The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Desert Princess: A Retelling of Aladdin

Series: Return to the Four Kingdoms #3

Author: Melanie Cellier

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Clean Romance

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

Cassie knows she was made for more than a life buried away in her uncle’s remote forest estate. Eager to meet the great spymaster, Aurora, she jumps at the chance to travel to her distant kingdom. But meeting Aurora isn’t enough—Cassie wants to prove her worth. So when she’s presented with an opportunity to gather intelligence, she acts.

When her plans go awry, Cassie finds herself living on the streets in a distant city. But despite the passing years, she hasn’t given up on her dream. Kingdom-shaking danger is brewing in these lands, and if she can save them—and the Four Kingdoms with them—Aurora will have to offer her a position in her network. Cassie won’t let anything stand in her way—not the biting heat of the desert, not the prince who keeps showing up at inconvenient moments, not the layers of secrets hiding beneath the surface of her new home.

In this reimagining of the classic fairy tale, Aladdin, a girl from the streets must work with a prince if she wants to rescue herself and save both their lands as well. -summary from Goodreads

The Desert Princess was such an interesting take on Aladdin, one that I will not soon forget.

I will start out by saying that I struggled getting into this book. It felt a little different than Cellier’s other books, and I was struggling with the setting. The setting is often the thing I struggle with the most, so this doesn’t really surprise me. I think this book was setting up this desert setting for the next couple of books, so it was a little too much for me.

I loved Cassie and her journey! Cassie was such an intriguing character in A Crown of Snow and Ice, so I was super excited to read her story. She has grown up a little, which is always nice. One of my favorite parts of her story, was her realizing that she could rely on both her emotions and her intelligence. I am a huge advocate for using logic and reasoning first, and I often feel like modern media does not do this. So, to have a book that shows the main character relying on both emotions and logic is really cool, in my mind. Cassie was also training to be a spy throughout this book, which I thought was a lot of fun!

Melanie Cellier notes this in her acknowledgements, and she says she thought the original Aladdin was a little far-fetched. As I think back on all the classics I have loved for years, I have to agree. That is definitely something I loved about Cellier’s books- that they follow a more logical narrative but still have a magical feel. This book was no different.

This book had some magic but was far more realistic than having a genie. I actually really liked this side of the story, though it did take most of the book to figure out what was actually happening. The magic system was really cool, with a fascinating backstory. The magic system was based on a ring and a lamp, which came into play in surprising ways.

The culture of the kingdom in this book is also really well done and sets it apart slightly from all the other books in this world. This is a desert kingdom, and I think the way this kingdom came across matches the cultures in real-life desert communities. It was well done and realistic, staying true to where the original tales came from.

The setting was also well done. I will always struggle reading descriptions, but I still really enjoyed this setting. I especially loved the city built into caves. It was reminiscent of A Crown of Snow and Ice, but even more developed, with a rich backstory. The city that Cassie spends a lot of her time in was also interesting, but it wasn’t given the same focus as the cave city was. I wouldn’t mind being given the opportunity to explore this city!

The orphans in this book were also such a unique and interesting twist! This added a level of mystery and suspense to the story, and I liked how it was woven into the magic system. I do wish we got to know more of them- there was around twelve of them, we got the names of six or seven, and only really got to know maybe three. I did really enjoy Kayla, and her effusive optimism shown through the page!

Zain was a wonderful love interest! I love when male characters are sweet and caring and fun but have a protective streak. Zain was a perfect mesh of this, but he also had secrets of his own. I liked that he had his own secrets and story away from Cassie’s- it made it more real to me. To be honest, while I love Zain, he also doesn’t stand out too much.

The romance between Zain and Cassie was sweet. It felt a little rushed, from the readers perspective simply due to the fact that many months went by that the reader wasn’t privy to. It was still sweet, and I enjoyed their relationship and the different sides they brought out in each other.

This book does mark a change in this series. There were no godmothers present in this book, and it introduced two new desert kingdoms, with interesting backstory and lore.

The Desert Princess is a unique twist on Aladdin, with new kingdoms introduced, a twisty magic system, a city of caves, romance, and intrigue guiding the story!