Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Florin, there resided Buttercup, the most beautiful

girl in the world. She fell in love with the farm boy Westley, who decided to venture and

seek his fortune in America. They kept their long-distance relationship going, that is,

until Westley’s love letters stopped coming and news came that his ship was attacked by

Dread Pirate Roberts who’d never left survivors.

Five years past, Buttercup was chosen by Prince Humperdinck as his wife for her beauty.

Yet before the marriage could take place, Buttercup was kidnapped by three henchman

set with the task to kill Buttercup and leave her lifeless body on the shores of Guilder to

frame Guilder and set aflame a war between the two countries. So began a tale of high

adventure, deadly monsters, and true love.

The Princess Bride is truly an all-time classic love story. It’s a tale of reuniting with the

love of your life. I rate this book a 9.5/10 not because of its unique storyline but due to

the wacky characters. All possess heart-throbbing backstories and spunk personalities

that captured my soul. My favorite character is Inigo Monotoya, whose only life goal was

to kill the six-fingered noble who slaughtered his father when he was a child. Ever since,

he trained to be the greatest fencer of all time, only when he was ready to fight, the

six-fingered noble was nowhere to be found. The slogan he prepared for his father’s

murderer is extra hilarious: Hello, my name is Inigo Monotoya, you killed my father,

prepare to die.

I’ve always dreamed about what it would be like to be the most beautiful girl alive. In my

wildest imaginations, I expected everyone to love me and follow whatever I say. I was

obviously day dreaming there, but I was terrifyingly surprised when the prince treated

Buttercup as an object to be used. Shouldn’t the most beautiful girl be adored and

cherished instead of killed to provoke war? Inconceivable! This helped me realize how

fragile beauty is. It’s as temporary as glass, one crack and it’ll shatter. What would

happen to the most beautiful girl in the world when she is no longer young and

beautiful? I can’t imagine.

My only critique for The Princess Bride is the cliches. The whole poor, hot guy searches

everywhere for pretty girl shenanigan is the most typical romance novel cliche. And

that’s not even the biggest one; the most cliche part was how the dead man came back to

life to save the princess. Without the resurrection, this book is a tragedy, but with it, it’s

hard to take the plot seriously. After the boy was revived, there was no doubt in my mind

the lovers would find a happily-ever-after. Characters don’t come back to life for nothing

after all. It popped the bubble of suspense dangling over my head, and that is no fun!

I recommend The Princess Bride to other fellow hopeless romantics. This classic

romance, adventure-filled story will not disappoint you.

Checkout The Princess Bride at the Newport Beach Public Library.