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A Counterfeit Princess
According to the old prophet, the dragon cannot be slain until he has devoured a princess. Princesses, however, are valuable, and in short supply.
And so a peasant girl is condemned to die instead. Locked into an iron cage and dressed in royal finery, she is taken by a troop of soldiers to the ruined city beneath the dragon's lair...
So begins this unusual tale of adventure and intrigue, as three kingdoms strive for dominance, and an unknown peasant girl becomes the key to her world's hidden destiny.
And so a peasant girl is condemned to die instead. Locked into an iron cage and dressed in royal finery, she is taken by a troop of soldiers to the ruined city beneath the dragon's lair...
So begins this unusual tale of adventure and intrigue, as three kingdoms strive for dominance, and an unknown peasant girl becomes the key to her world's hidden destiny.
340 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2018
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 9, 2024
the idea of this novel is fantastic: king wants to start a war, but a dragon is literally physically in the way, so he has to kill the dragon. prophecy says the dragon can't be slain until he eats a princess, so naturally they dress a peasant girl as a princess and send her off to be eaten...
perspective switching is a stupid fantasy trend i often complain about. here the story is told with constant perspective switching between many characters, but it actually works! it's clearly one story as seen in multiple pieces, not two stories told in the same world. counterintuitively, the sheer number of characters contributes to the feeling that it's all one big story. and each section is more interesting because of another that preceded it (which is really what perspective switching SHOULD be for)
but something about the writing style didn't really speak to me, so while i enjoyed it didn't love it overall
perspective switching is a stupid fantasy trend i often complain about. here the story is told with constant perspective switching between many characters, but it actually works! it's clearly one story as seen in multiple pieces, not two stories told in the same world. counterintuitively, the sheer number of characters contributes to the feeling that it's all one big story. and each section is more interesting because of another that preceded it (which is really what perspective switching SHOULD be for)
but something about the writing style didn't really speak to me, so while i enjoyed it didn't love it overall
September 7, 2023
I enjoyed this fantasy adventure. It had some Game of Thrones vibes with the multiple character pov’s, the political moves & not getting happy endings (but way less violence, easier to follow & PG13 friendly) I was left wanting more from some of the characters & to see where this world will go from here. A nice quick fantasy read with an easy to follow writing style.
June 13, 2018
I really enjoyed this book and am left wanting more of the story. I can only hope that there will be more in this world and with these characters. They came to life on the pages and the story was an excellent read.
August 24, 2018
Fantastic!
What a great take on the hero's journey! Bedwell weaves a tale together with an amazing cast of characters and a glorious bravado. As with his debut novel, I plan to use this in my secondary classroom, Theatre/English. Bedwell's voice, style and tone evokes everyman and allows everyone the opportunity to travel the journey with his dynamic cast!
What a great take on the hero's journey! Bedwell weaves a tale together with an amazing cast of characters and a glorious bravado. As with his debut novel, I plan to use this in my secondary classroom, Theatre/English. Bedwell's voice, style and tone evokes everyman and allows everyone the opportunity to travel the journey with his dynamic cast!
June 10, 2020
Intriguing ideas and characters, and good expansion on them. Very passive, a lot of the action particularly in the first half of the book is narrated rather than shown, but it's written well and I enjoyed it. Within the last couple pages, I wasn't sure it would conclude satisfactorily for a single book, but it held out practically until the final line to leave with a strong ending. Nicely done.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews