's side forever.

The book's glorification of escapism as a coping mechanism reminded me of WandaVision, and I loved it for that. Most people who are fond of faeries and mermaids are at least a little dissatisfied with the real world and wish they had a magical refuge to escape all of their problems. Anne Stryker has an innate understanding of that desire and applies it perfectly to Asaria. Her love of the ocean stems from a desire to escape her awful family. Yet, even in her magical fantasy world with her devoted merman hunk by her side, Asaria must still face her own personal insecurities when the book reaches thrilling climax. I appreciate that it has a hopeful ending in spite of everything and doesn't try take the trite route of revealing it was all a dream or forcing Asaria to give up Yuval forever. The story wraps up in a way that satisfies all possible outcomes.

Waiting in the Water is creative and whimsical adventure that explores the nuances of dreams and escapism. The story can be interpreted as a metaphor for taking control of one's own decisions just as much as it can be enjoyed as an undersea adventure filled with magic and romance. It is a bit rough around the edges in comparison to Crumbling Towers from the Enchanted Kingdoms anthology, but Anne Stryker has a talent for pinpointing the innocence of fantasy and fairy tales that few other authors possess. I look forward to reading more of her magical adventures that combine modern-day philosophies with the innocence of childhood.

Review: Yes, Your Grace

Yes, Your Grace is a charming video game with strategy and visual novel elements in which the player takes on the role of a king who has daily meetings with his subjects in order to maintain the well-being of his kingdom. Though you cannot play as a princess, the king has three daughters, who each have unique personalities and quirks. The decisions that the player makes throughout the story directly affects their fates. Though it is possible to give two of the princesses a happy ending, one of them is a victim of circumstance, and there is nothing you can do to save her, which diminishes some of the replay value. Yes, Your Grace can be completed in about half a day and has a surprisingly engaging story filled with fun characters and challenging situations that simulate what it might be like to run an actual kingdom.

The story kicks off when soldiers from an enemy kingdom show up to claim Lorsulia, the eldest daughter of King Eryk and Queen Aurelea, who was promised to them as an act of desperation. In order to avoid marrying her off to a barbaric thug, the king and queen decide to go to war with the kingdom. Since they do not have a big enough army to defend themselves, they formi an alliance with a king, who asks for Lorsulia's hand in marriage to his son in return. They decide to marrying her off to a prince is better than marrying her off to a barbarian, but later come to regret that decision. Lots of drama ensues after this, especially between the three princesses. Asalia, who is closest in age to Lorsulia, is disappointed that she can no longer play practical jokes on her big sister, while Cedani, the youngest, is sad that she can no longer play games with Lorsulia or her pet cat, Dusty.
The first portion of the game allows the player to make alliances with his kingdom's nobles to build an army and save up money for Lorsulia's wedding on the side. After that, funds can be saved to fortify the castle for a series of wars with seemingly impossible odds. The gameplay is measured by weeks leading up to each key event. Every week, the king is able to invite a noble to visit him, send out his agents to inspect  problems in various villages, and stock up on money and resources to support his subjects. He has a general, a witch, and hunter at his disposal, but it seems like one of them is always away on another quest when someone needs their help. The line of visitors in the throne room is similar to the ones that Rapunzel met with during the musical sequence of the Queen for a Day  special in the Tangled series. After speaking to each week's lineup, the player can visit other rooms in the castle to check up on the queen, princesses, and other royal visitors.
My favorite thing about this game is how real the characters feel. Playing as the king allows you to feel the struggle between trying to balance work and family lives. It is certainly possible to be a good father and a good king, but something must always be sacrificed one way or the other. Over the course of my playthrough, I grew just as attached to the three princesses as I would have if they were my own daughters, which motivated me to make good decisions to protect the kingdom. Princess Lorsulia throws a temper tantrum when she finds out she is being forced into an arranged marriage to protect the kingdom, but she eventually apologizes and has a touching scene where she tells her father that she doesn't want her last memories of her family to be of them arguing. Princess Asalia goes through a rebellious phase and comes out as queer, which solidifies what a bad idea it would be to force her into an arranged marriage unless you want to intentionally play as a bad father. Finally, Princess Cedani spends the majority of the game trying to replace Lorsulia's cat with a new pet. She finds every outlandish option from a hedgehog to a bear, but she's just too cute to say "no" to!

Overall, Yes, Your Grace is a fun and relaxing game that simulates the experience of running a kingdom while trying to protect a loving family. The game is just challenging enough without becoming frustrating. I only got a bad ending one time when I ran out of money, and it was an easy fix. The only thing I didn't like is that certain events are impossible to change no matter what decisions you make. It tricks the player into believing they have more power over the story because of all the choices it allows you to make, but they don't always make a difference in what follows. Despite this, the game is definitely worth one playthrough for its vibrant and fun cast of characters.