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Rating: 
Summary: Is this really a Royal Diaries Book?
Review: As usual, I was very excited to read the next Royal Diaries book. I was, as I can see is the same with many others, extremely disappointed. I did read the whole thing, even though I was very tempted to just throw it away all together. I thought it would get better as I went on. Wrong! I couldn't really find a point.The basic outline is that there is a princess that has been betrothed to the king of a section of the Mayan empire to unite both of their provences. Almost the entire book is about her trip. Basically "it's raining, and I saw some lovely fish today and I ate a papaya for dinner" kind of entries. If it had been as boring as it was, but did give me a picture of what life was like back then, as far as cutoms, etc, I would have been happier with it. There was hardly any. I didn't really learn very much about the Mayan empire, if anything. Please, if you are to start reading Royal Diaries books, please don't start with this one! Or, if you are a Royal Diaries fan, don't read this one either! It isn't worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: **Maybe no one really read the book, to understand***
Review: I could not get through this book, period! It was confusing at time, and the character was not very strong at all. I got some of the names confused, did not understand why she was doing the things she was doing, and did not understand the culture at all. This book was a major league let down, and not up to par with the rest of the Royal Diaries books.
Rating: 
Summary: What Happened!?
Review: I love this series, I love every book in it, I own every book in it, and I read them over...and over...and over. But I may never pick this book up again. I have yet even to finish it. I CAN'T finish it. The culture and the history and informational background of this book is great and very original. But my Social Studies textbook reads the same as this book does. I can't keep my attention on this book for more than a page. Honestly, there is no feeling to this book. If I were King Fire Keeper, I'd hang myself for having to marry a wife like Lady of Palenque. (...) This isn't a diary it's like a biography. And a bad one at that. I enjoyed Kirwan's earlier attempt, Victoria, very much and I found it very good even though other fans were disappointed. But I wouldn't recommend this book at all. The writing is bland, your focus will wary, and entries go on and on about NOTHING. I remember one entry where there was a paragraph devoted to the description of a bridge. Who cares. And you'll find that although Kirwan makes the writing very Mayan and very authentic, I don't think she remembers that this is a book for 10 year olds. It makes no sense. Unless you're a nut about Mayan culture this diary will honestly not make any sense to you most of the time. Not even the glossary can help you after the first few entries. Don't waste almost 11 dollars on this book unless you collect the entire series. Otherwise, get it from the library...if you dare.
Rating: 
Summary: It really isn't THAT bad...
Review: I started this book way back in March upon its release, and I wasn't entirely anticipating reading it after I heard that it wasn't that great. But I decided to give it a try and it didn't end well, I didn't get to page 40 before I gave up. I didn't pick the book up again until late June when I was trying to catch up on all the books I own that I haven't read. And I'm glad I picked this one up again. Sure, I stopped again around page 100 but I finally finished the book last night after deciding 5 months was enough...I have to finish this book. The book is actually very well done. Unlike the other Royal Diaries, the writing really is authentic to the Mayan era it is set in. In books such as Weetamoo and Sondok, it is obvious the author is trying to re-construct the writing style of the character's culture & time, but in Lady of Palenque, the writing really is convincing. The entire book reads lyrically and poetically and the culture of the Maya is deeply rooted in the Lady's words. This can be both a good and a bad thing. While it makes the book seem more real and more like it would be an account of the time, it must be kept in mind that middle school kids are the people reading these books. And your average middle schooler isn't a Mayan scholar, so most of the references and cultural items in this book are going to be unfamiliar and will confuse the reader for there are whole paragraphs that center on references to Mayan culture, forcing the reader to re-read the paragraph over and over again to try and put the Lady's words into today's understanding. I think something that does bother some people is the fact that the author keeps switching from authentic Mayan names to English translations. For example, one page you'll have Lady Palmtrees and the next you'll have an elongated authentic Mayan name. And unfortunately, there are no pronunciation guides so the reader has to sound out the name as they think it should be said (we do get the hint, on the first page, that the 'x' makes a 'sh' sound). And, let's face it, sometimes the English versions of the names seem like a joke. For example, Lord Cocoa Beans. It just doesn't sound serious. There are some problems with this book, but I think it was overall a decent book. The story isn't really that exciting, though. Basically, the Lady spends 30 pages in Lakamha (Palenque) and then travels all across the Yucatan peninsula and the coast before arriving at the closing of the book in Xukpi (Copan). There are stops along the way, such as in Mutal, a major city of the area, and an unexpected hurrican leaves the traveling parties stranded on islands off the coast. The plot is basically that Lady of Palenque has been chosen to marry the king of Copan, Fire Keeper, to provide a relationship between the cities of Palenque and Copan against enemy forces (we find out in the historical note that this was done by many cities at the time for the same reason). Many of the characters aren't fully formed, and rather symbolize different traits. But this is faulty, for it is hard to feel the Lady's pain when a close friend of her's is lost at sea during a hurricane for he was never 3-dimensional character to the reader. The only truly formed character is the Lady herself, who is not easily hated but is also not the most enjoyable Royal Diaries central character. Basically, this book does have faults but it also does have many good things about it. I think one reviewer said 'this is not a Royal Diaries book'. Well, I have to agree. I think this book could have been a lone novel, because, unlike the other 16 books in the series at this point, this book really does transport you back to the time and place of the character as none of the others do and the writing is so different that it easily could be excluded from the other more non-accurate writing styles of the other diaries. A decent read, though not the best of the series. And give it some time, I'd advise you.
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Summary: Oh My, this book was terrible......
Review: Im 11 and the colorful pictures on this book and the bright pink attracted me to it. I was VERY dissapointed. I LOVE to read and I have many Royal Diaries and Dear America books but this one was HORRIBLE. The whole thing just about was her traveling. Not my idea of a good book. And this is pretty hard if your a good reader, especially me since I love reading, but i was hurridly reading this book wondering "grrrrr when is this book going to be over!" My advice, don't by this book, by the book on Marie Antoinette. That book is my favourite out of the Royal Diarie Collection
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Lady of Palenque is a brilliant and highly sofisticated book. I found learning about the Mayan culture to be very exilerating. The plot is sometimes intense but I thourghly enjoyed reading it and I can't wait till the next Royal Diary comes out. I believe that my opinion is sound because I actually bothered to read all of the book and I didn't put it down after the first page.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay story, confusing names
Review: ShahnaK'in Yaxchel Pacal, "Princess Green Jay on the Wall," is 13 years old and her father King Hanaab Pacal of Lakamha, modern day Palenque, has just betrothed her to K'ak Yipyaj Chan K'awil, "King Fire Keeper, the King of allie Xukpi. When the diary begins, Green Jay is preparing to make the long journey to Xukpi to meet the husband she has never met. Green Jay is sad because she knows that the long journey from Lakamha to Xukpi will likely mean that she will never return home. Her journey will be a treachrous one, as 749 Mesoamerica is not a peaceful time in Mayan history. Neighboring tribes are not on good terms with Lakamha and anything can happen. First her entourage of guardians and soldiers travel to Mutal, a allie of Lakahma where they rest for a few days. We get to see glimpses of the Mayan culture through their celebration. As the journey brings her more closer to Xukpi, Green Jay's anticipation of what her husband is like grows until the moment they finally meet.
This book is not as bad as some of the review here have portrayed it to be. I found it to have an okay storyline, though my interest did wane at some points and I had a hard time finishing the book. The names were quite hard to keep straight since they were so long and complicated. I had to check back to the glossory every few seconds to remind myself of who is who. I do believe this is the weakest Royal Diary so far but if you have some extra time on a boring day, this book might not be a bad read.
Rating:
Summary: A Disgrace to the Royal Diaries Series!
Review: This is such a typical book.I was quite astounded at the quality of this book compared to the quality of the other books in the series.The only book which i have liked less than this is Nzingha-Warrior Queen of Matamba.This book is about a very boring princess who lives in a faraway Mayan area in A.D 749.I am definite that i have wasted my precious time reading a book of such bad quality.This book is nearly all about her travels,it is so boring.It is hard to interact with the characters or even know the characters because there are too many characters.The front cover looks interesting but the book is really boring.I suggest you read a different royal diary book insteaD.[Look at my reviews] This book should be banished from the Royal Diaries.It is very boring and rambles on and on and on.I couldn't even finnish the book.That is the first Royal Diary book I couldn't finnish.
Rating:
Summary: This book was so bad it does't deserve a title
Review: ummmm...where do I begin with this one.....ah man this one was bad. I don't like to give bad reviews, but this one earned it. I had no clue where this story was going.
When I first saw it in the library, I was really excited because I never read a book from the Mayan Era. But, I never finished this book. I couldn't finish this book. I don't want to finish this book. I rather have my wisdom teeth pulled than finish this book.
In my opinion, the author tries to hard to keep this book authetic. By trying to be authentic, she took away from the story. It would have been better if she let us assume that the story was being done in the character's native tongue.
The moral of this story is, authenticity is not always the best route to take.
If you are curious, I suggest you only read this book if you have a lot of free time.
Rating:
Summary: bla...
Review: You have no idea how long I have waited to read this book. But, when I read the reviews my fears were starting to be confirmed. Ann Kirwin's other book, Victoria was just plain awfull! I hoped that this book would be better. Well, I started to read the first few pages and was not impressed. My mind soon wandered and I put the book down. I haven't picked it up sense. i've thought about continueing reading it but it's like their is some invisable force that just won't let me do it. Well, from all it's bad reviews I may not ever read it. ROYAL DIARIES ROCK! This one isn't worthy of the series.
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