The Princess and the Goblin

“The Princess and the Goblin” is a children’s fairy tale with valuable lessons for people of all ages. It includes numerous allusions to Christian themes, but not in an overly preachy way.The Kindle edition does not include the beginning exchange below, and I think it is important because it helps readers understand George MacDonald’s view on Christian Universalism. Regardless of whether you agree with the author, believers of Jesus can see how we are all the daughter and sons of the King, and thus “princesses” and “princes” despite our earthly lineage.“THERE was once a little princess who—“But Mr. Author, why do you always write about princesses?”“Because every little girl is a princess.”“You will make them vain if you tell them that.”“Not if they understand what I mean.”“Then what do you mean?”“What do you mean by a princess?”“The daughter of a king.”“Very well, then every little girl is a princess, and there would be no need to say anything about it, except that she is always in danger of forgetting her rank, and behaving as if she had grown out of the mud. I have seen little princesses behave like children of thieves and lying beggars, and that is why they need to be told they are princesses. And that is why when I tell a story of this kind, I like to tell it about a princess. Then I can say better what I mean, because I can then give her every beautiful thing I want her to have.”“Please go on.”

This is not a review of the story The Princess And The Goblin: By George MacDonald - Illustrated , which is marvelous, but of this terrible, mistake-riddled edition. Don't be fooled by the decent paper stock and cover--this is some kind of bootleg desktop publication, and not from any publishing house. There is no edition information or ISBN, and the bit of front matter is cribbed from Wikipedia. The text itself is full of errors that would horrify the author, and there are lots of poorly formatted marks for footnotes that aren't included. Some of the text is out of order, and whole sentences are repeated. If I had to guess, it was cribbed by a non-English speaking entrepreneur from a student's sloppy transcription used as part of a thesis or dissertation. Do not buy this!!!

I was drawn to George MacDonald because I read he had been an inspiration to C S Lewis and J R Tolkien but I loved this story and immediately got a collection of George MacDonald so I could read the sequel to the story. I was captivating, I had trouble putting it down. I liked the characters and his style of writing. Sometimes when one reads books written over a century ago the books are dated but this story was as fresh as if it had been written yesterday. Made me wish I could write like that.

A half-orphaned princess. A hard working common boy. Dreadful, frightful creatures hiding in mountains and plotting. A magical, beautiful grandmother with a spinning wheel. A benevolent king. Ahhh, fantasy.This is a charming read that gave inspiration to other fantasy authors like J R R Tolkien. You can feel where the influence was felt while reading, in tone and rhymes. Truly, there can be adventure without dragons.The writing reflects the age of the text, but is still well done. An example, one of my favorite turns of phrase in the book : 'People must believe what they can, and those who believe more must not be hard upon those who believe less. I doubt if you would have believed it all yourself if you hadn't seen some of it.'

I had heard rave reviews for people about this story but for me it fell flat. The princess is a perfect child who remains perfect. The bad guys are stupid with more than one fatal flaw. I never felt worried about how any of the characters b/c McDonald had this omnipotent Grandmother who could, and did, come in and fix everything.

Of course one has to know that he or she is reading in the 19th Century wordy style! But the enchanting tale shows why C. S. Lewis could say that he never wrote anything without quoting George MacDonald! One feels as if transported to another world -- one BEFORE Narnia! But, oh, how one can see the principles and basis (inspiration) of Narnia here!

Princess Irene is the sort of princess that I initally find too goodie-goodie, but warm to as she goes along, since she has plenty of spunk, and also good taste, since she likes Curdie, the son of a miner, who is altogether smart and heroic. It’s a story told by the invisible narrator in an old-fashioned style, occasionally crossing the fourth wall to tell “you, the reader” what you might be thinking now, and explaining it to you. There’s not too much of that, though, and what I love is the amazing imagery, the darkness and tension of the dastardly cobs (goblins/kobolds) deep below the mountains, and the magical appearance of Irene’s great-great-grandmother, also named Irene. In fact, as I read her first appearance, with the silver bowl to wash Princess Irene’s dirty face and the soft white towel to dry it, I had a flashback to my youth, remembering this magical creature as I read about her for the first time.This is a fast moving story with adventures underground, twists, turns and double loops back. There are enough clues to tantalise you into thinking you know what will happen, but you don’t get it all, and there are some lovely touches with vain cob queens and greedy people of both races. There are plenty of moralistic statements, mainly about telling the truth and not being believed, and putting up with minor injustice as it will all work out in the end. And of course it does, although I always remember the second book with more warmth, and I’m looking forward to re-reading it.I think The Princess and the Goblin is an excellent 'middle grade' read, although some may dislike the description of the fights between the humans and the goblins. There are plenty of long words! It’s an intriguing fantasy mystery with a magical touch, firmly rooted in noble values that I hope kids still aspire to. Old-fashioned, maybe. Classic, definitely.Note that there are a lot of editions available for Kindle. I got the free public service one, which has an irritating habit of missing paragraphs between speakers in dialogue parts. I think the edition with both books in it might be a better buy.

I downloaded this because I was interested in George MacDonald's influence on CS Lewis, writer of the Narnia books. There are definite parallels, and although I would say Lewis is a better writer, this is an extremely engaging story that can be read on many levels. For children, it is a wonderful adventure story, with just the right amount of scariness and excitement. For adults, it asks the age old question, how can we believe in something we cannot see? The book is well written and easy to read, with tight plotting and good characters. A children's classic that deserves to be read.

Wonderful adventure book for the young and the young at heart.This was a gripping and exciting adventure which had my daughter on the edge of her seat as I read it to her.

Beautifully written. Taught us all vocabulary as we read it! Nice story about a princess who becomes endangered living in a world of scheming revengeful goblins, and a young boy who learns of the plot and wants to help.

What a joy to find The Princess and the Goblin again. I love the sheer inventiveness and energy of the story and the way it is written. An old fashioned read with lots of charm.