Palace of Stone

By: Shannon Hale

Narrated by: Cynthia Bishop

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

Coming down from the mountain to a new life in the city is a thrill to Miri. She and her princess academy friends have been brought to Asland to help the future princess Britta prepare for her wedding. There, Miri also has a chance to attend school - at the Queen's Castle. But as Miri befriends students who seem sophisticated and exciting she also learns that they have some frightening plans.

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, Miri looks to find her own way in this new place.

Picking up where Princess Academy left off, and celebrating the joys of friendship, romance and the fate of fairy tale kingdoms, this new book delivers the completely delightful new story that fans have been waiting for.

©2012 Shannon Hale (P)2012 AudioGO

Reviewed as a comparison to Princess Academy,Book1

I began with the first Princess Academy book and I loved it. Overall, Shannon Hale, with her other books (Enna Burning) is a great author.

The second book is a nice continuation of the first.

Pros
-I enjoyed the cute narration and musical quality that comes with Shannon Hale's audiobooks. The whole thing is a sensory experience and drew me into the story. I enjoy Full-Cast audio, multiple voices and sound effects. If you do too, then you will probably like this version.

-Cynthia Bishop, the narrator, emphasizes in the right places and shows that she really understands what she is reading.

-Teaches good morals for young girls (there is talk of muscles and dancing and kissing, so take that into consideration before letting young girls listen to this : ) *

Cons
-At times, the story felt boring. There is action, but it felt a little forced and I was left wanting more.
-Sometimes the music in the beginning was a little cheesy, even for me, because the songs at the beginning of some chapters sounded almost ridiculous (like someone imitating an Adam Sandler's Opera Man!)
-Many times when I thought the story would end, it kept going, as if the author couldn't decide on how to bring everything to a satisfying conclusion.

Overall, this was not Hale's best book (try Enna Burning), but it will not stop me from listening to her other titles. I enjoy the light-hearted purity of all of her stories. *It would be great for 6th graders to listen to.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

HATED the performance!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Maybe a child wouldn't mind the terrible, stilted performances of the various voice actors...

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved Miri, as always. She is smart and real.

How could the performance have been better?

Let one person, an actual actor or voice-over actor, do the reading!!!! The people doing the various voices were so wooden and bad that I finally had to stop listening and just check the book out at the library.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The book was great. Shannon Hale never disappoints. However, the reading performance made me more and more irritated, to the point that I couldn't stand to listen another minute.

Any additional comments?

I LOVE Shannon Hale and I love most audiobooks. But this recording was almost as bad as listening to Lemony Snicket read his own books--in other words, unpalatable!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great book

I love it👍❕😍
Easy to read
I read it in a day
I like the other books in the series

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fun, fanciful, YA story

This is another well-done full-cast audiobook. Pardon any misspellings I make because I haven't actually seen the words or names. :)

Another very sweet and exciting story! I'm glad I discovered these books! It was great seeing Miri and friends continue to grow and explore beyond Mount Eskel, discovering who they are and what they want to do with their lives. I also loved a plot twist related to the royal family, the continuing use of quarry speech, and discovering new things about linder. Then there were the deeper themes about ethics, loyalty, the importance of history, and so on. Something I particularly appreciated was the value placed on human life in this book. While change needed to happen in the government in order to make things better for the people who were suffering, it was good to see Miri realizing that the ends DO NOT justify the means, and striving to find a balance between two extreme viewpoints and find a solution that didn't involve violence and the murder, and yet still brought the change that was needed. In our modern-day world where there are so many extreme viewpoints that, sadly, often result in violence in various forms, this concept of taking the time to really think and take ethical action instead of knee-jerk reactions is a concept I think should be put on display more often.

The only thing I could have done without was the love triangle. It wasn't the most prominent or infuriating triangle ever, and I do feel Miri learned some things from it, but A) I liked the guy from the first story a lot better (Sorry, I have no idea how to spell his name!) and B) I was feeling like the new guy was being awfully fast moving. Like, you've known her for how long and you're already proposing marriage?

Anyway, while I would have preferred Miri not be divided between two guys, that sub-plot didn't take away from things enough for me to subtract from my rating, and it worked out in a way I found satisfactory.

Content advisory for those who want to know

Violence: There was more violence and threatened violence in this book than in the first one, but none of it is graphic or gross. There were mobs who threatened violence and shot at people with guns, attempted assassinations mainly involving gunfire, non-descriptive mentions of fallen bodies after one attempted assassination, someone being held at gunpoint, someone actually being shot and a brief mention of blood, threats of execution, learning (in a non-descriptive way) about executions by beheading that happened in other cities due to violent revolution.

Swearing: None.

Infrequent name calling mainly included "stupid".

Sexual content: A few hand-kisses, a cheek kiss, about three kisses on the lips, two described in terms of warmth and racing hearts, the other not described at all. Hand-holding, nearness, and the warmth these things cause are mentioned.

Worldviews: Like in the first book, there are very brief mentions of a "Creator God", mentions of chapels and going to chapels, but I don't recall any description related to methods of worship or anything along those lines, and we see nothing in relation to individual character's faith or lack thereof.

THISBOOKISSOGREATICAN'TDESCRIBEITINTHESPACEGIVEN!!

Oh I am given more space hear good,anyway.This book has taught me things I will never forget . I love the relationships Mery experienced and the fears and problems she faced. I could not stop listening. this book was frightful, encouraging, pushing to get its thoughts out, never have I experienced such romance, and the jokes were divine, you do like my large vocabulary I've been working on it, but that's not the point. A book so he as this should be honored and set to be read, and yes reading is an honorable thing. I really liked the letters and my only complaint is that they didn't do the hole betrothal thing in front of the king. I really hope I not completely screw up this review thing and thank you Shannon Hale fore writing your books and the appreciation of books inside this book it was touching, man I really seem to like books whare the authers name starts with Shannon. Now since I've been writing to long and must end I will now end...

I love it

I love this book! so many funny parts and so many intense parts:) I would tell anyone it read it:)

Palace of stone

This book is awesome series is very well written and read enjoyed it all love to hear more

Not a great recording

I really enjoy the story but it really bothered me that they changed the cast.

Wonderful!!!

Miri is brave and wonderful like the book. I will enjoy the very next series!!!

Great Second Book in Series

I really enjoyed this book. I've read all of Shannon Hale's books and have enjoyed almost all of them. I particularly like alternative forms of magic and quarry speech feels like one of those. Who would have thought that up? Not me. Anyway, I enjoyed the ethical and governmental questions as well as the love interests in this book. I thought it ended well and wonder if there will be another. I think this book could easily stand alone, but it would probably be best to read Princess Academy first. I also thought it was interesting how much power quarry speech had in the palace as well as other interesting effects on those who live there. Interesting and fun. All of Shannon Hale's books are clean. The children's books are very clean. That is a relief to those of us who worry about the books available to children everywhere. If you enjoy light fantasy written for the young and young at heart, you will probably enjoy this book.