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Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts
Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts
Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts
Audiobook7 hours

Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

A “deliciously frothy fairy tale” from the award-winning author of The Book of Boy and the Dairy Queen series (Horn Book Magazine, starred review).

Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s talents for storytelling and creating strong female characters take a fresh turn in this spirited and sophisticated fairy tale.

Benevolence is not your typical princess. With her parents lost to assassins, Princess Ben ends up under the thumb of the conniving Queen Sophia. Starved and miserable, locked in the castle’s highest tower, Ben stumbles upon a mysterious enchanted room. So begins her secret education in the magical arts: mastering an obstinate flying broomstick, furtively emptying the castle pantries, setting her hair on fire . . . But Ben’s private adventures are soon overwhelmed by a mortal threat to her kingdom. Can Ben save the country and herself from foul tyranny?

“Murdock spins a rip-roaring yarn that borrows fairy-tale conventions (particularly from “Sleeping Beauty”) and reverses them to suit her strong, resourceful heroine. The wild adventure, intricately imagined setting, memorable characters, and romance will charm readers, especially fans of Gail Carson Levine’s Fairest.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Murdock’s first venture into fantasy offers a fairy tale with several twists and surprises, and readers will be drawn into the world and moods that she creates.”—School Library Journal

“Readers will love every minute they spend with [Princess Ben].”—Teensreadtoo.com

LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 20, 2008
ISBN9781423373230
Princess Ben: Being a Wholly Truthful Account of Her Various Discoveries and Misadventures, Recounted to the Best of Her Recollection, in Four Parts
Author

Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Catherine Gilbert Murdock is the acclaimed author of the Newbery Honor Book The Book of Boy, as well as six other novels. She grew up in Connecticut and now lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two children.

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Reviews for Princess Ben

Rating: 3.69770770773639 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

349 ratings35 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Narrated by the author. I couldn't absorb myself in this fairy tale of orphaned Princess Ben who discovers how to use magical powers which ultimately unites two unfriendly kingdoms. Ben's eventual acceptance of the icy Queen Sophia and Ben's own marriage and love for the antagonistic Prince Florian didn't ring true for me. I listened to this in the car and so my mind may have wandered and missed the nuances. Still, not enough to keep my mind on track.

    Also, about 10% of the time, the author's voice would dip at the end of sentences, swallowing the words entirely. Rewinding and cranking the volume did not help. Leave recordings to the professionals, please!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thought this book was well written and the plot was lively and entertaining.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Loved this book when I was younger. As an overweight girl, it helped me to connect with the heroine.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was surprised by how well I enjoyed this book. As a rule, I approach such obvious attempts at "not your average princess" tried such as an ultra modern or masculine name warily, and at first it seemed to fit the typical pitfalls that usually accompany this trope, but the further I got in the more I realised that the author was playing with that exact expectation. It's a dangerous game, but she managed to keep the line well enough that I was able to persevere to the payoff and I generally have no trouble putting a book down if it looks like it's as banal as I suspected it might be, so well done!
    I love that I could predict immediate events as they were happening - the dragon flight! masterful! - while twisting the tropes enough that the overarching plot remained an interesting puzzle.
    And I especially love how much space the female characters are given to be flawed and brilliant and justified and mistaken all at the same time, they felt like real people. At the beginning you're given the most heartwrenching reasons to cheer on little Princess Ben but as the story preferred I find myself sympathizing more and more with Queen Sophia until I found myself almost going that she would turn out to be the actual protagonist and Benevolence the villain. The enemies to lovers arc was a little clunky, but I can forgive that as this is more about a journey of self-acceptance and maturing gracefully than a romance.
    That leaves my two complaints, both petty. First: I'm not sure if the subtitle from the audiobook is written in the physical book (being a true and faithful record of etc etc) but it's a crime that it's not somewhere on the cover! It gives a much better idea of the kind of narrative contained on the pages than simply "Princess Ben" can convey.
    The second complaint: the language style grew a trifle tedious. I understand the point it serves - this is an old Queen who has embraced the peculiarities of her position, including the fluffy language, recording her story for posterity - but the 'quite's and 'moreover's sometimes got in the way and jarred me out of the action.
    Overall I highly recommend this to anyone who loves fairytales and coming of age YA!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow!
    Thank you to Brilliance Audio! This story is a great fairytale that wasn’t that predictable. Princess Ben is spunky and has character. I laughed so hard with her sassy comments and her spoilt personality?. This book is written very well! I would recommend this book to people who are looking for a fresh and easy to listen to/read
    story
    You should really try it! ?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Princess Benevolence's story is one of coming-of-age type that pulls at your heart strings. Mother and Father, dead, but still alive in her heart. A queen who doesn't know how to treat children but does her best in her own way, even if it is frightening. And princess Benevolence herself, with her love of food and penchant for trouble. What more could you ask for in a story other than to watch the main character grow into a strong young woman?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Benevolence is the beloved only child of the royal family. When the king (her uncle) and the princess (her mother) are killed, Ben's life takes a terrible turn. No longer is she allowed the cozy, unpretentious, rough-and-tumble childhood she so enjoyed. Instead she must live in the palace with her aunt, the queen regent, who is so controlled and controlling that it nearly drives Ben mad. Her only solace is learning magic on the sly. After a disastrous ball, Ben embarks on an adventure by turns horrifying and exhausting, and at last becomes someone worthy of her crown.

    The twists on common fairy tales are fun to note--at one point Ben conjures an inanimate double to sleep in her place, thus giving rise to the Sleeping Beauty story; at another she exchanges some conjured beans for a cow. Ben's narration is wonderful, with a great dry sense of humor and a lot of personality. And the story adroitly and gradually shows the importance of living up to one's responsibilities and being a good, useful person.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    What a cute book. It was actually quite adorable. I liked Ben and the fact that she was a fat then chubby princess. I especially liked the development of Ben from a brat to a proper princess. I liked her throughout and I liked all the characters to an extent. They were interesting.

    Even though I liked it, it only gets three stars because the pacing is off. It feels like me when I'm writing fanfiction and can't be bothered to actually extend scenes because I want to get to the exciting parts. There's a bit of leeway because this book is seen as a memoir of sort, but it still could have been fleshed out more. There are certainly great parts where the pacing is excellent but the bit of explanation about what happened can be skimmed almost and feel strange.

    Again, a cute book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Hmm. In many ways, I like it a lot - I generally like fairy-tale retellings with more rounded characters, which this is. Ben is interesting in a lot of ways. There's quite a few loose ends - where did the hamper come from? what directs the room? - but not serious ones. And her struggles with learning magic (and other things) are very realistic. However, I didn't really get into it - and I think I figured out why. Ben learns quite a lot, about herself and her world, throughout the book. But no one else learns anything at all. There's no indication that the queen has any idea that she mishandled Ben - her methods apparently worked, eventually. Same with Florian - he was right, he woke her up, and at the end she describes how he basically tells her "I told you so" on a regular basis and her response is to dissolve into giggles. Hmmph. I did enjoy the story, and I'll likely reread it at some point. But it does have this serious lack - Ben has to correct everything (her behavior, her attitude, her understanding) and everyone else had it right all along...yeah, no.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fun little fantasy- discovered while I was searching the NYPL for something else.
    All the good ingredients- outspoken, unladylike princess, stubborn and wonderful and smart. Being stifled by her aunt, the Queen. Magic. Fairy tales-- a nice cross between being grounded in Medieval history and culture, and referencing fairy tales. Princess Ben learns and grows into herself, but neither in a preachy nor forced way. This is pretty much a gift-wrapped sweet of a book for any tween reader who loved the movie "Brave."
    And not bad to read as an adult, if I do say so myself.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    When Princess Ben (Benevolence) was fifteen, assassins attacked the king and her parents, making her the queen in waiting of the small kingdom (in a medieval pseudo-Europe, I'm guessing) of Montagne. The immediate suspect was the neighbouring kingdom of Drachensbett, which had always wanted to annex their fertile valley. Until now, Ben's aunt - the former queen - had been held at bay by her mother, but now she took Ben in, reduced her rations, tortured her with lessons in trivia, such as how to embroider an acceptable handkerchief and kept her in a cell. But Ben discovered the secret of the castle within that cell, and used it to embark on unintended adventures.I didn't empathise with Princess Ben, although she narrates the story, but she might appeal to the target audience (assuming they are also fifteen years old, or so) - so I can see why her character would be written in that style. The plot was alright (it didn't have me throwing my hands up in despair), but it seemed disjointed to me and the eventual romance wasn't convincing.The author has written an award-winning contemporary fiction series (Dairy Queen - which I haven't read), so she can write well. I think if she had written in straight English instead of attempting an archaic, flowery style and focused more on the flow of the story, this would have been a stronger book. (I must admit I read it from an adult's viewpoint, rather than a teen, and didn't give it the benefit of the doubt.)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I didn't find this as engaging as her other series which makes me sad since I loved the Dairy Queen. My biggest issue was the characters. The world was interesting although not as real as other fantasy fairy tale types I've read. Mostly I didn't have a clear picture on who the other people in Ben's life were. With Dairy Queen you could see the dad, see the mom, see the love interest. Here the characters were more surface and harder to get a read on.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    MSBA Nominee 2009-2010

    A slow starter, I have to admit. It's also written formally, which I think may turn off some people. There were also random fairy tale elements thrown in. Those are the main flaws. Otherwise, the book was good, and when it did pick up, I didn't really want to leave my car and stop listening.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ben was a pampered little princess with no thought for what that really meant until her uncle the king and her mother were murdered and her father missing. Now she is in line for the throne, and she's got a lot to learn. I wanted to shake her and telling her quit being such a brat in the beginning, but I think that's the point, because the change, when it happens, is really rewarding. As much about growing up as about fantasy and fun.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    By twisting and turning familiar fairytales, Murdock gives us a refreshingly-human hero's journey. Princess Ben deals with the tragic death of her parents by burying her hurt beneath raisin buns. She resists every effort of the Queen Regent to transform her into a suitable future monarch until she discovers that her continued petulance will leave her people at the mercy of the kingdom that has coveted her own for generations.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This fairytale mixes references to well-known fairy tales with an original story of a spoiled and willful child that finds herself having to grow up and into the serious role of a princess of state. The romance proceeds much as romances do - hidden identities, prejudicial first impressions, near misses. Still there is a satisfying conclusion in the story as Ben learns to see the world as more complex than just black and white.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A chubby princess, spoiled & childish but not without heart finds pluck (which she always had), magic (which turns out to be harder than it looks), and why good manners do matter. All leads to her heart's desire though it takes most of the book for her to figure that out. Good writing, good read! Hated to get to the end.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ben, a medieval princess is so sad since the man she hated once is dead, she realizes she is completely in love with him. What made this story good was the suspense that Ben went through because so much happened to her that you never know if she will get caught and the story will end right there and then but it never does!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A nice little young adult fantasy, combining the misfit princess and the misbehaved princess genres. Strong female heroine, with a not-completely-horrible treatment of weight. I liked it, and liked the main character. The writing was good with flashes of impressiveness and just the sort of treatment of day-to-day things and multifaceted characters I like to see.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a cute book and a fast read. I actually listened to it on audio book and the audio book was well done.Princess Benevolence is not you typical princess; she is not beautiful and she wants nothing to do with being a princess. When her parents are killed on a journey she is left alone with only the dreaded Queen as her teacher and guardian. Every time Ben thinks she reached the lowest low in her life things get worse; that is until she stumbles upon a magic room that leads her into an amazing adventure.More than anything this book is about growing up. Ben is definitely not a likable character in the beginning on the book. There are a number of times when I think she deserved what the Queen dealt out; Ben is selfish and whiny. I kind of wish that a bit less of the book had been spent developing Ben's unsavory character. About a third of the book deals with Ben as she is forced to take on princess responsibilities that she detests. I would have been happier if Ben's character had been established quicker and we had moved on to more interesting parts of the story sooner.After the first third or so the story picks up the pace. This story is a coming of age story clear and simple. It is not a complicated story and is an appropriate story for children and young adults; I enjoyed the story too. It was nice to read a good story that spans a large age group.Although not the most wonderful or intricate story; this story is a cute twist on your classic princess and dragon fairy tales. It is simple and sweet story that doesn't tax your brain but still teaches some important life lessons. It was a fun read as Princess Ben has a dry sense of humor people should enjoy. I also enjoyed how Murdock wove some elements from classic fairy tales we all know and love into the story.I would recommend this book and I look forward to more books by Murdock. If you like fairy tales and stories about princesses; this is the book for you. This isn't a life-changing story but it is a light and enjoyable read that has a good message in it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    First off, I must share my favorite line(s) from this book that sent me into fits of giggles: With that, I hurled the slipper at him, not caring if I caused his decapitation. (I did not.) Marshaling what little dignity I yet possessed, I stomped down the corridor -- challenging indeed with one shoe -- and around the corner. I lay awake for hours. The prince had no right, not one, to indict me so, and if I had held the slightest hope of the book's assistance, I would have climbed at once to my wizard room for a spell with which to punish him. Death, perhaps, or humiliation. A croaking frog would be nice, particularly a frog that retained Florian's dark eyes. I should keep it in a box and poke it occasionally with a stick; that would be satisfying indeed. [book: Princess Ben] is one of the most well thought-out and intellectually relevant books that I have ever read in today's time! Princess Benevolent has quite a year and must learn how to live up to her name. I earnestly can see where a reader can grow along with Ben, learning some difficult lessons that we especially today wish to ignore. Through this book I can see many a young, teenager, or older girl grow more into herself and what she will someday be. I feel like I learned somethings about myself through this book. All around a fabulous story, with twisting plots and turns I did not expect. The first section was a little droll, and I was waiting for excitement. Well the excitement came! and that build-up had been proper and necessary. I strongly encourage anyone to read this book. Buy it for your tween and teenage gals and let them go on the adventure. Goodness me, go on it yourself!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Delightful, this fantasy story looked like a fairytale retelling, but actually had some wonderful world building, and some great characters. I especially loved the nasty queen. Such a differnt feel to Dairy Queen, but just as splendid.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Title: Princess Ben Author: Catherine Murdock Publisher:HMCo Number Of Pages: 344Summary from inside jacket flap : My gown suited me well as well as I could ever hope,though I could not envy the young ladies who would attract the honest compliments of of the night. My bodice did not plunge as dramatically as some, and no man- no man I would ever want to meet, surely- could fit his hands round my waist. What I lacked in beauty I would simply have to earn with charm..... Benevolence is not your typical princess- and Princess Ben is certainly not your typical fairy tale. With her parents lost to assassins, Princess Ben ends up under the thumb of the conniving Queen Sophia. Starved and miserable, locked in the castle's highest tower, Ben stumbles upon a mysterious enchanted room. So begins her secret education in the magical arts: mastering an obstinate flying broomstick, furtively emptying the castle pantries, setting her hair on fire.... But Ben's private adventures are soon overwhelmed by a mortal threat to her kingdom. Can Ben save the country and herself from foul tyranny?Review: Princess Ben started off really slow and I found myself not wanting to read it. But I wanted to finish it anyway. As I progressed through the book it got better and better. By the end of the book I wished it was longer. The main character Princess Ben is witty and I found it funny how much she ate. Overall this book was really great!I recommend this book if you like fairytales, princesses, romance, magic, adventure, and young adult novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    At just barely 15, Princess Benevolence is a more than slightly spoiled, slightly plump, pampered... well, princess, when tragedy strikes. Her mother and her uncle the king are murdered, and her father disappears. Without warning, Princess Ben becomes the charge of her Aunt Sophia, the Queen Regent. Expected to dress, act, and eat the part of a royal, Ben rebels and finds herself locked in a tower. What happens next may be the salvation of the kingdom.Told in retrospect, with a few traditional fairytale interjections - you'll know them when you run across them - Princess Ben is a charming coming of age story with more than a few unexpected twists. Worth picking up.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Let me start by saying I loved this story! Princess Benevolence's parents are lost to assassins and she becomes the responsibility of Queen Sophia, her dead uncle's wife. Sophia intends to marry Ben to Prince Florian, but Ben wants no part of that plan!I loved the strength of Ben's character, I loved the skillful use of vocabulary throughout the book, and I especially loved that it's the princess that kisses the prince to make things work out "happily ever after."Great girl book, for those who like books about princesses with a little bit of magic thrown in. I highly recommend the reading of this story, but be sure you have time to finish, because once you start, you won't want to stop.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Princess Benevolance is not your ordinary princess. She's not willowy, blonde or graceful. She has no manners to speak of and is a bit spoiled. When her parents die mysteriously, she is put under the care of her Aunt Sophia. Sophia starts shaping Ben to become a proper princess which Ben is sure that all she is doing is torturing her. To make matters worse, she gets locked into a small tower. The tower, however, holds a mysterious workroom where Ben learns how to do magic. Slowly, she finds herself as well as the killer of her parents. A nice combination of fairy tales. Sort of reminded me of Ella Enchanted but Ben wasn't nearly as likable as Ella until more towards the end. Good read. It could've used a bit more magic, I thought. I wish Murdock had left it open for a sequal.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It has many implausible moments, but it's a fairy tale, so I guess you can't hold that against it. It's a fun story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A bit of an untraditional fairy tale, where the girl is chubby and gluttonous and has to learn to become a princess and a queen quickly in order to survive war. It had a charming blend of different fairy tales with some cameos of other fairy tales randomly snuck in. The book was written in a witty narrative tone that fit it all too well.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I love Ella Enchanted, Dealing with Dragons, Ordinary Princess, etc., and I had expected Princess Ben to be cut from the same cloth. Perhaps I was not in the right frame of mind when I read Princess Ben, but I found myself disappointed and annoyed with Ben until Part 4 when she finally grows up and things started to get more interesting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A charming story with a very human protagonist.