Book Review: Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies by Hannah Carter
Twenty Hills Publishing is a fairly new publishing house that caught my attention earlier this year as a Christian publishing house that tries to emphasize Christian values and light-centered stories without requiring those stories to be 100% squeaky clean in every context. When I entered a giveaway over the summer, one of the entries was to sign up to one of their street teams, so I ended up receiving an ARC of Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies to review and was glad to have the opportunity to read something from Twenty Hills Publishing.
(Required disclaimer that though I received a free copy to review, the following opinions are my own.)
What is Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies about?
The country of Umbra is caught in a war between its magical history filled with spellcasters and the new modern revolution. At the core of this civil war is the missing princess, who is prophesied to end the war and put the spellcasters back in a position of power.
To figure out where the heir is, the spellcasters throw a ball and invite all twenty-year-old women to see if one of them is the princess.
Though she’s forced to attend, Hazel Cartwright has no magical powers, so she can’t possibly be the missing heir . . .
Right?
Princesses, Spies, & Other Modern Lies is a short story full of political intrigue, a missing princess, magic versus modernity, banter, and spies.
This story starts off with a very Anastasia-esque premise, albeit a much more rough-around-the-edges protagonist than Anastasia. Hazel’s nation (kingdom?) is trying to locate their missing princess, and she fits the criteria to be tested with the other girls of the right age. It’s hard to review such a short story in a comprehensive manner without spoiling the story, but I’ll do my best.
My first issue was with Hazel herself; she seemed edgy for the sake of being edgy, and I didn’t feel she had many redemptive qualities. Sure, she tries to support the more moral political party and acknowledges even their weaknesses, but in terms of her everyday behavior, she just didn’t come across as likeable or respectful at all. This might have been fine if the male main character had balanced her out, but he was just as crude and “grey.” And their relationship was not clear enough through her POV to come across smoothly instead of just weird in the context of the whole middle portion of the story. (Again, it’s hard to be clear while avoiding spoilers.)
The world was interesting, and the writing was fine, but the story felt like it had no clear theme and the characters were unlikeable enough to me that if this story were novel-length I likely would have DNFed it. I also would have liked for the “twist” to have been better set up/foreshadowed so that the characters’ relationship felt more believable and the reveal didn’t feel like it came out of left field. As a short story, this was a decent enough tale, but I was glad it was short and while I would be interested to see more in this world, I wouldn’t want it to be through the eyes of–or even following the story of–these characters.
Rating: 2 stars
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