PRINCESS OF THE MIDNIGHT BALL

As she did so deliciously with 2008’s Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, George takes another fairy tale, “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” and turns it into a rich and engaging novel. Princess Rose and her 11 sisters must dance each night for the King Under Stone, even when they grow exhausted and ill. They cannot explain their enchantment, cast when their dead mother bargained for both their births and peace for the kingdom of Westfalin. Galen, a young orphaned soldier home from the war against Analousia, has homely skills, including an easy hand at knitting. Watching after Rose from his position as castle gardener, he finds reason to use the strange gifts (a cloak of invisibility and some remarkable yarn) given him by a crone to whom he was kind. Galen, Rose and her sisters are engaging company throughout; near the end the story spirals up in intensity, touching on witchcraft and evil clerics along the way for a satisfyingly exciting conclusion. (Fantasy. 12 & up)