My Stepdaughter is looking for books about princesses. I assumed there would be tons of books like that, but she said she’s not having luck finding any. I thought of Stephen King’s Eyes Of The Dragon at first, but that has Princes, not Princesses. The only other book involving a Princess that I can think of is Tom Robbins’ Still Life With Woodpecker, which I’m certain aint what she’s looking for. So I ask you: What are some books featuring Princesses?
Thanks
What age group is she looking for?
First that popped into my head was The Two Princesses of Barmarre by Gail Carson Levine.
Jessica Day also has a whole series of books on princesses from fairy tales…
She’s 19, but she’s open to the young adult stuff as well as any standard type thing. She always dug the Harry Potter books, and was not a fan of the Twilight stuff, but I’m not sure that genuine Literature is her #1 concern with the Princess request.
Mercedes Lackey has a number of princesses in her Valdemar novels, but she doesn’t do much to perpetuate the stereotype…
Princess as main character: The Mage Winds trilogy (Winds of Fate, Winds of Change, Wings of Fury)
Princess as notable secondary character: Exile’s Honor, Arrows of the Queen
Thank you, Skara_Brea and Ethilrist! I will pass along those suggestions, and welcome any more.
The Royal Diaries series:
http://www.scholastic.com/tbw/quickSearch.do?N=0+$&fq=Series:^Royal+Diaries^&Ntk=TBW_QuickSearch_SI#cart/cleanup
Books by Philippa Gregory:
William Goldman. The Princess Bride.
Robin McKinley, Newberry Award winner -
The Hero and the Crown, about a dragon-fighting princess despised by her people, who continues to fight for them, anyway.
Spindle’s End - a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with a twist.
Rose Daughter and Beauty - Two different stories of Beauty & the Beast. Beauty is still one of my favorite stories.
StG
:dubious:
And now for something completely different…
Ethilrist, the Princess Bride is a fun book
That’s what I was going to suggest. We got it for our daughter (she’s way, way too young for it. We got it for ourselves) and it’s pretty interesting.
Also Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword, about a young woman who saves a kingdom and becomes a queen.
Anne Bishop - The Black Jewels trilogy. Fantasy with dark edges, about a young woman who is fated to save the world, and the people in her life.
Not traditionally “princess” but Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonrider series involve a young woman who becomes a weyr leader, and rides a queen dragon.
Grace Draven’s Radiance is about a princess who must marry outside of her people to cement a peace treaty.
Sophie Page, To Marry a Prince, a contemporary Young Adult story, about a young British woman who becomes involved with a British prince (note - different timeline - not Charles or William). Charming and well done.
Nichole Chase, Suddenly Royal, also a contemporary Young Adult story, about an American college student who discovers that she is the long lost heiress to a title in a (non-existent) European country.
C.L. Wilson, The Winter King, a fantasy about a princess married off to an invading king. Similar story line to another I mentioned, very different book.
The same author also wrote an entire fantasy series about a young woman who discovers that she is the fated bride of a fae king. They are called either the Tairen Soul series or the Fading Land series and start with Lord of the Fading Land. I recommend the first two highly. The rest are “meh”.
She’s not a princess…
Well, she was gonna be!
Jim Hines wrote a series of adventure novels about fairy tale princesses:
The Stepsister Scheme
The Mermaid’s Madness
Red Hood’s Revenge
The Snow Queen’s Shadow
A few of the Xanth books have a princess as the lead or, at least, switch to their view regularly through the book.
Night Mare - Mare Imbrium (a horse) temporarily becomes Queen of Xanth (doesn’t really fit, but it’s my favorite of the series)
Dragon on a Pedestal - Princess Ivy tracks down her lost pet dragon
Man from Mundania - Princess Ivy meets a Mundane
Thank you, everyone, for the suggestions! (Oh yeah, I forgot about the Xanth stuff.) I haven’t heard of most of the others but will pass them along for sure!
A little younger, but one of my long time favorites, The Ordinary Princess.
There’s quite a few books about Sissi.