Lisa Dawn's Blog: The Princess Blog, page 73

Review: A Crown of Snow and Ice

A Crown of Snow and Ice is the third book in Melanie Cellier's Beyond the Four Kingdoms series. It tells the story of Princess Celine, a character who has been present in many of her previous books. Celine is the little sister of Celeste from The Princess Game, Clarisse from The Princess Fugitive , Cordelia from A Midwinter's Wedding, Frederick from The Princess Search, and the best friend of Sophie and Lily from The Princess Companion , A Dance of Silver and Shadow , and A Tale of Beauty and the Beast . After reading about her so much in the past, I already felt like I knew her pretty well, but this book still had some surprises to offer. Like Melanie's previous books, it takes many liberties with "The Snow Queen," the fairy tale it's based on, and places more focus on Celine's relationship with Prince Oliver than the on the chillingly dangerous Snow Queen herself. As such, it is a very different retelling of the story than Crown of Ice by Vicki Weavil or Disney's Frozen, both of which attempt to humanize the titular character of the fairy tale.


The Beyond the Four Kingdoms series is a sequel to The Four Kingdoms. The biggest difference I've noticed in the three books released so far is that all of the princesses in the newer one have supernatural abilities as opposed to the empowering heroines from the Four Kingdoms books who use their intelligence and wits to get out of tight spots. Sophie and Lily, the twins from the first two Beyond the Four Kingdoms books, have the ability to communicate with each other telepathically. Likewise, A Crown of Snow and Ice begins with Celine receiving the ability to control fire from a fairy godmother. Since this ability is new to her, we join her on the journey of discovering this power and learning how to control it. Unlike Katy from The Autumn Fairy who is afraid of her destructive powers, Celine embraces her new abilities and uses them whenever she can. With the help of Prince Oliver and his little sister Giselle, Celine manages to keep everyone warm on their dangerous quest up a snowy mountain to break a curse on Oliver's kingdom that has frozen everyone's heart.

It takes a while for the book to build momentum. The trek up the mountain feels as long and treacherous to read through as it does for the main characters, There are many stakes at risk for Oliver's kingdom if they do not achieve their goal. This novel did not include the colorful characters that Gerda met along her journey in the original "Snow Queen" but instead placed more focus on the effect of the shards in the magic mirror that froze people's hearts and their ability to perceive beauty. Only Celine's fire powers could melt the mirror shards and restore the cursed people to their former selves, but it was only a temporary solution that didn't work on everyone. To restore the entire kingdom, they would need to find an emblem that could block the Snow Queen's enchantment, which brought them on their dangerous trek up the mountain.

Celine has matured a lot since the earlier books. She's several years older now than she was in The Princess Game, and it's clear from the narrative that she places more logic into her decisions and doesn't act as recklessly as she used to. She's still brave and daring, but it's toned way down, which was a little disappointing because I would have enjoyed reading a book from the perspective of someone as rambunctious and emotional as Celine was in The Princess Game. She reminded me of Isabel from Elena of Avalor, but now she's just like all of the other princess heroines from Melanie's books. Her biggest strength is her determination. Reading about her unlikely solutions to her problems was the most enjoyable part of A Crown of Snow and Ice. Celine also related a lot to Oliver's sister Giselle because she was also once a little sister who had trouble earning respect from her siblings. Their relationship was just as fun to read about as the romance between Celine and Oliver.

A Crown of Snow and Ice is a fun book for fans of the Four Kingdoms and Beyond the Four Kingdoms series because it shows how much Celine has matured as a character from when she was younger. It doesn't offer much of a twist on the original "Snow Queen," but you can always read Crown of Ice  if that's what you're looking for. I love how much effort Melanie puts into connecting the kingdoms and characters in her books, allowing them to feel like one big world of princesses and fairy godmothers. I definitely recommend at least reading The Princess Game  and The Princess Search  before this book to learn more about Celine and her family. I'm looking forward to learning what new superpowers the princesses in future books from the series will obtain.

Review: The Little Mermaid (2018 Indie Flick)

Of the three live-action adaptations of "The Little Mermaid" that were announced within the past couple of years, only one of them has already finished filming and has a limited release in AMC theaters as of last weekend. Many of us who are fans of the original fairy tale took issue with Armando Guttierez's The Little Mermaid trying to market itself as a new take on Hans Christian Andersen's story when the trailer bears virtually no resemblance to it. I liked when their Facebook page had the title A Little Mermaid, as that was more honest and made it sound like an original story, but it was soon replaced with the attention-grabbing title that would hopefully confuse people just enough into thinking it was made by Disney and convince them to go and see it. Ordinarily, I wouldn't even bother reviewing such a mediocre low-budget production that was made by someone without any prior film experience, but the fact that it had a theatrical release and marketing campaign makes me feel obligated to tell curious fans what they're missing.


Armando Gutierrez's The Little Mermaid begins with an aesthetically pleasing but cheaply made three-minute animation sequence that recounts the entirety of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale with a few adjustments. Then we cut to an old lady telling her granddaughters about live-action Mississippi in the 1800s, and it's all downhill from there. The narration choice is odd because it feels like a story within a story within a story. The animated sequence is narrated by Elizabeth, the little mermaid, and then it cuts abruptly to the grandmother talking about the two main characters of the film, a reporter named Cam and his niece Elle. Even though it turned that I was wrong about the identity of the old lady, the storytelling sequences with her added nothing to the plot of the film. After the animated portion ended, there were so many inconsistencies I found it rather difficult to suspend my disbelief for the duration.

In this version of "The Little Mermaid," Elizabeth gave up her soul to become human instead of her voice to a wizard instead of a sea witch. Since the prince married another woman, the wizard got to keep her soul, which somehow made her his possession that he chose to use as a cheap carnival attraction. The most obvious question here is that if she still had her voice, why didn't she just tell the prince he was marrying the wrong girl and that she was the one who saved him? The fairy tale elements never get mentioned again after the animated sequence, which proves that the movie was just using the story to get a bigger audience. The wizard who possesses Elizabeth's soul is a mustache-twirling top hat-wearing Dr. Facilier knock-off named Locke. It is so ridiculously obvious how evil Locke is that he might as well have been holding a cardboard sign the whole time saying "I'M THE VILLAIN" in giant neon lights. Sure, Disney villains of the past don't try to hide their intentions, but they're also charming and often have misguided motivations that they feel justify their actions. Locke was just a jerk with unexplained magical powers.

I really wanted to like Elizabeth because I thought she was cast well. The actress who played her had a lovely voice and looked like an ethereal mermaid. She even sang a song, which would have been enjoyable if it had not been constantly interrupted by cuts of Cam trying to figure out where the beautiful singing was coming from. It took him the entire song! It was clear that Elizabeth was not meant to be the main character, and all of her lines fell flat in favor of moving the shaky plot along. Elle was excited whenever she saw Elizabeth purely on account of her being a mermaid, but their bond felt artificial because it focused more on Elle's sickness than her personality. While the inclusion of disabled characters in princess movies is always welcome, I found the implication that breathing problems can be cured by going underwater, an environment where it breathing is literally impossible, pretty problematic.

The romance was unfulfilling and confusing. At some parts, it looked like Elle was succeeding in pushing Cam together with Elizabeth, but in the end, it went nowhere. According to the opening narration, Elizabeth was supposed to find love to break Locke's curse, but all they tried to do in the movie to break it was to get her soul back. There's no mention of the prince or of Elizabeth's romantic at any point after the animation sequence at the beginning. She claims that Locke "tricked" her when she gave him her soul, but I'm honestly not sure how. The terms of their agreement seemed pretty clear. He kept his end of the deal by turning her into a human even if he used her mermaid form as a carnival attraction. The original little mermaid never claimed that the sea witch had tricked her, and even Ariel agreed to Ursula's terms without complaint until Ursula tried to take over Atlantica. It seemed like Cam's love for Elizabeth could have broken Locke's hold over her, but that was never addressed.

I really can't say I was disappointed by Gutierrez's The Little Mermaid because it was exactly what it appeared to be in the trailer. It had a made-for-TV indie knock-off feel to it that would only appeal to ignorant people who assume that everything with a fairy tale title is a Disney movie or parents who will take their kids to see anything that looks family-friendly. It was at least marginally better than the last indie mermaid movie that came out in AMC theaters last year called Scales: Mermaids Are Real . I think it would have been better if it didn't try so hard to sell off a fairy tale that it really had nothing to do with. If it had just started out with the grandmother talking to her grandchildren instead of the pointless butchered animation of Hans Christian Andersen's narrative, some of the story inconsistencies would have made more narrative sense. I would only recommend this to mermaid fans who have an insatiable curiosity to see any mermaid film that gets publicity.

Princesses Are From Disneyland!

"That's From Disneyland!" is a free pop-up exhibit at the Van Eaton Galleries all this month. It's now in its final few days, but you can still pop by for a quick look if you're local to Los Angeles. The display is an impressive collection of park paraphernalia from a man named Richard Kraft, who somehow managed to store wall-sized paintings, ride vehicles, and more in his home before offering it to the gallery for a limited time public display. When I got in the long line to see it, Richard made his way all the way down to the end to greet everyone and welcome them to see his collection. He asked what we were most looking forward to seeing, but no one was prepared to answer that since none of us had been inside yet. So, he gave a pop quiz and asked which of the following three items was not part of his collection: A Dumbo ride vehicle, a Mr. Toad's Wild Ride vehicle, or an Autopia ride vehicle. The lady behind me correctly guessed the Autopia one, and then he made a joke about having a few more days to add that to his collection before the pop-up gallery closes.


My favorite ride in all of Disneyland Resort is Ariel's Undersea Adventure, but since that's in Disney's California Adventure, and this display only featured the main park, my favorite ride here was the Haunted Mansion. The photo op for the Haunted Mansion was the only one with a queue line, but it moved quickly and had an efficient volunteer taking pictures for everyone. It was a wall display of the four paintings you see in the elevator before boarding the ride at Disneyland. In the center of the paintings was an Instagram-ready tombstone to pose on along with an ample supply of long-stem red flowers to hold in the picture. The combination of death, flowers, and Disney immediately made me think of Sleeping Beauty, so I convinced my husband to lean over me while I lied on the tombstone with one of the flowers to give me true love's kiss.


Other princess-related items at the gallery included an old window display from the Emporium shop on Main Street of Cinderella's stepfamily getting ready to try on the glass slipper, a deformed Snow White figure from the '70s that was going to be sold later at an auction, and a beautiful mermaid from an old submarine ride that got shut down. There were also concept art and posters from various attractions as well as theatrical movie posters and artwork. The exhibit wasn't quite as big as I was expecting and only takes a few minutes to walk through unless you're one of those people who has to read everything. The miniature display of the front side of the park leading up to Sleeping Beauty Castle was pretty neat, but I also see those types of displays a lot in art stores at Downtown Disney. The volunteers did a great job tracking how many people went in and out of the exhibit to prevent it from getting too crowded. There was plenty of breathing room, and nothing on display had so many people in front of it that it was impossible to get a good look. Another great photo op that had no line was a "Bashful" car from the Snow White's Scary Adventure ride.

 

The main reason I went to see "That's From Disneyland!" last night is that I had tickets to an event called "Hanging out with Paul Scheer." To be honest, I didn't know who Paul Scheer or most of the other celebrity guests were, but my friend invited me to see Rachel Bloom from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The exhibit has had many nightly events throughout the month including another local performance of The Broadway Princess Party and concluding with a benefit concert by the Disney legend, Alan Menkin. The show I saw last night consisted of a small group of celebrities sharing their funniest stories about Disneyland. Each guest was also supposed to bring a surprise object. Rachel Bloom decided to bring her parents. She let them come up on stage and talk all about the best and worst of the Disney Parks. Another special guest at the event was

If I'm being honest, I wouldn't say "That's From Disneyland" is a must-see for any Disney fan, but it was run very professionally, and it's free, so it's a nice way to spend the day if you're local and have nothing else to do. There weren't a whole lot of princess-themed items there since most of them were from the era before Disney Princess became its own brand, but the Haunted Mansion and ride vehicle photo ops were fun. I always say that the Haunted Mansion is the most princessy ride at the Disneyland park because of the beautiful dancing ghost couples you pass in the banquet room. One of the reasons I prefer Disney's California Adventure overall is that it has more princess-themed attractions, but many of those are getting shut down in favor of Pixar. If you want to see this display, you'd better hurry because there are only four more days before it goes back into Richard Kraft's basement!

Review: Disenchantment - Season 1

Today is the day! The first season of Disenchantment is now on Netflix, and I'm here to tell you all about it. The trailer for the show contained lots of clips from the ten-episode season, which can be good or bad. It gave a pretty accurate portrayal of the tone, but it also revealed a lot of the jokes in advance. For that reason among others, the last two episodes of the season were the best because they were the only ones that had just barely been hinted at earlier on, including a most likely unintentional Mysticons reference. The rest of the episodes had their ups and downs. There were a few fractured fairy tale references, but most of the stories were original. The pacing was pretty good overall. Any violence was there purely for the sake of comedy, and it never got gratuitous. That said, I think I still prefer Futurama overall thanks to its colorful cast of characters and clever story ideas. Still, it was refreshing to see a Matt Groening show with a female lead, even if she wasn't as complex as Leela.

Disenchantment is the story of Princess Tiabeanie, or Bean for short, who, like most princesses, wants to get out of an arranged marriage so she can find herself and find love on her own terms. In that respect, the pilot starts out similarly to ABC's 2015 Galavant with a royal wedding that the main character wants to stop. Even though I didn't love Galavant, one thing that it had going for it that Disenchantment didn't was the fantastic music by Alan Menkin. Bean is not the type of princess who sings, and the show's theme song lacks the catchiness of The Simpsons or Futurama openings. The gypsy style score was pretty bland compared to the beautiful fairy tale animation, but the twist at the end made up for that. I think Galavant did better in the humor department as well. Many of Disenchantment's jokes were either hit or miss. It followed the traditional Matt Groening style of humor, but there wasn't as much of it as you might find in some of his older shows.
According to Disenchantment, Bean is only 15 years old, but her alcoholic tendencies and lack of modesty make her more similar to a college-aged woman. She was everything a princess shouldn't be. It's too bad the media's rebellion against the damsel in distress stigma for princesses is becoming a bit of a cliche. What makes Bean truly stand out from other animated heroines, though, are her sidekicks. Instead of animal friends, Princess Bean joins forces with a lustful elf named Elfo and her personal demon that she received as a wedding present named Luci (like Lucifer). Luci is mostly there for comedic purposes, but he also serves as an allegory for Bean's struggle with morality. Even though she isn't pure and chaste like other fairy tale princesses, she genuinely desires to be a good person and doesn't know how to go about it. Luci is a literal representation of the voice in her head that tells her to do the wrong thing and gets her into trouble. Elfo relates to Bean's struggle to fit in because he is an elf who doesn't want to be a part of the happy communist elf society.
Just other princesses, Bean would do anything for her friends. Once she solves her arranged marriage struggles, the first few episodes are devoted to her desire to protect both Luci and Elfo from people who want to hurt them. Her father, King Zog, believes that he can use Elfo's blood to create an elixir of immortality. Bean does her best to free him from her father's efforts because she knows what it feels like to be trapped. She spends another episode saving Luci from an exorcist. Even though she's on a first name basis with everyone at the local pub, Bean doesn't have any real friends before she meets Elfo and Luci, which makes her all the more determined to protect them. In some ways, Bean's personality reminds me of Ariel from The Little Mermaid series of the early '90s because she sees herself as an outcast who is only able to befriend other creatures who don't feel like they belong.
For a Netflix show, Disenchantment didn't have quite as much continuity as you might expect. The first two episodes and the last two episodes were directly linked, but everything in between was pretty disjointed. Some episodes were better than others. The show always played it safe and never brought up anything that might be considered objectionable. The maturity level of the content never went beyond anything an episode of Futurama might have shown, which was a relief after seeing the Game of Thrones comparisons in interviews. It was pretty entertaining, but not perfect by any means. If it were up to me, the last two episodes would have happened much earlier with the rest of the season revealing the events that take place afterward, but I suppose they needed to build up suspense for a likely second season, which we unfortunately probably won't be able to see for another year.

Disney Princess Designer Dolls

We all had lots of fun playing with princess dolls as kids and brushing their hair until it became ratty and tangled. For those of us who are older, there has is the option of purchasing pricier collectible dolls that are made with finer details in their hair and clothes and come with their own stands for display purposes. While princesses have never exactly been lacking in options for collectible dolls, the Disney Princess Designer Collection that was revealed at the D23 Expo in 2011 was the start of something special. Each princess had her own designer dress that looked like it came straight off a modern-day runway. The collection was released alongside lithographs, cards, mugs, and other paraphernalia featuring beautiful matching artwork. The dolls themselves weren't sculpted from your typical Barbie mold. They had fully articulated wrist and elbow joints, salon quality hair that stayed perfectly in place, bigger painted eyes, and long realistic eyelashes that you could actually touch. I was blown away the first time I saw this collection at the D23 Expo.


After the initial release in 2011, Disney continued to reimagine their princesses with a new set of designer dolls made from the same high-quality mold roughly every year. My favorite collection was revealed at the 2013 D23 Expo. It was called the Fairytale Designer Collection and featured doll sets that each contained a princess in a stylized Renaissance redesign of one of her classic outfits standing alongside her prince in a romantic pose. I loved this collection because princes rarely get any attention, and the Renaissance era is one of my favorites in terms of fashion. My husband and I even dressed as this collection's version of Ariel and Eric for the Renaissance Faire earlier this year. I have lithographs and cards of the artwork from it hanging all over my apartment and office. The details are so breathtaking. They look like old oil paintings that were created during the Renaissance era. The addition of the princes adds composition value to each image, making it much more interesting than just a posed stock art of one of the princesses.


As gorgeous as these dolls are, they are not very easy to obtain. There are only about 6,000 of each doll or doll set from each collection. If you are not prepared to sit in front of your computer at midnight the second the sale begins, you will be out of luck. I went to a raffle at my local Disney Store the day that the Ariel set I wanted came out. I got there very early and wore my seashell t-shirt and flower hair clip for the occasion. Despite my best efforts, my name wasn't picked. I got extremely lucky when I refreshed the website that night at midnight to buy the doll the second it went on sale. Right after I had finished checking out, the site was already sold out! It takes true dedication to own one of these beauties. It was worth every second of my efforts because the doll set arrived in a beautiful clear plastic display case with built-in stands for Ariel and Eric. It had their names emblazoned on a gold tag in the front, an item number on the bottom, and it came with a cardboard slipcover featuring the gorgeous artwork of them dancing together in their stylized Renaissance look, similar to the scene in the movie where Ariel convinced Eric to dance with her for the first time.


Some other designer collections that Disney has released from this series have included supermodel villains, sets of princesses alongside their villains, and sets of princesses alongside supporting characters, such as Ariel and Triton. The reason I'm posting about this today is that there have recently been leaked pictures flying around the internet of this year's collection, which is coming out in October! Entitled the Disney Princess Premiere Series, the dolls will boast yet another redesign of their classic dresses. This time, instead of styling their fashions after a set era, they will be based on the year their movie premiered. Artwork has been released for Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Tiana, Snow White, and Cinderella, and professional photos of the Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel dolls have been leaked. Snow White looks stunning in her golden age Hollywood floor-length gown and fur shawl. Cinderella looks very classy with her '50s style Grace Kelly black and silver gown with a traditional updo, and Ariel looks like she's about to turn some heads with her bright purple dress and its "awesome '80s" style frills and patterns.


Even though I probably won't be staying up until midnight to chase after this new collection, it's great to see that the tradition Disney started in 2011 is still going strong. Collectible dolls are nothing new, but these sets really take the cake. Not only do they have perfect hair, faces, and eyelashes, but each collection brings new artwork that gives us a glimpse at what the princesses might look like in different types of fashion and animation styles. I love seeing each new reimagining of the princesses' classic gowns, and I'm eager to learn what the next collection will bring. The Premiere Collection comes out this October, so be sure to keep an eye out on Instagram for photo leaks of the other three dolls!

Disney Princesses Break the Internet!

With only three months to go until the highly anticipated Wreck-It Ralph sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet , the Disney gods have taken pity upon us mere mortals and graced us with yet another screenshot of the highly anticipated princess scene that was previewed at the D23 Expo last year. This preview shows us what happened after the first official screenshot that was released, in which Vanellope unexpectedly invaded the princesses' private dressing room, making way for the hilariously defensive antics that we see clips of in the trailer. This newly released image from Entertainment Weekly reveals the resulting antics of Vanellope getting on the girls' good side and convincing them that she is a Disney Princess as well.



The new screenshot portrays the classic characters converting to Vanellope's casual style of clothing as they lounge on bean bag chairs for your average teen slumber party, only with princesses. Missing from this particular image are Jasmine, Aurora, Merida, and Belle, but we know they're there somewhere, just as Ariel and Mulan were out of the frame in the first image they released. All of the princesses in this shot are dressed in modern clothes that represent their signature colors, with the exception of Mulan, who rocks black pants and a gold and red jacket, which is more representative of China in general than the yellow dress, pink dress, green armor, or blue dress she wore in her movie. Elsa's long-sleeved blue tee is clearly emblazoned with block text saying "Just Let It Go," and according to reports from Entertainment Weekly, Pocahontas's top will say "Blue Corn Moon," and Belle will be wearing a shirt that says "Beast Friends Forever" just off-screen.

The girls look very cozy in their modern-day pajamas as a few of them enjoy modern-day snacks as well. Tiana apears to be sipping on a Starbuck's frappuccino with her beautifully rendered curls while Elsa gorges on a strawberry milkshake. Cinderella, who still has her hair tied back, lounges on a periwinkle bean bag chair next to a bowl of popcorn and cup of soda. They look like they're ready to discuss all of their frustrations about needing to be rescued by "big strong men," as Rapunzel stated in the trailer. According to reports from the D23 Expo, this is also the part where Ariel gets flack from the other princesses for wanting to sing about everything, Snow White reveals that she needs glasses, and Jasmine admits that she is allergic to cats. It looks like the modern-day clothes are meant to be a visual representation of the princesses being "real" and flawed, just like everyone who loves them.

Their new modern styles of clothing also prove that it's possible to dress like a modern princess without going overboard in designer ballgowns. Stylized tops with iconic graphic imagery like Snow White's with the poison apple are just the sorts of Disney-themed couture you could find in popular stores such as Hot Topic. According to the upcoming movie, this new age Millennial pop culture style of dress for modern-day princess fans has caught on so much that even the Disney Princesses of old are doing it! That certainly says a lot about how princess culture affects society. Vanellope's voice actress,

“I’m very proud of my character being a Disney princess with a human waist. I love that she is a princess but wears, like, a hoodie, and she inspires them all to wear comfortable clothes.”

Ralph Breaks the Internet is coming out on November 21st, about two weeks after The Nutcracker and the Four Realms . So far, Disney has revealed a lot more of the highly anticipated princess scene than I was expecting. The teases came out in bits and pieces with the announcement from the Expo, updated banners and profile images on their Facebook pages, trailer clips, and screenshots. Is this going to be the last we see of our royal friends hanging out with Vanellope until the film releases? Only time will tell. Either way, I love that all the original voice artists got to work together to record this scene. It seems like they had a lot of fun. November is going to be a huge month for princesses, and I can't wait to see what's in store along the way.

Review: Queen of Athelia

Only a few short months after I had finished her addictive Unfinished Fairy Tales series, Aya Ling released a surprise bonus novella called Queen of Athelia to bring Kat's story to a full close. Even though the book is listed as the fourth in the series, it is actually the fifth, as there was another novella that took place in between the first two books called Princess of Athelia . Like that one, Queen of Athelia takes place entirely in the kingdom of Athelia with no references to goblins or trips back to the modern world that Kat grew up in. As a result, the story is surprisingly realistic, focusing on her responsibilities as a mother and heir to the throne with her husband, Prince Edward. It felt less like a fairy tale than the others did, but Aya Ling included a tongue-in-cheek joke about that in the narrative in which Kat points out that fairy tales always end with the wedding because no one wants to hear about all of the messy non-magical things that happen afterward.


The previous two books in the Unfinished Fairy Tales series contained a messy explanation of Kat's inability to survive in both worlds because people in Athelia don't breathe the same oxygen as we do in the real world. She needed the fairies and goblins to band together and find a spell that would change her lungs so that she could breathe Athelian air. If the bodies of people in Athelia work that differently, it seems a little odd that childbirth and nursing are exactly the same there as they are in the real world. There was also a subplot about a city in the kingdom becoming industrialized and polluting the air, making it harder for its inhabitants to breathe. As crown prince and princess, Kat and Edward tried to find a way to convince the duke of the city to clean up his act for its inhabitants. This subplot particularly seemed to contradict the lack of oxygen in Athelia. This book read almost more like historical fiction than it did fantasy, which would be fine for anyone who didn't read the earlier books in the series, but for those of us who did, it's a little hard to suspend our disbelief.

Most of the book was about how Kat's relationship with her newborn son, Eddie, affected her relationship with her husband, Edward. Aya Ling based Eddie off her own little one, so she had plenty of experience with motherhood to write about it believably. Kat was very insistent on bringing up Eddie herself, even if it meant staying up all night next to his crib while he screamed and cried. Since Kat was a princess, Edward and the other palace servants wanted her to get more nursemaids to take care of Eddie so she could attend more royal events such as balls and parties, but she wanted to bring up her son the same way her mother brought her up as an ordinary person in the real world. This seemed admirable at first until it became clear that she was overworking herself the point where it was negatively impacting her own health, so she and Edward were forced to come to a compromise.

The antagonist of the story was a regal lady named Gwendolyn who had designs on Edward before he married Kat. Even at her worst, Gwendolyn did very little to come between the the fairy tale power couple since they were already married and Kat knew that Edward was completely devoted to her. Therefore, Gwendolyn did not make for a true threat to Kat, and the story did not contain a whole lot of suspense. In fact, Kat never really had any interest in competing for Edward's hand from the moment she accidentally tore an old story book and ended up in Athelia. It was always Edward who would fight tooth and nail to win over Kat's favor because he admired her intellect and modern feminist ways. Even though Gwendolyn was a match for Kat in those areas, she lacked her compassion, making Kat the more worthy candidate.

I do not think that Queen of Athelia was a necessary addition to the Unfinished Fairy Tales series, as Ever After  wrapped up the story perfectly. However, the book did come as a nice surprise when I thought the series was already over, and it was fun to be able to jump back into Kat's world and learn what happened to her after happily ever after. The book serves as a reminder that fairy tale worlds aren't really all that different from reality. Sure, it would be nice to have magic, but when it comes right down to it, all anyone ever wants is to be loved and have a close family, which can mean different things for different people. I would only recommend this book to people who completed the rest of the series and were so engrossed by Kat's life that they didn't want the adventure to end.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms Just Dropped a New Trailer!

Eight months after the first trailer for Disney's upcoming movie, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and my foray into the origins of "The Nutcracker," Disney finally released a second trailer. The new one is visually similar to one that was released last December, but it contains significantly more dialogue, giving us a glimpse at the story changes to original fairy tale by E.T.A. Hoffman. Just in case anyone was concerned about the validity of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms as a live-action princess movie as opposed to a regular fairy tale adaptation, Disney makes Clara's status crystal clear by showing a soldier, who is probably the Nutcracker in human form, refer to her as "princess" after being told that her mother created the magical realms and is considered their "queen." Was it really necessary to solidify Clara as a Disney Princess? Probably not, but it was a clever marketing move considering how big of an impact princess culture has had in recent years. You can watch the new trailer below.


Since we haven't seen a nutcracker in either trailer, it's quite possible that the soldier who bows to Clara and calls her "Princess" is, in fact, the titular Nutcracker in human form. Breaking his curse to restore his original body was a big part of the original story, so to do this so quickly would take away some of the suspense if that is the case. Clara's mother also has a much larger role than she did in the fairy tale, even though she is allegedly dead in this version. Of course, if Clara didn't know about the four realms, it stands to reason that she wouldn't know who might be hiding within them, but I won't spoil the movie for myself with mere speculation. A man who greets Clara at the beginning of the trailer tells her that her mother invented everything within the enchanted realms. His visual affiliation with clock gears and inventions make it pretty clear that he is none other than Drosselmeier, the clockmaker who tells Marie about the Nutcracker's curse in the original story. Other changes include more footage of Clara dressed as soldier on her quest to save the realms and the addition of a villain named "Mother Ginger" who wants to conquer them.

A controversial comment from the movie's Facebook page pointed out that Disney has been focusing more on strong female protagonists than ever before, most likely in an attempt to overcome the "Damsel in Distress" stigma. The comment received a lot of flack from other fans who support strong female leads in live-action movies. While this is not a bad thing by any means, I was a little surprised by how much Drosselmeier and the Nutcracker's roles appear to be played down in the trailer. Even though Drosselmeier did not create the enchanted realms in the original fairy tale, he was described as a skilled inventor who could fix even the most elaborate of clocks and had a great deal of knowledge about the Nutcracker, who was his nephew, and the lands he inhabited. If the worlds were created by anyone from the original story, it would make more sense for it to have been Drosselmeier than Clara's mother. If the soldier who guides Clara through the realms is actually the Nutcracker he comes off as incredibly submissive. He puts all of the pressure on Clara to save the kingdom and is never shown fighting alongside her. Has the steady decline of femininity in movies gone so far that male characters no longer have roles to play? Honestly, I can see value in both sides of this argument.

I'm not a huge fan of CGI eye candy overpowering good stories, but I have to say that the visuals in the trailer are by far its greatest strength. It portrayed many of the same scenes as the first trailer, but in more depth. The Narnia-like realm of the Nutcracker is breathtaking and filled with wonder. The viewer is whisked away by to a blizzard of bright color, glitter, dance, and ethereal costumes and architecture. Of all the fantasy worlds I've seen in other live-action movies, this one looks the richest and most complex. The subtle notes of Tchaikovsky's score and pirouette imagery hint that the movie will pay homage to the famous ballet version of the tale while also promising new twists on the story. Even the images of Clara dressed as a soldier in her eye-catching crimson skirt, dark green top, and gold princely accents over her shoulders and chest are stunning. I don't think my eyes will get tired for one second when I see this movie on the big screen.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms will be relaesed on November 2nd. While the story changes I've seen so far feel contrived and not all that exciting to me, I am eager to immerse my senses in the colorful new worlds that Disney has created. With its strong feminist spin, the movie looks like it will be along the same vein as Maleficent  from 2014 and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland from 2010. It's an exciting time for female empowerment in the media, but let's hope that the Nutcracker is not completely overshadowed by Clara's grace and majesty.

The Princess Blog Is Celebrating Its First Year!

One year ago today, I decided I needed a better outlet for my writing. I hadn't released any new books in a few years, and I was on an indefinite hiatus from my screenwriting. I needed a way to share my love of fairy tales and dreams that would be easily accessible to a wider audience. It needed to a place where I could share my knowledge with the world without getting too personal. Thus, The Princess Blog was born.

A princess-themed blog seemed like the obvious choice, given that once upon a time, I ran a large Disney Princess fan group on LiveJournal, produced a hefty number of princess music video mash-ups, and later earned the nickname "Princess" at one of my office jobs. Around the time I started my blog, I was a fan of the women's news site HelloGiggles and noticed that they had been posting fewer princess articles than they used to. The Princess Blog needed to be a resource that people could depend on for the latest princess news, so I developed the tagline "Your Resource For All Things Princess."


The blog went through a lot of changes since last August. It would be several months before I stopped using one of Blogger's default layouts with monochrome pink roses over a maroon backgrounded and switched to a look that better matched the theming of The Princess Blog with a brightly colored fairy tale castle. The redesign came about as a result of my YouTube channel, The Princess Vlog, where I would read my blog posts out loud under the guise of a cartoon character. I continue uploading videos to The Princess Vlog whenever I can spare the time, but it gets significantly fewer views than the blog equivalent.

Leading up to my extensive 100th post, I managed to come up with a new princess-related topic to write about every single day. Since then, I have still had at least one new post every week, including over 30 weeks straight of princess book reviews. I also practiced my storytelling skills by writing original fairy tales for with Story Saturday until my creativity wells began to dry out. My Facbook page received tons of new subscribers after I ran an ad featuring my post about how the succession laws in Sofia the First mirrored changes that had passed through parliament recently for real-life princesses. My blog is still a work in progress. Though I can't predict what the future holds, I can promise you that I will continue to do my best to bring you the latest news and reviews for all things princess.


In honor of this auspicious occasion, I am offering Rebirth: A Faery's Tale , my personal favorite of the novels I have written, for just 99 cents on Amazon Kindle today only. It tells the story of Aurelia, a fire faery who struggles with her amorous feelings toward a human blacksmith that she cannot touch without burning him. It is filled with romance and whimsy. I hope that you enjoy reading this fantasy novella as much as I enjoyed writing it. Just like Aurelia, I wish to revive The Princess Blog again every year so it stays new and exciting for all of its loyal followers. I would like to thank all of you, my loyal readers, for standing by me over the past year and supporting my efforts. If it weren't for you, I would lose the motivation to keep writing, so consider this one-time offer my way of saying "Thank you."

Now that I've hit this milestone, you might be wondering what's next for me. In October, I will begin a workshop for UCLA's Professional Program in Screenwriting Online to develop my story The Stolen Jewel into a feature-length screenplay. I will still do my best to write in my blog at least once a week about the latest happenings in the princess fandom. Perhaps one day, I will be able to blog a little about professional screenwriting as well. Just like the princesses who inspire me, I hope to continue pursuing my dreams until I am able to transform them into a reality. I encourage you, my faithful readers, to do the same. If I can provide inspiration to just one other person through my writing, all of my eforts will be worthwhile. Here's to many more magical years of The Princess Blog!

Review: Princess Academy

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale is the first Newbery Award-winning princess book I've read since Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. To me, it felt like the book was trying a little too hard to become a modern classic, even though it obviously succeeded. It's not quite what you would expect from a princess book, as it is not a fairy tale adaptation and doesn't contain any familiar characters. For the first few chapters, it seems to take place in a completely non-magical world. I didn't enjoy the beginning of the book very much, but it grew on me as I went along. Though it is not one of my favorite princess books, I can understand how it won so many awards. If I had to compare it to something I've read in the past, it's most similar to Matilda  by Roald Dahl.


Princess Academy tells the story of Miri, a simple mountain girl whose village gets selected by the king's priests for the prince to find his future bride. Per Danlandian tradition, all girls in the mountain territory who are of age must attend an academy to learn how to become proper princesses so they will be prepared when the prince makes his selection. Though this sounds like the perfect set-up for a modern-day reality TV show where girls are jealous and catty, that turns out not to be the case at all. Mount Eskel girls are hard workers who are fiercely loyal to their homeland and all who reside there. This works out in their favor when they learn that they must study under a strict headmistress named Olana who prides herself on disciplinary tactics such as beating girls on their wrists for speaking out of turn and locking them in closets for misbehaving. By banding together instead of competing with each other, Miri and her companions manage to overcome Olana's abuse.

The book is a deconstruction of the fairy tale narrative by breaking down stereotypes and modernizing them to apply to the real world.  Most of the girls at the academy have little interest in winning the prince's heart because they don't know enough about him to want to marry him. Miri has a realistic perspective on the thought of being a princess. She thinks it's fun to fantasize about, but remains unsure whether or not it would truly bring her happiness. The requirements to become the Academy Princess, which is similar to a valedictorian, do not involve winning Prince Steffan's affections, but instead being the hardest worker in the school. Thanks to the academy, the mountain girls have an opportunity to learn reading, history, and arithmetic, an opportunity that they would not have been granted otherwise due to residing in such a small territory. Miri takes her studies very seriously in spite of her dislike of Olana's methods. She quickly transforms into an avid reader and uses her knowledge to try to improve the lives of her family and others who live on the mountain.

The fantasy aspect of the book comes into play gradually and is taken for granted by most of the residents on Mount Eskel. The quarry workers use a telepathy-like ability called "quarry speech" to hear each other over the loud noises they make during their labor. Until Miri discovers that it could be used outside of the quarry, no one on the mountain had thought of it as supernatural. While she continues to pursue her studies, Miri also strengthens her ability to use quarry speech by performing tests to determine how she can use it to the fullest potential. The skill requires her to make up songs in her mind. As a result, each chapter of the book begins with a song verse that serves as a metaphor for what happens in that chapter.  The quarry speech adds a supernatural element to the story, but not quite enough to make it feel like a true fairy tale.

Princess Academy is a great novel for younger girls to understand the values of education, teamwork, and loyalty, but does not have much to offer to fairy tale fans in general, It did not feel like a traditional princess story as much as it did a modern classic that promotes contemporary values. While there is certainly nothing wrong with that, the book did not move me emotionally in the same way as the romance and adventure from other princess books I've read in the past did. I would recommend this book for young girls who want to read about a character they can relate to who is attending school. For fairy tale fans, it can be a hit or miss. If you enjoy this book, it is the first in a trilogy with two sequels. I have also published a book of poetry that is similar to Miri's quarry speech called Castle [and other poems about growing up in a fairy tale world], which is available in Kindle and paperback formats on Amazon.