While The Thirteenth Princess was a retelling of a fairy tale, A True Princess is more of an original story. The tale of The Princess and the Pea is at its core, but it's so wrapped in layers of other things that it doesn't feel like a simple retelling.
A True Princess also involves the Danish/German Erl-King, who is called the Elf-King here, and his daughter. These are trickster-type characters, who take children and humans for their whims.
Then there's Odin's Hunt, Yep, Odin himself is in here, although he's not proclaimed to be a god.
The Norwegian nisse also makes an appearance.
The story is set somewhere the Northern Lights appear.
The names are decidedly Northern European. Lilia is Russian, amongst other things. Kai is Finnish, Swedish, German. Karina is Scandinavian and Russian. Tycho is Greek, but has versions in Scandinavia. Ylva is Swedish.
So it's a hodgepodge of different fairy tale elements set in a vaguely Northern European setting.
It's a pretty fun story. Lilia was found floating down a river in a basket, which was later discovered to be a falcon's nest. She's raised alongside Karina and Kai by their father and cruel stepmother. When the stepmother plans to sell Lilia to the miller, she runs away, but is quickly found by Kai and Karina, who won't stay on the farm without her.
On their travels, they get lost in a dangerous forest, where they encounter the Elf-King and his spoiled daughter, who claims Kai as her own. Lilia makes a bargain. If she can find Odin's lost cloak clasp, the Elf-King will take it in exchange for Kai and all the other humans that have been taken over the years. The Elf-King's daughter says it is in the nearby palace.
Lilia and Karina become servants in the palace and search for the clasp, while Karina is falling for the prince. This is where the test from The Princess and the Pea comes in.
I'm not going to spoil anything, but Lilia saves the day, of course. It's another nice, quick read, though I enjoyed The Thirteenth Princess more. Lilia is a fun character, but beyond her, the other cast isn't as developed as I would have liked. Zahler gave better treatment to the supporting cast of The Thirteenth Princess than she did to this one.
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