Crowned: Magical Folk and Fairy Tales from the Diaspora

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I have always loved Cinderella retellings, especially ones with a more feminist lens. Ella Enchanted became my favorite book in elementary school, and I still reread it to this day! I loved that Ella was smart, kind, and adventurous and the prince didn’t fall in love with just a pretty face.

Crowned', by Mary Soon Lee, is a richly told fantasy novel set in ancient China that just happens to be formatted as a series of long, easy-to-read poems. In fact, the first poem in the book won the Rhysling Award as the best long speculative poem of 2014. Don’t let the format fool you. This is the best fantasy book I’ve read in at least twenty years. I experienced every horror Vhalla faced like I was standing next to her, soaked in blood and trembling with terror. I was always afraid, always holding my breath and trying to steady my nerves, trying to convince myself that everything would be ok in the end. That my suffering would be worth it. I spent a great amount of time being angry at Vhalla, even disappointed, because when I finally accepted her and loved her in Water's Wrath, in Crystal Crowned I witnessed a more savage and greedy side of hers that made me edgy. But at the same time I admired her, because she came a long, long way and her mistakes and flaws made her the only person that could defy and defeat the Evil she unleashed. I don't even know where to start with this book, it was so UNCOMFORTABLE. My biggest problem were Vhaldrik (aka Aldrik&Vhalla being raging, irresponsible and stupid teenagers (when they're freaking adults)). First of all, all their interactions made me cringe so much. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY. Sometimes they were too sugary (seriously, this amount of sugar is very bad for your health), sometimes they were very annoying, sometimeEd does over 100 crosses every year, hoping that just one or two will make it through the 10-year development cycle. In 1937, for example, while trying on their robes for their father’s coronation, the six-year-old Margaret was said to have thrown a fit when she discovered that the purple velvet train edged with ermine behind her ceremonial outfit was cut slightly shorter than that of her elder sister. It wasn’t fair, she complained, and she flung herself to the floor in a tantrum. Only when it was explained to her that the two sisters’ trains had been designed in direct proportion to their height – and that Lilibet was nearly four inches taller – was the Princess placated, and then only grudgingly so. ‘What a good thing,’ courtiers would murmur, ‘that Margaret is the younger one.’ If we get desirable traits, like high indices of capsaicinoids we’re looking for, then we’ll keep on going on the cross. If it doesn’t work, then we gotta start all over again, and it’s a very time-consuming, very long process,” he told WIRED.

It is as a transitional history book, on a path to interesting light readers in conventional history, that this book excels, drawing the reader in with its many photos of the actors in the series paired with real-life images of the Windsor family and grounding the Windsors in the context of world history. I could easily see asking students of Modern British History in a prep school setting to watch the series, read this book, and then read about the corresponding period in Sarah Bradford's popular and accessible Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times as part of a class project.In this eye-opening companion to seasons 2 and 3 of Netflix’s acclaimed series The Crown, renowned biographer and historical consultant Robert Lacey takes us through the real history that inspired the drama. Classic Fairy Tales, a little mermaid realizes where her home really lies, and a princess learns her vitiligo makes her uniquely beautiful. Crystal Crowned is the last book in the Air Awakens series and, in my opinion, it's also the most epic conclusion to a series ever! From the beggining to the end, this finale was everything I never knew I needed and I couldn't be more happy about it. Xau develops a deep rapport with horses, able to calm and direct them in their actions, which comes in handy in more than one battle. He becomes famous for this ability as well as for his calm demeanor and talent for negotiating. He wins the hearts of his people by remaining one of them.

We all believe in you two. We are all fighting for you. Do you know why?” She shook her head. She didn’t have the faintest idea. I first encountered Mary Soon Lee's King Xau poems while working as one of the poetry editors of Strange Horizons, where I had the I'm sure frustrating tendency to reject them at the very last minute with long notes about how much I like them. The problem (if you can call it a problem) is that although most individual poems are pretty good, it's the aggregation that makes them something special. This anthology contains the chronologically first 60 or 70 poems in a linked cycle of hundreds set in a secondary world which reminds me of Avatar and the Dothraki. I don't know anybody else who's doing that.Every chance worth taking will make you a little scared. That means you're taking a risk. And where there is risk, there is reward.”

I cared for secondary characters like they were my own friends, Elecia has become an all-time favorite and Jax is so flawed and tarnished and mad with grief that my heart ached for him. After reading this book, I understand that season 1 of The Crown covered the years 1947-1955 in Queen Elizabeth’s life. There were 10 episodes, and each gets a chapter in this book.Red Riding Hood: hammers home that rumors may not be true, but completely misses the point of the original fairy tale being about being cautious because not all adults have honest intentions towards children and other vulnerable people. It turns it into not judging a book by its cover in an attempt to rehabilitate wolves. Look I love wolves, and don't think they always need to be the villain. But this felt like a bait and switch and I don't see why this one's moral had to be changed.