11/30/2005 1:25 PM
Posted by VeggieSteph

Never After by Rebecca Lickiss

Never After is perfect weekend afternoon reading. It’s light, easy on the brain, and it’s funny, funny, funny. I bought this book ages ago to read while on the beach in Mexico. I ended up not getting to it, and I really wish I had read it earlier. It's a fractured fairy tale with tomboy princesses, a prince on a quest, magic spells, wizards, witches, and enchanted castles and toads. It’s got just about every character in it that a fairy tale might need.



In Never After, Prince Althelstan is searching for a bride. Trouble is, his parents want him to marry a true princess, and it seems that the closest thing to that is a neighboring princess who is only 3 years old. There is a serious princess shortage in the world, and his parents will have no less than a true princess as his bride. So what’s a prince to do? He goes on a quest, of course. He finds an enchanted castle that is supposed to have a sleeping princess (think Sleeping Beauty). He is surprised to find the rumor was mistaken (there are three sleeping princes), and now he needs his tomboy princess cousin, Lady Vevila, to come with him to wake the princes from their sleep, just so he can marry the girl that is sleeping in the greeting chamber with the enchanted King and Queen. Lady Vevila is more than happy to oblige, if just to get out of the castle and away from marriage talk. Of course, it’s never that easy. Throw in an meddling witch who wants to protect the princes by trying all princesses with princess tests and curses, three licensed magicians who really just want gold, a whole tower room full of straw, and a couple of fairy tale regulars in the guise of Rumplestiltskin, Cinderella, and the Frog Prince, and you have the story.

Never After isn’t groundbreaking. Many others have retold fairy tales, thrown in a bunch of feminist, tomboy princesses, and mixed them up with some unexpected princes. But, I really didn’t buy this book expecting a brand new take on the fractured fairy tale. I bought it expecting a fun, light, easy beach read, and that’s exactly what I got. No serious feminist preaching; no heavy-handed social commentary. I got humorous dialogue, comedic situations, and characters I could like despite their failings. My only wish is that Rebecca Lickiss had more books that I could buy, just so I could enjoy more of her frothy, lemon meringue stories. I’ve added her first book to my Wish List, and she has another coming out soon. Good thing I’m going to the beach again. This time, I’ll make sure to read it while I am there.