By Garth Nix
In need of a humorous twisting of fantasy fairy-tales? You're in luck. Nix has just written a delightful story that hits all the right happy buttons.
Princess Anya is in a dire situation. Her evil, sorcerer step-stepfather is planning to take over the kingdom. Her sister is love-sick and useless. With her trusty dog, Ardent, Anya goes on a quest to find ingredients to make a lip-balm that can restore people who've been turned into animals. Hence her name, Frogkisser!.
Her simple quest turns into a greater fight for her kingdom and all others, restoring the balance and kissing all those frogs!
Though not always drawn to animal-talking books, I am drawn to Garth Nix. Nearly everything of his is an auto-read for me. This one is delightful and hilarious. I found myself chuckling a number of times.
He takes usual fantasy tropes and dunks them on their head. I was in the right mood for humor-fantasy. That's what this is.
The best part I liked was that several traditional roles that would be male (in most fantasy) are turned female. I loved that. Nix created a world where females could be in all sorts of roles in society. Best part!
One gripe: It was really long. 370 pages, where I felt it could've been whittled down to 300.
In need of a happy fantasy? Try this one.
Love fairy tales? Try this one.
Love competant, intelligent females? Try this one.
Adorable dog partners? This one!!!
4/5 STARS
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