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A review by snugglyoranges
Pennyroyal Academy by M.A. Larson
3.0
3 stars
M.A. Larson's debut novel, Pennyroyal Academy, is a charming middle grade story (with some crossover appeal to young adult readers) that is sure to delight readers with its fairy tale lore, magic, and mystery. At the end of the day, this short little story just left me wanting... a bit more.
I will say that I was instantly intrigued by the main character. At the beginning of the book, she didn't even know who she was. She had no name - but one goal in her mind: to join the Pennyroyal Academy. Once there, she finds it's a school that trains girls (and one boy pressured by his mother, to add some hilarity) to be princesses and boys to be knights. The princesses, if they get through the many tests and trials of the school, will grow up to defend the various kingdoms from witches, while the knights would fight dragons. The main character quickly gets a nickname - Evie - and throughout the story we gradually find out who she is and where she came from. Obviously there are some surprises and spoilers in that, but let me just say that I loved it. I thought it was so creative and exciting, and I loved the messages of finding yourself and how your heritage shapes you.
The storytelling ties in well with the world building, which I found really cool. Obviously this kind of magical boarding school/academy type thing will remind one of Harry Potter. It's kind of unavoidable. But I felt it had sufficient differences, because it really delves into this fairy tale type world. All the fairy tales we are told are basically real stories - the history of this world, where princesses defeated witches with their courage, compassion, kindness, and discipline. Indeed, these princesses don't just sit back and do nothing, waiting for a knight to help them. (Though I wouldn't have minded seeing a princess pick up a sword to slay a dragon, just sayin'. The fact that they "fight" with the magical powers of their hearts was just a bit too cliché for me.)
However, the pacing of the story is rather odd. Months go by in mere paragraphs of text, classes and training sessions are hastily glossed over, and it was hard at times to keep track of where this story was actually going. What was it leading up to? I liked the ending, which I found to be pleasantly exciting, but it still felt a little underdeveloped. Kingdoms had been under attack for months by witches and nothing is really done with that. It's just something that gets mentioned in passing rather often, but it actually played almost no role in the plot of this book at all. It makes me think there's a sequel coming, though I can't find any announcement about that as of yet. Would I read it if it came? I dunno. (Edit: Yeah, appears this will be a duology. Hm.)
Sadly, I lacked the spark that would make me really rave about this book, and I'm not sure why. It's partially that hint of an underdeveloped plot, for sure. I think it's also in large part the characters. Though the mystery of Evie's identity did keep me intrigued, I found her personality to be rather flat. And I could say the same about the other characters, except maybe Remington, who passively functions as a love interest. (Romance isn't a big part of the story, but it was there and I liked it.) To show you how underdeveloped they are: I don't even remotely know how old any of them are. They could be 13. They could be 16. The book didn't tell me.
But from middle grade fantasy books I really expect a big creative spark and humor - and both just didn't quite make it. My biggest disappointment, I think, is the lack of humor. I mean, the premise even promised it! I don't think I laughed even once. The tone of the book was much more serious than I expected - especially given the whimsical cover and premise. The book was good. But not great.
Summing Up:
Pennyroyal Academy is a fun and at times surprising middle grade fantasy. The world building was creative enough to impress me, but overall I did lack that spark. I didn't have the strongest connection to the characters, and the story was much more serious in tone than I anticipated. But with fairy tales, magic, dragons, princesses, knights, and just a hint of romance, I think this is a fun book for middle grade readers - and even some younger YA readers.
GIF it to me straight!
*ARC received at BEA in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review.
M.A. Larson's debut novel, Pennyroyal Academy, is a charming middle grade story (with some crossover appeal to young adult readers) that is sure to delight readers with its fairy tale lore, magic, and mystery. At the end of the day, this short little story just left me wanting... a bit more.
I will say that I was instantly intrigued by the main character. At the beginning of the book, she didn't even know who she was. She had no name - but one goal in her mind: to join the Pennyroyal Academy. Once there, she finds it's a school that trains girls (and one boy pressured by his mother, to add some hilarity) to be princesses and boys to be knights. The princesses, if they get through the many tests and trials of the school, will grow up to defend the various kingdoms from witches, while the knights would fight dragons. The main character quickly gets a nickname - Evie - and throughout the story we gradually find out who she is and where she came from. Obviously there are some surprises and spoilers in that, but let me just say that I loved it. I thought it was so creative and exciting, and I loved the messages of finding yourself and how your heritage shapes you.
The storytelling ties in well with the world building, which I found really cool. Obviously this kind of magical boarding school/academy type thing will remind one of Harry Potter. It's kind of unavoidable. But I felt it had sufficient differences, because it really delves into this fairy tale type world. All the fairy tales we are told are basically real stories - the history of this world, where princesses defeated witches with their courage, compassion, kindness, and discipline. Indeed, these princesses don't just sit back and do nothing, waiting for a knight to help them. (Though I wouldn't have minded seeing a princess pick up a sword to slay a dragon, just sayin'. The fact that they "fight" with the magical powers of their hearts was just a bit too cliché for me.)
However, the pacing of the story is rather odd. Months go by in mere paragraphs of text, classes and training sessions are hastily glossed over, and it was hard at times to keep track of where this story was actually going. What was it leading up to? I liked the ending, which I found to be pleasantly exciting, but it still felt a little underdeveloped. Kingdoms had been under attack for months by witches and nothing is really done with that. It's just something that gets mentioned in passing rather often, but it actually played almost no role in the plot of this book at all. It makes me think there's a sequel coming, though I can't find any announcement about that as of yet. Would I read it if it came? I dunno. (Edit: Yeah, appears this will be a duology. Hm.)
Sadly, I lacked the spark that would make me really rave about this book, and I'm not sure why. It's partially that hint of an underdeveloped plot, for sure. I think it's also in large part the characters. Though the mystery of Evie's identity did keep me intrigued, I found her personality to be rather flat. And I could say the same about the other characters, except maybe Remington, who passively functions as a love interest. (Romance isn't a big part of the story, but it was there and I liked it.) To show you how underdeveloped they are: I don't even remotely know how old any of them are. They could be 13. They could be 16. The book didn't tell me.
But from middle grade fantasy books I really expect a big creative spark and humor - and both just didn't quite make it. My biggest disappointment, I think, is the lack of humor. I mean, the premise even promised it! I don't think I laughed even once. The tone of the book was much more serious than I expected - especially given the whimsical cover and premise. The book was good. But not great.
Summing Up:
Pennyroyal Academy is a fun and at times surprising middle grade fantasy. The world building was creative enough to impress me, but overall I did lack that spark. I didn't have the strongest connection to the characters, and the story was much more serious in tone than I anticipated. But with fairy tales, magic, dragons, princesses, knights, and just a hint of romance, I think this is a fun book for middle grade readers - and even some younger YA readers.
GIF it to me straight!
*ARC received at BEA in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review.