The Royal Rebel

Bali Rai (Barrington Stoke)

The Royal Rebel

Review by Alina 
This wonderful book is about an Indian princess, living in Britain, who helps India to get their freedom over Britain. One of the most powerful themes in this book is individuality. 

The moment I picked up this book my eyes glistened with glory. One of my favourite parts was when at the end, after many losses and gains throughout her life, she gave women rights and tried to give India independence, always using her dedication and skills for good.
After reading the book I felt enlightened. I felt like I can make a change in the world if I try hard enough. The book warmed my heart, so if you love books about friendship it is for you.

The story was set many years ago but it will always have a place in my heart.

Review by Martha
I found Sophia the most interesting character because she was the bravest out of all the women in the book. I also liked her because she didn’t just care for herself but she cared for everyone. She fought for her and many others' rights and freedom. I didn’t like Sophia’s father because he didn’t care for anyone apart from himself. He also wasn’t very caring and abandoned his own children and wife to do what he wants.

I learnt how terribly women were treated in the past and also how unfair it was towards many things such as voting and having rights. I found it very interesting how there was no equality whatsoever and that some people didn’t care for others and treated them differently from the people they thought were normal.

I found it thought provoking and a bit serious. Thought provoking because I didn’t understand why women were treated so differently. Serious because they had to be put through terrible conditions for absolutely no reason. 

I think the thing that most stands out is how hard women had to try and the conditions they were put through because of unfairness and how they were treated. Something that also stands out to me is that Sophia is so determined for women’s freedom.

I definitely recommend it.

Review by Molly
I found Princess Sophia the most interesting character, because although she loved her remaining family so much she thought that she should go and protest for women’s right to vote. I didn’t really like the Mother or Father. The reason I do not really like the Mother is because she shut herself away from her children and she knew she was hurting them. Also, the reason why I did not like the Father was because he left his family for a very long time to go to work and he sold all their houses furniture without asking.

I learnt that everyone around the world was involved in the movement for women being able to vote. The time it was set in made it interesting, because everyone did not agree with the movement, so there being a princess fighting for it helped them get their voice heard.

I thought the plot was quite exciting as I wanted to see what would happen next, but I found it serious due to the topic it was based on. Additionally, the thing that stood out to me the most was that even though she was part of a royal family she did not let that stop her from making things right. Furthermore, it stood out to me that she did not think she needed to be treated better than others as she was a princess. I would definitely recommend this book to someone else.

Review by Elizabeth
The book is about Princess Sophia and how her life changes from privilege to poverty and, through her charitable works, she becomes one of the leaders of the suffragette movement.

I liked how it showed the reality of women in their time and what they went through. For example, not having the vote and making choices about their country. Also the expectations of being a princess and what it means to be an immigrant. I didn’t like the part of the story where both her mother and brother died but also how her father abandoned the three girls. I think it was wrong of her father to be stripped of his power and her grandmother put in prison as well as Sophia’s kingdom being taken over by the British.

Altogether, I thought it was a very good book.

Review by Fahim
To start off, I really liked this book. If you want to know about women’s right to vote, I highly recommend it.

I was most interested in Sophia because she was the goddaughter of Queen Victoria, and the granddaughter of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire in the Punjab. I liked every character, although I didn’t like her dad at first. Then, I found out how much he lost in Part 2: India. I didn’t like it when the mother and brother died.

I learned how badly women were treated in the past, and how they had to fight for their rights. Again, I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys history.

Review by Sara
I liked the story because I learnt and understood the message, which was to BE STRONG, BE DETERMINED AND TO NEVER GIVE UP. In addition, I liked that the author had set it in a serious century, and they added some of their own bits.

I would recommend it to other children HOWEVER I would only recommend it to children that are BRAVE. The reason for this is because it is sad when the mum, dad and little brother DIE and the sisters are the ONLY remaining family. But there is still Queen Victoria their godmother at least.

Review by Charlotte
4 stars. I found the age range was quite young, maybe up to about 11 maximum, but overall it is quite a good book. For the age range it has a good story, and I think it is really good that it is dyslexia friendly! I think there could have been a slightly better story line, as in I feel like they went past each moment in her life very fast (and in general I hate books that are too slow) but this was just that little bit too fast, it needed to dig deep into the story of her life. I liked how every so often it explained little parts of the history of the main character’s family, and the fact that they used some old famous names in history. Overall, a good book, for ages up to 11 max.



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