I've just finished The Mermaid's Madness, the second book in the Princess series by Jim C. Hines. The main premise behind this series is that Danielle, Snow, and Talia (otherwise known of as Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty) kick ass and take names, usually in that order. In the first book, The Stepsister Scheme, they take on Danielle's stepsisters, understandably a little bitter but who take it too far. In this book, they deal with the "happily ever after" of the real Little Mermaid, Lirea. But of course it wasn't really all that "happy" after all. In fact, Lirea has gone a little mad.

This second novel is much better than the first. I felt that the plotting was much tighter in this book, the storyline itself much more cohesive and less loose. There were moments where I thought it could have been smoother, and toward the end there seemed to be one inconsistency in the plot (at one point, Snow knocks someone down, but without any sign of recovery, the person is back up a few pages later), but nothing that was as jarring as the time jump that threw me in the first book.

Also, I felt that there was much more exploration of the main characters in this book, and those explorations were much more interesting. I loved the development of the relationships between the three princesses, for example. However, I thought that some more time should have been spent on some of the "side" characters, such as Lirea herself and in particular the prince Varisto. There was a moment between chapters where Varisto appears to be intensely angry at Danielle in particular, and then in the next chapter he seems to agree to help them out, as if his anger has fallen by the wayside.

So, in the end, an entertaining book with an interesting premise. Much more serious than the Goblin series, although with touches of humor in places.