Book Review: Goose Chase and Lost In The Labyrinth
16 September 2009 – 1:00 pm
These two books by Patrice Kindl are in very different settings, but they both have 14-year old female protagonists. As a matter of fact, her books Owl In Love and Woman In The Wall also have 14-year old female protagonists. I would like to read an author interview about that some day — why the affinity she must feel for that age.Anyway, I enjoyed these two books very much and recommend them to young people and all readers. Goose Chase is set in a medieval fairy tale type of setting, and I love the secret magical identities. Summary: “Rather than marry a cruel king or a seemingly dim-witted prince, an enchanted goose girl endures imprisonment, capture by several ogresses, and other dangers before learning exactly who she is. I like very much how the story shows that something that at first may seem to be a good thing turns out to be something of a curse. (Our young heroine cries diamonds and gold dust falls out of her hair when she combs it.) She is also a very, clever girl, while the prince is the story is not quite as shiningly brilliant in intellect. There is a mildly romantic outcome.
Lost in the Labyrinth is set in a Greek mythological setting. Summary: “Fourteen-year old Princess Xenodice tries to prevent the death of her half-brother, the Minotaur, at the hands of the Athenian prince, Theseus, who is aid by Icarus, Daedalus and her sister Ariadne.” I hope I cannot be accused of writing a spoiler by saying you cannot expect an overwhelmingly happy ending with these characters, but you would not know your Greek mythology if you expected one. I think the dynamic between Xenodice and her sister Ariadne is the most interesting, especially when the former sees the ghost of the latter and still finds herself striving to do something for her sister.
