The Princess Bride

Originally written by S. Morgenstern, this is a cult classic fairy tale that still has the ability to thrill and woo a variety of readers. Filled with romance, action, swordplay, pirates, beautiful maidens, handsome farmhands, giants, and sinister villains, it’s the perfect fairy tale adventure. 

The beautiful flaxen-haired maiden, Buttercup, has fallen in love Westley the farm boy and when he leaves to make his fortune so that they might have a happy life together, she vows to never love another. When she hears that his ship has been attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who never leaves any survivors, her heart is broken. But her beauty and charms attract the attention of  the relentless Prince Humperdink who wants a wife and will stop at nothing until Buttercup is made his. 

As I mentioned earlier, The Princess Bride was originally written by S. Morgenstern, but this book is the abridged version written by William Goldman. 

Goldman’s introduction to this book states that the original tale was a much drier and a more historical and political read with action and adventure elements scattered throughout. Goldman then goes on to explain that whilst bed-ridden for quite some time, his grandfather read him the story, but only read him the best parts. This is what sparked the idea to abridge the story, keeping the best bits and reducing it to an epic fairy tale classic. 

The book itself is a perfect read for the ages of about ten and up, not dissimilar to the Harry Potter series. The writer uses short and blunt sentences and statements that tend to block and make the story a little jagged, but for the sake of a fantastic story, we can overlook that. 

The only thing about this book that faintly annoyed me was that the story is occasionally and abruptly interrupted by Goldman’s personal reflections of his first time hearing it. This annoys me because it completely shatters the trance that you fall into when you’re reading a great fairy tale and that thrill that you get when you’re reading particularly the action parts, is reduced to the biggest anticlimax. 

Aside from that tiny little flaw, the book is otherwise a cult classic that has since been made into a wonderful family film starring Cary Elwes, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Andre the Giant, Robin Wright, Billy Crystal, and Peter Falk. 

Filled with adventure, romance, action, rescues, pirates, beautiful damsels, sinister villains and memorable characters (the most loveable being Fezzik the soft-hearted giant), The Princess Bride is a cult classic fairy tale that has no expiration date. It’s a book that I could read again and again and again. Simply wonderful.