Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Mermaid's Madness-Jim C. Hines

The Mermaid's Madness
Jim C. Hines
Daw, Oct 6 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780756405830

The Mermaid princess gave up everything for love except her life; however, the human she cherished turned elsewhere so her love was unrequited. Irate and jealous and isolated form her own kind due to her sacrifice, she attacked the cause of her lost love: Queen Beatrice of the Kingdom of Lorindar. Her effort proves successful leaving the Queen in a regal coma. Her three princess wards (Snow White, Talia the Sleeping Beauty and Danielle Cinderella) are worried about their beloved mentor’s comatose state, but soon have their own problems when they are under assault next.

They survive, but must find out who is behind the violence in order to put an end to it. They journey to the underwater kingdom of the Mer to obtain allies and to ascertain who amongst them might be the aggressor and why. Drinking plenty of terrible tasting tea to combat seasickness, the princesses risk their lives trying to save Queen Beatrice and themselves from a dangerously cunning adversary.

This entertaining twisted fairy tale sequel to THE STEPSISTER SCHEME is an amusing dark spin of the Little Mermaid as Jim Hines tells the “true” tale of what happened; not the happy ending one. Fans will laugh at the princess stereotyping that lightens through lampooning the sinister enchanted fairy tale with nods to Fractured Fairy Tales of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame (Jay Ward, Alex Anderson and Bill Scott).

Harriet Klausner

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