Princess Academy: Palace of Stone

This is the newest release from one of my favorite authors, Shannon Hale. This is the sequel to her Newberry Honor Award winning book The Princess Academy. It had been awhile since I had read that one so I reread it before I read the sequel. I still enjoyed reading the first one. I really enjoyed the second one as well. I loved the development of characters and the story line. This one has a smattering of Revolution in it and it got me to thinking about how change comes about in the world. When you think about it, there are "revolutions" going on all over the world all the time. Probably even some in your own home. The kids start thinking life is unfair and request certain changes to be made. Or the kids are acting unruly a lot more lately and the parents start making changes and requests on the children. Political events drive people to think revolution thoughts all the time. I loved the conflict the main character, Miri, found herself in and how she handled things. It's sad how the evil thoughts can overwhelm sometimes and we truly believe that violence is the only way things will change for the better. Even though it's a made-up world I learned more about it this time and I really enjoyed that. There's action and romance and some humor and it's a good ol' Country Mouse, City Mouse kind of a story. Just because you're a country bumpkin doesn't mean you can't think like a scholar! A great read and I can't wait until my daughter reads this so we can talk about it together!