Crown Duel and Posse of Princesses (Smith)

Sherwood Smith kept being recommended to me as something I would like given that I like Megan Whalen Turner, Diana Wynne Jones, and the like. So I got all the books our library had by her (a grand total of two... as I keep remarking, our library is a bit hit-or-miss), which are the two in the title.

Crown Duel was an early book, I think; at least, it feels very much like it. I never really did get into this one. I think part of it is that I need to read the sequel, but still, it never quite... went deeply enough.

A Posse of Princesses was picked up by our babysitter (college freshman) before I got to it, and she really liked it. And, you know, I did too. It's really really cute. It's like... Pride and Prejudice written for teenagers, with magic and princesses. I mean, it's definitely a kid's book, no doubt. But it's adorable, like a kitten, as is the main character, and doesn't pretend to be horribly serious (whereas I kind of got the impression that Crown Duel was supposed to be serious, but it wasn't). Also, kudos for having an important supporting character who is both an airhead and is seriously talented. Because people are really like that!