Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Wednesday=Book Review Time--morphing animals

Up for today:  THE PRINCESS AND THE BEAR by Mette Ivie Harrison

Princess and the Bear by Mette Ivie Harrison: Book Cover

Why I bought it? It is the sequel/companion book to The Princess and the Hound that I loved. I had been keeping tabs on when it came out. 

Synopsis: A hound that was a princess for a while and a bear, who was once a human king changed into a bear because of his wicked deeds, are companions in a forest that is under attack by "unmagic." They must end the invasion of the "unmagic" to save their world from destruction. In the end, they must go back in time to when the bear was king and stop the "unmagic" before it became so powerful. When they go back in time they take on human forms. Through their adventures their attachment grows into love.

What I thought? This is technically a companion book to The Princess and the Hound and stands on its own, so if you haven't read the first one you're okay to read this one, but I would read The Princess and the Hound first. It is a fantastic book--engrossing and unexpected--and would get you in the mindset of this world. I found The Princess and the Bear very slow at the beginning. It is well written, and I think that is what kept me going. I didn't like it nearly as well as the first one, but it had its own charms. Some of you may love it. I had heard that Harrison wanted the title to be The Hound and the Bear, but the publisher insisted on "the Princess" in the title. I think her choice would have been more in line with what is in the book and wouldn't have led to false expectations. I was thinking that the princess would be the same one as in the first book. 

I was hoping to have my daughter read it before the review to have her opinions to add, but, alas, no such luck, and I didn't get another book finished this week, so... Oh well. All you get is my opinion.

My Rating: ***1/2 out of 5

Cleanness Score: 4 out of 10, This is mostly for violence. There are several fight scenes some fairly violent but nothing excessive. There is no language that I remember.

9 comments:

Danyelle L. said...

I liked the first better as well, but this one was a great read too. :) A tad serious for me, I liked how there was a little more humor towards the end. The title threw me too. :D

lotusgirl said...

Yeah, The humor helped the end for me too. I think if there had been more in the beginning it would have made it go faster.

Rena Jones said...

Sounds interesting. Caught my attention with the bear. :)

Barrie said...

Love your rating system.

Nayuleska said...

Sounds like another for my list! Yay!

Danyelle L. said...

I agree. That's where it really came alive for me. :D

Tess said...

Both of these books are on my 'to read' list. It's good to know that they are worth picking up, that helps.

Hope it is as sunny and beautiful there as it is here. I'm not having any luck on the sleeping in yet, but I'm hopeful :)

Pen Pen said...

The Princess isn't the same?! That kind of bothers me when they pull that stuff! When you read the second 'Harry Potter', it's not another Harry! I read a book a year ago that did the "pretend to be a sequel" thing, and it really confused and upset me...
Rant over.
THe book does sound good tho--maybe I should put it on my list and swallow my frustration...

lotusgirl said...

Rena, The bear is cool. I like him a lot.

Barrie, thanks. I'm glad you like it.

Yuna, I hope you enjoy it.

Danyelle, I wish she had included some lighter moments early on.

Tess, It is finally sunny here. We have had so much rain in the last few weeks. We needed it, but it was getting to be a bit much with so little sunshine.

Pen Pen, it's good and there is a strange twist that gets the princess. It's actually the hound from the first book who was a princess for a while.