Nobody's Prize

Nobody's Princess #2

by Esther M. Friesner

Determined to become a beauty, raised to be a queen, young Helen of Sparta refuses to be left behind when her older brothers enlist in the quest for the Golden Fleece—why should boys get to have all the fun? Accompanied by her friend, the ex-slave Milo, and disguised as a boy herself, Helen sets out to join the crew of heroes aboard the fabled ship the Argo.

Helen soon faces all sorts of danger and intrigue. She must use her wits to avoid her brothers' detection, even as a devastatingly handsome boy catches her eyes and brash, boisterous Herakles (Hercules) falls in love with her boy-self. In pursuit of the Fleece, Helen faces warrior women, deadly prophecies, and a terrifying, murderous princess. Not to mention the start of her period....

With her beauty blossoming, Helen's journey takes her beyond the mythology of the Golden Fleece, across the seas of the ancient world to Athens, where her very future as Queen of Sparta is threatened.

Replete with the characters and creatures of myth and interwoven with timeless coming-of-age experiences, this rousing sequel to Nobody's Princess is award-winning author Esther Friesner's thrilling, thoughtful, and fresh reimagining of the girlhood of the legend known as Helen of Troy.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Mythology, Fantasy, Historical, Fiction, Adventure

308 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Esther M. Friesner was educated at Vassar College, where she completed B.A's in both Spanish and Drama. She went to on to Yale University; within five years she was awarded an M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish. She taught Spanish at Yale for a number of years before going on to become a full-time author of fantasy and science fiction. She has published twenty-seven novels so far; her most recent titles include Temping Fate from Penguin-Puffin and Nobody's Princess from Random House.

Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Asimov's, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Aboriginal SF, Pulphouse Magazine, Amazing, and Fantasy Book, as well as in numerous anthologies. Her story, "Love's Eldritch Ichor," was featured in the 1990 World Fantasy Convention book.

Her first stint as an anthology editor was Alien Pregnant By Elvis, a collection of truly gonzo original tabloid SF for DAW books. Wisely, she undertook this project with the able collaboration of Martin H. Greenberg. Not having learned their lesson, they have also co-edited the Chicks In Chainmail Amazon comedy anthology series for Baen Books, as well as Blood Muse, an anthology of vampire stories for Donald I Fine, Inc.

"Ask Auntie Esther" was her regular etiquette and advice column to the SFlorn in Pulphouse Magazine. Being paid for telling other people how to run their lives sounds like a pretty good deal to her.

Ms. Friesner won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1995 for her work, "Death and the Librarian," and the Nebula for Best Short Story of 1996 for "A Birth Day." (A Birth Day" was also a 1996 Hugo Award finalist.) Her novelette, "Jesus at the Bat" was on the final Nebula ballot in the same year that "Death and the Librarian" won the award. In addition, she has won the Romantic Times award for Best New Fantasy Writer in 1986 and the Skylark Award in 1994. Her short story, "All Vows," took second place in the Asimov's SF Magazine Readers' Poll for 1993 and was a finalist for the Nebula in 1994. Her Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, Warchild, made the USA TODAY bestseller list.

She lives in Connecticut with her husband, two children, two rambunctious cats, and a fluctuating population of hamsters.

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

While a satisfying conclusion to "Nobody's Princess", I was highly disappointed in this book. "Nobody's Princess" was something that I would let my second graders read and was still something enjoyable for me. This sequel, however, was too crude. When Helen was dressed like a boy, there were pages of jokes and comments on homosexuality. When she was dressed like a girl there were jokes and comments on sexuality in general. Instead of writing a powerful novel, the author took the easy way out.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as sequels go Nobody's Prize was average. It didn't wow me or make me go, oh my gosh that was amazing! Actually, it made me mad! The author completely and one hundred percent sets up the ending for a third book; yet chances are very slim that there will be one!

Nobody's Prize continued where Nobody's Princess left off. Helen and Milo travel from Delphi, following the trail of Helen's brothers and the other warriors set to join the quest for the golden fleece. On the way they run into a few obstacles but nothing major.

Once on the quest there are of course many adventures. The problem I had with section of the book was the whole emphasis on Herkales and his issues. The book is supposed to be about Helen, not some overweight truth-twisting hero. The author portrays almost all of the heroes on the quest as being very arrogant and self centered. Even when we're supposed to be supporting certain characters, because of previous backgrounds on the characters you can't really love them as much as you fee like you ought too.

Another issue I had was the authors overall perspective on Helen. She establishes her as character that can defend herself perfectly well, is smart if not brilliant, and becoming more and more attractive; but it constantly finding herself in dangerous situations! Is it because Helen is smart or stupid? That was a major question that plagued me as I read this sequel...

With all the negative said, the book is very good. It's interesting to the point of where I was reading it in my Art History class under the tables (bad, I know). I didn't want to put it down, which is always a very enjoyable experience. I loved certain plot twists that allowed Helen to grow and expand as a character.

Ultimately, i'm stuck again on the possibility of another sequel. In the first two books the author focuses on what Helen's life would have been life when she was growing up, as opposed to the famous story we all know. The problem is that Nobody's Prize is absolutely begging for a sequel. It wants it so bad it makes poor innocent readers such as me almost distraught wondering how the author would have portrayed a well know story of Helen, when she's a bit older, wiser, and has a face that launched a thousand ships. I can only hope that the author will decide to expand Helen's story and satisfy readers curiosity!

Overall, 4 stars for being entertaining despite a few flaws! :)

[Angee Wentz]

I didn't like the first book so I should've known better to waste my time on the second book, but I read the word "love" on the back of the second book and couldn't help but look at it. I was sorely disappointed. I wouldn't recommend either of these books to anyone.

[Penwiper · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the first book, "Nobody's Princess", and wasn't too impressed. However, it was okay, and it seemed to be one long introduction, so I had hopes that this book would be where the payoff occurred.

No such luck. Honestly, I'll give the author credit - it takes a LOT of skill to be able to make the story of Jason and the Argonauts boring, but she succeeded. This book has all the problems of the first one - lots of potential that never goes anywhere. A lot of it comes down to the lack of any emotion coming across. Oh, we're told that emotions are occurring, but we don't feel anything. A character falls off a freaking cliff to his death and we're TOLD that our heroine is upset, while she manages to convey approximately the amount of distress that you would feel if you found a hair in your soup.

And that avoiding-the-climaxes thing that we saw from the first book is putting in overtime work here! The author does actually try some foreshadowing this time around (though she seems to only remember this periodically - "Ooops, better chuck in a quick foreshadow here") and appears to have a full-fledged plot shaping up. We sail to a strange land where the royal ladies belong to a treacherous cult, accompanied by an estranged prince who is doomed to die if he comes home. Jason plots to steal the golden fleece - a crazed princess tries to kill our heroine with poison and kills the doomed prince instead - the tension is building...

...and our heroine GETS IN A SHIP AND SAILS AWAY.

That entire plotline is dropped dead.

What? Seriously?

The remaining third of the book is spent on some completely unrelated abduction-and-forced-marriage plot surrounding our heroine when she arrives back home, but the author had totally lost me at that point anyway. The one good thing about the book at this point was that it was a really quick read, so at least I'd only wasted one day on it.

I just feel so sad when I see potential like this fall on its face so badly. Such a pity.

[Clodia Publius · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the exciting adventure of Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner, Lady Helen of Sparta travels in disguise alongside her brothers, friends, and strangers to help Prince Jason acquire the Golden Fleece. Lady Helen, the brave, enthusiastic, and fearless person she is, she sneaks aboard the Argo with her noble, shy, and obedient friend, Milo. Traveling by boat, around their world, they encounter friends, fatal battles, family reunions, and new brotherhoods. This book showed a less glamorous side of royalty. It might have been the fact that I never imagined royalty everyday life, or the way that Lady Helen was able to leave home without her parents noticing. Either way, this book was intriguing, and I couldn't take my eyes off the page!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd be queen of Sparta one day. I'd marry because it would be my duty to have children and provide the land with its next ruler. If I was lucky, I'd choose my husband wisely and we'd love one another. But between" You must do this because you're a princess" and " You must never do that because you're a girl," there was no time left for "Do what you like,because you're Helen." This quest,this adventure might be my only chance to see what it meant to be myself.

In the sequel to "Nobody's Princess", Helen of Sparta masquerades as a male servant in order to join her brothers and others as they sail with Jason who's trying to obtain the Golden Fleece. Now, many readers felt let down by the sequel, but I would argue it is definitely the superior of the first book.

In the beginning, Helen is still as equally stubborn and impulsive as she was in the last book,but as the above quote (which comes about 44% into the book ) implies Helen is beginning to really understand what her future holds. Helen is a female in a time where women remained inside the palace and the men went to war. Helen's brothers can do as they please and they do so by continuing on without a care in the world. Helen is like the college graduate the last weekend before the first "real" job, like the single girl the day before her wedding, or the first time mother in the months before the baby's arrival. Quests and adventures will not be of her future but a mere memory of her past.
We see this again as Helen makes realizations about love between two people and begins to realize what she does and doesn't want in her future. When held unwillingly by Theseus and his mother, Helen meticulously plans her escape with the help of new alliances instead of blindly thinking only of herself.Friesner's Helen of Sparta leaves readers more confident about her role as ruler. Much more than what we felt in book one.

[Isabelle Ley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really like this book. I didn't like Helen, and I especially didn't like how Esther Friesner changed the myths. There was a section in the back of the book titled 'She can't do that to the myths' where I thought it would answer some of my questions about why she took the magic out of the myths. No, it was about how she changed them a little to fit her story. She can change the myths, and I have no issues with that, but when she takes all the wonder out of them, I do. This book was more like historical fiction than historical fantasy.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mostly I read this just to finish the series. It wasn't as good as I was hoping.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sequel to "Nobody's Princess". I didn't like this book as well as the first and I expected there to be more to the end of the story - like even a third book.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some off references to gay relationships between teen boys and grown men and a story that was lackluster.

[Krystle · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, with this book I’ve finally read the entire duology about Helen. While I didn’t particularly love the first story, I found it an enjoyable read, so I picked this up. And in a word: disappointing. It just failed to attract me as much as the first one did.

I found the whole of the book pretty dull. Helen just goes through her adventures one after another and I didn’t feel any sort of suspense, rousing action, or connection for the most part with these characters. Despite what the premise said, even while Helen was disguised as a boy, I didn’t believe that she was, at any point, going to be in danger if her true identity were to be found out. None of the male figures who were on the ship made impressions on me that they were going to cast her off, shame her, or do worse.

Helen was a lot more aggravating than she was in the first book. She was a lot more selfish, whiny, and if she wanted something then there was no one else who could tell her differently. Milo, her comrade, was very loyal and devoted to her despite any ridiculous antics she threw herself in and I thought that because of that he was a wonderful character.

I’m annoyed that this book didn’t get into the real meaty, juicy parts of the Helen of Troy myths and felt the ending was pretty empty because of this. The premise made the book sound out to be a lot better than it did. Also, I’m pretty annoyed that they say Hercules in the premise when throughout the book he is referred to as Herakles. I know they’re the same person but other people might not get the connection and would be pretty confused as to who he is.

The best thing going for these books is that they have beautiful covers and draw from the more popular and recognized mythology.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whereas Nobody's Princess seemed to have fun with the idea of myth and with (re)creating Helen of Troy's backstory, Nobody's Prize struggles to find a coherent and gripping narrative. Friesner becomes too constrained by the events of Greek myth and her Helen falls flat in this sequel--her journey feels less like a development of an intriguing character and more like an episodic series of events loosely built around the people/places of other myths (those myths commonly don't feature Helen, and perhaps, I think, with good reason after having read this book).

Friesner clearly has an "agenda" in this book and I had high hopes for her ability to offer a feminist retelling of Helen's life. Hence, then, what is perhaps most disappointing about Friesner's book is her failure to explain or tie in the more commonly known bits of myth about Helen's life with her feminist re-envisioning of the character. What happens to the warrior woman Helen only a few years later? Are readers to be left mourning the young, ambitious, spirited, tomboyish Helen? Or are we to believe the novel's somewhat empty platitude at it's conclusion-- that Helen's choices alone will dictate her future? Friesner is a gifted writer with a good knack for pacing events but the larger questions behind her narrative, the thorny stuff is, simply, and disappointingly, left unanswered.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a terrible ending. It didn't even feel finished. Making a retelling about Helen of Troy is great idea, it's just that the author did not tell it very well. The first book was slightly more interesting, but this one was completely awful and boring.

Caution: spoilers

First of all, I didn't understand Hylas. His death was so...laughable. Like, okay, so he just fell off a cliff and died and nobody cared? Oh well, he's dead, too bad, so sad. One minute him and Helen were talking, then Herakles comes, Hylas loses his footing-plop-over the cliff and gone. Never came back, never mentioned again.

I was also disappointed that Helen and Milo didn't fall in love. This is Helen thinking:

Did I love Milo dearly? Yes. I loved him, but not with the flare of love I felt for Hylas, or the steady-burning love my parents know, or Medea's devastating blaze. Oh Aphrodite, will I ever understand all the forms can take?...

And more than once it was clear that Milo loved her back.

So, at the end, he suddenly leaves without explanation. Helen is all sad and her dad thinks she's in love with him and she thinks she is too, and then, he comes back...

To announce he's getting married.

Like, what? What? Whatwhatwhat?
And Helen's all like, oh, that's okay, I'm excited about my future. The end.


DON'T READ!!! DON'T EVEN START THIS SERIES!!

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a fitting sequel to the first book, Nobody's Princess. In my opinion, both books are pretty forgettable. This one has Helen in disguise as a boy as she tries to join Jason and the Argonauts in their search for the Golden Fleece. The Argonauts find themselves in several predicaments and it is Helen who keeps a cool head and shows the wisdom of the group. Ridiculous. Helen is also in danger several times and vaguely gets out of it or the way she gets out is completely left out of the story with the author using the phrase, "Somehow, Helen made it through" as if the author couldn't come up with a suitable scenario. It wasn't a book I had to keep reading. In fact, I had to remind myself that I was already reading a book before I started another one. Both Helen books will most likely end up in a give away box.

[Terri Kempton · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I really appreciated the first book of the duo, the second was less interesting to me. The pacing was strange: it takes 50 pages just to get on the boat in the beginning, but the conclusion of the famous Argonauts' quest for the Golden Fleece is wrapped up in a paragraph. Where deception and trickery were present in the first book, and only as a vehicle to get Helen out riding horses and learning swordplay, the second book is layer after layer of lies without any higher purpose than wanting an adventure. Instead of garnering my sympathy and support, I started to question Helen and wonder what the point was to writing this second volume. Throw in multiple rather random deaths and this just didn't quite add up for me.

[Brigid ✩ · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmmm. no better than the first one, really. plot and characters are decent, but not really anything special. writing style is a bit annoying, w/all the random italics.

when i want to catch up on my greek mythology i'll just read percy jackson though, thank you very much. XD

[John Loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Direct followup to Nobody's Princess. The Argo is going to set out for Colchis to obtain the Golden Fleece. Jason has recruited fifty heroes to help in this quest. Fourteen year old Helen, disguised as a boy, and Milo are in Iolkos to join them as weapons bearers. Someone must need a servant, but it's harder than she thought. The next challenge is to avoid her brothers who will raise a fuss and try to send her home. Help from the only other weapon bearer on board turns out to be crucial in the deception.

There is some friction when the Argo is passing a battle. The heroes want glory. Jason wants to get the quest done as quickly as possible. When they reach Colchis they are welcomed, but Helen has an itchy feeling about the King's daughter, Medea. When Medea joins Jason aboard the Argo, Helen chooses to go home instead. She and Milo make it to Athens and have the next leg of the journey lined up, but it's not that easy. More adventure.

For me Helen was pretty much a blank slate. I read the Illiad (or at least listened to the discussion in class) forty years ago, but that's set several years after the events in this book, I didn't remember any of the family relations nor had any preconceived notions of her personality. I'm glad because I think that could have only hurt my enjoyment of these two books.

Loved the writing, great flow, understandable, fast and fun. 5 of 5 stars. Helen's penchant for not backing down, got her out of trouble as much as it got her into it. I was wondering what would happen in Delphi, until the epilogue cleared up that situation.

[Ashlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah.... I actually wasn't sure if I was going to continue this series or not. Then this book was on the shorter side and worked for a book challenge, so I read it. I swore I was going to only give this two stars pretty much the entire book. It just was not for me. The writing. The plot. The everything really. Then I got to the end and I just really enjoyed the ending. I'm not sure what it was about this one, but the ending was just super good even though the rest of the book wasn't.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually more like 2.5 stars for me. As in the previous book, Nobody's Princess, Friesner's writing is very smooth and reads very quickly. Unfortunately, I found that the plot in this book jumped around too much. The story of Jason and the Argonauts becomes a quick backdrop for Helen to yet again hope no one finds out she's a girl, including her two brothers who are on board the same ship. Most of the usual Golden Fleece-related events are left out, so the trip to Colchis just seems fast and easy. There are some obstacles thrown in now and again, but when the action seems to be coming to a climax, Helen gets in a different ship and sails toward home! We only get the barest of rundowns of what happened after that, third-hand and later in the book. Ugh.

I also agree with another reviewer that the emotion in this book didn't come across very strongly. I am a VERY emotional and sympathetic person - I've cried at everything from Naruto (anime) to commercials - but this story didn't affect me in the slightest. People died and Helen mentioned how sad it made her, but I didn't really feel any of it.

Ok, I lied. The most annoying part of the story for me contradicts what I said about not feeling any of it: Milo. Am I the only person who read this and thought that Milo was going to turn out to be long-lost Prince Menelaus, who we know from the original myth will marry Helen? I am? Oh well. I just thought it was excessively crappy to poor Milo to build up his obvious love for Helen for two books, only for her to go "oh I don't like him that way" and then he has to run off and find some very weakly-contrived relationship with a side character we happened to have run into before. Laaaaaaaaaame. And yes, I AM a giant sap, why do you ask?

The whole ending of the book seemed very sudden and rather unfulfilling. It leaves things wide open for a book three, and I don't know if that will ever happen. Yes, Helen meets Menelaus and he's obviously smitten, but there's very little from Helen about her feelings on the matter. The Fleece quest has ended off-screen, Milo has buggered off and found his own life, and now we're left to assume Helen will continue the story set out for her: marriage to Menelaus and then kidnap by Paris. I for one would like to know more. Does she actually marry Menelaus for love? Does she fall in love with Paris? Because I can't imagine Friesner's sword-swinging Helen being easy to abduct if she's unwilling.

Here's hoping that somewhere down the line, Friesner will write book three and answer these questions.

[Jessica Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helen of Sparta is the main character in this story. As you can tell she is the princess of Sparta, a city-state in ancient Greece. Her favorite goddess is Aphrodite. Helen wants more out of life. She can't do all of the things that a girl is supposed to do. For example, she can't weave without tangling the wool.

Helen wants more out of life. In this book, she's aboard the Argo with Milo, the slave she bought the freedom of, Prince Jason, her brothers, and many more 'heroes'. She wants to join the boys in the search for the golden fleece. She just hopes no one will figure out who she really is.

The obstacles in her way are mostly her brothers and then all of the other men aboard the ship. It said in the book that girls could bring bad luck on a journey such as the one they were going on. Or something like that. None of the boys would want her on the journey, if they knew who she really was. So Helen had to devise a plan so that the boys would never realize who she truly was.

To overcome the obstacle, Helen pretends to be a boy. That plan of hers fails however in about the middle of their voyage. She has to take care of her 'womanly' issues. So then she passes herself off as Atalanta. Everyone believes her. Prince Jason is so fooled that he starts bragging to her about all of the things he's done and accomplished. It was pretty funny.


I loved this book! It was a great sequel to the previous one, Nobody's Princess. Helen is an amazing character! The book was filled with fun twists. One of them left me going ew and no way, another one left me going, "This can't happen!" One that wasn't such a big surprise still left me going, "He can't leave!" *sigh* It was so good. And at the end, if you know about the Iliad and all that good stuff, there is an awesome tie into it. This book was as good as the one before it.

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this book..

It's so long time since I read "Nobody's Princess" but I do remember the utterly most important happenings. But jeesh. I don't know what to say about "Nobody's Prize". The plot is easy to follow. A giant plus. But I have some annoying ability to be very critic to the books I've read.
I think the end of this book is horrendous. But surely I doesn't like endings, so no big surprise. But this one, it's so open.

Open like she's going to write a book more. I wish she would.

Although I think the persons development was a bit.. weird. I certainly doesn't like the part where Helen is captured by the Athenian king and I doesn't like the fact that Herakles is pictured gay. Nor his weapons bearer, Hylas.

I don't know what Ms. Friesner holds against Herakles herself, but I think the opportunity to tell the world about Herakles imaginated sexuality is bad. I know Prince Jason went on the quest for the Golden Fleece, but in the shadow of that I think it is bad way to tell that Herakles is gay. Already from the first time we meet Herakles it says between the lines that there's something wrong. He's affectionated by small boys. Pedofilic. Gross. Really, really gross, and it has nothing to do in a new version of Prince Jason's quest to Colchis for the Golden Fleece. Bad timing!

I enjoyed reading the book. I think it's a good book, but there's just some things that totally ruin the book. I like Greek Myths. But I like them the way they used to be told. Of course the truth would be much more boring, and I'm sure the Hydra was no more than a lot of snakes. But I think the way Ms. Friesner choose to tell them is wrong.

No really good review, but it doesn't deserve any better!

[Gretchen S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOBODY’S PRIZE
Esther Friesner
Fiction Fantasy
302 pages

This book is a sequel to NOBODY’S PRINCESS which is about Helen of Sparta who goes off on some wild adventures. This book takes you along on the Argo, the ship she was on. Helen, again, disguises herself as a boy. Helen now known as Glaucus is traveling along on the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece. While camped the most unlikely thing happens to “Glaucus.” She gets her first womanhood calling. Now that everyone on the ship knows Glaucus is not a boy anymore, she disguises herself as the great huntress Atlanta. Soon “Atalanta” finds herself in deep trouble. A mad princess is after Prince Jason and she thinks that he has the hots for Atalanta. When Atalanta leaves she gets into deeper trouble. Now she is going to marry a prince that she doesn’t even like, who exposed her true identity, and who won’t let her out of anyone’s sight.

NOBODY’S PRIZE is a wonderful book. I absolutely love it. It takes you through all of Helen’s troubles and adventures. They do worship the gods and say they some talents are a gift from them. Although I enjoy reading about the god’s I don’t necessarily believe in them. I love how the author incorporated all of the different god’s and how she made the story come alive. I defiantly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good read. I also suggest they read the first book though.

[Melissa Dwyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally rated G by Lori Hoag
Sequel to Nobody’s Princess, Helen of Sparta disguises herself as a boy and takes ship on the Argo, captained by Jason and filled with the Argonauts, on their quest to take the Golden Fleece.

Based on characters from Greek myths and the Iliad, Friesner develops the characters of Helen and Milo, the ex-slave that she freed in the prior novel. Helen’s search for identity in a male-dominated world make her a sympathetic character, but I was struck with another message from the author – the way in which myths are conceived and manipulated throughout the story. The lesson is that events and their accounts may be manipulated by the very persons who will benefit most from the changes.

******Please read*****
Earlier Review by Cheryl Dofner
I enjoyed the book and feel bad about marking it Not Approved, but I feel that some of the language is not appropriate. Princess Helen dresses as a boy to be able to sail on an adventure with her brothers and Jason, looking for the golden fleece. Part of the story line involves attractions between the adult men and the boys on the ship. In a few places there are sexual references to "using a sword and a rod properly", among other things. The book is geared toward middle school, and I did not feel this is appropriate for that audience.

THIS BOOK IS NOT APPROVED FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sequel to Nobody's Princess, this book continues the backstory of Helen of Sparta (not Troy! not yet, anyway) as imagined by Ms. Friesner. It took me a while to get through this one but it was worth it at the end, although it did come to an end rather quickly. I think my main gripe with this book is that Helen is pretty annoying for a lot of the book--spoiled rich girl, maybe? But seeing Helen come to realize the effect her actions had on others was satisfying. And hearing about other famous characters from her perspective was interesting. I hope that Ms. Friesner will consider writing the obvious third book, since I would like to see her Helen take on the myth/history and turn it sideways. Nobody abducts this Helen without a fight!

[Brillare · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not as good as the first book, this was still pretty great. It was hard to put down and very exciting. Helen is delightfully sassy, if a bit foolish at times.

I thought it was a bit crude, and I didn't so much like the epilogue. Oh, and they talked a lot about 'becoming a woman', and it wasn't bad, but it was a bit awkward. :P

There were some other things I didn't like about it, but they're harder to pick out. I think that one of my problems with it was that the characters seemed kind of flat.

So, overall, it was interesting, but it isn't one of my favorite books.

[M.C. Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I really enjoyed Nobody's Princess, the first book in this series, I didn't like Nobody's Prize very much. I guess I was disappointed about the love interest and some of the action. It is a neat idea that Esther Friesner has though...doing a fictional story on Helen of Troy. But I wish she had kept the mythology and not explained away the stories of many great myths. For example, she had Harpies...but they were just women warriors. She has the bard exagerate the stories, making the harpies have wings etc.

I felt ripped off...she took away the fantasy and made it too real.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the second in Friesner's series about Helen of Troy and her adventures with Jason on his quest for the Golden Fleece. For kids not easily interested in mythology, this is an easy parlay into it.

I love that Helen masqueraded as a boy and always got caught, but was so darn smart all of the time, that she was able to get away with it. Although by the end, it got a tad cliche. Yet, her trials and tribulations along with different characters, situations, and settings, all create a fun, easy read that I would definitely recommend.

[Molly Norman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of "meh" all over for me. It was well-written, but I can't help but feel that nothing really happened ^.^; A lot DID, in actuality, happen but it felt so disconnected that I didn't feel like I was pulled along with the story. At least with Graceling and Fire, the plot was a little more developed and there was a clear direction where the story was going. I know it's not the most useful of reviews, but I can't really describe my overall indifference for this book. I guess, in the end, I felt like it was all kind of half-assed.

[Mags · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy, entertaining read, but the characters were rather...eh, flat. Kinda two-dimensional. AND WHAT'S WITH ALL THE RANDOM CHARACTERS POPPING IN AND OUT OF THE STORY? Furthermore, both the books I've read today (the other one being Pegasus by McKinley) have incredibly dissatisfying endings, leaving me to wonder: "...is that IT? You built up to THAT? YOU CALL THAT A PLOT?" Ugh.
I seem to be in a foul mood today.

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book after I read Nobody's Princess, but was dissappointed. Instead of continuing the cute story in the first book, it turned into a mess. I was disappointed, especially when she started talking about the homosexuality. Another thing that really disappointed me was that the author built up this big story between Helen and Milo and then nothing happened. What was the point of him in the story if he wasn't going to even end up with her?