Shannon 's Reviews > The Princess and the Hound

Prince George is an only child and heir to the throne of Kendel; as a little boy he spends time with his mother with the horses in the stable, the hounds in the kennels, or the wild animals in the forest. From her he learns the languages of animals, and slowly learns to hide his gift of animal magic as his mother does, and to live in fear of it being discovered - anyone caught using animal magic is burned.

At seventeen, many years after his mother died, George travels to a neighbouring kingdom that his own country had been at war for for many years, to meet his betrothed, Princess Beatrice. It is an arranged marriage, and he doesn't expect to feel anything for her. But the princess is not what he expected. With a wild hound always at her side, he finds himself drawn to her cold aloofness, and feels angered at the way she is treated by her father the King and his courtiers.

Yet even with his great gift of animal magic, he doesn't see the princess and her hound clearly, and the secret, when it is revealed, stuns him.

Written in the style of an old-fashioned fairy-tale but with contemporary leanings, The Princess and the Hound is supposedly loosely based on "Beauty and the Beast" - but I confess I never noticed. There is a wild quality to the story that is quite dark, with superstitions, revenge, wild beasts and daunting forests. The fairy-tale style works until the end, which drifts off lazily and seems to lose focus: it would have been more satisfying had it had a headier climax.

I loved the princess though, Beatrice, and the hound, Marit. Theirs was a mystery I worried at and almost had figured out by the time it was revealed - a book I read recently inspired my imagination to look in the right direction, so it wasn't as big a reveal as it might otherwise have been. She's a unique character, Beatrice, and well written, totally believable.

George too is well developed - the story is told from his perspective and so we get insights into his way of thinking which we don't get with anyone else. He grows and matures and is a likeable lad, but not terribly inspiring. Despite his magical gift, he's quite ordinary, more human, than you might expect of a hero. That should make me like him more but I guess I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic.

The thing I enjoyed the most was the animal magic, and the close twining of animals and people. Like fantasy stories that depict a hidden consciousness and even a single-minded cruelty in nature - a human vs. nature dichotomy - stories about the hidden talents of animals are equally as fascinating to me. While this book didn't make as great a connection as The Shape-Changer's Wife, it did quite well at bridging the gap and exploring possibilities. There's to be a sequel as well, The Princess and the Bear.