The Spy Princess Review

The Spy Princess

Sherwood Smith

Action/Adventure

8/2/12

Hardcover, 386 pages

067006341X

978-0670063413

Synopsis: When twelve-year-old Lady Lilah decides to disguise herself and sneak out of the palace one night, she has more of an adventure than she expected--for she learns very quickly that the country is on the edge of revolution. When she sneaks back in, she learns something even more surprising: her older brother Peitar is one of the forces behind it all. The revolution happens before all of his plans are in place, and brings unexpected chaos and violence. Lilah and her friends, leaving their old lives behind, are determined to help however they can. But what can four kids do? Become spies, of course!

 

Quick and Dirty: Lilah is a princess in a time of revolution. One night she sneaks out of her castle and learns how bad things are in her town and how much the citizens hate her and all her family. Lilah feels for the people and becomes a spy for those who want things to change. As Lilah will soon, learn change is definitely on its way.

 

First Sentence: I glanced at my time-candle.

 

Review: Lady Lilah is sick of everyone treating her like a child. When she asks her father and brother why people yell horrible things at them they only give her vague answers. So, to receive the answers she is looking for she sneaks out for a walk and a look around. What she finds out is that there is a revolution coming and her brother is a big part of it. As such, she wants to help him. So she continues to spy to help her brother. Then one day the whole thing explodes in a real bad way and Lilah’s world is turned upside down.

  I wasn’t sure if I would like this story or not so I was happily surprised when I enjoyed it a lot. Sherwood Smith’s writing was done so well I felt like I was right there besides Lilah through all of her adventures. I liked this story so much I didn’t want to put it down. Also I liked the characters they had some real depths to them. Even the bad guys where done so well that you disliked them and felt sorry at the same time.

 Lilah was easy to relate to even from my grown up perspective. She is a twelve year old girl who wants to be treated like an adult; when people won’t, she decides to figure things out on her own. She is very loyal. She would do anything to help her brother and when anyone picks on her brother’s crippled leg she gets very defensive. You can still see that she has some growing up to do in the way that she sometimes makes mistakes and gets very upset about it. Through it all she is strong and brave, even in the face of danger, she does not back down.

 Lilah’s brother Peiter is a great character also. He was injured as a young boy in a riding accident. After the accident his leg did not heal properly and he walks with a limp. Many people believe because of this he would not make a good leader, but they are wrong. Peiter is smart and knows how to rule people without bloodshed. Unfortunately, because of his injury and Derek the leader of the revolution, bloodshed in unavoidable.

 The last of the “good guys” I must make mention of are the other three “Sharadan Brothers.” Lilah is the first and goes by the name Larie. The other three people who spy and take care of the poor with Lilah include, Bren, Innon, and Deon, another girl, who goes by the name Daen. Bren is the artistic one who is good at leading, Innon is the smart one who is really good with numbers, and Deon is the musical one who gets along with everyone. I liked all three but sometimes Deon got on my nerves and I was afraid she was going to blow their cover. Deon always wanted to act and I could just see her causing enough of a problem to get them noticed and caught.

 The villain of this story, Lilah’s Uncle Darian, was a hard one to figure out. On the outside he comes off as this evil king who cares about no one. All it seems he cares about is his military strength even if it means everyone else suffers. Then you start to learn about him and realize there is more to him than there seemed. He was abused and it turned him the way he is now.

 This story is wonderful and I recommend it to children in the twelve year old range who may relate to Lilah. Also if you like action, adventure, magic or spy stories you may enjoy this book, even as an adult.

 

Notable Scene: approaching noise woke us. The door slammed open, smashing into the wall and a crowd of armed people roared in, led by… Derek!

 “Castles ours!” he cried, waving a blood-streaked sword.