My Little Pony: Princess Celestia and the Summer of Royal Waves (The Princess Collection)

While I realize I'm not in the target age group for this book, I'm a big fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and was interested to hear new stories about each of the main characters. And after reading the first novels in the series about the Mane6, it seems the series is now branching out to highlight some of the secondary characters as well. A story focusing on Equestria's ruler had the potential to be interesting, and it didn't disappoint.It's another normal day in Equestria, until Princess Celestia recieves a distress call from an old friend of hers--Duchess Diamond Waves, who rules over the land of Monacolt. According to her, a terrible prophecy is about to come true, and the students at her magic school are woefully unprepared to take on the threat. But upon Celestia's arrival, it's soon apparent that things aren't as they appear. Are the students unruly, or just over worked? Is Diamond Waves a good teacher, or just too hard a task master? And will the prophecy come to pass, or is it all just a misunderstanding?Out of all the MLP novels I've read so far, this one is, without a doubt, the most interesting, since the entire story is from Celestia's perspective--a character who, despite being the ruler of Equestria, we know very little about. So it was a neat change of pace to see the Princess go on her own solo adventure, and hear all her inner thoughts, fears, and worries that she usually has to keep bottled up when in the public eye.More than anything, the story presents a great lesson in both trust and perception--a moral that even Celestia herself has to learn when a problem presents itself back home and she has to have faith in her subjects that they can handle it themselves while she's gone. This winds up aiding her with the situation in Monacolt, as it turns out that the students can more than hold their own in a fight, and that perhaps it's Diamond Waves who needs to change her methods of teaching. Studying is important, but without the occasional break here and there, a person can be run ragged and wind up losing focus.As an added bonus, it's adorable to see Celestia goofing off and teaching a class, as well as hearing the behind-the-scenes chatter from the royal guards.While not a tell-all expose' on the princess, this is an interesting window into a part of Celestia's life we never get to see, with a cool new location we've never been to before, and great lessons in how listening to and trusting your friends and loved ones can make all the difference in a tough situation. A must read for the MLP fan, and one book that deserves to be an episode of the show.

G. M. Berrow's writing just keeps getting better and better, and this is probably one of her best books yet.Realistic characters are hard to write. It's easy to create cardboard cut-outs who act out a story, but it's much harder to create characters who think and act like real people. Fortunately, G. M. Berrow has mastered this art. All the characters in this book feel truly alive, and act in ways that feel completely natural for their personality. Celesita is particularly well-written, keeping her doubts and worries to herself while maintaining a calm and wise exterior. It's a struggle many people can probably relate to, and makes Celestia a much deeper and more interesting character than she appears to be (especially compared to the TV show). Twilight is still the lovable dork, of course, and Luna is still super-formal with a secret soft spot in her heart. Even Celesita's guards, who maybe get half a page of book-time, still display genuine personalities (an impressive writing feat).The story doesn't involve any daring adventures or powerful villains, and that's a good thing. The My Little Pony franchise excels at character-driven conflicts and slice-of-life tales, and this book stays true to that formula. While heroic adventures are fun to read about, they don't have much in common with reader's everyday lives. A well-written character-driven story is much more relevant and meaningful.This particular book deals with the power of perceptions, and how they can alter our reality. It's only by realizing this fact and adjusting our own minds that we can overcome many obstacles. Without giving any spoilers, there is one scene where Celestia receives a news report from three different sources. The sources each give the report in a different way, ranging from sheer panic to complete confidence. Who should Celestia believe? This is just a minor side-story, but the same theme is repeated throughout the whole book - how we choose to see the world alters the way we experience it. It's a deep concept, and one that G. M. Berrow handles amazingly well, especially for a children's book.Reading this book also involved a trip to Wikipedia and the Latin dictionary. I've learned that Monaco is tiny country in the south of France (the book calls them "Monacolt" and "Prance"), and that "Gratias ad solus ortum" means something like "Thanks to the sunrise". It's always nice when authors add little scholarly details like this. They aren't essential to the story, but they add a nice layer of depth.This isn't a big, earth-shattering book full of unexpected revelations. It's a quiet, insightful look into the the minds of some under-appreciated characters, filled with fun anecdotes, meaningful character development, and some great lessons about the power of perception. These things are all hard to do, which makes this a really well-constructed piece of literature.I haven't even mentioned the overall story arc, which is a pretty cool concept in its own right. I guess you'll just have to read the book yourself to learn what happens.

This was a book that I ordered with another My Little Pony book for my daughter to read for leisure or for a school project. She choose the other book to read for her project but as soon as she was finished with the other book she dove right in to this book. She is in 3rd grade, has a high reading level and a deep love for My Little Ponies. I highly recommend this book!

Princess Celestia is one of my daughter's favorite ponies and she loves to read, so she was excited to get this book in her Easter basket. She's read a few of the other My Little Pony books, and she's been really into this one since she got it. There is a little activity section at the back which I thought was petty cool as well.

Bought this for my daughter. It's great to have a novel that's beyond a simple picture book. It's benefits are twofold: she gets engrossed in the story, and then later it lulls her to sleep easily. The plot and prose are better than I expected.

My daughter liked it. She read it very fast though. In less than two hours. This is not for ages up to 12 in my opinion. It's for much younger readers.

My daughter loved this book!! this book was full of excitement and awesome pictures the graphics and colors were just amazing. I would recommend this book and all the books in the series to die hard my little pony fans and even to those that are not fans you will be at the end of the book

My 10-year old ordered this book on pre-sale and finished it in 2 days. She LOVED it. She has been MLP crazy for years and really likes to read about the history of the ponies. I appreciate that she enjoys a book so much she reads it immediately and then again and again so she can remember it all.

The media could not be loaded.  Wonderful story!

I love ditches diamond waves, celestial and rarity my little pony is awesomeMy fat five star is not a lie

I ordered it as a gift, and he said he really enjoyed it.

great, as advertised

my little girl loves it. it arrived before its due date which is perfect.