The Forgotten Sisters

Princess Academy

By: Shannon Hale

Narrated by: Mandi Lee

Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

After a year at the king's palace, Miri has learned all about being a proper princess. But the tables turn when the student must become the teacher!

Instead of returning to her beloved Mount Eskel, Miri is ordered to journey to a distant swamp and start a princess academy for three sisters, cousins of the royal family. Unfortunately, Astrid, Felissa, and Sus are more interested in hunting and fishing than becoming princesses.

As Miri spends more time with the sisters, she realizes the king and queen's interest in them hides a long-buried secret. She must rely on her own strength and intelligence to unravel the mystery, protect the girls, complete her assignment, and finally make her way home.

Fans of Shannon Hale won't want to miss this gorgeously woven return to this best-selling, Newbery Honor-winning series.

©2015 Shannon Hale (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Narrator obviously didn't listen to previous books

What did you love best about The Forgotten Sisters?

Great story, as were the previous books. I was very happy with everything but a minor annoyance--the narrator pronounced names differently in this book than the two previous books. It's a small thing but it was REALLY annoying. Any job requires preparation of some sort and the minimum preparation (in my opinion) to be a narrator would be to listen to previous books for continuity.

Other than this I give high marks all around for the book. Great ending for a great trilogy.

Such a great ending to the series!

Loved it! So great. Good performance! The only reason I gave four stars for the performance is that she pronounces one of the main character's names differently than the performer did for the previous books in the series.

Good, but not as good as the other two

Wavering between 3.5 and 4 stars.

Before I even picked up this audiobook I had seen reviews from a few fans of this series saying this third book was a little disappointing to them. I tried not to let this taint my experience, and I don't think it did, but I can also still see why those people found it disappointing. There wasn't nearly as much complexity to this one as the second one, nor was the pace nearly as breathtaking. That was an unfortunate choice on the author's part because one expects a series to build on itself, which should technically make the third book the most exciting of all, but instead, the beginning half at least, may have had the slowest pace since the first book. That said, the second half of this book did pick up some and the majority of what I liked about the previous books (quarry speaking, the emphasis on the importance of reading and education, Miri and Peder <3) was still there, and the one thing I didn't like about the second book (love triangle) was gone, so that was all good. There were also new things that I liked, too: The swamp culture was unique and interesting, the swamp girls were quirky, feisty, and fun. The big twist was also very...twisty! :p And I was not able to guess it beforehand. There was also a thing near the end that happened with Felissa and another character. I can't say what it was because of spoilers, but GAAAAH that was so cute!!! XD Oh, and I was also glad to see certain likable members of the royal family again and get more depth on some of them in general.

So, now that I've talked it out, I will stick with 4 stars rather than 3.5, because, while the pacing was not what it could have been, and I can see how that was a disappointment for some people, it didn't take away from the story enough that I didn't enjoy it, or even found it boring. *shrug* (I really think listening on audio at double speed helped me avoid that in this case). And the ending was also very sweet and satisfying, so, overall, it was a good read for me.

One quick critique of the audiobook: ...Actually, this critique has to do with something in the audiobooks for all three Princess Academy books. To put this in context, all three audiobooks had different narrators, and their pronunciation of different names and things was mostly consistent between the three of them...except in one very confusing instance. I, not having read the physical books, had no idea how to spell the names of characters not mentioned in the books' descriptions, and had no opinions on how they should be pronounced. Therefore, it was extremely confusing to have two of the narrators both say a certain name the same way, and then have the third narrator say that name in a way that was so different it didn't even sound like it was spelled the same, and I didn't realize this character was someone I knew until literally over halfway through the book. *facepalm* In case you were wondering, this character was Katar. (I had to Google the Princess Academy wiki page to spell it!) The narrators for the first two books pronounced her name so that I thought it was spelled like "Catter" (Cat-er). Then the third narrator pronounced it more like I would have assumed the name Katar would actually be pronounced: (KUH-tar). Of course, not knowing how to spell or pronounce it, I hear this narrator saying "KUH-tar" and I honestly thought it was some random new character dude who took it upon himself (Katar was mentioned so infrequently in this book that I don't remember the pronoun "she" being connected to her until about the 3/4 point in the book, which was when I finally realized who she was!) to boss Miri around, and I was like, "Dude, who do you think you are bossing her around and being so grouchy with her and stuff! Do we even know you?" Interestingly enough, when I did finally realize it was the girl I previously thought of as "Catter" I was more okay with her bossing Miri, because that's just kind of the relationship dynamic they've always had, LOL.

Anyway, that gripe aside, this audiobook was different from the previous two because it had only one narrator rather than a full cast, but the narrator was good on her own and I still enjoyed it.

Content Advisory for those who want to know:

Violence: The "worst" instance of violence in this book was the beheading of an unnamed character by soldiers. It is described in a way that is emotionally impactful, but not visual/graphic. We the reader are told the sword is raised over the poor man, the sword falls, there's a splash of the head falling into the water, and then the next thing we’re told about is blood on the sword.

Other violence includes a physical fight between an enemy soldier and a younger girl (this girl challenged the soldier to the fight, which he rejected, until she kept pushing) in which the soldier tries to hit the girl and the girl headbutts him in the stomach.

A young female character is backhanded several times by a soldier and pushed into a wall so hard it breaks her collar bone. (The bone crunches and pain is described.)

A man tries to attack a girl with a knife.

A man is kicked in the shins.

The girls who live in the swamp have playful wrestling matches with each other in which there is much rolling around and pinning each other to the ground, but no one is hurt.

There are threats of violence throughout the book due to an impending war.

Several close calls with swamp animals: Someone gets bitten by a snake they fear is poisonous. (It isn't.) There is mention of a slain animal's blood darkening the swamp water.

Note: While not violent, just like in the previous two books, there is mention of the loss of a parent and sadness over this. I mention this because it is a middle grade book and I've occasionally seen really young kids get upset by themes of parental loss in fiction, especially if they fear this already, or have experienced the loss of a parent, and I just want people to be aware if they are considering these books for their children.

Sexual content: Some hints at attraction between characters. 4 or 5 instances of kissing either barely described or not described at all.

Worldview/Spirituality: The "Creator God" is mentioned a bit more often than in the previous two books, but it is still not enough to be clear whether or not the author had a real-world counterpart in mind. The girls from the swamp seem to have more of a direct belief in and actually pray to the "Creator God" at one point when they are about to do something dangerous. Chapels are mentioned as a place where people in the various locals have a habit of visiting regularly, and a betrothal ceremony occurs inside a chapel. (This was the first time I recall an event in these books happening inside one of the chapels rather than just passing mentions of the chapels without ever reading about what goes on inside.)

Great Story, So-So Narrator

Where does The Forgotten Sisters rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The Forgotten Sisters is definitely worth reading/listening to, if you are a fan of Shannon Hale. It was as enjoyable as The Princess Academy and the Palace of Stone.

What did you like best about this story?

I thought it was a nice continuation of the Princess Academy series, I hope there are more books planned for the series.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Mandi Lee?

I liked the way the first two books in this series were done: with a full cast doing all the different characters. But frankly, *anyone* who could be a little less shouty, and put a little more thought into the character's voices would have been better.

Best book in the series

This was my favorite so far, perhaps because I knew and loved so many of the characters.

Included danger, humor, unbelievable moments that the reader is willing to buy into, a connection with a believable history, and her two fortes, entertaining plots with frequent changes and twists, and engaging characters you grow to love and cheer on through the story.

I would say it’s suitable for children age 8 and up, if they could understand the nature of contracts, politics, history, and war. Probably written for the 10-14 year range.

Squeaky clean language, physical romance only includes welcome kisses, and violence is reported in a rather non-violent manner, making it less upsetting. The violence is there, in a book including enemies, betrayals, survival in nature, soldiers and bandits.

Warning for conservative parents: the main characters engage in a crime that brings justice in an unjust and desperate situation -however it is still a crime so some discussion may be warranted.

Enjoy all the other books as well starting with Princess Academy.

You’re welcome.

missing full cast

loved the story, narrator was great, but its missing the overall feel of community without the additional voice cast

I love it!!!!!

The beginning was a little slow but I love the ending Suzan is my favorite! I think that the narrator was slightly worse than the first book and much better than the second book. I do think that if I had read the series myself that this would probably have been my least favorite book, but nevertheless it was still amazing! Good job with this series Shannon Hale!

Very cute

I enjoyed this last Princess Academy book and had a very fitting conclusion. Sus cracked me up towards the ending. I would have loved a story with her as the main character 10 years down the road.

really enjoyed all books

I had so much fun reading these books. Good story and story telling. I hope there are more to come.

Good ending to the series, bad narration

I think this was a great ending to the story. Brought the characters full circle. The narration made me hate the characters. Every sentence was much to dramatic. Sometimes you can just read a sentence without making it sound like the character is going to cry.