Review Detail

In this fairytale, fifteen-year-old Princess Bens mother and her uncle, the King, are killed while on their annual trip to visit her grandfathers tomb. Her father disappears and his whereabouts are unknown. It was assumed that Drachensbett, the neighboring country, is involved in the attack as they have been trying to annex Montagne for centuries. Ben is immediately moved from her small home into the castle and, under the tutelage of the Queen Regent Sophia, she begins to learn what it takes to be a queen&or rather what it takes to attract a potential husband who would make a good strategic alliance for Montagne. This involves comportment, dancing, table manners befitting royalty (i.e. eating very little and carrying on meaningless conversation). Unfortunately, her round figure and rebellious attitude frighten away most promising suitors.

Ben was used to running free while her parents were alive; used to a very loving family. The castle and its inhabitants are cold, bossy, clammy and totally uninviting. She doesnt want a husband. She wants to do something important. After a particularly rebellious dinner, Queen Sophia has enough and decides to teach Ben a lesson. Ben is removed from her luxurious bedroom suite, moved to a tiny room at the top of a long, round stairway of stone and forced to sleep on a bed of straw. She is at the uppermost point of the highest tower in Chateau de Montagne. Hopefully her bleak surroundings will cause some introspection.

The walls in Chateau de Montagne are made of thick stone and each room has an antechamber two to three feet wide. Unintentionally, Ben finds that these thick walls hide secret stairwells, one of which leads to a room equipped for a witch, complete with a book of spells. Ben becomes intrigued and begins studying witchcraft every chance she gets. It is with this magic that Ben will fulfill her goal of doing something important.

Murdock, author of Dairy Queen and The Off Season, two excellent books, has written another winner in Princess Ben. The characters are marvelous. The story is exciting. The action is captivating. The writing is superb and descriptive. Readers will love Princess Ben and root for her to triumph and become the queen she is destined to be. Catherine Gilbert Murdock is one of my favorite writers and Princess Ben reminds me of another of my favorite writers, Shannon Hale, author of Princess Academy, Goose Girl, and Book of a Thousand Days. You will want to read Princess Ben in one sitting, its that good.