⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Filled with everything you could want from a fairytale and more, The Princess Bride is an exciting tale of love and adventure. When Buttercup realises she’s in love with the farm boy Westley, she can’t bear to see him leave her side. Then, when she hears he has been killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts, she vows never to love again. Years later, engaged to Prince Humperdink, Buttercup is unaware that a plot to kidnap her is about to lead to a great adventure.

I studied the cult classic film of The Princess Bride when I was at secondary school, so I knew the story already and some of the famous lines too. However, I still adored reading the novel and the two compliment each other perfectly. I don’t think it matters too much which order you read / watch because you get something from both formats.

I loved the humour in this novel, it was exactly the kind of thing that appeals to me and some of the lines were brilliant, just as they are in the film.

The characters were great too, and they were all well-crafted and described so that I could see them in my mind. They were all well-rounded as well so that I understood their feelings and motivations because of the background that they are given and the details we are told about their characters. I think there are some characters to really fall in love with and that is partly what makes this story special; who doesn’t love Inigo and Fezzik?

I found the pace of this novel to be quite fast because I was gripped by the plot and adventure story. It didn’t matter that I already knew most of the story from the film, I was still hooked and loved this novel so much that I just wanted to read it all the time.

When I read this novel, I read all of the additional content, such as introductions, written by Goldman and I will admit that I found those a bit confusing, especially with his framing device involving the fictitious S. Morgenstern. However, I hope people are not put off by that, because the narrative of The Princess Bride is amazing.

Without giving anything away, the ending of the novel is different to the ending of the film which I found interesting. At the end of the book, there is also an extension / sequel to the narrative which confused me at first, but I actually quite enjoyed this little extra story and it gave me more to think about.

Overall, this novel was mad yet brilliant and is now a firm favourite that I’ll be recommending to everyone, including you reading this review now.

I loved this novel so much that I rewatched the film (which I also highly recommend) straight after, and one day I may reread the novel because I loved it.