BRT: The Stone Kingdom by Danielle E. Shipley [ARC]

 

Title: The Stone Kingdom

Author: Danielle E. Shipley

Number of Pages: 179

Rating: 5/5!

Date to-be Published: September 20, 2013

 

SUMMARY

“Love and prince,
Both true, wed rose of white in realm of stone;
For blood begins,
But naught can be put right by blood alone.”

One thoughtless act is all it takes to bring the curse threatened on Rosalba’s christening day to pass. Now the princess must combine her desperate determination with the service of benevolent tailor Edgwyn Wyle to find the second half of the key to her kingdom’s restoration.

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An enchantress’s curse turns a spoiled royal into a beast; a princess’s pricked finger places her under a hundred-year spell; bales of straw are spun as golden as the singing harp whisked down a giant beanstalk – all within sight of Wilderhark, the forest that’s seen it all.

You’ve heard the stories – of young men scaling rope-like braids to assist the tower-bound damsel; of gorgeous gowns appearing just in time for a midnight ball; of frog princes, and swan princes,and princes saved from drowning by maidens of the sea. Tales of magic. Tales of adventure. Most of all, tales of true love.

Once upon a time, you knew them as fairytales. Know them now as Wilderhark’s.

 

REVIEW

Ah, Danielle has done it again. *Slow claps* I swear, she must take classes on how to twist all of these words into clever incantations and riddles! Either that, or she is the teacher. Well-rounded characters, ingenious pace and plot, and twists at all the right turns are my favorite. The author excels in all of these areas, and her descriptions are beautifully vivid.

 

Something else I want to take into account is the cover. It's so much brighter than the cover of The Swan Prince, and for good reason. The debut book of this series had a dark, mysterious tone to it while this one was an adventure of soul-searching for open-minded, heart-on-her-wrist Princess Rosalba. Danielle has an incredible artist, to say the least.

 

Let's talk about Edgwyn for a second. A lot of research was put into this, I'm certain, regarding Edgwyn Wyle's love for fabric. His character is so lovable! He has a great love for animals and a heart of gold is the best thing Rosalba could have, given her standpoint for a majority of the book. He's completely selfless, clever, and kind. I definitely hope to see more of him in later books.

 

Another skill Danielle has is voice. She wrote from several different perspectives in this installment, and each one sang of its own independent feelings and thoughts. That's something all writers struggle with, and she makes it seem effortless.

 

She also takes real life experiences and morphs them into a fairytale, something I can see many readers learning from. At the same time, she weaves true, already-existing fairytale scenarios into the writing, and I LOVE IT. Every time I would spy such a happening, I had to stop for a minute just to absorb it.

 

The Wilderhark Tales are all about learning morals. How to be honest, to respect oneself, to be brave enough to face any threat for the ones you care about. It's beautiful, really. It makes you wish the Wilderhark Forest was a real pace, despite the anarchwitches!

 

Honestly, I can't find anything to rag on here. Perhaps a little bit more explanation was needed for a few minor details of the book, but it wasn't enough to detract from the story whatsoever. Being that I don't want to spoil anything, I'll leave the review off here. Please, get your hands on The Swan Prince as well as this when it's released.

 

Another thank you to Danielle for giving lucky-ol'-me an ARC for this amazing installment!