The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I saw the movie adaptation of this book for the first time in 2014. An ex-boyfriend introduced me to it. I had heard of The Princess Bride movie before. It is one of those classic 80s movies like, The Labyrinth and The Neverending Story. But with so many movies coming out, who can blame me for not going back and watching movies that were released before I was born?

Funny thing is, I had no idea The Princess Bride was a book until Jeff and Rebecca from the Book Riot podcast said it.  So, I ordered it and left it on my bookshelf for months and finally decided to read it around my birthday because I wanted something light and fun. This was perfect.

I truly enjoyed this story. I love the male characters: Westley, Inigo, Fezzik… even Vizzini for his “inconceivable.” Buttercup is a lame damsel in distress character that I can definitely do without and, speaking of doing without, I don’t need to read the italicized parts in later rereadings. I think I will buy a second copy and mark it up for skipping parts when I read this out loud to any children I have. Read just the good parts like Goldman claims to do with this book.

I have the special 30th Anniversary edition with the addition of Buttercup’s Baby. It’s only one chapter and ends on a cliffhanger, but I still enjoyed it. The addition gives fan fiction writers something to work with. If you enjoyed the movie then you will definitely love reading this.

Here is the summary from the back:

As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she’ll meet Vizzini — the criminal philosopher who’ll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik — the gentle giant; Inigo — the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen — the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup’s one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate.

Use the tags to find more titles like this. Tags may contain spoilers.