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Spellbound #1-2
Spellbound
Includes The Changeling Prince and The Conjurer Princess. Also includes the short story "Just Another Dragon-Slaying".
The Changeling Prince
Weiland was less than a slave. Slaves are human, and he was wolf, allowed to assume human form only when it suited the sorceress Daria.
The Conjurer Princess
Some girls grow up fast. One day Lylene was a bridesmaid, all dressed up for her older sister's wedding to a neighboring lord. A week later, Lylene was a wizard's apprentice, determined to gain the power to rescue her sister from the armed knights who had kidnapped her at the alter.
The Changeling Prince
Weiland was less than a slave. Slaves are human, and he was wolf, allowed to assume human form only when it suited the sorceress Daria.
The Conjurer Princess
Some girls grow up fast. One day Lylene was a bridesmaid, all dressed up for her older sister's wedding to a neighboring lord. A week later, Lylene was a wizard's apprentice, determined to gain the power to rescue her sister from the armed knights who had kidnapped her at the alter.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
1 person is currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Vivian Vande Velde
42 books994 followersVivian Vande Velde (born 1951, currently residing in Rochester, New York) is an American author who writes books primarily aimed at young adults.
Her novels and short story collections usually have some element of horror or fantasy, but are primarily humorous. Her book Never Trust a Dead Man (1999) received the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She says that she really likes to write for children. She likes to do school talks to children. She does many book conventions and also gives writing classes.
Her novels and short story collections usually have some element of horror or fantasy, but are primarily humorous. Her book Never Trust a Dead Man (1999) received the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She says that she really likes to write for children. She likes to do school talks to children. She does many book conventions and also gives writing classes.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 6, 2015
I'm torn between giving this 3 and 4 stars.
I didn't realize before picking it up that it was actually two novels and a short story in one. I will split up my review accordingly.
The Changeling Prince:
3.5 Stars
I've never before read a book that the emotion of the character bled through the writing so much. It was not a relaxing read, and I actually found it a bit hard to get into, because the sheer emotion I was feeling through Weiland, the main character, so overwhelming. He isn't an overly-emotional character, nor is it bad the amount of emotion. He is incredibly understandable traumatized, and that bled through into me, stressing me out as much as Weiland was stressed out.
Weiland is an incredibly likable character. He is relateable in his unhumanness. As the summary beautifully says, he is "less than a slave. Slaves are human, and he was a /wolf/..."
The magic was so well done, and so realistic. The way the people who were turned into animals by the villain, the sorceress Daria, Weiland's mistress ("Mistress" being female form of "Master", not.... lady friend...) was incredibly new (at least to my experience) and very realistic.
Weiland's character development was incredible in its beautiful subtleness. And even when he made the "wrong choice", it was so in character and so understandable, that he lost no favour with me.
The writing, foreshadowing and subtle stringing of events was brilliant. Part of the way through the book, things started clicking, making sense, and even though Weiland didn't figure them out, it wasn't because he was stupid, but because he had no possible way of making the connections I did because of who he was, how he had been trained, etc. While it was slow to get into, coming up on the end, I couldn't put it down. I don't normally make sounds outloud, or movements, when I'm deep in a book, but I was fidgeting pretty frantically with my hands, as though that would some how either enable me to read faster or make everything better. :P
There were two, fatal flaws that kept this from being a four or even five star review however.
I've read other reviews that said this is a fairly common trait among Ms. Velde's works, though I wouldn't know as this is the first original story I've read by her. (I have read some of her amazing fractured fairytales, The Rumpelstiltskin Problem, Cloaked in Red, and Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird)
It ended too abruptly, left me hanging with too many unresolved questions, and I'm not entirely convinced Weiland did anything to be the hero of the story.
I'll address the latter first. Without getting into spoilers, (though I suppose this could be considered spoiler-ish, so skip down to the ALL CLEAR down below if you don't want any inkling of how it ends) I don't think it was Weiland who saved the day. He was rather helpless, and instead (okay now spoilers)
ALL CLEAR. Hi, welcome back. :P Now I'll address the too-open ending. As I said before, my mind was spinning, working really hard to collect all the pieces and connect them together. I was eagerly looking forward to the moment when I would discover if my theories of
But that moment never came. I suppose it was a realistic ending in the way it resolved (or rather, didn't), but it still left me unsatisfied and irritated.
The Conjurer Princess:
3 stars
First thought: Lylene is no where near as likable as Weiland.
Second thought: oh my gosh is she ripping off Howl's Moving Castle
Third thought: OH MY GOSH SHE IS !!! D:<
I read the first half of the book really, really irritated. Honestly, the only reason I finished was because I wanted to mark it off for my reading challenge. I am very glad I did. Once Lylene met up with the two other characters, she became much more tolerable. And the Howl's Moving Castle similarities slowly died away, and so I was able to enjoy the last half of the book so much more.
The writing was easier to read, less stressful, and Lylene's POV was very different from Weiland's, which was good. I've seen too many authors write in the same character voice for different characters. I definitely preferred Weiland's though.
Another thing that bugged me was this one had more content. I really liked how in the last one, because Weiland had so little experience with the human world, he didn't understand why people used profanity, and when a tavern wench "teased" him, it went over his head and was more humourous than awkward. Well, apparently, because there was a lot more usage of God's name in vain (which does bother Lylene), and a few scattered swear words (some used by Lylene herself, though nothing more than damning characters for things they do). The language wasn't overly bad, what you would expect in a PG-13 story, but it was a big, drastic jump from the tone of the first book, and very distracting.
The other content was not bad, and very fitting and understandable: Lylene worries about being raped by the less than gentlemanly tavern go-ers, is disgusted by the way a scantily clad tavern wench is showing off her low cut top to one of the other characters, a few other allusions to things such as that, but again, nothing above a PG-13 content. Just a bigger jump than the first book, which brought it all to an even bigger attention. It didn't bother me overly much, and had I read the two books separately, I honestly would not have been bothered by anything more than the language in the second one.
The showdown was much better written this time, and the revelation was so fitting and I didn't see it coming, though it made sense immediately.
Just Another Dragon Slaying (short story):
Honestly, there's not much I can talk about that doesn't spoil at least something for both of the books, so I'm plopping the whole thing in a spoiler.
I think that concludes most everything I wanted to say. Oh, yes, one last thing. Both stories are a bit dark, so if you're looking for a feel-good fairytale, this is not the one to read. It was not pointlessly dark and disturbing,but it does deal with elements such as slavery (of the body and mind), dark magic, and suicide. Definitely all three stories are PG-13. Don't let the pink cover with Link from Legend of Zelda fool you. (really, really do not like the cover... bleh)
But, if you don't mind magic and intense reading that will keep you up way too late (*coughs*) then I'd recommend giving these stories of Weiland and Lylene a try.
I didn't realize before picking it up that it was actually two novels and a short story in one. I will split up my review accordingly.
The Changeling Prince:
3.5 Stars
I've never before read a book that the emotion of the character bled through the writing so much. It was not a relaxing read, and I actually found it a bit hard to get into, because the sheer emotion I was feeling through Weiland, the main character, so overwhelming. He isn't an overly-emotional character, nor is it bad the amount of emotion. He is incredibly understandable traumatized, and that bled through into me, stressing me out as much as Weiland was stressed out.
Weiland is an incredibly likable character. He is relateable in his unhumanness. As the summary beautifully says, he is "less than a slave. Slaves are human, and he was a /wolf/..."
The magic was so well done, and so realistic. The way the people who were turned into animals by the villain, the sorceress Daria, Weiland's mistress ("Mistress" being female form of "Master", not.... lady friend...) was incredibly new (at least to my experience) and very realistic.
Weiland's character development was incredible in its beautiful subtleness. And even when he made the "wrong choice", it was so in character and so understandable, that he lost no favour with me.
The writing, foreshadowing and subtle stringing of events was brilliant. Part of the way through the book, things started clicking, making sense, and even though Weiland didn't figure them out, it wasn't because he was stupid, but because he had no possible way of making the connections I did because of who he was, how he had been trained, etc. While it was slow to get into, coming up on the end, I couldn't put it down. I don't normally make sounds outloud, or movements, when I'm deep in a book, but I was fidgeting pretty frantically with my hands, as though that would some how either enable me to read faster or make everything better. :P
There were two, fatal flaws that kept this from being a four or even five star review however.
I've read other reviews that said this is a fairly common trait among Ms. Velde's works, though I wouldn't know as this is the first original story I've read by her. (I have read some of her amazing fractured fairytales, The Rumpelstiltskin Problem, Cloaked in Red, and Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird)
It ended too abruptly, left me hanging with too many unresolved questions, and I'm not entirely convinced Weiland did anything to be the hero of the story.
I'll address the latter first. Without getting into spoilers, (though I suppose this could be considered spoiler-ish, so skip down to the ALL CLEAR down below if you don't want any inkling of how it ends) I don't think it was Weiland who saved the day. He was rather helpless, and instead (okay now spoilers)
ALL CLEAR. Hi, welcome back. :P Now I'll address the too-open ending. As I said before, my mind was spinning, working really hard to collect all the pieces and connect them together. I was eagerly looking forward to the moment when I would discover if my theories of
But that moment never came. I suppose it was a realistic ending in the way it resolved (or rather, didn't), but it still left me unsatisfied and irritated.
The Conjurer Princess:
3 stars
First thought: Lylene is no where near as likable as Weiland.
Second thought: oh my gosh is she ripping off Howl's Moving Castle
Third thought: OH MY GOSH SHE IS !!! D:<
I read the first half of the book really, really irritated. Honestly, the only reason I finished was because I wanted to mark it off for my reading challenge. I am very glad I did. Once Lylene met up with the two other characters, she became much more tolerable. And the Howl's Moving Castle similarities slowly died away, and so I was able to enjoy the last half of the book so much more.
The writing was easier to read, less stressful, and Lylene's POV was very different from Weiland's, which was good. I've seen too many authors write in the same character voice for different characters. I definitely preferred Weiland's though.
Another thing that bugged me was this one had more content. I really liked how in the last one, because Weiland had so little experience with the human world, he didn't understand why people used profanity, and when a tavern wench "teased" him, it went over his head and was more humourous than awkward. Well, apparently, because there was a lot more usage of God's name in vain (which does bother Lylene), and a few scattered swear words (some used by Lylene herself, though nothing more than damning characters for things they do). The language wasn't overly bad, what you would expect in a PG-13 story, but it was a big, drastic jump from the tone of the first book, and very distracting.
The other content was not bad, and very fitting and understandable: Lylene worries about being raped by the less than gentlemanly tavern go-ers, is disgusted by the way a scantily clad tavern wench is showing off her low cut top to one of the other characters, a few other allusions to things such as that, but again, nothing above a PG-13 content. Just a bigger jump than the first book, which brought it all to an even bigger attention. It didn't bother me overly much, and had I read the two books separately, I honestly would not have been bothered by anything more than the language in the second one.
The showdown was much better written this time, and the revelation was so fitting and I didn't see it coming, though it made sense immediately.
Just Another Dragon Slaying (short story):
Honestly, there's not much I can talk about that doesn't spoil at least something for both of the books, so I'm plopping the whole thing in a spoiler.
I think that concludes most everything I wanted to say. Oh, yes, one last thing. Both stories are a bit dark, so if you're looking for a feel-good fairytale, this is not the one to read. It was not pointlessly dark and disturbing,but it does deal with elements such as slavery (of the body and mind), dark magic, and suicide. Definitely all three stories are PG-13. Don't let the pink cover with Link from Legend of Zelda fool you. (really, really do not like the cover... bleh)
But, if you don't mind magic and intense reading that will keep you up way too late (*coughs*) then I'd recommend giving these stories of Weiland and Lylene a try.
September 11, 2021
I had read Conjurer Princess before but couldn't remember a thing about it. Even rereading it in this omnibus absolutely nothing was familiar. My old review of it is vague and even right after reading it I seem to have forgotten it. Paired with The Changeling Prince, however, it's far more interesting
The Changeling Prince is a little hard to get into - probably because of Weiland's awkward and ignorant character. That quickly becomes part of the charm though, because we really get to experience his growth and struggles along with him. It's a surprisingly gruesome story that wouldn't be out of place among Grimm fairy tales. An evil witch, enchanted beasts and men, murderous plots and dead innocents.
Conjurer Princess is all the more interesting knowing Weiland's and Shile's backstories. Lylene herself is a bit annoying (and perhaps the reason I was so unaffected by it the first time I read it), and if you don't know the history of Weiland and Shile then they're behavior might not make much sense. By far I think the most frustrating thing is that during all those fights and all the times she was held prisoner, Lylene never thought to take years away from enemies. She could've just thrown herself at one of them and easily fixed several issues. But I guess that would've made the ending a little less impactful.
"Just Another Dragon Slaying" is an interesting little story for sure. Lylene has toughened up, and both she and Weiland have got a bit more edge to them. It's not an epilogue or a sequel at all, it brings no extra closure or sense of a happy ending. It's more like a day in the life of their miserable existences and shitty luck.
For me, I don't think Conjurer Princess or the short story would be able to interest me much if they just stood on their own. But following after Changeling Prince, it all adds up to a very satisfying tale (which I find fascinating, since that's the opposite order they were all written in).
The Changeling Prince is a little hard to get into - probably because of Weiland's awkward and ignorant character. That quickly becomes part of the charm though, because we really get to experience his growth and struggles along with him. It's a surprisingly gruesome story that wouldn't be out of place among Grimm fairy tales. An evil witch, enchanted beasts and men, murderous plots and dead innocents.
Conjurer Princess is all the more interesting knowing Weiland's and Shile's backstories. Lylene herself is a bit annoying (and perhaps the reason I was so unaffected by it the first time I read it), and if you don't know the history of Weiland and Shile then they're behavior might not make much sense. By far I think the most frustrating thing is that during all those fights and all the times she was held prisoner, Lylene never thought to take years away from enemies. She could've just thrown herself at one of them and easily fixed several issues. But I guess that would've made the ending a little less impactful.
"Just Another Dragon Slaying" is an interesting little story for sure. Lylene has toughened up, and both she and Weiland have got a bit more edge to them. It's not an epilogue or a sequel at all, it brings no extra closure or sense of a happy ending. It's more like a day in the life of their miserable existences and shitty luck.
For me, I don't think Conjurer Princess or the short story would be able to interest me much if they just stood on their own. But following after Changeling Prince, it all adds up to a very satisfying tale (which I find fascinating, since that's the opposite order they were all written in).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2025
Best Story The Changling Prince is first in the book.
Why it's called Changling Prince I have no idea. Weiland's origins are unknown.
This is thee one about Weilands origins and Daria the mage psychopath. This is in fact the last story she wrote by publication order.
The second The Conjurer Princess (again a bad title as she was not and is not a Princess. It is about Lylene and is in fact the second story she wrote of the 3.
Lylene was the most annoying, irritating and stupid character.
It's how she came by her (not very useful) magic and Weiland and Shiles life after the Changling Prince.
Shile takes on her problem, although he is somewhat of a libertine rakehell, he is kind. Weiland isn't so keen. Sensible Weiland.
The last story is Just Another Dragon Slaying and was the first story she wrote in publication order - about Lylene and Weilands life. Lylene remains or should I say, started off? as an annoying, stupid character and I have no idea why Weiland would bother.
I could happily read more about Weiland and Shile.
Lylene though, nah.
Why it's called Changling Prince I have no idea. Weiland's origins are unknown.
This is thee one about Weilands origins and Daria the mage psychopath. This is in fact the last story she wrote by publication order.
The second The Conjurer Princess (again a bad title as she was not and is not a Princess. It is about Lylene and is in fact the second story she wrote of the 3.
Lylene was the most annoying, irritating and stupid character.
It's how she came by her (not very useful) magic and Weiland and Shiles life after the Changling Prince.
Shile takes on her problem, although he is somewhat of a libertine rakehell, he is kind. Weiland isn't so keen. Sensible Weiland.
The last story is Just Another Dragon Slaying and was the first story she wrote in publication order - about Lylene and Weilands life. Lylene remains or should I say, started off? as an annoying, stupid character and I have no idea why Weiland would bother.
I could happily read more about Weiland and Shile.
Lylene though, nah.
July 21, 2013
Consisting of two novels and one short story, this is another enjoyable collection by Vivian Vande Velde. Darker than some of the other books I've read with her, and with a somewhat open-ended ending for the novels and a very open-ended ending for the short story, which seemed a little too simple (and ),it's not one of my favorites. Still, very well done, as usual, with VVV's usual well-drawn characters and gripping plot.
November 18, 2009
This book contains:
The Changeling Prince (1998)
The Conjurer Princess (1997)
and
Just Another Dragon Slaying (1994), a short story that actually led to the two novels.
I really do like the stories, but I wish that the second book or the short story had more conclusive endings. I know that VVV tends to leave her stories very open-ended, and for most it works, but for these I wanted more.
The Changeling Prince (1998)
The Conjurer Princess (1997)
and
Just Another Dragon Slaying (1994), a short story that actually led to the two novels.
I really do like the stories, but I wish that the second book or the short story had more conclusive endings. I know that VVV tends to leave her stories very open-ended, and for most it works, but for these I wanted more.
March 20, 2015
See my reviews of the other two, which are more novellas. The short story Just Another Dragon Slaying is being reviewed here (stars reflect the book as a whole).
I felt like it was like taking a bite instead of getting a full serving. There's more to the relationship and story of those two and I'd love to read about it.
graded (just the Dragon story) a B-.
I felt like it was like taking a bite instead of getting a full serving. There's more to the relationship and story of those two and I'd love to read about it.
graded (just the Dragon story) a B-.
January 16, 2016
Vivian Vande Velde was one of my favorite authors growing up, so I was delighted to discover this collection that I had not yet read.
However, although both stories have an interesting plot basis (particularly the Changeling Prince) neither story really developed the characters as believable, likable people. Additionally, neither story felt complete or fully resolved.
However, although both stories have an interesting plot basis (particularly the Changeling Prince) neither story really developed the characters as believable, likable people. Additionally, neither story felt complete or fully resolved.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews