The Princess and the Goblin
by George MacDonald
1872, 241 pp.
Rating: 4.5
This is a delightful story about eight year old Princess Irene, her great-great-great-great grandmother, and a miner boy named Curdie. Together they fight to foil the goblins’ sinister schemes. Little Irene is a true princess and acts like a little lady, while Curdy is a very brave and heroic boy.
Highly recommended for all ages. I will try to read the sequel, The Princess and Curdie, sometime this year as well. I am also set to read Phantastes by MacDonald for the Fantasy Challenge. I can’t wait to get to this more “adult” fantasy tale. I really enjoyed MacDonald’s writing, and I am not at all surprised that he was an inspiration to both Lewis and Tolkien.
- sage – April 21, 2007
- I’ve read a few of McDonald’s fantasies, but not this one. Thanks for the review
- heidijane – April 22, 2007
- Thanks for the review. Sounds like a book I may need to add to my (ever-growing) wishlist…
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the other MacDonald books. I have read this one, which I liked about as much as you, and The Light Princess. I have the sequel to The Princess and the Goblin, but I haven’t read it yet.
Have you read At the Back of the North Wind by the same author? I read it in college and loved it.
Kailana–I have The Light Princess but haven’t read it yet. Another one I’m looking forward to.
Lisa–Yes, I’ve read it but it was a long time ago. I’d like to re-read it sometime as well.
I hadn’t really heard much about MacDonald before this challenge, but I definitely want to read some of his stuff sometime soon. This sounds like a fun book.
This is yet another book I’ve been meaning to read for a while. Your rating is certainly encouraging.
Like Carl, I hadn’t previously heard much about MacDonald, and I haven’t read any of his books. This one sounds like one I might enjoy though, I may have to add it to The List!
Oh! I love The Princess and the Goblin! MacDonald in general, actually, though I have noticed many of his other tales (The Light Princess and At the Back of the North Wind for instance) tend to be a little downbeat. (Not as downbeat as Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales though! Those are the most depressing ever.
)
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