Game of Thrones meets the Grimm’s fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty’s daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.
It’s been ten years since Princess Aurora’s mother, the Sleeping Beauty, sacrificed her life to give her daughter her magical powers. Aurora knows that magic is never free. The price for hers is that she will never know romantic love.
Prince Niklaas is living on borrowed time. Unless he is able to convince a princess to marry him before his eighteenth birthday, he will meet the same terrible fate as his ten older brothers.
When Niklaas and Aurora meet under unusual circumstances, they must race to prevent the fulfillment of an ogre prophecy foretelling the end of human life. But will they be able to break their curses?
“Compelling and action-packed. . . . The combination of adventure; lovable, complex characters; and a touch of romance make this a book that teens will be drawn to, especially those who appreciate strong female protagonists.”—School Library Journal
“The plotting is impeccable, the world building ample, and the resolution neatly done without feeling pat.”—Booklist
“The banter between rakish Niklaas and feisty Aurora is crackling with chemistry and wit.”—The Bulletin
“We absolutely loved Stacey Jay’s Princess of Thorns, a riveting retelling of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ that's full of action, drama and romance.”—romantictimes.com
“Will appeal to fantasy lovers.”—VOYA
“Jay creates people with real flaws, but endows them with enough integrity to be characters to respect and want to know.”—examiner.com
Praise for Juliet Immortal
“The bones of the classic Beauty and the Beast story are all here, imaginatively fleshed out with tropes from science fiction, fantasy, even political drama. . . . Will please readers who like to believe that fairy tales can come true, even under dire circumstances.” —The Bulletin, Recommended
Praise for Of Beast and Beauty
“The romance is intense, and so is the horror in this strong reversal of the Romeo and Juliet story. . . . Teens will enjoy the macabre fantasy story of forbidden love.” —Booklist
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
33 of 37 people found the following review helpful.
Exceptionally well-done!
By Evie Seo
Once upon a time there lived aprince and a princesswith no happy ever after.... Princess of Thorns is one of my top three favorite books this year - absolutely phenomenal. Think something along the lines of Defy meets Sleeping Beauty, but more complex and exciting, intricate and funny, sexy and meaningful. Princess of Thorns has everything you could possibly want from a fantasy novel or fairy tale retelling. There are wicked dangers, curses and prophecies, evil kings and villains with surprisingly "humanizing" qualities, unexpected allies and forbidden love stories. The twist on Sleeping Beauty fairy tale was so amazing, I was positively blown away. I will be recommending this book to everyone. No one should miss it. I still can't decide which part of Princess of Thorns is my favorite. I loved everything from the really awesome, genuine and charismatic characters, the spellbinding writing style, the truly intricate and intelligent plot line to all the heart pounding emotions this book evoked in me. There's nothing I could nag about here, nothing to improve or tweak. This book is pretty much perfect in every aspect and I almost feel bad for other retellings that now have to compete with this one, for they will always fall short in comparison. Stacey Jay did a fantastic job, she went above and beyond simply re-telling a fairy tale. She changed it, added a whole lot of new plot threads - some small and barely noticeable, others just as big and important as Aurora's story - and she made something completely new and unique. If I had to choose what I loved the most about Princess of Thorns, I'd probably say: the relationships and chemistry between the characters (both positive and negative). And not only between Aurora and Niklaas, but between Aurora and her brother (we don't get to experience this first hand until the very end of the book, but we know how Aurora feels about her brother from the beginning), Aurora and her mother, Aurora and the Ogre Queen, the Ogre Queen and her brother, and so on... They all felt very real and convincing. Not fairy-tale like at all, not stereotypical or embellished or one-dimensional. The characters felt very real, too, their reactions and behavior and feelings - genuine and very human. I particularly loved the relationship between Aurora and Niklaas - it's the most believable love story I ever came across in a fairy tale or a fairy tale retelling. I totally bought it. I was rooting for these two with all my heart. Part of this love story's charm is definitely the fact that, for a long time, Niklaas believes Ror to be a 12 year old boy (Aurora's brother), which creates a whole lot of hilarious situations and misunderstandings. Niklaas doesn't hold back around Ror, he shows his true self. He's no charming, perfectly behaved prince, after all he isn't trying to woo a lady, he is 100% himself and it's just.. awesome. Example? Here's what Niklaas thinks about Ror shortly after their first encounter: "Flaming son of a demon. Arrogant, briar-born slog. Stuffed and trussed, barely teat-weaned, fuzz-faced baby man!" And here's what he thinks about the whole marrying-a-princess-to-save-his-life ordeal: "It wouldn’t matter if she were the ugliest lump of troll dung ever birthed—it would be worth wedding a dog with an ass at both ends to live to see my nineteenth birthday—but I can’t deny I’d enjoy a pretty wife more than a homely one." You just don't get this kind of brutal honesty in fairy tales. I loved it! Filled with themes of love, redemption, forgiveness, bravery, destiny and finding yourself, Princess Of Thorns is simply wonderful. It's an unputdownable page-turner that will fill your heart with warmth. Most importantly, it's a fairy tale in which the princess doesn't need saving. She's no weak and helpless little girl who needs protection and a prince to make her existence whole. She's tough and fully capable of saving herself, and the YA world needs more heroines like her. I highly recommend this book to fans of fantasy and fairy tale retellings.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful.What a brilliantly disguised romance, that will melt your heart to the very core...
By Alicia
4.5 StarsWhat an elegantly spiraling, tremendously beautiful, and utterly wonderful, bombshell of a book!! I absolutely LOVED PRINCESS OF THORNS in every possible way! From it's epic world building, and well developed characters, to it's beautiful version of the SLEEPING BEAUTY retelling that surpassed any and all expectations, and had me falling hopelessly in love with this wonderfully epic and truly beautiful story that rocked me to the core! PRINCESS OF THORNS is NOT a book to be missed!!!Stacey Jay has quickly become one of my new favorite authors of all times!! I've been wanting to read her other book, OF BEAUTY AND BEAST since hearing all the wonderful praise about it, but sadly, I never gotten around to it. So when PRINCESS OF THORNS arrived on my doorstep for review, I jumped at the chance to review an author I've been so desperately wanting to explore. And let me tell you, all the rave reviews and amazing rumors couldn't of prepared me for this rare gem I found within the PRINCESS OF THORNS!!!THE PLOT"Prophecy foretells that in the last days of the Long Summer, the Age of Reaping will dawn with the rise of the living darkness. The four kingdoms will dwell in shadow, and the souls of man feed the First One's hunger for a hundred years."In a faraway land, their lies two kingdoms in despair, two kingdoms who's rulers have failed them, two kingdoms who's heir's to the throne are cursed, two kingdoms who will be forever doomed into darkness, if the curse is not broken, in time....Only one of the eleven Prince's of the kingdom of Kanvasol still remains. The curse that claims all heirs to the Kanvasol throne at the age of eighteen has already cursed ten of the eleven Prince's. And now as Niklaas, the last remaining Prince of Kanvasol eighteenth birthday drawls near, he knows his time is running out. But him being the youngest and most determined Prince of them all, he is not willing to accept that fate. He is not ready to give up and let the curse claim him, transforming his body from human flesh, to shrink inward and sprout feathers and wings, and be forced to take flight as a swan, forever cursed to be this beautiful animal, unaware of who he was and what he lost. He will not scum to this curse, and is determined to break the chains that bind him, hopefully before it's to late...The remaining Princess of the kingdom of Norvere is all the kingdoms last hope for survival. Gifted with the fairy blessed blood of her dying mother, shed for her to be bestowed the gifts and skills needed in order to save their people from the evil Ogre Queen and her soldiers that have taken their kingdom with force, and have succeeded in stealing the souls of the people of Norvere.Princess Aurora remained in hiding until her seventeenth year of age, only to venture out of her hidden sanctuary when the time comes not to let her mothers sacrifice be in vain. When Aurora's brother, Prince Jor is kidnapped on the way to one of their yearly visit, and then a vision of Jor being killed by his Ogre captives is foreseen, Princess Aurora knows the time has come to break the bounds that bind her, before all is lost and plunged into darkness, forever cursed to dwell in shadow and fear as the age of the reaping will curse them all to a life of misery, torture, and death...Prince Niklaas is ready to set himself free. He sets out to find the lost Princess Aurora, in hopes she will aid him in breaking the wretched curse his father cast upon him, ensuring Niklaas would never live to his eighteenth birthday to become the rightful king of Kanvasol. So Niklaas's only hope lies in finding the last remaining unwed Princess, and persuade her to marry him before it's too late.Niklaas and Aurora join forces, both needing something from the other, but unsure of the truth behind it. The journey is anything but easy, as the Ogre Queen is never far behind, and her lackeys are determined to bring Princess Aurora to their Queen, eager to fulfill the prophecy, and allow The Age Of Reaping to rise. And the longer the secrets that both Niklaas and Aurora harbor, the harder it is for them to remain true, because they could very well destroy the strong relationship they've forged, if ever revealed.Time is running out as Niklaas's eighteenth birthday drawls near, and Aurora knows the clock is ticking until her brothers fate comes true. They will have to put aside their differences and work together if their going to stay alive long enough to complete their missions. But what do you do if you heart is pulling you one way, but you mind is pulling you another???Overall, PRINCESS OF THORNS was a fantastic read that I absolutely adored!!! I am so eager to read more from this author, as I know it will be just as amazing as this book was! I have a feeling Stacy Jay is going to do great things in the YA Genre, and I will be right there waiting when she does!! If your looking for a romantic YA fantasy, that will sweep you into a world of lies, betrayals, sacrifice, determination, strength, and a forceful love that is determined to prevail, then PRINCESS OF THORNS is a MUST READ!!!NOTE: I received a physical ARC from Random House for reviewing purposes! All opinions express are my own and are not influenced in any way!
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.A wonderfully written action adventure which makes Sleeping Beauty a lot more intense. LOVED IT.
By Valerie Pennington
Once upon a time there lived a prince and a princess with no happy ever after...Princess of Thorns had me hooked from the very first page with an opener like that and I stayed hooked until the very end. Heck, it's over and I'm still hooked, I keep thinking about the characters and HOW I NEED MORE! This is my first Stacey Jay novel (where have I been living?) but it will definitely not be my last. She's awesome! The writing, the characters, and the concept all made this a huge win for me!Let's start with the writing, it was beautiful and it flowed which really helped shaped the world that these characters were living in. This reminds me, there is a map involved! I know so many people love maps in their fantasy novels and this one proved extremely helpful. The wonderful writing connected me with the world, the characters, and the past. One of my favorite aspects is that it's written through three different POVs (I'll get to that in the next paragraph) and they each had their own unique voices and characteristics. I have to give Stacey kudos for that, they were all distinct and wonderful!Next up: The characters. These characters, whether they were major, minor, important, not important, they were ALL WONDERFUL! The main character, Aurora, is Sleeping Beauty's daughter and a crazy awesome character; her mother refused for her to be fairy blessed at birth realizing that it's both a gift and a curse but she later gets her gifts and all sorts of things come from that. She is such a strong female character who I instantly loved from the very first second we met her. If it's possible, Niklaas is just as good of a character as Aurora is! His father in the Immortal King and out of fear of someone taking his throne, he has cursed each of his sons to die on their eighteenth birthdays; the witch who cast the curse took pity and instead transformed them into swans but in Niklaas' eyes, that isn't much better. He is on a quest to wed in order to sidestep his curse and he is just awesome, I could just keep talking about him forever. The final POV is a POV that we rarely have and that is the Ogre Queen who is all sorts of bad news; her POVs were CREEPY because ogres take the souls of humans so she spoke in plurals and it freaked me out. The other minor characters were spot on and I loved them all!Princess of Thorns is wholly unique; I don't want to say too much but it is definitely different and the plot twists.... I stopped functioning during a few of them but I'm fine now. It's just... so brilliant. I've never read a book quite like this one.Like I mentioned earlier, it's about Sleeping Beauty's daughter but that wasn't a big part of the book in my opinion; they mentioned her mom's sleep once in an off-handed remark but that about it. I loved it nonetheless.This book is full of contrasts and the biggest one was between Aurora and Niklaas; Aurora is a strong female while Niklaas has grown up in a world where women can't be strong and they have more than one clash. I definitely sided with Aurora on this one, I got SO frustrated by Niklaas but it all made sense and I loved seeing the two of them change.The set up for the ending is fantastic, I had to reevaluate everything and I saw how she did what she was doing.The only note that I have is that the pacing is a little weird but also understandable.In conclusion, I have taken on the responsibility of pushing this book to death so I hope that you check it out. Also, CAN IT BE DECEMBER 9TH YET?????
