The King’s priests in the capitol below have ordained, as is custom, the province from which the new princess will be selected – unprecedentedly, their readings have pointed to Mount Eskel. See, the mountainers and city folk of the lowlands have always remained separate, minding their own business – to those of Mount Eskel, the lowlanders are arrogant and soft, and they are happy to stay out of each others’ way…until now. When the traders arrive, however, they bring unwelcome noble lowlanders with them. With the imminent arrival of the traders from the lowlands below and impending winter, Miri feels this slight even more sorely, but she’s determined to make a good deal to keep her family warm and fed through the coming hard months. Ever since coming of age to work in the mines, Miri has felt this exclusion bitterly, ashamed that her father finds Miri too small and weak to contribute to the mountain’s only source of commerce. Forbidden from working in the quarry where all other mountainers, male and female alike, mine linder – a rare, marble-like stone and Eskel’s only natural resource – Miri has always felt separate from those of her village. Here, Miri lives a quiet mundane life with her Pa and elder sister, Marda, tending to the family’s goats and meager stores. Miri is a young girl that has lived all her life on Mount Eskel, an unforgiving mountain that reaches far above the lowlands of Danlow. Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Princess Academy series
But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates. Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. The king’s ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess. In a year’s time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village.
Then word comes that the king’s priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. This fall, with the release of Palace of Stone, I finally decided it was time to dive into Miri’s story. Still, it took me a while to read her Newbery Honor book, Princess Academy. I’ve been a fan of Shannon Hale’s ever since I first read the Books of Bayern a few years back.
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