The Princess of the Midnight Ball is Jessica Day George’s retelling of the Grimm Brothers fairytale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. This fairytale has twelve princesses who mysteriously disappear at night to dance their slippers to shreds at the consternation of their Father the King. The Grimms Brothers original fairytale was darker and the princesses themselves were not kindly figures. I like the way that Day George changed the story so that the princesses were not the ones to blame for their nightly dancing and were actually in need of rescue.
Previous to reading Jessica Day George’s retelling, I had never read the original tale or heard anything about the original plotline. In one review I read of the book, the reviewer complained of the book being too similar to the original fairytale. So, I went investigating and read up on the original fairytale by the Grimm Brothers. As usual, I found that there are half a million versions of the fairytale. But it is true that The Princess of the Midnight Ball is similar to the Grimm Brothers tale. This doesn’t bother me at all, because when reading a fairytale rewrite, I’m not necessarily looking for a new story that happens to be rather like the fairytale it was based on. What I look for is plenty of details and plenty of backstory to fill in the gaps in the original tale. Just as in any novel, I want the characters and story to have, well, character! Jessica Day George attempted to give all twelve princesses color and their own time in the spotlight. However, by trying to give equal attention to so many characters, there isn’t much distinction as to who the main character(s) is. However, I did appreciate that one of the main characters was a soldier named Galen. This is different from other fairytale retellings I’ve read, and I liked the different perspective. However, back to the problem of character distinction. I still can’t decide if Galen is the main character, or if he is simply another important character.
One thing that I didn’t appreciate was that Day George’s style of writing is to tell why something is instead of showing that it is. This made it more reminiscent of books I remember reading in elementary and middle school. Not really up to par with what I expect of books classified as YA books. However, the fact that it is a fairytale/romance novel means that it isn’t for younger readers. I still enjoyed the book, but this took away from the quality of the writing. The story also seemed to move along rather quickly. If it was a longer book, and Day George picked only one or two of the princesses to devote attention to along with Galen, I believed that the quality of the book would have risen, and the reader would have received more depth of character development.
In The Princess of the Midnight Ball, the princesses are accused of witchcraft after unsuccessful suitors mysteriously die within a week of leaving the palace. However, witchcraft is never condoned or accepted, but is always regarded with a negative attitude. Magical potions, remedies, invisible cloaks and such are regarded in a different manner. The way that Day George dealt with magic reminded me of the manner with which C.S. Lewis wrote about it and incorporated it into the Chronicles of Narnia. In the most un-spoiler way I know possible, there is a kiss at the end of the book, but it receives very little attention.
I still recommend this book, but it isn’t the most skillfully written novel I’ve read. I’m looking forward to reading the next books in the series, but I don’t have as high expectations for them after reading The Princess of the Midnight Ball.
Moral Value: 4
Artistic Value: 3.5
Overall Value: 3.75
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