[V6W]∎ Libro Gratis The Sleeping Beauty A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms Mercedes Lackey 9780373803156 Books

The Sleeping Beauty A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms Mercedes Lackey 9780373803156 Books

Download As PDF : The Sleeping Beauty A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms Mercedes Lackey 9780373803156 Books

The Sleeping Beauty A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms Mercedes Lackey 9780373803156 Books

It starts out by turning a classic fairy tale situation (widowed King about to be targeted by Evil Stepmother-to-be) and turns it upside down. Then it does the same upsy-daisy routine with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and the Ring of the Nibelungs. (The penultimate scene is an especial hoot for anyone even passingly familiar with Wagner's operas! Yes *of course* 'Hilda would have a stentorian voice, and too bad we don't see more of her!)

It's also a very good thing that the Forest Bird who attaches herself to Siegfried is not the bird-brain that she is in Wagner's opera - she actually gives good advice, and he has the common sense to take it.

Leopold is a delight, and some of his ancestor's booted, talking cat's tomcattish ways seem to have rubbed off on him.

And then there's Rosa (never mind the cover, she's a blonde), who manages to get herself out of everything The Tradition tries to force her into, sometimes with outside assistance.

And the mastermind behind almost all of it is a for-real Fairy Godmother - who gets a surprise romance of her own (no, *not* the King - that's just a marriage of convenience,and The Tradition terminates it with extreme prejudice).

Delicious, and it holds up even after multiple re-readings (which can't be said for *every* Lackey book).


Tags : The Sleeping Beauty (A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms) [Mercedes Lackey] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Heavy is the head—and the eyelids—of the princess who wears the crown… In Rosamund's realm,Mercedes Lackey,The Sleeping Beauty (A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms),Luna,037380315X,Fairy godmothers;Fiction.,Magic;Fiction.,Princesses;Fiction.,10012668,115026X,20100701,707220,AMERICAN LIGHT ROMANTIC FICTION,AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,FICTION Romance Fantasy,FICTION Romance General,Fairy godmothers,Fantasy,Fiction,Fiction - Romance,Fiction-Romance,GENERAL,General Adult,LACKEY, MERCEDES - PROSE & CRITICISM,Magic,Monograph Series, any,Princesses,Princesses;Fiction.,Romance - Fantasy,RomanceGothic,Romance: Gothic,United States,FICTION Romance Fantasy,FICTION Romance General,Romance - Fantasy,Fiction - Romance,American Light Romantic Fiction,American Science Fiction And Fantasy,Fairy godmothers,Magic,Princesses,Fiction,Romance: Gothic

The Sleeping Beauty A Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms Mercedes Lackey 9780373803156 Books Reviews

The Sleep­ing Beauty is the 5th book in the 500 King­dom series, and is extremely enjoy­able. While not a book I would rec­om­mend for first-time read­ers of the series, it adds more depth into the world that have always left you won­der­ing. The 500 King­doms is about the God­mother Lily as much as it is about Princess Rosa, and Seigfried. Lily is a fun God­mother to read about, as she's been watch­ing over her spe­cific King­dom for 300 years already, and is used to manip­u­lat­ing The Tra­di­tion into doing what she wants.

The Sleep­ing Beauty is about what hap­pens when Rosa and Lily try to thwart The Tra­di­tion (a force of magic which is deter­mined to see the clas­sic Faerie Tales come true) and cre­ate their own happy end­ing. Lily has been God­mother of the King­dom for gen­er­a­tions, and she is deter­mined to avoid some of the less pleas­ant end­ings for Rosa, and to keep the King­dom from going to war with any or all its 5 neigh­bors. In order to pre­vent this from hap­pen­ing, Lily invites Princes and adven­tur­ers from all over the world, and using them as Royal Hostages. To gain from this for the Princes, is Rosa's hand. Her King­dom is extremely wealthy, and any Prince would ben­e­fit from becom­ing it's King. Joining Lily and Rosa in the cast are Seigfried -- a Prince who is set on defy­ing his own pre­des­tined path in The Tra­di­tion, and Leopold who is a sec­ond son cursed with being too likable.

Through­out the novel, char­ac­ters from ear­lier books in the 500 King­doms are casu­ally men­tioned, as the series rarely takes a direct sequel approach, and more com­monly just takes place within the same world. Char­ac­ters from tra­di­tional faerie tales also make appear­ances here and there, such as The Frog Prince, and a twist on the seven dwarves.

I always have a lot of fun read­ing books from this uni­verse, and they are a good light and funny read. Mer­cedes Lackey rarely dis­ap­points, and I would rec­om­mend this to any fan of retold Faerie tales, with just a rec­om­men­da­tion to start ear­lier in the series for those new to it.
As The Tradition forces Godmother Lily's gold-rich kingdom towards catastrophe, she desperately tries to protect Princess Rosamund and her people by setting up trials to win the Princess' hand.

Plot/Storyline 4.75 stars
When she doesn't get distracted into preaching mode, there are few who can match Lackey for sheer storytelling, as she demonstrates again in this book combining elements from several different fairy tales. From the fast start, the reader is never given a chance to draw breath as the plot-driven tale rocks from one danger to the next. There is the usual slight disjointedness as Lackey tends to write several sequential stories rather than a single unified storyline, but each story is enjoyable on its own, and Lily's desperate attempts to come up with suitable trials are sheer genius. There are a few minor plot holes. It didn't make sense that an evil sorcerer is able to hide from experienced godmother Lily but sets inept spells to control Rosa. I'm not convinced that the final great plan to protect Eltaria would be less expensive than war, although it was certainly creative! The ending was a little disappointing, but believable and consistent with the existing canon. However, these quibbles don't change the fact that the story gripped me almost immediately and never let go. There are very few series that I will buy immediately, even by authors I generally like; the turning-classics-sideways Five Hundred Kingdoms is one of them, and this is a worthy addition to an enjoyable and satisfying collection. About the only people I can think of who wouldn't enjoy this book would be those who don't like fantasy of any kind.

Characters 5 stars
The main characters are well-drawn, and their pure goodness (as well as the pure evil of the bad guys) is believable because it is required by The Tradition. But even within those limitations, Lackey was able to make them more interesting. Rosa is eager to learn self-defense. Siegfried's thews of iron cover an actual brain, and his aid to animals is classic Hero behavior as well as foreshadowing. Godmother Lily combines Fae cleverness and human determination with a natural despair at being able to manipulate The Tradition to adequately protect her kingdom. The secondary characters include a lisping unicorn, whose dopey behavior around virgins again lends a delightful comic note, as well as obnoxious dwarves and a smart-mouthed mirror servant. Lackey also managed a character who had both good and bad qualities, and who the reader couldn't anticipate would be a help or hindrance in any particular situation. As usual, some characters did not behave as a fairy tale reader would expect!

Writing style 5 stars
Dialogue moves along well and displays distinct voices for the characters. Descriptions are appropriate and left me feeling I could see the dwarves' hovel or find my way around the castle.
It starts out by turning a classic fairy tale situation (widowed King about to be targeted by Evil Stepmother-to-be) and turns it upside down. Then it does the same upsy-daisy routine with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and the Ring of the Nibelungs. (The penultimate scene is an especial hoot for anyone even passingly familiar with Wagner's operas! Yes *of course* 'Hilda would have a stentorian voice, and too bad we don't see more of her!)

It's also a very good thing that the Forest Bird who attaches herself to Siegfried is not the bird-brain that she is in Wagner's opera - she actually gives good advice, and he has the common sense to take it.

Leopold is a delight, and some of his ancestor's booted, talking cat's tomcattish ways seem to have rubbed off on him.

And then there's Rosa (never mind the cover, she's a blonde), who manages to get herself out of everything The Tradition tries to force her into, sometimes with outside assistance.

And the mastermind behind almost all of it is a for-real Fairy Godmother - who gets a surprise romance of her own (no, *not* the King - that's just a marriage of convenience,and The Tradition terminates it with extreme prejudice).

Delicious, and it holds up even after multiple re-readings (which can't be said for *every* Lackey book).