THE PRINCESS AND THE HOUND: Mette Ivie Harrison: Eos: Young Adult: 410 pagesPrince George has the ability to speak to animals, or Animal Magic, a gift which is feared and punished in his land. When George is betrothed to Princess Beatrice, who is always accompanied by her black hound, his Animal Magic becomes essential to reverse the evil a healer is spreading through the land.
Harrison, a BYU grad, spins a wonderful old-fashioned tale. I didn’t see most of the twists in the story coming, and the whole thing was very strong until the end when things unraveled just a tiny bit for me. Overall, though, this was my favorite of Harrison’s books and one of the best fairy tales I’ve read in the last several years.
MBC
1 comment:
I thought this was an interesting story about growing up and discovering your sense of self. The most interesting part of the novel for me was the first half where young Prince George discovers he has animal magic, loses his mother, and learns how to be a prince. I liked the plot twists and felt like the female characters were strong and believable. I thought the end was sort of hastily patched together and would have liked more even pacing with the plot line. There were also some glaring editorial errors that detracted from the end. As a whole a great book and a good recommendation. I look forward to her next novel.
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