Remember how a few days ago I picked up The Goose Girl? Well obviously my next step was to read Shannon Hale's newest offering, Princess Academy. Before I had read any of Hale's books, and I heard about this one, I thought it sounded suspiciously Meg Cabot-ish, so I wasn't going to read it. But how wrong I was!

Miri lives on Mount Eskel, a remote territory of Danland. Danland has a weird tradition about finding the prince's betrothed that involves priests divining the location from which the next princess will come. This time around, the priests have decided its Mt. Eskel. This is a bit of a scandal, as there are only 20 girls of the appropriate age on the mountain, and everyone there works in the quarry, mining linden stone. But tradition rules, and Miri and all her fellow villagers are sent over the mountain to the Princess Academy to prepare for the arrival of the Prince.

Hale is a phenomenal writer, and I was kept on the edge of my seat the whole time. In fact, my only complaint about this book is that it ended. And that's because Hale has done something that so few writers manage to do: she has created an entire world, and told one of its stories in a way that perfectly fits a book. Miri and her fellow villagers are so real that I can imagine their lives before and after this book.

Apparently there is a companion book to The Goose Girl, and I'm hoping that Hale manages to write something to go along with Princess Academy, too.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
ISBN 1582349932
314 pages