Rate this book

La Folie De La Petite Sirène (2011)

by Jim C. Hines(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

2362310159 (ISBN13: 9782362310157)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Castelmore

series

Princess

review 1: I enjoyed the version of the Little Mermaid in here. It's one of my favorite fairy tales. I learned the original one before the Disney movie with the happy ending. It's one of the most heartbreaking, and Jim Hines managed to make this one even more so. Getting darker than the original Little Mermaid is quite an accomplishment, but Hines manages to temper this with his own light humor as well.There was good growth for most of the characters in this one. I enjoyed Snow's tutelage under Morveren, and the questions she asked herself about her own motivation, about what made her different from her own mother. It seems to me that the key difference is that Snow actually is concerned with that. Talia is a character I enjoy a great deal, with her prickly personality. We're... more given a little bit more insight into her relationship with Queen Bea and with Snow, and it makes her a bit easier to understand. She's perhaps the most compelling character in the group.I appreciate that one of the heroines, Danielle, is a wife and a mother. Too often, marriage and children is the end of the story for a character, as if life ceases to have any exciting or interesting challenges after these events. Contrary to what most fantasy, romance and adventure novels would lead a person to believe, life doesn't end with marriage or childbirth! It's wonderful having a character that a parent can relate to.There were some important revelations among the characters in this book, and the ramifications of them remain to be seen. I look forward to reading more of the series to see where this all goes.
review 2: The second installment in the Princess series wasn’t quite what I expected. For some reason, I went through all of the book just waiting for Danielle, Snow and Talia to find Lirea, fix her madness, and welcome her into their princess club, which isn’t the case. Lirea (an anagram of “Ariel” as another GoodReads reviewer points out) serves as the crazy mermaid. Her grandmother cast a spell so that she could be human and win the love of her prince; instead, he used her and threw her away, so she stabbed him with a magic knife. He dies, and she goes crazy, swearing revenge on humans. She’s able to transition between fins and legs, albeit painfully, and hears voices in her head, questioning her decisions and telling her she’s worthless. She rallies the merpeople and swears revenge on the prince’s kingdom.Our story begins with Queen Beatrice and the three princesses on a sea voyage. Lirea attacks their ship and stabs the Queen with her magic knife, not quite killing her, but stealing her soul. The princesses enlist the help of Lannadae, Lirea’s younger sister, and grandmother, Morveren, to find Lirea and steal the knife in order to save the Queen. We are also introduced to Hephyra, a dryad whose tree was cut down and made into the Queen’s ship as a punishment, so she is both the captain AND the ship itself. Hephyra was aggressive and occasionally combative, but I liked her character and giggled when they were talking about ship repairs and how such-and-such part of the ship would “grow back” within a day or two.The pacing for MM was slow, and I set it down and read other things numerous times before finishing. The journey wasn’t as interesting as The Stepsister Scheme, and the characters didn’t read as fresh after one book. Danielle misses her husband and son and still can’t protect herself in any way, Snow learns new ways of doing magic and flirts with any male that moves, and Talia continues to kick butt and use cool weapons. Hines focused heavily on Talia and her feelings, which I assume he will continue to explore in the other two books in the series. I won’t spoil it, but I will say it feels a little forced, as if because he was writing a lady-centric series, he had to do something radical, and this was it.3 stars. I enjoyed the book and the setting, and I’ll probably check out the rest of the series. less

Download links for: La Folie de la Petite Sirène

Advertising