The Runaway Princess, Kate Coombs

From the prologue: When Meg was small, her mother used to tell her bedtime stories. Meg would sit up amid a pile of embroidered pillows, her five satin comforters already turned back by the castle maids. 


Meg is a princess. But not an ordinary princess. She prefers to play with frogs instead of embroidering and she hates frilly dresses. So when her father the king decides to give her hand in marriage to whoever can rid the kingdom of its "evils" (witches, dragons, bandits), she has no intention of going along. Meg sets out to win the contest herself, with the help of her good friend, her maid, a guardsman, a wizard, and a witch. This is a really familiar story; it has all the elements of fantasy, especially the type with untraditional princesses: annoying princes, enchanted frogs, magical items like invisibility juice. But I still enjoyed the book, with its playful writing style. This was overall a pretty fun book, with light adventure and intrigue. There is a sequel to it, entitled The Runaway Dragon.

Read The Runaway Princess:

• if you like fantasy, particularly with untraditional princesses
• if you enjoyed The Enchanted Forest Series by Patricia Wrede
• if you're looking for a light, fun, fantasy

279 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!