Damsel

I docked one star for two reasons: for some reason I don’t like referring to male genitalia as a yard. It’s a personal preference and I’m probably not *supposed* to like it, but yeah. And the other was that it was a tiny bit predictable. I still absolutely recommend it—it’s a quick read and I found it to be empowering in a time when I feel like I desperately need empowered.

This book isn’t bad in the sense that there are a lot of grammatical errors, or even that the author is unable to form a story from beginning to end. The book was good in that you weren’t able to immediately tell the ending of the book right from the start.However, I have no idea why this book is labeled YA. The author spends more time talking about the prince’s “yard” than she does describing what is actually going on. There is way too much described about the prince’s “conquests” and the way both he and the damsel look in their nakedness. There is molesting, assault, attempted rape… This book is supposed to be a fairy tail but it really should be classified into “weird books that also happen to involve a kingdom and dragons” the “damsel” has absolutely no say about her own body and is treated like an object. Some books are just too weird to really classify…

The plot twist is not the point. The point is in the knowing and the sorrow of knowing as you witness what happens, and the viciousness of the justice as it should be. Lyrical and beautiful and opulent and it does - and should remind all women - that we are dragons.

This book was boring and so predictable. I spent the entire time just wanting to be done with it so I could prove myself correct.The author tried to be detail oriented, but seemed to set things up and never bothered to explain them. I think she thought she was being subtle on her hints to the outcome, but they came in loud and clear. I would have liked some actual explanations on the how though. She seemed to drop that in the story.Also there was what looked like it would be an interesting interaction with the priest and some explanation of a religion, but that went nowhere at all.In fact most of it went nowhere at all.They keep lauding it as a feminist champion, but it’s not. There is no why to any of it. Just a chick who kills a guy who was raised in a world where he was expected to act a certain way. He learned no lessons. No one learned anything. It was just a giant waste of time, energy, and money.Waste of trees. Save the trees and pass on this book. I wish I had.

Was it pretty predictable? Yes. And that did NOT detract from its beauty. This book evoked major emotions (fury, sorrow, hope, despair, powerful satisfaction, pride). I enjoyed immensely and think it is well worth the price even if I never get the urge to reread it. Dragons, cats, glass, jewels, and that ending… what more could a woman want?