Princess of Glass (The Princesses of Westfalin Trilogy, #2) in Into the Forest

Dec 01, 2009 Cara rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2010, fantasy, fairy-tales

When I first heard there was going to be a companion novel to Princess of the Midnight Ball I got so excited I didn't even bother to find out what the next book was going to be about. I'm glad I didn't because I might have been turned off that it's a retelling of the Cinderella story. It's hard to make this original, but the author did a good job of making sure the story stayed fresh and yet keep true to the heart of the retelling.

This time around Poppy (one of the twins from the previous novel) When I first heard there was going to be a companion novel to Princess of the Midnight Ball I got so excited I didn't even bother to find out what the next book was going to be about. I'm glad I didn't because I might have been turned off that it's a retelling of the Cinderella story. It's hard to make this original, but the author did a good job of making sure the story stayed fresh and yet keep true to the heart of the retelling.

This time around Poppy (one of the twins from the previous novel) is the main character and though I don't recall much about each sister, Poppy definitely stands out in her own story. Poppy, just like her other sisters who are unmarried, are sent to be guest in other countries to show unity and no ill will. While in Bretoner she will stumble upon sinister plans from the Corley, but she has already been through one curse can she live to tell tale of this one?

Poppy is a perfect character for this retelling. She's levelheaded, fun, a shark at cards, and bright and just the right character to help solve the mystery of what is happening to Eleanora/Ellen/Lady Ella (no kidding she has that many names in the book). The Eleanora character with the three names annoyed the heck out of me for most of the story, though in the end I understood why she acted stupid, it would have been nice to like her more from the beginning. The retelling is told from a kind of outsider perspective since Poppy is not the actually Cinderella. It makes the reader experience the story from another angle. There of course has to be a prince, in this case his name is Christian and he will get entrapped into the Corley's plan as well.

I'm glad the author made sure to kind of gradually recap what happened in the previous book without it distracting from this story, because new readers wouldn't probably understand why Poppy had such a hate for dancing when she is so good at it. Throughout the book I was just anticipating how they all were going to take down the Corley, but this is where the book kind of fell flat to me. When I read it I thought ...that was it? In Princess of the Midnight Ball the ending was more intricate and I had expected something similar here. Other than that though I do recommend it highly to fairytale lovers.

I wanted to mention that at the end of the book Jessica Day George gives instructions on how to knit some of the items mentioned in the book. That is neat of her to do that, but too bad I don't know how to knit! ...more

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Dec 14, 2009 Ginny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fairy-tales, 100-books-2010-challenge, wishlist

Ok, so like Valerie, I wasn't expecting too much greatness from this book pretty much for the same reason that the story of Cinderella has been done multiple times and there doesn't seem to be much more room for anything new; and because well, Princess of the Midnight Ball was amazing and how much creativity can you have left after something so great? (This sounds pretty lame written, but it made sense in my head.) But, I was delighted to find that Jessica Day George still has lots of creative j ...more

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Jun 02, 2010 The Winter Rose rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

This is a very unique and interesting re-imagining of the Cinderella story that is unpredictable and contains contains non-stereotypical characters, while still maintaining the center of magic and romance that defines the original tale.

I've read the first book, Princess of the Midnight Ball, and loved that as well. It's not neccesary to have read it first as this story really stands on it's own, but I certainly reccomend reading the first one.

I was worried I wouldn't like Poppy at first since e ...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Kate Forsyth rated it really liked it

Shelves: fairytale-retelling, ya-fantasy

I really enjoyed 'Princess of the Midnight Ball' and so I was quite looking forward to this. It's slight but charming. I think tweens and young young adults might very well love it. ...more

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Jun 01, 2010 Danyelle Leafty rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bookshelf

I really liked this one. My only quibble is that the Corly felt like she had been defeated too easily. I did enjoy the Cinderella spin off. :)

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Feb 20, 2011 Katy rated it liked it

A nice retelling of Cinderella

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May 29, 2010 JS rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, fairy-tales

Fun, but I liked the first one (a retelling of 12 dancing princesses) a bit more. Still, it was interesting to see a different take on the story. And I'm always up for a princess story in which the characters actually speak before falling in love. :)

Also, the ending didn't work great for me--just felt out of the blue and random, like Chris said, a bit too deus ex machina.

Rating: G ...more

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