Palace of Stone (Princess Academy Series #2)

by Shannon Hale

Overview

A New York Times Bestseller

In this second book in New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale's Princess Academy series, Miri embarks on a brand new life in the city.

Now that a princess has been chosen, Miri is thrilled at the chance to experience city life in the capital. She and her academy friends have traveled to Asland to help Britta prepare for her wedding. There, Miri also has the opportunity to study at the prestigious Queen's Castle.

But not everything is as perfect as Miri hoped. She can't help but compare the bustling city to her humble mountain home. A new crush makes her question an old love. And she learns that her new friends have rebellious plans. Torn between the traditions she has always known and revolutionary ideas, Miri must decide what she believes in.

The Princess Academy trilogy

Princess Academy

Princess Academy: Palace of Stone

Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599908731
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	08/21/2012
Series:	Princess Academy Series , #2
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Shannon Hale is the Newbery Honor–winning and New York Times bestselling author of the Princess Academy series, The Books of Bayern, Book of a Thousand Days, Dangerous, and the graphic novels Rapunzel's Revengeand Calamity Jack, as well as the Ever After High and Princess in Black series, and the upcoming The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl for Marvel. She also wrote three novels for adults, including Austenland, now a major motion picture starring Keri Russell. She and her husband, the author Dean Hale, have four children and live near Salt Lake City, Utah.

www.shannonhale.com

@HaleShannon

Editorial Reviews

Miri leaves her mountain of linder stone for another year of study and finds ethics and rhetoric to be powerful tools in the making of a revolution. This sequel to Princess Academy (2005) returns Miri and several of the girls from Mount Eskel to Asland to prepare for the wedding of Miri's best friend Britta to Prince Steffan. Times are dire: The people are destitute or starving, and the king, Steffan's father, seems indifferent and distant. Miri meets Timon, a classmate, and Lady Sisela, who speak strongly of the oppression of "the shoeless." The first half of the tale is a little slow and full of set-up, but the second half, when Miri takes action to prevent bloodshed, is powerful and deeply engaging. She uses not only rhetoric and ethics but the emotions of her people, which are held in the linder stone that comprises the palace, to hold the violence of the revolution in check. The politics echo the French Revolution (Hale notes this in the acknowledgments), but Miri's clear voice keeps the story hers and her people's. There's lovely texture to clothing and architectural descriptions and vivid warmth to Miri's friendships, her longing for home and her thirst to learn more and more. Not one but two boys help her find all the feelings kisses can engender. Miri's story comes to a satisfying end; readers who have been waiting since 2005 will find their patience well rewarded. (Fantasy. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

Palace of Stone . . . proves once again that with quick wit and brave words, one person really can change the world.” —SLJ on Palace of Stone

“Powerful and deeply engaging. . . . Readers who have been waiting since 2005 will find their patience well rewarded.” —Kirkus Reviews on Palace of Stone

“Hale's skill as a storyteller will charm her audience…nobody else has quite the same knack for seamlessly segueing between the folksy, intimate charm of an extended fairy tale and the larger canvas and more epic scope of high fantasy.” —The Horn Book on Palace of Stone

“Hale is a master of fantasy. . . . A gorgeously-written sequel.” —Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss

“Shannon Hale's books reignite my love of reading—that joy of having the time of my life with a great story.” —Stephenie Meyer, author of TWILIGHT

“Shannon Hale writes deft, lyrical wonderful fantasy” —Holly Black

From the Publisher