The Princess Game: A Sleeping Beauty Reimagining by Melanie Cellier Review

When you think of the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty you think of a princess cursed to sleep for one hundred years until a prince wakes her up with a kiss. The princess is asleep for most of her story and as a result is a very inactive character. In recent times many authors have tried to fix this problem by giving the princess more moral agency and a bigger role. Melanie Cellier achieves this by drastically changing the curse. Instead of having her be actually asleep she has the princess's mind appear to be asleep making her act like a fool in front of others. 

Princess Celeste was cursed at birth by her aunt Millicent to die on her sixteenth birthday. A fairy godmother offered to have her sleep instead but this idea was rejected. It was decided as an alternative to make her mind seem it was asleep by having her become foolish. Growing up Celeste tried to find a way to break her curse but was unsuccessful. On the eve of her sixteenth birthday she contacted her godmother to beg for help. The fairy told her that only true loves kiss could break the curse but she promised that Celeste would secretly keep her intelligence although no one know but her. And so to the world Celeste was the foolish sleeping princess while only she knew she retained her sharp mind. Celeste also discovered that if her face was covered by a scarf (making her unrecognizable) the curse wouldn't affect her. Wanting to secretly help her kingdom Celeste became the kingdoms spymaster Aurora. One day her brother Rafe returns to the kingdom with his mew wife Marie and brother-in-law William. Celeste finds herself attracted to William and wonders if he feels the same way or if he is just awestruck by her beauty. However trouble is brewing in her kingdom and her missing aunt might just have something to do with it. Celeste must uncover and defeat this new threat and she will need William's help to do it. Will she ever successfully break her curse and save her kingdom? Be shore to read and find out.

I found it interesting that Celeste was her kingdom's spy master and was awake for the entire book. It is unique twist that I was a bit on the fence about whether or not I liked it. That said this book is described as a reimagining rather than a retelling similar to its predecessor The Princess Fugitive. For those who don't know a reimagining of a class fairy tale doesn't have as much in common with its original source than a retelling does. And the Princess Game does take quite a few liberties from Sleeping Beauty.

I felt so bad for Celeste throughout the book. The curse makes her act like such a fool causing her family to get frustrated with her. They don't know that she is still herself in the inside and she cannot tell them. I felt her frustration throughout the book especially with her younger sister Celine who said one to many snarky remarks for my liking. Her relationship with William is sweet as he gets to know her both as Celeste and Aurora without knowing they are the same person. Truth be told I am still a little frustrated that William didn't know this since but his explanation in the end calmed most of annoyance. They were overall very cute together and could be even described as a power couple with good teamwork skills. While they aren't my favorite pairing in The Four Kingdom series (that honor goes to Ava and Hans from The Princess Fugitive) their romance is heartwarming and endearing.

Another character I want to mention is Celine Celeste's sister. I have to admit her antics and comments annoyed me more than I wish they did. Like the rest of her family Celine easily gets annoyed at Celeste's foolishness. However unlike her family she doesn't really try any attempt to hide it or be patient with her. I know she is young and somewhat immature but I still found myself feeling irritated with her. However as the story progressed she did grow on me a little more and as I know she appears in other book in the series and has a book of her own (A Crown of Snow and Ice) I hope she will grow on me more. 

The villain of this story is kind of a mystery. You don't know who it truly is until near the end. And while I suspected who it was I was still a little cut off guard when they revealed themselves. Stories where with a mystery villain don't usually sit well with me but this time around it worked.

Overall this book was very enjoyable but when it comes to Sleeping Beauty retellings I wouldn't call it a personal favorite. It has a clever twist but feels a little too much out of place to be based off of Sleeping Beauty. If your looking for a retelling closer to its source material I would recommend Kingdom of Thorns by Katherine Macdoanld (you can also check out my review of that book if your interested). I give this books four out of five stars.