Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

 My new young friend here in St. George, Beth Farley, gifted me this book while I was suffering with a tweaked knee. She knew I would be resting it and laying around, so she thoughtfully brought me this book, which she characterized as one of her favorites. It was a perfect gift because it was a change of pace from all of my Egyptology books! And I was curious to see what Beth considers a great book.

I have read one other book by Shannon Hale (Austenland), and was not particularly impressed. I like that her books are clean wholesome, but they also lack depth and compelling characters. This one fits that mold.

This story is more like a fantasy or a fairy tale, and it was a creative way to set a story with good lessons about loyalty, family, love, and friendship. All good themes. But sometimes trying to figure out the attributes of the environment took precedence over the story. The mountain people and working in the quarry, the princess academy and its traditions, the prince--the bandits---all of it were somewhat confusing. I kept wondering, "Where is this going? What does THIS mean?" And the characters were either villains or goodie-goodies with no shading in between. There were some secrets and mysteries, but nothing too engaging. I think a young person might enjoy the fantasy aspects, the linder stone, and the telepathic communication. It was also very obvious that Miri was going to end up with Peder by the end of the story; and it was clear there was going to be a happy ending for all of the good people. 

Overall, I'd give this book a 6 on a scale of 1-10. I'm surprised it was a Newbery honor book...it doesn't seem to be worthy of that.