I can't believe that I've never read this! I was enchanted by the gorgeous writing, and the romantic far-away feel to it. Its patrioism and heroism and the goodness of the hero enthralled me. That said, there was a good deal of eastern mysticism in there which I didn't enjoy. It was quite preachy in parts.

Overall a nice little book with rather too much mystical, Universe content :)

Delightful. Predictable plot perhaps, but I found the story enjoyable.

Pretty standard FHB. As with all her books, you kind of have to wade through the ludicrous plot and a fair amount of period classism, ableism and Orientalism, and then survive the odd left hand turn into a discourse on the power of prayer (which is thereafter able to work our heroes out of any crunch, and combines with the first three to form what is known in academic circles as "toxic bullshitism"). If you manage to get through all that, it's a very sweet story about two boys who would do anything in the world for each other, self-esteem issues, and the power of fatherly affection.

I am very fond of all of those last things, though I really do wish she'd lay off the power of prayer stuff.

Also, this main character is kind of hilariously blinkered on issues pertaining to the title of the book.

3.5/5

I'd really only read Secret Garden (which I loved) and although I have probably read A Little Princess, I am more familiar with the movie version (the one with Liesel Matthews which I adore). So this was my first foray into her other writings. I loved it. The philosophy is surprisingly "new age" and modern (treat others with respect, respect yourself, jealousy will destroy you, etc. etc.). The characters seemed larger than life but that's okay, they were still enjoyable to spend time reading about.

Didn't finish this one -- too much of the "born to rule" cliche in the protagonist.