Can a girl from a kingdom of snow find her footing in and save the desert kingdom and her own heart?
The Desert Princess is a YA fantasy, a retelling of Aladdin by Melanie Cellier, it is the 3rd book of Back to the Four Kingdoms series, this is the third series of Cellier’s Four Kingdoms universe, honestly this one is one of the few books in the series which can be read as standalone and it really won’t have much effect on the experience since in this book a new set of kingdoms are introduced though our heroine had been introduced in earlier books including some other characters mentioned, but as always for the best experience I’d recommend reading everything in order.
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.
The plot was amazing and the last part was intense, fast-moving, and packed, while the first half was slow and the middle was in the middle (look at me making terrible puns 😁). As a retelling, this one is based on the original fairytale rather than the Disney version and Melanie served, the twists, turns, and surprises keep the readers on their toes, in this retelling the girl is ‘Aladdin’ and she deals with the ‘Vazir’.
Cassie who was introduced in A Crown of Snow and Ice when she was really young and had been an asset in dealing with troubles in that book, is now 17 and desperate to prove herself and carve a place for herself in Aurora (from The Princess Game) the spy master’s network, and she has been honing her skills while waiting for an opportunity to prove herself when she gets invited to visit foreign kingdoms by Aurora’s sister herself, but of course things go awry and she somehow finds herself in an even more of a foreign kingdom.
Cassandra was a relatable character, she constantly remembered the clarity and easy-ness of younger years without the doubt, uncertainty, insecurity and feelings that teen years bring with them, I too find myself missing my younger self and years often so I found her relatable. She, I felt was rather hard on herself and impulsive and rash at times and then there were times when she was so admirable, the training she had given herself showing through, all in all she was a well rounded character with a satisfactory arc.
Zaid the love interest, I loved him, he was such a kind person and really charming I had figured out his secret quite early on though there was not much on the flaws part, still he was really charming, had the air of mystery too and him and Cassie basically became bestfriends they understood each other very well.
That being said their romance went pretty slow as Cassie didn’t want to get distracted from her mission and pushed her feelings down for a long-long time, and while it the had more chemistry and tension then the previous book’s couple, still the romance didn’t reach the standard that Melanie’s books usually have.
I loved Melanie’s twist on the genies (Is that how it is spelt?) but I’ll not go into detail about it cause I don’t want spoil it.
An important theme was the tussle between head and heart, something that a lot of or rather all people face in life. It is often said and told that for success one should listen to the head while it is also said that true happiness lies in the heart’s bidding, what I personally believe and what I interpreted the theme to be was that, at the end of the day they are both equally important parts of us and for a fulfilling life we need both our head and heart and it is important to find a balance, like trusting the gut feelings but at the same time keeping the emotions in rein and not letting them make us do things we will come to regret.
The book had romance and kissing at most so a 12+ age rating, It had a prologue and an epilogue too.
Overall, 4.25 stars, for a strong heroine and an amazing plot and characters.
Till the next review.
Yours,
A Fellow Bookworm
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