I really, really liked this idea. The curse makes the princess look like a dimwitted airhead to everyone outside, but inside she's brilliant, conniving and sarcastic. She just can't show it to anyone, ever, without doubling over in pain and being confined to her bed for days. All her hints and double entendres are missed, and no one will ever truly understand her. Just to keep herself from being bored, in her spare time away from ditzy balls and inane conversation she's created the job of the kingdom's spymaster, running a secret service that's so secret even the king isn't aware of it.

I thought that was a fantastic idea, with so much potential. (For that reason, I thought it was the most interesting of this entire series.) I regret that the book didn't quite live up to the idea. It was an enjoyable read, but it felt like it could have been so much more, and I'm not particularly inclined to reread it. The writing is a bit flat. Also, this book shares many of the common weaknesses of most fairy-tale retellings: political naivete. While Celeste is *supposed* to be a brilliant schemer, her plots and investigations feel a trifle unsophisticated, more like an Encyclopedia Brown story than a Sherlock Holmes or a John LeCarre. Also, how is it that the king doesn't already have people doing this? (For an example fairy tale retelling that feels less politically naive without being gritty, see Kenley Davidson's Andari chronicles, especially the first one.)

This book also shares another common weakness of fairy tale retellings: the male characters are exactly what the girl wants, but for the life of me I can't figure out why a male would think or feel that way. Since the story is told exclusively from the female perspective (and the target audience is presumably female), the lack of a fleshed-out male thought process isn't too obnoxious; but it kinda bothered me, since I'm not female. (For an example fairy tale retelling that doesn't suffer from this, see Kate Stradling's Goldmayne.)

One thing I really liked about this novel (and also some of Cellier's other stories) is that there is redemption. One character has to get over a desire for revenge, and forgive, and the other must repent. That is not something that one often sees in this genre. ( )