The Princess Protection Program - Alex London - ★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Alex London
GENRE: Middle-grade Fantasy.
RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A middle-grade fantasy focussing on alternate HEAs for the princesses. Tries a bit too hard, but encompasses some thought-provoking themes and valuable life lessons. I found it somewhat repetitive and haphazard, but it might work better for the right age group.


Plot Preview:
When “Sleeping Beauty” Princess Rosamund awakes from her hundred-year sleep to a sloppy kiss from a stranger who calls himself her prince and wants to marry her, she runs. Without consciously realising it, she bolts through a ‘Door of Opportunity’ and reaches the premises of The Home Educational Academy, or HEA.
Under the leadership of fairy godmother Verna, HEA runs a Princess Protection Program, to allow princesses to escape their destinies and choose their own happy ending. Rosamund soon adjusts to life in this strange new world, along with a few other princesses (and one prince) as her fellow students. However, not everything seems to be right at the academy. Will it truly provide all its royal inmates with an alternate HEA of their choice?


Note: Children will enjoy this story better if they are familiar with the original fairy tales that the characters are taken from, but this isn’t a prerequisite.


Bookish Yays:
🎇 The author's note at the start about what inspired this story. Quite interesting.

🎇 The feminist spin on what princesses undergo in fairy tales.

🎇 The fact that it included even princes in the topic of having a choice in their lives. Absolutely true! It is not only the princesses who need rescuing from their fate in fairy tales.

🎇 The spinoff characters from popular fairy tales, many of whom have a distinctive personality in this story. Appreciate the inclusion of even modern Disney Princesses such as Elsa, or ‘Elise’ as she is known in this book.

🎇 The amalgamation of the fairy tale fantasy world into our own, where the young people are obsessed with selfies and social media apps. A quirky but interesting combo.

🎇 Many essential life lessons and inspiring themes in the plot, which can serve as good discussion points.


Bookish Mixed Bags:
🌠 The story begins in a lighthearted way but then gets dark, and a teeny bit scary. Might be a problem for sensitive or younger middle-graders. The fun scenes help a little in maintaining a balance.

🌠 The book has some magic as well as some magical beings, but not enough to make it feel like a fantasy. I expected a lot more magic throughout, and not just at the climax.

🌠 Some of the comic scenes are slapstick in nature, with even some toilet humour included. Some of these *might* be funny to kids, but I found them forced into the narrative.

🌠 The book is fairly quick-paced, as an MG book should be, but the middle section feels repetitive and hence dragged. The action is almost entirely restricted to the climax.


Bookish Nays:
🎃 The new names given to some of the characters are too similar. Names like ‘Sirena’, ‘Verna’ and ‘Rana’ are easy to mix up in our minds.

🎃 A part of the content, especially related to the feminist themes, might be better suited to teens than middle graders as they are a bit too complex for younger minds.


All in all, this is a book with a great idea and decent execution. Keeping in mind that MG fiction is one of my favourite genres, I am slightly disappointed by this experience. I wish it hadn’t tried so hard to be funny as well as meaningful, because in the process, it ends up doing complete justice to neither.

It might serve its target audience decently well, but to me, it was a one-time read with no resultant long-term fondness. Again, it wasn’t a bad book by far, just not a memorable one.

My thanks to HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Princess Protection Program”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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