Rogue Princess

Volume XXVI / Issue 18 - January 17 / 2020
Rogue Princess
Rogue Princess
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Rogue Princess

Author: 
B. R. Myers
New York, NY: Swoon Reads (Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books), 2020
297 pp., hardcover, $24.50
ISBN: 
9781250303431
Grades: 
7 and up
Ages: 
12 and up
Review by: 
Ruth McMahon (Reviewed from Advance Reading Copy)
5
Excerpt: 

“Hit the auxiliary jets!” she yelled at him.

The control board was massive, and nothing looked familiar to him. “What? Which button?” he said, panicked.

“The blue one!”

There was a multitude of blue buttons on the control panel in front of him. “Which blue one?”

The radar alarm continued to sound. The ships behind them were within shooting range.
“The largest one, you lunk!”

“They’re all large!” Aiden made a split-second decision and slammed his fist on one of the buttons. The steel supports flew by in a rush of gray.

With a jubilant shout, she sent the ship even deeper into the shadows, closer to the land’s surface. They weren’t far from the Dark District. Aidan pictured them slamming into a row of greasy shacks with nothing left but a pile of smoking ash.

But the pilot adapted quickly and kept them in the air, barely missing the plasma train tracks that crisscrossed above the darkened neighborhoods. Aidan hung on to the safety straps over his shoulders. The radar became silent, proving the larger ships were unable to chase them in such a tight space.

Princess Delia, descendant of a matriarchal dynasty, must choose a husband to save her empire. As the reality of choosing one of the many suitors who have descended on her planet, Astor, becomes increasingly abhorrent, she plans her escape by disguising herself as one of the elite pilots of the Queen’s Guard and commandeering one of the Queen’s Guard gliders.

Aiden, fleeing from one of Delia’s suitors because he had stolen a valuable article from said suitor, races away and finds himself at the launching bay. He starts up one of the ships, Delia jumps aboard, and the adventure begins.

Star Wars meets Cinder meets Stardust in this nonstop adventure, romance, scifi/fantasy offering. Occasionally, readers may think they know where the plot is headed, but, like the rides in the space gliders, there are always surprising dips and turns. Readers may also think they know the motivation of the characters, but Myers has surprises in store. Despite there being a large cast – several suitors, servants, family members, pirates and members of the military – it is easy to keep them all straight. The planet Astor faces problems that readers hear about in the news every day, energy being the prime example. Contemporary issues, including LGBTQ and artificial intelligence, are successfully stirred into the mix. The setting, the planet Astor, provides a landscape to enhance the action and ultimately provides the solution to Princess Delia’s dilemma.

Rogue Princess will make a great addition to public, high school and middle school libraries. There is some romance and alcohol consumption, but it’s never objectionable. The strongest language used in the book is “Galaxy sake”.

Book sellers, librarians and teachers may find Rogue Princess a hard sell due to the cover art. There is enough action in this story that, in spite of the female lead character, there may be some young male readers who will enjoy this fast-paced adventure. Unfortunately, the illustration on the cover, a young woman in a backless white dress (and to a lesser degree the title) does not represent the amazing adventure that awaits readers in the pages that follow.

Highly Recommended
Reviewer: 

Ruth McMahon is a professional librarian working in a high school library in Lethbridge, Alberta.