Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie R. Wheadon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Fast-paced, exciting, but often sketch-like fantasy morsel.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In SOPHIA, PRINCESS AMONG BEASTS, Sophia is roused from her daily grooming routine by a maid's frantic declaration: The ruthless King Ares and his army, who have already conquered and destroyed many kingdoms, are headed their way. Sophia's father, King Leonidas, doesn't want Sophia to worry, but he still outfits her with cavalry when she makes her weekly trip to the impoverished village. Despite all this protection, there's nothing the soldiers can do about what Sophia finds there: people dying of a plague called the Seep, and a teen named Rafael with a good throwing arm. He pelts Sophia with dung and yells about the poor treatment of the villagers until he's thrown in the dungeon. That night an assassin sneaks into the castle and kills the king just as Sophia falls ill with the Seep. When she wakes up, she's in a carriage driven by ghoulish creatures. She's suddenly in a world populated by beasts, including the fearsome King Ares, with no idea how to get home again.
Is It Any Good?
This small morsel of a fantasy will get you through family vacation travel swimmingly with warring kingdoms and monstrous creatures and assassins and a trip to another dimension. Sophia, Princess Among Beasts packs a lot in 320 pages. For regular fantasy readers, though, it may not be enough to make the book memorable. A trip into an unknown world seems sketched out rather than filled with the lush detail it deserves, and few answers are given as to how the worlds are intertwined.
Sophia has a nice metamorphosis in the story while other characters feel one dimensional. The beasts, who seem to be from a hodgepodge of various myths and folklore, are also hard to picture. Many get killed off so fast, though, that the confusion passes, the book ends, and you pick up another James Patterson bestseller for the ride home.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Sophia's transformation in Sophia, Princess Among Beasts. What did she look like in the living world? How did she change when she crossed over? What made her change back?
What answers does Sophia get about the world of beasts she's entered? How do the worlds cross over? What's left unexplained?
Most fantasies turn into series. Would this book make a good series?
Book Details
- Authors :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Little Brown and Company
- Publication date : July 15, 2019
- Number of pages : 320
- Available on : Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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