Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club

A PRINCESS OF ROUMANIA
by
PAUL PARK
A Princess of Roumania (2005)
Book One of the Roumania series

cover art by John Jude Palencar
Tor hardcover
368 pages (left)

Tor paperback
460 pages + preview (right)
From the inside flaps of  hardcover:
       Many girls daydream that they are princesses adopted by commoners.  In Miranda Popescu's case, her dream is literally true.  Adopted from an agency in Bucharest by an American couple and raised from infancy in a Massachusetts college town, at the same time she stands at the fulcrum of a deadly political and diplomatic battle between conjurers in an alternate world, a place of magic and intrigue where "Roumania" is a great European power.
       Unaware of her past, hidden by her aunt in our comfortable world, she nevertheless has inklings of her own foreignness.  This is the story of how she returns to her true home, accompanied by her best friends, Peter and Andromeda.  The three of them find themselves changed during the journey, and in their own ways they begin to decipher a new truth about themselves.
       This is a magical tale, full of strangeness, terror, and wonder.  The narrative is split between our world and Roumania, where powerful forces are working to protect Miranda or to capture her: her aunt, Aegypta Schenck; the Baroness Nicola Ceausescu in Bucharest; and the sinister alchemist who holds Miranda's true mother a prisoner in Germany....
   
From the back cover of paperback:
       This is a truly magical tale, full of strangeness, terrors and wonders.  Many girls daydream that they are really a princess adopted by commoners.  In the case of teenager Miranda Popescu this is literally true.
       Because she is at the fulcrum of a deadly political and diplomatic battle between conjurers in an alternate world where "Roumania" is a leading European power, Miranda was hidden by her aunt in our world.
       Now she is brought back to her home reality, with her two best friends, Peter and Andromeda, each of them strangely changed in a different way, and begins to discover the truth about herself and her friends.

Read for group discussion on June 25, 2008
RATINGS:
How we each rated this book
Dan - Amy 8 stack of books 10   Wow! Don't miss it
8-9  Highly recommended
7    Recommended
5-6  Mild recommendation
3-4  Take your chances
1-2  Below average; skip it
0    Get out the flamethrower!
U    Unfinishable or unreadable
-    Skipped or no rating given
Cheri 8 Barb -
Aaron 7 Cynthia -
Jackie 7 Ron 7
Bibliography:
Paul Park (1954-    ) is a US science fiction and fantasy writer.

Roumania series books, fantasy parallel world
--A Princess of Roumania (2005)
--The Tourmaline (2006)
--The White Tyger (2007)
--The Hidden World (2008)

Starbridge Chronicles trilogy, literary science fition
--Soldiers of Paradise (1987)
--Sugar Rain (1989)
--The Cult of Loving Kindness (1991)

Other books
--Celestis (1995), science fiction
--The Gospel of Corax (1996), biblical times speculation
--Three Marys (2003), biblical times speculation
--No Traveller Returns (2004), novella

Story collections
--If Lions Could Speak and Other Stories (2002)

Links:
Fantastic Reviews interview with Paul Park
Amy's book review of A Princess of Roumania on Fantastic Reviews
Aaron's book review of The Tourmaline on Fantastic Reviews
SciFi.com Science Fiction Book Reviews, A Princess of Roumania
The SF Site Featured Review: A Princess of Roumania
Entertainment Weekly | A Princess of Roumania | Book Review
SF REVIEWS.NET: A Princess of Roumania / Paul Park
Emerald City: A Princess of Roumania
SciFiDimensions: A Princess of Roumania by Paul Park

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 This page was last updated May 31, 2010