Ellie and the Prince by J. M. Stengl Review

When I first started reading the Faraway Castle series by J. M. Stengl I started with the third book, The Rose and the Briar, since I was very interested in an evil sleeping beauty who should not be woken up. I then read the second book The Siren and the Scholar and discovered a mermaid (or siren rather) who traded her memories instead of her voice to have a chance to be with the man she loved even if they couldn’t remember each other at first. Upon finishing both books, I regretted not reading the first one Ellie and the Prince from the start since they revealed a major spoiler. Having enjoyed both books though I figured it was about time I read the book that started it all and so I did and found it to be an amazing unique retelling of the classic fairy tale Cinderella.  

The book introduces the reader to Faraway Castle, a resort for royalty and nobility. A place where magic is secretly very present with few guests aware of it. Where brownies cook and clean, and sirens cause mischief by singing their enthralling songs, and hobble goblins pretend they are mistreated to get cake it is truly a unique setting. We are introduced to Ellie Calmer Faraway Castles, controller of magical creatures whose job mainly consists of capturing Cinder Sprites and other mischievous beings who can cause trouble. For many years Ellie has had a crush on Prince Omar, a frequent guest of the resort. However, no matter how she feels she believes they can never be together due to him being a prince and her being a resort staff member with no memory of her past or parents. Prince Omar has had a crush on Ellie for a long time too and despite her lack of royal status and his parents' objections he is determined to marry her if she will have him. When on a hunting trip with some other nobles they come across a unicorn who seems hostile. While the other nobles declare they will hunt it down he and Ellie are determined to save and protect it. But Ellie knows they must tread carefully. With the resort director Madame Geniveve looking for a reason to fire her Ellie knows she cannot be seen near Omar no matter what her feelings are. With a unicorn to save she doesn’t have time to think about the ball she is forbidden from attending. Will she and Omar save the unicorn and get their happy ending? Find out by reading the book.  

This has got to be one of the best and most unique books I have ever read. The setting is so unique and amazing I wanted to be a part of it. It is a world where magic is very present but so few people know about it unless they have magic themselves. Humans without magic cannot see creatures such as brownies, goblins, and sirens unless they are spoken to by one of them. The setting isn’t really medieval either. I mean there are still kingdoms with royals ruling them, but they have technology such as elevators and electricity. It really is such a cool place, a nice break from the strictly horse-and-carriage old-fashioned worlds I am used to reading about.  

Ellie and Omar are so cute. Out of all the couples in the books I have read in the series I like them the best. They are already crushing hard on each other by the beginning of the book and often think about what other must think of them. It is so adorable to see Omar feeling so unsure of how Ellie feels about him when she is as much in love with him as he is her. It was so cruel of others to try and keep them apart. Although this is a Cinderella retelling, Ellie doesn’t have any evil stepfamily. Instead, the stepmother character was her boss, the resort director Madame Genieve who seemed determined to keep Ellie away from Omar. She seems to have a grudge against young women who are in love in general as seen also in The Siren and the Scholar. Although despite her meanness I couldn’t really bring myself to truly hate her since she seems to have a mysterious tragic love story of her own (which is explained more in the sequel), and I hope she gets her own book one day. The two evil stepsisters were now two mean girls who were part of the nobility. Gillian and Raquel were so cruel to Ellie (mockingly calling her Cinder Ellie) and trying to catch Prince Omars attention. One even goes as far as to try and get Ellie fired through lies and having her parents get to know Omar’s parents with the hopes that they would marry. I know Gillian has her own book, so I look forward to seeing her getting a redemption arc in The Lady and the Wish a King Thrushbeard retelling.  

This book also does a good job introducing characters who later have their own books. Torbjorn the noble who was obsessed with finding a certain siren is the main male character in The Siren and the Scholar. Briar the prince with strong magic and Rosa the secretive head gardener (the protagonists from The Rose and the Briar) are also present in this book. And I believe the gatekeeper (the mysterious person in charge of Faraway Castle) will be the beast in a future Beauty and the Beast retelling. All this made me wish I had read this series in order. That said it's not required (even less so compared to other series like Timeless Fairy Tales, and Fairy Tale Adventures where I would highly recommend reading it the from the first book through to the last book) so it's really up to the reader. However, I warn you later books do spoil a big reveal from this story so if you want to enter the Faraway Castle series spoiler free start with this one. Anyway, I rank this awesome book five out of five stars and it is a must read to any fairy tale or Cinderella lover. Until next time. E. V. A.