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Book Review: The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Title: The Princess and the Goblin
Author: George MacDonald
Illustrator: F.D. Bedford
Published: New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926 (1872)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 267
Total Page Count: 146,172
Text Number: 430
Read Because: rereading a childhood favorite, from my personal library
Review: Young Princess Irene lives in a distant castle, protected from the goblins which haunt the area at night—until a fateful encounter that begins her journey deep into their mountain stronghold. The Princess and the Goblin has MacDonald's trademark luminous imagination atop a solid and directed plot—it fails to be as profound as some of his more metaphorical work, but it also more consistently engaging and, arguably, successful. Its twee Victorian style takes some adjustment, but is balanced by the darkness of the content; the ending flags, but the book's climax—where willful, unrepentantly feminine Princess Irene, aided by creative magics of graceful simplicity, carries the day—is an image that has held with me since I read the book as a child. The Day Boy and The Night Girl is the best MacDonald that I've read, but The Princess and the Goblin is easily my favorite—it doesn't stretch itself as far, but it's more concrete and as such able to leave a stronger impression while still resonating, as MacDonald's writing does, like a plucked string.
Author: George MacDonald
Illustrator: F.D. Bedford
Published: New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926 (1872)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 267
Total Page Count: 146,172
Text Number: 430
Read Because: rereading a childhood favorite, from my personal library
Review: Young Princess Irene lives in a distant castle, protected from the goblins which haunt the area at night—until a fateful encounter that begins her journey deep into their mountain stronghold. The Princess and the Goblin has MacDonald's trademark luminous imagination atop a solid and directed plot—it fails to be as profound as some of his more metaphorical work, but it also more consistently engaging and, arguably, successful. Its twee Victorian style takes some adjustment, but is balanced by the darkness of the content; the ending flags, but the book's climax—where willful, unrepentantly feminine Princess Irene, aided by creative magics of graceful simplicity, carries the day—is an image that has held with me since I read the book as a child. The Day Boy and The Night Girl is the best MacDonald that I've read, but The Princess and the Goblin is easily my favorite—it doesn't stretch itself as far, but it's more concrete and as such able to leave a stronger impression while still resonating, as MacDonald's writing does, like a plucked string.