The Princess Bride
S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
Book - 2007 | First Harvest trade edition 30th anniversary edition
As Florin and Gulder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen. She is rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this adventure, you'll meet Vizzini, the evil Sicilian & criminal philosopher who'll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik, the Turk, the gentle giant; Inigo, the Spanish swordsman who lives only to avenge his father's death; Westley, princess Buttercup's one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate; Prince Humperdinck, the eviler ruler of Guilder, who has an equally insatiable thirst for war and the beauteous Buttercup; Miracle Max, the King's ex-Miracle Man, who can raise the dead (kind of); The Dread Pirate Roberts, supreme looter and plunderer of the high seas; and Count Rugen, the evil mastermind behind it all; and, of course, Buttercup, the princess bride, the most perfect, beautiful woman in the history of the world. This timeless tale pits country against country, good against evil, love against hate. From the Cliffs of Insanity through the Fire Swamp and down into the Zoo of Death, this incredible journey and brilliant tale is peppered with strange beasties monstrous and gentle, and memorable surprises both terrible and sublime. -- Publisher description.
9780156035156
0156035154


Opinion
From Library Staff
Both a wonderful fairy tale and a high-wire act of metafiction. (No Virginia, there is no S. Morgenstern.)
This book has it all- true love, pirates , and a kidnapped princess- and that is just the begining!
Presents the timeless love story between a farm boy named Westley and the beautiful Princess Buttercup, along with the author's comments on life and art as he attempts to edit the children's classic. -
A swashbuckling romance filled with true love, pirates, and a kidnapped princess - and that is just the beginning.
From the critics

Community Activity
Quotes
Add a Quote“We’ll never survive.”
“Nonsense. They only say because no one ever has.”
‘‘I must court her now,’’ said the Prince. ‘‘Leave us alone for a minute.’’ He rode the white expertly down the hill.
Buttercup had never seen such a giant beast. Or such a rider.
‘‘I am your Prince and you will marry me,’’ Humperdinck said.
Buttercup whispered, ‘‘I am your servant and I refuse.’’
‘‘I am your Prince and you cannot refuse.’’
‘‘I am your loyal servant and I just did.’’
‘‘Refusal means death.’’
‘‘Kill me then.’’
“Bye Bye, have fun storming the castle!”
“You think it’ll work?”
“It would take a miracle. Bye bye.”
"So you'll put down your rock and I'll put down my sword and we'll try to kill each other like civilized people?"
Age
Add Age Suitabilitypink_panther_736 thinks this title is suitable for 10 years and over
angellacody thinks this title is suitable for between the ages of 1 and 99

Summary
Add a SummaryIt's got fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...but I've seen the movie often enough that it felt like the screen play with a lot of unnecessary bits and some flubbed lines. (Yes, I know the book came first.) Fun, nonetheless, tho.
Princess Buttercup and her true love Wesley battle against the evil Prince who wants to kill buttercup in order to start a war.
An abridgement of the classic story by S. Morgenstern.
The 1987 movie based on this novel stars Robin Wright and Cary Elwes and was directed by Rob Reiner.
Comment
Add a CommentI don't think that everyone understands that S. Morgenstern, the supposed author, isn't a real person, just as Florin isn't a real country. The asides and introduction? They're made up. They're interesting to read, but just keep in mind that when you try to look for other books by Morgenstern, search for William Goldman instead. That said, it's a good book, adapted into a good movie. I even went trick-or-treating as Inigo Montoya one year. The book is appropriate for ages 10 and up, apart from one use of the s-word in an aside. Overall, this is a funny, exciting fantasy book that will keep you hanging on the edge of your seat until the end. 7.5/10 stars.
The cult movie “The Princess Bride” was adapted from the book of the same name. A swashbuckling novel by William Goldman presented as an abridgement (the good parts) of a longer work by the fictional writer S. Morgenstern. It was adapted pretty much intact maintaining the combination of comedy, adventure, fantasy, drama, romance, and fairy tale. The only thing missing from the movie are Goldman’s constant commentary asides as he explains why he so loved the book as a child, though he had never read it, and had to “adapt” it as an adult. You don’t miss much. In my opinion, he should have left the asides out and used the intro to tell us the fictional backstory of how his immigrant father, in halting English, read the book to him when he was a child and deathly ill. How as an adult he finally read Morgenstern’s novel himself and realizes his father had left out all the “boring parts”, and how he had to write the “abridged version” to share what he loved from the book. I would have been fine with that. Instead there are interruptions throughout which I found detracting and distracting. This is one of the few novels where I think the movie is better option. Though you could read it and skip his asides.
The book The Princess Bride is about a princess named Buttercup, who is known as one of the most beautiful women. She falls in love with Westley, soon after that Buttercup is told that Westley is murdered, and she vows to never fall in love again. Not a while after, she is kidnapped by three criminals (Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo). She is taken somewhere far away, and finds out many new secrets. She has to promise Prince Humperdinck to give him what he wants to be able to get what she wants. It then talks about many events that happen to Buttercup, the prince, the criminals and some more people too. They all have different plans to get to what they want. Overall, I think this book was decent. I recommend this book to anyone who is in their teen years. Even though the characters are not teenagers, the conflict will most probably catch the interest of teenagers which is why I recommend this book to teens.
The Princess Bride is by William Goldman who claims to have edited the actual version by S. Morgenstern. It is about a beautiful girl named Buttercup, who falls in love for Westley, a farm boy. He soon departs to make a fortune but is then captured by Dread Pirate Roberts, who never leaves a survivor. That makes Buttercup heartbroken. She says she will never love again, but her charm draws attention to Prince Humperdinck who is in need of a wife. Then starts a fairy tale adventure, and you must read it to find out. One of my favorite parts of the book includes the three scenes where three different people with amazing skills have to fight the man in black. I like the action in those scenes and there are some funny parts in it as well. I also like the comedy and the commentary the author adds in parentheses, but I wish it had more jokes because the amount of humor in the book doesn’t live up to what I hoped for. I also have mixed thoughts on the ending, I like it, yet I’m not very satisfied either. Lastly, this book has a bit of a slow start but as you keep reading, it gets more interesting and entertaining. I encourage you to watch the movie if you enjoy the book! To sum up, The Princess Bride is a fairy tale with lots of action and humor, but it can be a bit slow at the beginning.
Having only seen the movie, I was SO confused when I started to read the book. Once I finally figured it out... I had completely lost interest. I think I'll stick to the movie.
I didn’t know there was a book!!
Okay, so I LOVE the movie adaptation of this and had seen it before I even knew there was a book. I read the book and was pleasantly surprised to find how close the movie stuck to the script of the book. I wasn’t really into the whole ‘butting in with Goldman’s life story right in the middle of an important scene’ thing but I read the cut-in parts anyway. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes love stories with fencing, torture, Zoos of Death, and plots to start a war. :D
It is a classic tale suitable for all ages. There is adventure, love, and most imprtantly, comedy. This book has everything you want and more. It breaks all fairytale stereotypes, yet, keeps to them and shows readers not everything is as perfect as it should be. The Princess Bride is a little disappointing in some ways, for example, Prince Humperdinick's surrender, but it relates to the theme of breaking barriers of fairytales. Wonderful remake of the "good parts."
In all the years of watching the movie, I've never cracked this book open until now. What a treat to read! As I gallivanted through the pages the voices of the actors and actresses from the movie rang were heard clearly. The author has this device he uses in which he interrupts the reader with an aside...a behind the curtain detail that may or may not have anything to do with the actual story. After a dozen or so of those I found them a bit tiresome and I was not a fan of the alternative ending in Buttercup's Baby. Overall, I had to give this book five stars because I found myself smiling pretty much the whole time. I am a fan of Buttercup, Westley, Fezzik, Inigo Montoya...the whole crew.
Classic. Everyone should read this at least once.
This book (and the movie) is my all-time favorite. I often prefer the book to the movie, but in this case, I like them both equally; albeit for slightly different reasons.
Another book, written by Cary Elwes (who plays Westley in the movie) entitled “As You Wish” about the making of the movie; is also enjoyable — though it’s helpful to see the movie first to give some context.