The Thirteenth Princess

The four Diane Zahler fairy tale books were some of the ones I rescued from my old storage area in Florida this past spring. I put them under my coffee table in my stacks so I could reread them and I started recently.

I know I need to be working on the Disney Twisted Tales, but those are bigger, nice hardcovers that are a pain to hold while eating, so I also have smaller books for mealtime reading!

The Thirteenth Princess was written in 2011. Amazon notes that I bought it in 2013. Not sure how I came across the Zahler books. Possibly a suggestion from Amazon? Or perhaps through Yvonne Gilbert's stunning cover art? Although her work for the old Time Life Enchanted World series is even more beautiful.

The Thirteenth Princess is about...yes, you guessed it...the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Zita, the main character on the cover, is the thirteenth and youngest. The king was obsessed with having a male heir, so the queen kept popping out kids. Little blonde girl after little blonde girl. All of Zita's older sisters are varying shades of blonde with eyes in varying shades of blue. So naturally, Zita has to be the odd one out, although she's a lovely green-eyed redhead, which is hardly that odd.

Angry with Zita for doing the old kill your mom in childbirth trope, the king banishes her to the kitchens and she grows up as a servant, not knowing who she is. She spends a good chunk of the book discovering her identity and hanging out with her sisters in secret. Then it becomes clear that they're under an enchantment and it's up to Zita, her stableboy almost-boyfriend, his older brother who's in love with the eldest blonde sister, and their witch friend to rescue the sisters and conquer the person who put the spell on them.

The reveal of the bad spellcaster is a bit random. There weren't the usual hints leading up to it. It's more like "Oh, okay, I guess that's possible."

I like all the good characters, although I do wish the book was longer and fleshed out the twelve sisters more. The eldest, Aurelia, gets the most characterization, but she's still lacking, because her main quality (aside from beauty) is being depressed because she's in her late twenties and unmarried. More is actually revealed about each sister in a section in the back of the book, which explains their name origins and tells a little about them.

It's a fun, quick read for those interested in fiction that experiments with fairy tales.