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Princess of Roumania #1
A Princess of Roumania
This is a truly magical tale, full of strangeness, terrors and wonders. Many girls daydream that they are really a princess adopted by commoners. In the case of teenager Miranda Popescu, this is literally true. Because she is at the fulcrum of a deadly political battle between conjurers in an alternate world where "Roumania" is a leading European power, Miranda was hidden by her aunt in our world, where she was adopted and raised in a quiet Massachusetts college town.
The narrative is split between our world and the people in Roumania working to protect or to capture Miranda: her Aunt Aegypta Schenck versus the mad Baroness Ceaucescu in Bucharest, and the sinister alchemist, the Elector of Ratisbon, who holds her true mother prisoner in Germany. This is the story of how Miranda -- with her two best friends, Peter and Andromeda -- is brought back to her home reality. Each of them is changed in the process and all will have much to learn about their true identities and the strange world they find themselves in.
This story is a triumph of contemporary fantasy.
The narrative is split between our world and the people in Roumania working to protect or to capture Miranda: her Aunt Aegypta Schenck versus the mad Baroness Ceaucescu in Bucharest, and the sinister alchemist, the Elector of Ratisbon, who holds her true mother prisoner in Germany. This is the story of how Miranda -- with her two best friends, Peter and Andromeda -- is brought back to her home reality. Each of them is changed in the process and all will have much to learn about their true identities and the strange world they find themselves in.
This story is a triumph of contemporary fantasy.
480 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 2005
About the author
Paul Park
61 books49 followersPaul Park (born 1954) is an American science fiction author and fantasy author. He lives in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children. He also teaches a Reading and Writing Science Fiction course at Williams College. He has also taught several times at the Clarion West Writing Workshop.
Park appeared on the American science fiction scene in 1987 and quickly established himself as a writer of polished, if often grim, literary science fiction. His first work was the Starbridge Chronicles trilogy, set on a world with generations-long seasons much like Brian Aldiss' Helliconia trilogy. His critically acclaimed novels have since dealt with colonialism on alien worlds (Coelestis), Biblical (Three Marys) and theosophical (The Gospel of Corax) legends, a parallel world where magic works (A Princess of Roumania and its sequels, The Tourmaline, The White Tyger and The Hidden World), and other topics. He has published short stories in Omni Magazine, Interzone and other magazines.
Park appeared on the American science fiction scene in 1987 and quickly established himself as a writer of polished, if often grim, literary science fiction. His first work was the Starbridge Chronicles trilogy, set on a world with generations-long seasons much like Brian Aldiss' Helliconia trilogy. His critically acclaimed novels have since dealt with colonialism on alien worlds (Coelestis), Biblical (Three Marys) and theosophical (The Gospel of Corax) legends, a parallel world where magic works (A Princess of Roumania and its sequels, The Tourmaline, The White Tyger and The Hidden World), and other topics. He has published short stories in Omni Magazine, Interzone and other magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
September 25, 2021
-Problemas técnicos que afectan a una trama ya de por si algo confusa.-
Género. Narrativa fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Una princesa de Roumania (publicación original: A Princess of Roumania, 2005) nos presenta a Miranda, una joven que vive en Massachussetts, de origen rumano y adoptada en tiempos de la caída de régimen de Ceaucescu. Sus recuerdos, algunas sensaciones y varios incidentes de carácter extraño la llevarán a conocer sus verdaderos orígenes, unos que están en una realidad distinta a la nuestra. Primer libro de la serie Princesa de Roumania.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
Género. Narrativa fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Una princesa de Roumania (publicación original: A Princess of Roumania, 2005) nos presenta a Miranda, una joven que vive en Massachussetts, de origen rumano y adoptada en tiempos de la caída de régimen de Ceaucescu. Sus recuerdos, algunas sensaciones y varios incidentes de carácter extraño la llevarán a conocer sus verdaderos orígenes, unos que están en una realidad distinta a la nuestra. Primer libro de la serie Princesa de Roumania.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
August 21, 2010
Although I can see why this book has such a low rating, it certainly doesn't deserve it. If I came into it with a lot of expectations (since the publishers marketed it as though it were some kind of romantic YA fantasy), I'd rate it low too. It's basically a 400+-page prelude to the next book. Half of the narrative doesn't involve the main characters. The pace is positively glacial. However, the premise and the world of the novel (an alternate Romania) are both really fascinating and they kept the downsides from being huge deterrents. Instead of romantic, the story is grubby and deceptive. It also makes me want to go back and read the other two books in the Celestis trilogy. Well, the whole trilogy really.
So ignore that low rating, it's worth it.
So ignore that low rating, it's worth it.
January 30, 2009
Ok, I'm going to try not to rave too much about this book, but it's SO GOOD! It sounds like it's going to be standard issue fantasy -- an adopted girl in a small town starts having weird stuff happen around her and discovers that she is a princess who is destined to fight evil in a magic world.
But everyone in this book acts like a real person, not a fantasy trope. The 'evil' characters don't think they're evil. The heroine is more concerned with her relationship with her parents than fulfilling her destiny. Her sidekicks have their own priorities. Everybody makes mistakes, they have regrets, they change their plans, they have weird obsessions, they act on whims and faulty information.
So many books that try to subvert or avoid tropes end up being stiff, boring, and self-conscious, but this one is both compelling and realistic. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.
But everyone in this book acts like a real person, not a fantasy trope. The 'evil' characters don't think they're evil. The heroine is more concerned with her relationship with her parents than fulfilling her destiny. Her sidekicks have their own priorities. Everybody makes mistakes, they have regrets, they change their plans, they have weird obsessions, they act on whims and faulty information.
So many books that try to subvert or avoid tropes end up being stiff, boring, and self-conscious, but this one is both compelling and realistic. I can't wait to read the rest of the series.
June 18, 2008
The basic idea for this book is a good one. A regular girl is drawn into an alternate world, and learns that she is a princess and that our world was an elaborate fiction created to hide her. The setting is fantastic, an alternate reality with a drastically different political situation, less technological advancement, and an inexplicable magical system.
It starts out painfully slow, and there are plenty of other parts where the pacing feels off. The concept of the book is "girl gets transported to an alternate reality," but the first fifth of the novel is set in the normal world. Much of that is drama that isn't really relevant to the plot and doesn't even give us that much of an handle on Miranda.
Things pick up for awhile after Miranda and her mysteriously changed friends leave our world behind. But after a quick, desperate struggle, she ends up drifting through encounters with soldiers, hunters, spirits, and savages, most of whom are barely introduced and entirely unexplained before they either die or run like hell after realizing that being involved in this plot is seriously unhealthy. Very little happens.
The bad guys in Roumania have a more interesting story and are better characterized than the heroine and her friends, but their stories are also occasionally muddy.
Park barely touches on how the magic in the world works. It's a key feature of the plot, but I still have no real concept of it's capabilities or limitations. I assume this was intentional, but as a fantasy reader it's very disorienting to not have any understanding of the system's rules. Why can one character cause disease and create illusions half a world away when he can't use it to further his more local goals? Since there's no framework to explain this, the magic seems more like a plot device than a real part of the setting.
The book is written in an interesting style. At times it goes into dreamy prose that, while it has some enchanting moments, is mostly just frustrating. Some of the viewpoint changes are so jarring that it can take several paragraphs to realize that you've jumped between characters.
Good idea, poor execution. I'll probably read the next one just to see what happens to the best of the villains, but maybe Miranda will get more interesting.
It starts out painfully slow, and there are plenty of other parts where the pacing feels off. The concept of the book is "girl gets transported to an alternate reality," but the first fifth of the novel is set in the normal world. Much of that is drama that isn't really relevant to the plot and doesn't even give us that much of an handle on Miranda.
Things pick up for awhile after Miranda and her mysteriously changed friends leave our world behind. But after a quick, desperate struggle, she ends up drifting through encounters with soldiers, hunters, spirits, and savages, most of whom are barely introduced and entirely unexplained before they either die or run like hell after realizing that being involved in this plot is seriously unhealthy. Very little happens.
The bad guys in Roumania have a more interesting story and are better characterized than the heroine and her friends, but their stories are also occasionally muddy.
Park barely touches on how the magic in the world works. It's a key feature of the plot, but I still have no real concept of it's capabilities or limitations. I assume this was intentional, but as a fantasy reader it's very disorienting to not have any understanding of the system's rules. Why can one character cause disease and create illusions half a world away when he can't use it to further his more local goals? Since there's no framework to explain this, the magic seems more like a plot device than a real part of the setting.
The book is written in an interesting style. At times it goes into dreamy prose that, while it has some enchanting moments, is mostly just frustrating. Some of the viewpoint changes are so jarring that it can take several paragraphs to realize that you've jumped between characters.
Good idea, poor execution. I'll probably read the next one just to see what happens to the best of the villains, but maybe Miranda will get more interesting.
July 26, 2016
I'm mystified by all of the low ratings on this one. One of the better fantasy books I've read in some time. In fact, the first 3 of the series are quite good. Why Park extended this to 4 books is beyond me. The final book really didn't work for me, which kind of sucks after you invested so much time in the series. I think Park rushed these books, and should have given each of them the layering and care that I found in the first book (and, arguably, the first 3). It could have been one of the great fantasy series of all time. Still, I do want to re-read the last book in hope that I missed something. Baroness Nicola Ceaucescu is one of the more fascinating (and complex) fantasy villains that I've ever run across. (The 5 star rating is for the first book.)
April 4, 2008
I actually did not finish this book. I stopped at page 243. I no longer cared enough to spend any more time reading it when I have so many other books to try or great ones to reread. I would give it one star, but I actually would like to know what happens in the end. I just don't want to have to do the work to get there.
March 19, 2008
This is a coming of age story about a young woman who discovers that, in addition to being an orphan, she is also from another dimension. In fact the most interesting quirk of the novel is the way that Park makes our world the one that isn't real (very Matrixesque). He also spends a significant portion of the book inside the heads of the "villains," increasing our sympathy for them and changing the feel of the conflict between them and our heroine and her friends. Despite all the accolades that have been lavished on this novel, I found myself bored in a number of places. Firstly, while the characters are somewhat compelling, they also feel too contrived (without being cool) to grip me. Secondly, the first five chapters of the books are confusing. Park is bumping around between dimensions without drawing the connections between the story lines and characters that would make their stories understandable. I think he was going for the, "wow, this is a mystery, let's keep reading," effect, but he just created frustration. Thirdly, while I appreciated complexity and interest of the villains, it took away time from understanding the heroine and made her less compelling. In addition the transitions between the sections with the heroine and the sections with others were often abrupt and jarring and interfered with the flow of the story. All in all, while this is an interesting universe with fairly interesting characters, the style of the story was such that I'm not sure I will pick up the sequel.
December 26, 2011
About 120 pages into this book, the plot is still not very compelling and the characters are still fuzzy. After 163 pages I gave up, deciding that I have too many enticing books on my to-be-read shelf to waste my time with characters I don't like.
April 27, 2025
It's such a pity that this novel is so overlooked. When it comes to young adult fiction, I tend to only read what I already know -- with a view to putting together a collection for my daughter. I will put this book on the shelf alongside Le Guin's Earthsea and hope that she enjoys Park's scary, intriguing approach to magic of illusions and a most unusual "secret princess" as much as I did. Beyond that familiar trope, the story is full of unexpected twists and the engagement with Romanian (and Central-Eastern European, more broadly) folklore and fairy-tale tradition and history is very thoughtful.
October 20, 2018
Anyone who's somewhat familiar with 20th century European history will probably have come to the conclusion that, past a certain point, Romania was not a really . . . great place to live. With having a fascist dictator who thought Hitler had the right idea to the Soviets taking over and draining the country dry like a tick with voracious appetite to follow up dictator Nicolae Ceausescu finally forcing people to say "enough of this nonsense" and straight up executing him and his wife via firing squad after a revolution (albeit not before lots of other people were killed first), its like the government was in a contest to see how many possible ways there were to brutally oppress people, with the only prize the opportunity to just keep on doing it.
So of course its the perfect alternate world setting for magical fantasy!
Paul Park is no stranger to things going poorly in fantastic settings . . . the only book I was of his "Coelestis", dealt with colonialism and didn't have the most upbeat of endings if I recall correctly. I've read nothing else of his since, although years ago I spotted this when it came out and thought it looked interesting. Since the cover copy mentions that the story continues in "The Tourmaline" I waited until I had that as well and then apparently didn't notice that the story keeps going for two more books which I don't seem to have and will eventually get around to fixing, if not for no other reason than finishing what I start.
The premise is . . . not exactly simple. Teenage Miranda was adopted when she was very young and has only scattered memories of her life before coming to Massachusetts with her new parents. She's a fairly typical teenager, hanging out with her best friend Andromeda and sort of hanging out with socially awkward and one handed classmate Peter Gross. But she keeps getting hints that she wasn't a typical baby and in another placed called Roumania the Baroness Ceausescu is going forth with complicated plans to, ah . . . well, I'm not exactly sure what her plans are.
As you can probably figure out, the magical world of "Roumania" is Miranda's real home and its not too long before she gets summoned back there with her two friends so they can spend a good portion of time being very confused and running for their lives, all the while receiving various hints on what they should be doing when people aren't trying to shoot and/or capture them.
Its a bit of a strange novel, an attempt to give us a fantasy world where magic isn't blatant, without wizards and elves and all the other genre trappings. Where magic does exist its fairly subtle and ranges from actual magical spells to speaking with the dead to strange creatures or weird dream worlds. In fact, if you were skimming the proceedings you might not even realize its supposed to be a fantasy book at all. Instead, at times it almost works better as a straight alternate history, with Roumania as a major European power in a world where England doesn't seem to exist (it appears to be underwater) and Germany is their main opposition. In fact, early on the prospect of some good old fashioned 19th century political maneuvering between the elector of Germany and the Baroness with Miranda as the pawn in between them holds more potential interest than the idea of some kind of background magical war erupting, as Miranda's real aunt appears to be trying to get her in a position to do something (and her mother is imprisoned in Germany) that will probably involve her becoming a symbol to everyone, or something.
Unfortunately, despite having lots of elements of things I like in novels it just doesn't hang together for some reason. Early on when we don't know what's going on we're in the same boat as Miranda and her crew and that feels right, as she's walking into a fight that started before she was born and she can't play catch up because everyone she meets knows a different piece of the whole story. But as the book goes on the stakes don't become any clearer. The baroness and the elector appear to be engaging in some kind of high level game (and the elector is doing his own dance with the government, who appears ready to invade) but the end result isn't clear at all and so after a while you're not entirely sure what the fuss is about.
Not knowing what the rules are with magic doesn't help either . . . magic appears so rarely that its hard to tell what's magical and what's just plain weirdness. Park does weirdness well but when nothing is explained properly there's only so much "going with it" you can manage. Having Miranda bring her two friends is fine, but then people start referring to her two friends by the names of comrades of her fathers and then one of her friends turns into a dog . . . its supposed to be elusive and mysterious but it winds up being a bunch of confused people remaining confused.
Perhaps the most off-putting aspect of the novel is how . . . flat it feels. Park is a good writer and when things get subtly weird his prose can elevate scenes to a dreamlike state but for the most part the book feels trapped in a grey haze, not so much dreamlike as drearily narcotic. Everyone feels like they're floundering around and scenes often just sit there, never springing to life. Everyone in the book feels like they're going through the motions without any verve and it puts a weird distance between you and the characters, like you're seeing them under soundproofed glass. The pace never seems to rise above "languid" and so you keep reading hoping for some definite direction to approach. I'm not looking for a mysterious wizard to give her some jewelry to toss into a volcano but after several hundred pages I'd like to feel like the characters are working toward a concrete goal other than pure survival.
And as usual with this kind of publishing strategy, the book doesn't properly end when its supposed to, basically finding a stopping point so you can pick it up in the next volume . . . but it doesn't feel like a series where each novel has its own B-plot that ties into the overarching A-plot as much as this was just the point where the publisher wanted to cut it off. Call me old fashioned but there's something to be said for giving a reader an individual reading experience between the covers, with some cliffhangers to entice them to grab the next volume. Here, they're just hoping you'll be intrigued enough to keep going but unless you're locked into this book's vibe I wouldn't take that as a given.
So of course its the perfect alternate world setting for magical fantasy!
Paul Park is no stranger to things going poorly in fantastic settings . . . the only book I was of his "Coelestis", dealt with colonialism and didn't have the most upbeat of endings if I recall correctly. I've read nothing else of his since, although years ago I spotted this when it came out and thought it looked interesting. Since the cover copy mentions that the story continues in "The Tourmaline" I waited until I had that as well and then apparently didn't notice that the story keeps going for two more books which I don't seem to have and will eventually get around to fixing, if not for no other reason than finishing what I start.
The premise is . . . not exactly simple. Teenage Miranda was adopted when she was very young and has only scattered memories of her life before coming to Massachusetts with her new parents. She's a fairly typical teenager, hanging out with her best friend Andromeda and sort of hanging out with socially awkward and one handed classmate Peter Gross. But she keeps getting hints that she wasn't a typical baby and in another placed called Roumania the Baroness Ceausescu is going forth with complicated plans to, ah . . . well, I'm not exactly sure what her plans are.
As you can probably figure out, the magical world of "Roumania" is Miranda's real home and its not too long before she gets summoned back there with her two friends so they can spend a good portion of time being very confused and running for their lives, all the while receiving various hints on what they should be doing when people aren't trying to shoot and/or capture them.
Its a bit of a strange novel, an attempt to give us a fantasy world where magic isn't blatant, without wizards and elves and all the other genre trappings. Where magic does exist its fairly subtle and ranges from actual magical spells to speaking with the dead to strange creatures or weird dream worlds. In fact, if you were skimming the proceedings you might not even realize its supposed to be a fantasy book at all. Instead, at times it almost works better as a straight alternate history, with Roumania as a major European power in a world where England doesn't seem to exist (it appears to be underwater) and Germany is their main opposition. In fact, early on the prospect of some good old fashioned 19th century political maneuvering between the elector of Germany and the Baroness with Miranda as the pawn in between them holds more potential interest than the idea of some kind of background magical war erupting, as Miranda's real aunt appears to be trying to get her in a position to do something (and her mother is imprisoned in Germany) that will probably involve her becoming a symbol to everyone, or something.
Unfortunately, despite having lots of elements of things I like in novels it just doesn't hang together for some reason. Early on when we don't know what's going on we're in the same boat as Miranda and her crew and that feels right, as she's walking into a fight that started before she was born and she can't play catch up because everyone she meets knows a different piece of the whole story. But as the book goes on the stakes don't become any clearer. The baroness and the elector appear to be engaging in some kind of high level game (and the elector is doing his own dance with the government, who appears ready to invade) but the end result isn't clear at all and so after a while you're not entirely sure what the fuss is about.
Not knowing what the rules are with magic doesn't help either . . . magic appears so rarely that its hard to tell what's magical and what's just plain weirdness. Park does weirdness well but when nothing is explained properly there's only so much "going with it" you can manage. Having Miranda bring her two friends is fine, but then people start referring to her two friends by the names of comrades of her fathers and then one of her friends turns into a dog . . . its supposed to be elusive and mysterious but it winds up being a bunch of confused people remaining confused.
Perhaps the most off-putting aspect of the novel is how . . . flat it feels. Park is a good writer and when things get subtly weird his prose can elevate scenes to a dreamlike state but for the most part the book feels trapped in a grey haze, not so much dreamlike as drearily narcotic. Everyone feels like they're floundering around and scenes often just sit there, never springing to life. Everyone in the book feels like they're going through the motions without any verve and it puts a weird distance between you and the characters, like you're seeing them under soundproofed glass. The pace never seems to rise above "languid" and so you keep reading hoping for some definite direction to approach. I'm not looking for a mysterious wizard to give her some jewelry to toss into a volcano but after several hundred pages I'd like to feel like the characters are working toward a concrete goal other than pure survival.
And as usual with this kind of publishing strategy, the book doesn't properly end when its supposed to, basically finding a stopping point so you can pick it up in the next volume . . . but it doesn't feel like a series where each novel has its own B-plot that ties into the overarching A-plot as much as this was just the point where the publisher wanted to cut it off. Call me old fashioned but there's something to be said for giving a reader an individual reading experience between the covers, with some cliffhangers to entice them to grab the next volume. Here, they're just hoping you'll be intrigued enough to keep going but unless you're locked into this book's vibe I wouldn't take that as a given.
March 21, 2010
this series is actually very good, it's not some romance type fantasy filled with teenage angst. I really hate that genre(sorry, romance lovers) I don't think he should have named the first book this though, because that's what i thought it was from the title and the cover pic. Honestly, I think it got such low reviews on here because many of the people who picked it up to read thought they were picking up a romance/fantasy and it is in now way that. It is definitely not a princessy (like the title says),cookie cutter fantasy. I got it for 10 cents at a lawnsale and decided to try it or i never would have ever got this book.
It is set in an alternate world that is very much like ours except that Roumania is a world power, America is still largely unexplored and some other differences that i don't remember cause i read it awhile ago. The book deals largely with the political factions of Russia and Roumania. There are no elves or wizards- the characters are all real people. It jumps around to dif. POV's and has some great ideas. It is extremely well-written and original. I was just going through my books, saw this and had to tell people what an excellent book i thought it was. so good that i went out and got the rest of the books as soon as i could. I even bought the final 2 books new as they were coming out and i hardly ever buy new books
It is set in an alternate world that is very much like ours except that Roumania is a world power, America is still largely unexplored and some other differences that i don't remember cause i read it awhile ago. The book deals largely with the political factions of Russia and Roumania. There are no elves or wizards- the characters are all real people. It jumps around to dif. POV's and has some great ideas. It is extremely well-written and original. I was just going through my books, saw this and had to tell people what an excellent book i thought it was. so good that i went out and got the rest of the books as soon as i could. I even bought the final 2 books new as they were coming out and i hardly ever buy new books
February 14, 2017
I started reading this once and ended up putting it down. I just tried it again because the premise is an interesting one. Sadly, this time around I had to force myself to finish it.
This is a very frustrating book. First of all (major pet peeve here) there is nothing anywhere on my copy that indicates it is the first of a series. Not until you reach the end where nothing is resolved and there is a preview of the next book do you get that information. I tend to buy full series all at once rather than one book at a time, so if I had known that it was the first of a series I would have waited and gotten them all at once. It is a personal quirk that I can't really stand cliffhangers.
The second reason this book is frustrating is because it meanders meaninglessly for the vast majority of the pages. I am truly disappointed that the Tor editors let this go through as it is, because approximately 75% of the book could have been trimmed and still not made any difference to the story. Characters don't grow or change, plotlines are ridiculously convoluted, and there is really very little anywhere in the book that makes you care about any of the main characters.
All in all, I honestly could not recommend this book to anyone. I have absolutely no interest in picking up the rest of the series because I don't really care about the characters or the people around them.
This is a very frustrating book. First of all (major pet peeve here) there is nothing anywhere on my copy that indicates it is the first of a series. Not until you reach the end where nothing is resolved and there is a preview of the next book do you get that information. I tend to buy full series all at once rather than one book at a time, so if I had known that it was the first of a series I would have waited and gotten them all at once. It is a personal quirk that I can't really stand cliffhangers.
The second reason this book is frustrating is because it meanders meaninglessly for the vast majority of the pages. I am truly disappointed that the Tor editors let this go through as it is, because approximately 75% of the book could have been trimmed and still not made any difference to the story. Characters don't grow or change, plotlines are ridiculously convoluted, and there is really very little anywhere in the book that makes you care about any of the main characters.
All in all, I honestly could not recommend this book to anyone. I have absolutely no interest in picking up the rest of the series because I don't really care about the characters or the people around them.
March 29, 2008
First let me be clear that my rating books has changed since I first joined good reads. It is now only those books that I would read again and again or how a powerful impact in my life that will get five stars. 3 is a book I liked, but probably not read again. This book falls somewhere between a two and a three. There were parts of it that I loved. When it comes to the imagination of the author I was truly blown away but his inventiveness and story ideas. But by the time I had 100 pages left I found myself flipping often to the last page to see how much more I had to sit through. Besides one awkward scene at the beginning I was really enjoying it. Although I found myself oddly enough enjoying the parts about the bad guys better, and I think that is because he really did great character development there, while our main "Princess" and her friends just bothered me. And if you are expecting a love story, don't. Hinted at way to many times and then left with no real conclusion. I began to think of this book as I do some of the American Idol top 12. Obviously they can sign, just as obviously this author could write and invent a great fantasy world, but sometimes it just grates on you. Read it prepared for a sequel, which I probably will read because I still hope for the characters.
December 8, 2018
Paul Park is one of those writers that you didn't realize you had been looking for until you find him.
Much is made of the autobiographical accents of these books, but what I find most fascinating is his turning of the standard "hero's journey" narrative on its head. To give too much away is to deny some of the vertiginous joy of the narrative, so I won't say much other than, what happens when your hero refuses to play by the rules of the formal narrative construct you've put her in?
Make no mistake, this is no simple metafictional trickery. Miranda is a deeply compassionate character in a morally difficult situation and she makes choices that shocked and delighted me.
I look forward to the next two books in the series.
P.S. I am curious about Park's relationship to World War I in this book. It pops up in name in one of the more shocking reveals in this book, but it also seems to be a sort of constant model for Roumanian/German conflict throughout. Germany seems to be waiting for that one spark, which misfires a few times. Fascinating.
Much is made of the autobiographical accents of these books, but what I find most fascinating is his turning of the standard "hero's journey" narrative on its head. To give too much away is to deny some of the vertiginous joy of the narrative, so I won't say much other than, what happens when your hero refuses to play by the rules of the formal narrative construct you've put her in?
Make no mistake, this is no simple metafictional trickery. Miranda is a deeply compassionate character in a morally difficult situation and she makes choices that shocked and delighted me.
I look forward to the next two books in the series.
P.S. I am curious about Park's relationship to World War I in this book. It pops up in name in one of the more shocking reveals in this book, but it also seems to be a sort of constant model for Roumanian/German conflict throughout. Germany seems to be waiting for that one spark, which misfires a few times. Fascinating.
May 29, 2009
This is the first book in a new trilogy and the title character is a young woman named Miranda Popescu, a girl in her teens living in western Massachusetts. But all that's about to change as she soon learns that she's a princess from an alternate world where Roumania is one of Europe's power players in the 19th century. She and two of her friends find themselves back in this world and somewhat changed in the process. There's political intrigue and interesting characters doing weird things. There's conjurers, spirit animals, simulacrums masquerading as real people, and other oddness. It all makes for a curiously bizarre yet sometimes confusing tale. But ultimately you start piecing together the confusing elements and it's an enjoyable book. Looking forward to continuing this trilogy. (Also, I've read this author before and he's got a unique imagination.)
April 14, 2007
It took me a while to get into this book. I had received a free advance copy of the mass market copy of this book at a SF convention and with a lack of anything to do during some downtime, started reading. Honestly, the only reason I finished the first one hundred pages was because someone I knew was really enjoying it. After the hundred-page mark, the story picked up and I didn't tend notice the somewhat verbose writing style as much. I don't think I'll pick up the sequel, though. This book is probably going to be end up in my library donations box. I enjoyed the last half but it wasn't very memorable.
November 10, 2008
I could barely make myself finish this book. It was a gift from my pop, who bought it based on a newspaper review suggesting that this book was like Harry Potter. Yikes. It was not like Harry Potter - it was not easy to read, or funny, or good, or anthing. It was confusing - I felt like whole chapters must have been missing because I couldn't always follow the plot. Or else maybe I was such a sloppy reader that I really missed whole major sequences. I'm not sure, but man, don't read this.
April 4, 2008
Hard to get into. Too many characters with too little invested in them, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who was working for whom. It's an intriguing idea, but tries to hard to be highbrow and fails at making itself understandable enough to be enjoyable.
November 17, 2008
Good premise for the story - I love a good alternate universe! Unfortunately, the book was very hard to follow and I couldn't care less about any of the characters. I didn't bother reading the other books in the series. Maybe I'm too old to be reading about disaffected teenagers........
June 27, 2026
Rec. by: A random encounter
Rec. for: Monarchs in exile
I last read one of Paul Park's books back in 2014, and I don't think I was ready for that one, then. But once I ran across his 2005 novel A Princess of Roumania on the "free" shelf at my local branch library, and read the cover blurbs from luminaries like Ursula K. Le Guin, Jonathan Lethem and John Crowley, I just had to pick up this copy... and never mind the fact that I'd previously passed it by for more than twenty years.
This is not our Romania. The extra "u" alone should tell you that. And the Baroness Nicola Ceaucescu is not—or not exactly, anyway—related to the Ceaucescu we know. But the Baroness is recognizably similar to our Romania's departed dictator, in some ways, and there is a connection between our mundane world and the rather more magical alternative in which the Baroness lives.
Miranda Popescu is an adopted child, an ordinary high-school student in New England. She's much more concerned with classes (and classmates) than with the fates of nations. She can't even read Romanian. But, as rapidly becomes apparent, Miranda may well be the long-lost Princess of Roumania... and the Baroness Ceaucescu isn't the only one who thinks so, nor is she the only one trying to track Miranda down...
*
A Princess of Roumania is a remarkably dense book. Park's ornate language and subtle details on every page reward careful reading.
I have tried to do it justice.
One of the other things that recommended Paul Park's book to me was an exhibit that I saw in 2003, which focused on our Marie of Romania, at the Maryhill Museum of Art (https://www.maryhillmuseum.org/inside...).
However, A Princess of Roumania is only the beginning of the story, really... its sequel, The Tourmaline, is teased at the back of this volume.
Perhaps I won't wait twenty more years to pick that one up...
Rec. for: Monarchs in exile
I last read one of Paul Park's books back in 2014, and I don't think I was ready for that one, then. But once I ran across his 2005 novel A Princess of Roumania on the "free" shelf at my local branch library, and read the cover blurbs from luminaries like Ursula K. Le Guin, Jonathan Lethem and John Crowley, I just had to pick up this copy... and never mind the fact that I'd previously passed it by for more than twenty years.
Once the baroness possessed the girl, the white tyger, Miranda Popescu, once she had caught her in the cage she'd built for her in her husband's laboratory, it would be time to weigh her choices. The obvious one was also the safest—to turn her over to the empress in return for various considerations. But in this moment, with Roumania so shaken by internal struggles, so menaced by foreign enemies, maybe the empress—no, it was important to choose the winning side. The empress was no friend of hers. Since the baron's death, the empress had spared no effort to impoverish and humiliate her. And there was always her son's future to consider.
—p.98
This is not our Romania. The extra "u" alone should tell you that. And the Baroness Nicola Ceaucescu is not—or not exactly, anyway—related to the Ceaucescu we know. But the Baroness is recognizably similar to our Romania's departed dictator, in some ways, and there is a connection between our mundane world and the rather more magical alternative in which the Baroness lives.
But there is power in the world if you can seize it.
—p.173
Miranda Popescu is an adopted child, an ordinary high-school student in New England. She's much more concerned with classes (and classmates) than with the fates of nations. She can't even read Romanian. But, as rapidly becomes apparent, Miranda may well be the long-lost Princess of Roumania... and the Baroness Ceaucescu isn't the only one who thinks so, nor is she the only one trying to track Miranda down...
*
A Princess of Roumania is a remarkably dense book. Park's ornate language and subtle details on every page reward careful reading.
I have tried to do it justice.
One of the other things that recommended Paul Park's book to me was an exhibit that I saw in 2003, which focused on our Marie of Romania, at the Maryhill Museum of Art (https://www.maryhillmuseum.org/inside...).
However, A Princess of Roumania is only the beginning of the story, really... its sequel, The Tourmaline, is teased at the back of this volume.
Perhaps I won't wait twenty more years to pick that one up...
March 7, 2026
I picked up “A Princess of Roumania” purely because of the blurb by Ursula Le Guin on the front, so it’s disappointing to have to report that, for the first time I can recall, one of her recommendations let me down. Park is writing a familiar type of old-fashioned story, in which an orphan, adopted by English or American parents, discovers that she is really the Princess of a made-up country in Eastern Europe. Since Ruritania is not as believable as it used to be, Park adds an extra step: Roumania is in the Eastern Europe of a different universe’s Earth, one where magic is real. Which is fine, but for whatever reason — my personal theory is that he’s uncomfortable with the pro-monarchy angle — Park decided that he didn’t want to adopt the usual form of this story. Instead of bringing Miranda to Bucharest and the intrigue of the royal court, he leaves her in Western Massachusetts, which is, in the world where she was born, a howling wilderness (in our world, she lives in a town in the Berkshires which is almost certainly Park’s native Williamstown, and when she moves worlds her geographic location doesn’t change). Instead of spending the book adapting to her royal position, she spends it trying to figure out what’s going on, a process considerably handicapped by the fact that she is thousands of miles away from the main action. If the reader didn’t know what was going on either, that would be fine, but the reader rapidly learns more or less everything that she’s trying to discover — who she is, whether she can trust the people who came to meet her, etc. — so her flailing about isn’t all that interesting, although the part where she goes to the land of the dead is at least original.
The interest instead comes from the half of the book where you learn these things, by following the Baroness Ceaucescu. The Baroness is one of the bad guys: she and her now-dead husband were among those responsible for making Miranda an orphan, and it was in part to hide Miranda from the Ceaucescus that she was placed in our world. But by the time we meet the Baroness, she has been largely abandoned by her former allies, partly because the Ceaucescus were always slightly disreputable and partly, one suspects, because they would prefer to forget about the whole episode. The Baroness is a typical character in these types of stories, the social climber — she was an actress who married into the aristocracy — who has a poisonous hatred for the true nobility of the royal family that the heroine hails from. In a book about lost princesses finding their true place in society, those who don’t stick to their inherited social class have to be evil. But as the book goes on, she is increasingly adrift and desperate, a wild card who is less and less on anyone’s side. By the end, I felt like the book might have been better if it was only about the Baroness and didn’t bother with Miranda at all. Roumania is at least more interesting than your typical Ruritanian kingdom, thanks to Park’s efforts to put together an alternative history, one that is left vague enough to be plausible: of course, that only makes it more disappointing to spend so much time in a part of Park’s world that has comparatively little to offer. Credit to Park for trying to do something new with an old type of story, but ironically I feel like it would have worked better if he had been even more radical and written a missing princess rediscovered story in which the princess is a minor character.
The interest instead comes from the half of the book where you learn these things, by following the Baroness Ceaucescu. The Baroness is one of the bad guys: she and her now-dead husband were among those responsible for making Miranda an orphan, and it was in part to hide Miranda from the Ceaucescus that she was placed in our world. But by the time we meet the Baroness, she has been largely abandoned by her former allies, partly because the Ceaucescus were always slightly disreputable and partly, one suspects, because they would prefer to forget about the whole episode. The Baroness is a typical character in these types of stories, the social climber — she was an actress who married into the aristocracy — who has a poisonous hatred for the true nobility of the royal family that the heroine hails from. In a book about lost princesses finding their true place in society, those who don’t stick to their inherited social class have to be evil. But as the book goes on, she is increasingly adrift and desperate, a wild card who is less and less on anyone’s side. By the end, I felt like the book might have been better if it was only about the Baroness and didn’t bother with Miranda at all. Roumania is at least more interesting than your typical Ruritanian kingdom, thanks to Park’s efforts to put together an alternative history, one that is left vague enough to be plausible: of course, that only makes it more disappointing to spend so much time in a part of Park’s world that has comparatively little to offer. Credit to Park for trying to do something new with an old type of story, but ironically I feel like it would have worked better if he had been even more radical and written a missing princess rediscovered story in which the princess is a minor character.
February 20, 2021
I enjoyed the beginning of this book, the modeling of the world, the writing, and the structure; I enjoyed so many parts of the book at that point that I wondered why I did not enjoy the book itself more. The problem with so much of literature is that what works in one book gets repeated so many times in other books that it all wears out. This book feels so much like the introduction to a series that it fails for that very reason, in my view. It is like one long preface. The world of Miranda and the world of the baroness are very separate. Their refusal to come together until the very end of the book weakens the narrative immensely; at the beginning we understand it to be important to Miranda to reach Roumania and for an entire novel she wanders in the same forest having one incident after another. I would not even call what happens to her adventure. The chapters of the book that take place in Roumania are much more active but the refusal of the two separate settings to merge makes everything that actually happens among the baroness and her set to feel like a preamble. The story never feels as though it actually begins. Miranda has the kind of quality one expects from young golden-daughter characters, but also has a blankness that leaves the core of the book wanting. She goes through the motions of being stalwart, surviving against all odds, and this feels very tired. Maybe it's my reading that's at fault here, but there's nothing that happens in this book that feels crucial - and I know when I think about what did happen there were some very crucial moments - but they don't have the right feeling, they are disconnected. I have the sense that most of this book could be eliminated, at least the Miranda chapters, and she could get to Roumania quickly and get the real story started. A very bad beginning for me, and too much like the world of the Pullman novels - which had their own problems. I suppose I am simply grumpy these days.
June 21, 2017
Can't recall where I heard about this book, or what I heard that was compelling enough for me to seek it out. In any event, I did so, and by about halfway through, I strongly considered not finishing it. Had I realized it was the first in a quartet, I definitely would have stopped, because I basically slogged through 180 pages just to see how it would end, and it's basically a setup for future books.
The premise is that there's an adopted teenage girl in present-day Massachusetts who turns out to be the hidden princess of Roumania (aka Romania), or rather, the Roumanian Empire of an alternate 19th-century world in which England has sunk beneath the waves, and there is some kind of German plot to absorb Romania. The first bit of the book ably establishes the heroine and her two friends, before switching to this alternate world where various forces are seeking her.
The book's main problem is that much is made of the girl's importance, but it's awfully unclear why she's important, other than some kind of link to a legend. Similarly, the various machinations to find her feel completely ungrounded, and the geopolitical arrangements of this alternate world are confusing at best. It often has the feel of a book that's the second in a series and requires full and complete background from the first book -- but this is the first book, so it doesn't have that excuse.
As atmospheric as the book can be, and despite some compelling scenes here and there, the characters just weren't fleshed out enough for me to care -- especially their motivations. All in all, this was a dud for me -- although I could see that if you were committed to the whole series, it might be fine in that context.
The premise is that there's an adopted teenage girl in present-day Massachusetts who turns out to be the hidden princess of Roumania (aka Romania), or rather, the Roumanian Empire of an alternate 19th-century world in which England has sunk beneath the waves, and there is some kind of German plot to absorb Romania. The first bit of the book ably establishes the heroine and her two friends, before switching to this alternate world where various forces are seeking her.
The book's main problem is that much is made of the girl's importance, but it's awfully unclear why she's important, other than some kind of link to a legend. Similarly, the various machinations to find her feel completely ungrounded, and the geopolitical arrangements of this alternate world are confusing at best. It often has the feel of a book that's the second in a series and requires full and complete background from the first book -- but this is the first book, so it doesn't have that excuse.
As atmospheric as the book can be, and despite some compelling scenes here and there, the characters just weren't fleshed out enough for me to care -- especially their motivations. All in all, this was a dud for me -- although I could see that if you were committed to the whole series, it might be fine in that context.
January 9, 2020
Unfortunately, I think I am shelving this book. It was a recommendation from a friend, so I really wanted to give it a shot, however, I found myself not reading at all as I subconsciously avoided this book.
I would say that the story intrigued me and I may need to find a summary of the book to know how it ends, but it was the author's writing style that was not my jam. I often found myself confused as we swapped between characters/time very suddenly and I, personally, prefer longer background descriptions of who people are, what the places we're seeing are, histories of the land, etc etc, very Tolkein of me. Paul Park does not provide that and you just plop into the lives of these people and start the story in that moment with little to no history/explanation whatsoever.
This is entirely personal preference in story-telling style, and as mentioned, the actual story itself was intriguing to me. Perhaps one day I'll get myself back to it, or give it a try as an audio book and see if I get through it then.
I would say that the story intrigued me and I may need to find a summary of the book to know how it ends, but it was the author's writing style that was not my jam. I often found myself confused as we swapped between characters/time very suddenly and I, personally, prefer longer background descriptions of who people are, what the places we're seeing are, histories of the land, etc etc, very Tolkein of me. Paul Park does not provide that and you just plop into the lives of these people and start the story in that moment with little to no history/explanation whatsoever.
This is entirely personal preference in story-telling style, and as mentioned, the actual story itself was intriguing to me. Perhaps one day I'll get myself back to it, or give it a try as an audio book and see if I get through it then.
February 6, 2017
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It is an interesting concept, a fascinating world, and beautifully written. However, the main character, Miranda, was a disappointment. She does nothing to influence her own fate. She follows along, going where she is pulled and tugged. Near the end, when she does make a somewhat important decision, it seems half-hearted. I found the other characters more interesting, more motivated, and more actionable. Perhaps I'll read the other books in the series, but I'm not feeling an overwhelming urge to read the sequel, even though this book ends with so much left to be resolved.
October 1, 2017
Many people I know really love this book, people who's taste in books I usually like, so I wish I liked this also. But the truth is, I'm still not sure what I read (or why I read it). I never got it - I never distinguished the plot, or characters. I just never understood what I was reading. Which is pretty unusual for me.
August 23, 2020
I started this once before, and set it aside because I had a more interesting library book. This time I did finish; I’m not sure why. The characters weren’t terribly interesting. The time/location jumps were mostly annoying. I got really tired of reading about folks gripping assorted animal’s fur. I definitely won’t be looking for the rest of the series.
November 4, 2018
I found the non-linear storytelling to be disjointed, the characters uninteresting and the plot confusing. Overall, I was bored.
May 17, 2020
Tiptree shortlist 2008. A bit uneven but enjoyed it more than I expected. A nicely eerie/dream-logic quality to some of it.
September 26, 2020
DNF'd and long since donated to somewhere (as in years ago; doing this now is just housekeeping).
The writing was not done well. Who edited this book?
The writing was not done well. Who edited this book?
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