Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2012
336 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History
Publication Information
Coming down from the mountain to a new life in the city seems a thrill beyond imagining. When Miri and her friends from Mount Eskel set off to help the future princess Britta prepare for her royal wedding, she is happy about her chance to attend school in the capital city. There, Miri befriends students who seem so sophisticated and exciting... until she learns that they have some frightening plans. They think that Miri will help them, that she should help them. Soon Miri finds herself torn between loyalty to the princess and her new friends' ideas, between an old love and a new crush, and between her small mountain home and the bustling city.
Picking up where Princess Academy left off, this incredible stand-alone story celebrates the joys of friendship, the delight of romance, and the fate of a beloved fairy tale kingdom.
Ages 10+
"Miri's story comes to a satisfying end; readers who have been waiting since 2005 will find their patience well rewarded. Fantasy, ages 10-14" - Kirkus Reviews
"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." - Horn Book
"Absolutely incredible... this is the book we have all been waiting for." - Jennifer L. Holm, three-time Newbery Honoree and NYTimes-bestselling author of Turtle in Paradise
"Shannon Hale is a master of fantasy. In Palace of Stone, she raises her own stakes with a gorgeously-written sequel about the heartbreaking complications of revolution, friendship, romance, and returning home." - Stephanie Perkins, NYTimes-bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
New York Times best selling author Shannon Hale started writing books at age ten and never stopped, eventually earning an MFA in Creative Writing. After nineteen years of writing and dozens of rejections, she published The Goose Girl, the first book in her award-winning Books of Bayern series. She has two standalone books for young readers - Book of a Thousand Days, a Cybils award winner; and Princess Academy, a Newbery Honor Book. Her books for the adult crowd are Austenland (soon to be a major motion picture), Midnight in Austenland, and The Actor and the Housewife. With her husband Dean, Shannon wrote two graphic novels: Rapunzel's Revenge, winner of the Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award; and its acclaimed sequel, Calamity Jack. Shannon's next book is the Princess Academy ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Shannon Hale's Website
Name Pronunciation
Shannon Hale: shan-non hale (rhymes with rail)
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