The Swan Kingdom [Paperback]

As the brightly colored cover suggests, Zoë Marriott's novel THE SWAN KINGDOM is a fantastical read. It is the retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's THE WILD SWANS, a fairy tale that I had never heard of, but that has all the familiar bits and pieces like the evil stepmother, enchanted gardens, and animal transformations. It also has a spunky, magically terrific but socially awkward princess-protagonist named Alexandra.

A few of my friends dislike retold fairy tales, because there is no surprise ending. But I think the whole point of reading rewrites is to focus on the journey, not the place. Anyway, that's why I love retold fairy tales, because it's a way to enjoy certain stories that I seemed to grow out of. After a few years in schoolyard politics, the characters that I loved just weren't complex enough to be satisfying anymore. Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White were never unsure, impatient, or angry. Besides some serious magical malady that I had no hope of ever battling, they never seemed to have problems at all.

Alexandra, however, has real problems like pleasing her parents, being plain, and weird. With books like THE SWAN KINGDOM, I get my dosage of magic, and from a girl normal enough to be friends with.

Alexandra is an ugly duckling from a family of swans. Her parents are the just and admired rulers of the Kingdom and her three older brothers are kind, handsome, and brilliant. Her only claim to fame is the magical connection that she shares with the land, but even then her skills are dwarfed by her mother's great healing abilities. When the novel opens, she has pretty much settled for a life in the shadows, but when her mother is killed by a beast in the forest and her father marries a strange, beautiful woman, Alexa has to step up or be squashed. While this story follows the general formula of a fairytale (evil destroyed and kingdom restored), Zoë Marriott has charted a unique path to Happily Ever After.

There seems to be a lot of retold fairy tales on the shelves these days. Some are humorous, like Gail Carson Levine's PRINCESS TALES series. THE SWAN KINGDOM is one of the more serious ones, and readers who enjoyed Robin McKinley's or Donna Jo Napoli's books should try it out.

Reviewed by: Natalie Tsang

As a child, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Wild Swans" was always one of my favorite fairy stories. The tale of a devoted sister who loses her voice and inflicts nearly unbearable pain on herself --- all to weave the magical tunics that will save her 11 brothers, who have been transformed into swans --- was impossibly romantic and evocative to my childhood self. Apparently, Zoë Marriott, whose novel THE SWAN KINGDOM is a remarkably faithful but cleverly imaginative take on Andersen's classic tale, felt the same way.

Marriott's heroine is named Alexandra. The only daughter in a family with three sons, she has always felt particularly close to her mother, a wise woman whose true powers are hidden even from her daughter. When, just after introducing Alexandra to her true magical heritage and power, Alexandra's mother is brutally murdered by a horrible beast, Alexandra's entire family, including her brothers and father, are thrown into despair.

Alexandra's father, the king, spends weeks hunting the forest for the beast who killed his beloved wife. Instead, he discovers something in the woods that brings great joy to him but only fear and trepidation to his children. During his hunting trips, he discovers an eerily beautiful young woman, whom he invites into his home --- and his heart. Soon this mysterious stranger, Zella (whose name means "shadow"), bewitches not only Alexandra's father but also the entire kingdom. Only Alexandra and her brothers are exempt from her powers, perhaps because their mother's own powerful blood courses through their veins.

But when, during a botched attempt to overthrow her, the siblings see the full force of Zella's witchery, Alexandra's brothers mysteriously disappear, and Alexandra herself is sent far away to live with relatives in an entirely different region. Haunted by dreams of silent swans, eager to connect with the boy she meets on the beach but reluctant to discuss her past, Alexandra must discover her own powers while exploring how to destroy Zella's stranglehold on the Kingdom.

Marriott's retelling of "The Wild Swans" will certainly satisfy fans of Andersen's tale. She skillfully weaves together elements of the original fairy story into her more complex narrative, making them suitable for a young adult narrative such as this one. Romance, revenge, transformations, violence and loyalty --- THE SWAN KINGDOM has all these elements in abundance. Some readers may be surprised that Marriott remains so faithful to these classic plot points rather than subverting them in, for example, a more feminist "reading" of the original tale. Others will appreciate her fidelity to her original source, as well as her clever reworkings of it into a more comprehensive narrative.

Fantasy fans, even those unfamiliar with the original tale of which THE SWAN KINGDOM is based, will enjoy exploring Marriott's generally well-developed fantasy world. If anything, the climax, which is unfortunately condensed to one brief confrontation right at the book's closure, will disappoint readers for no other reason than that they would have liked to spend more time in Alexandra's world and see more fully the ways in which she grows into her full powers.

Nevertheless, Zoë Marriott is a new fantasy author to watch. Whether she continues to adapt classic stories for her own purposes or weaves her own magical universes, she is likely to delight audiences.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

I have maybe five books on display in my room. Because I want people to see my favs, and so they're in easy reach. As soon as I read the last word on the last page I cleared a new space for it in my room. Then I picked it up and read it again.

I've heard a lot of fairy tales in my life, and Wild Swans never really stuck out to me all that much. I reread it before reading this, and then fell in love. The male lead is so well written I found myself giggling over him more than I did for Edward Cullen!

In all honesty I picked up this book after listening to Swan lake music. And now Wild Swans is probably a favorite of mine.

Marriott is writter I will be watching veerrrryyyyyy closely.

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