Audiobook Review – A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith, Narrated by Emma Galvin (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 9 hours and 11 minutes (300 pages)
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: November 4, 2013
ASIN: B00GFFTWBW
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

“Rhis, princess of a small kingdom, is invited along with all the other princesses in her part of the world to the coming of age party of the Crown Prince of Vesarja, which is the central and most important kingdom. When Iardith, the prettiest and most perfect of all the princesses, is abducted, Rhis and her friends go to the rescue.

What happens to Rhis and her posse has unexpected results not only for the princesses, but for the princes who chase after them. Everyone learns a lot about friendship and hate, politics and laughter, romantic ballads and sleeping in the dirt with nothing but a sword for company. But most of all they learn about the many meanings of love.”

This is a Sherwood Smith book that I’ve had to read for quite some time. Previous to this I read Crown Duel and loved it, so I was excited to read another Sherwood Smith book! It starts a bit slow but ends up being a fun read. This is one of those “princess” type books; about princesses who are finding themselves and finding more purpose in their lives.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was okay. The narrator could have done a better job differentiating between character voices (many characters sounded the same). The narrator also could have done a better job with emotion; most of the time her reading is very flat sounding. This is one that I would have been better off reading in paper format.

The book starts very slow with us learning about Rhis and Rhis getting packed up to travel to Vesarja. Once at Vesarja there is a lot of “mean girl” backstabbing; that is until a princess goes missing and Rhis and some of her new found friends decide to rescue her. This happens about 50% through the book and at this point things get more interesting.

I did like that Rhis and her love interest didn’t really have insta-love….they developed their relationship over a number of years and made sure to take time to become their own people before becoming a couple.

I also liked all the friendships between Rhis and some of the other girls. Additionally it was fun how all the friendships of these young princes and princesses shaped the kingdom of the future into a better place.

Overall this was a cute story and a fun read. It starts out pretty slow but picked up pace about halfway through. I would recommend to those who like YA princess stories with some adventure and a bit of romance. I didn’t like this as much as Crown Duel, but it was a decent read.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge