Title: The Last Princess
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pub Date: May 01, 2012
ISBN: 9780316185486
Set in post-apocalyptic England, THE LAST PRINCESS features a strong female protagonist, Eliza Tudor. In this alternate England, the world is struggling. The Seventeen Days, a series of natural disasters that rained down fire from the sky among other things, has practically obliterated all that was. Crops and plants are scarce, food is hard to come by, electricity and pretty much any technology is gone. Bands of cannibals (yes cannibals) roam what is left of the woods seeking prey. England is completely cut off from the rest of the world, and no one knows if other countries have survived the Seventeen Days. England is now in turmoil as a vicious and cruel revolutionary plots to overthrow the Tudors. Eliza was present as a revolutionary killed her pregnant mother by poison. Some years later, the same revolutionary has taken over Buckingham Palace during a ball and is rounding people up and into Death Camps. Eliza escapes and vows revenge.
The story is fast-paced and interesting. The sixteen year old Eliza’s battle to save her family and defeat
Cyrus, is seriously engaging. She joins his army in disguise and learns first hand of his cruelty and what happens in the Death Camps. She manages to escape yet again and makes her way to the old family retreat in Scotland where she heals from her wounds and rallies an army.
I loved this book. I love strong female characters and Eliza is definitely strong. Her emotions and fears are almost palpable, making the book very real. This COULD have happened. I also loved some small touches of detail that made for breaks in the horrors of war and strife. Things like using an old steamer train from the museum, because there’s no longer the technology or ability to run modern vehicles. The world feels both historical and futuristic – straddling the past and future seamlessly.
About the Author
Galaxy Craze is the author of two novels, Tiger, Tiger and By the Shore, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and won the Betty Trask Award in her native England. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with her husband and their two children and is currently working on a sequel to The Last Princess, coming in spring 2013.
Find out more at www.savethelastprincess.com
Publication date is May 1, 2012.
Disclosure: I received a free Advance reader Kindle copy of this book for review from NetGalley. Thoughts and opinions are my own
