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The Princess Test

Gail Carson Levine

HarperCollins, 1999

ISBN 0-06-028063-8

n/a

Stared Feb 28/finished Feb 28 (emu)

Review, by emu: The second of Levine's Princess Tales... a retelling of "The Princess and the Pea" in this case. Lorelei is the daughter of a blacksmith, and a spoiled daughter she is. Incredibly picky, she always has to have the best food, the best cloth, the best everything. She's also accident-prone, and gets sick constantly. She's apologetic about it, but when the blacksmith's wife dies and he hires a housekeeper (as Lorelei can't do any housekeeping without breaking something, or hurting herself quite badly), even her constant apologies and generally pleasant demeanor can't calm the housekeeper. Lorelei infuriates her, and she eventually hatches a plan to get rid of the girl. Meanwhile, at the palace, the king and queen decide to find a bride for their son. The king and queen are just as picky as Lorelei is, and they devise a series of tests to find the right girl, including the famous stack of mattresses with a single pea at the bottom. The prince, of course, has met and fallen in love with Lorelei already, and is sincerely hoping no one passes the tests so he can be with her. He's quite unaware that she's probably the only one around who CAN pass the tests. And it's obvious how things go from there. This book's better than the first one in the series... both the plot and the characters are more interesting. I'm glad to see the only thing Levine's reusing in these books is her incredible talent for freshening up old classics.

The Princess Test	Gail Carson Levine
HarperCollins, 1999	ISBN 0-06-028063-8
n/a	Stared Feb 28/finished Feb 28 (emu)
Review, by emu: The second of Levine's Princess Tales... a retelling of "The Princess and the Pea" in this case. Lorelei is the daughter of a blacksmith, and a spoiled daughter she is. Incredibly picky, she always has to have the best food, the best cloth, the best everything. She's also accident-prone, and gets sick constantly. She's apologetic about it, but when the blacksmith's wife dies and he hires a housekeeper (as Lorelei can't do any housekeeping without breaking something, or hurting herself quite badly), even her constant apologies and generally pleasant demeanor can't calm the housekeeper. Lorelei infuriates her, and she eventually hatches a plan to get rid of the girl. Meanwhile, at the palace, the king and queen decide to find a bride for their son. The king and queen are just as picky as Lorelei is, and they devise a series of tests to find the right girl, including the famous stack of mattresses with a single pea at the bottom. The prince, of course, has met and fallen in love with Lorelei already, and is sincerely hoping no one passes the tests so he can be with her. He's quite unaware that she's probably the only one around who CAN pass the tests. And it's obvious how things go from there. This book's better than the first one in the series... both the plot and the characters are more interesting. I'm glad to see the only thing Levine's reusing in these books is her incredible talent for freshening up old classics.