Moana Book Tag

Created by themawkwardpotatoes on YouTube

Who’s seen Moana?

Who has two thumbs and is newly obsessed with it? THIS GAL.

Everything about the film is perfect. I can’t think of one single thing wrong with it. Some people say the ocean is a plot hole, but it’s not. ‘Why doesn’t the ocean just fix everything?’ BECAUSE IT CAN’T, ASSHOLE, THAT’S WHY.

There’s no single ‘Let It Go’ moment but the entire soundtrack is much stronger than Frozen’s. It’s on par with The Lion King’s soundtrack, which is the highest selling soundtrack for an animated film in the US.

Here are 3 random Disney Princess facts

  1. Belle used to be my favourite princess…. now it’s Moana!
  2. I personally identify most with Rapunzel, although I can see why people identify with Moana.
  3. My favourite film of all time used to be The Lion King, which doesn’t even have any Disney Princesses! Moana is definitely my favourite Disney Princess film, but it might overtake The Lion King as my favourite film of all time! It’s hard to erase 20 years of a favourite, though.

So let’s get to talking about books!

Every summer since I was a little girl I tried to read The Silver Brumby. It’s all about the Australian bush, and even though I live in suburbia, I always feel re-rooted to Australia when I read this book.

I very specifically had to look for THIS COVER of the Disney’s junior novelisation of Beauty and the Beast because it’s the cover I have in a book that’s less than 100 pages and I’ve probably read only a billionty times in my life.

I NOMINATE BELLE as the character who longs for more than her ‘dull provincial life.’ Yeah, I know, I’m talking about another Disney Princess, and a lot of them long for more, but Belle just seems to be the most longing, y’know?

OK, yes, Hermione. Before Hermione, book nerds were teased for being weird nerdy loners who sat in the dark corners of libraries and had no friends because they couldn’t relate to real people.

But then Hermione happened, and she was fucking smart, and brave as fuck, and she got those two dumb boys out of more scrapes with her sheer knowledge and love of books and reading than they could ever repay her for. I think she even did their homework at one point?!

I was never ‘shamed’ for being a reader, although my mother believed I should be doing anything else apart from sitting on my bed on a sunny Saturday morning reading (mostly that I should be doing housework), but Hermione helped show that book nerds, smart girls were something to celebrate.

Sabriel is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, and is destined to be the next Abhorsen, so when she journeys beyond the Wall separating the magical Old Kingdom from her hometown in Ancelstierre to find her missing father, she’s seeking her destiny. And she seeks it well!

(incidentally, this one was hard, because I dind’t want to pick a character who just ‘fell’ into their destiny like Harry Potter or Katniss. I wanted to pick someone who chose her own path.)

Lockwood! This eye-patched hottie starts out as a villain against Jonathon’s but I just thought he was so sassy. Kinda like a cross between Draco Malfoy and someone much sassier and cooler and not quite as nasty. Over the course of the novel he turns more into a frenemy or rival instead of a villain. Here’s what I wrote in my review:

I absolutely loved Lockwood, and I hate that I loved him. He was such an asshole! But that makes it even better. I think he’s an incredible character and the novel was greatly enriched by his mere existence.

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Published September 30th 2014 by Scholastic Press

I nominate Rose from Vampire Academy. She lives in a world where dhampirs are very much seen to be almost second class citizens and are beholden to the pure-blood Moroi because only Moroi can produce more dhampirs: dhampirs couples are notoriously barren.

Rose accepts from the very start that she and she alone is going to be Lissa’s guardian and her whole journey in the first book is to solidify her place by Lissa’s side even though Liss is more privileged than her and she has to earn her place by her bestie’s side.

Promotional poster for the Vampire Academy film.

Yes, again I am choosing Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series, which was so unique in its worldbuilding and characters that it got a spin-off into Bloodlines. It’s just SO UNIQUE. There’s nothing else like it, even though it’s a story about vampires. The story is really told from the heroine’s sidekick’s point of view. Why wasn’t the focus of the series on the princess, the last remaining Dragomir vampire? Because her feisty tough best friend told it better. and had her own adventures. There’s nothing in my mind that has come close to Vampire Academy/Bloodlines and I hope Mead writes another spin-off to answer some serious questions that were left hanging at the end of Bloodlines.


Have you seen Moana? What did you think of the film and the soundtrack? Would you choose differently to any of my book picks here? Let me know in the comments!

Nemo
Nemo

About Nemo

A lover of kittens and all things sparkly, Nemo has a degree in English Literature and specialises in reviewing contemporary, paranormal, mystery/thriller, historical, sci-fi and fantasy Young Adult fiction. She is especially drawn to novels about princesses, strong female friendships, magical powers, and assassins.

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