This book was an interesting/AHMAZING ROLLERCOASTER!!!💕I do love the characters and world building and the love and sacrifice throughout the story. A minor thing that I did not like would be the bits and pieces of the dragon language explanations. I felt it was highly irrelevant. Towards the middle and end of the story I do feel the pacing was quite fast and things happening way faster in succession than in the beginning. Elodie and her little sister have such a strong bond and save each other and are not “average” in their royalty and status. They love fiercely and the world truly needs more stories where sisters can save each other instead of a valiant knight or prince. Truly 10 whole ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was good once you get past the bit of dragging the first part does. But afterwards it quickly jumps into action. I just wish there was a bit more that happened. It felt so long for so little to happen.

I have nothing positive to say about this book, that started so promising but soon became a chore to read, so I'll be brief and to the point: it's very YA, and traditional and tropey at that.

This is about a duke's daughter from a drought-stricken duchy called Inophe that is married off to the crown prince of Aurea to save her people from famine and worse hardships, but that, on arriving to the isle and marrying the charming prince, finds out there's a dark secret she was not expecting. As a consequence of decisions taken long ago, the Aurean kingdom owes its prosperity to questionable practices that will have Elodie facing a dragon. She's supposed to kiss life goodbye then but manages to do what no damsel has done before, saving the day for herself and everyone.

So far, so good, doesn't it sound so? But where is the difference, the uniqueness and the breaking of new ground the blurb promised, I have to ask? Elodie is a typical YA heroine, and a special snowflake that does everything right where no man can do right, including her stupid father. She acts and talks like your average YA heroine, with cringey lines such as an all-caps "BURN ME, BITCH!" and is generally so superficially written she is a cardboard cutout of every single YA heroine you've seen everywhere; she reacts to the plot, the plot doesn't move because of her but the reverse, and she has such a generic personality she's easy to forget and hard to relate.

Not even her "taking on" of the dragon is really anything unique or groundbreaking. Maybe it would have decades ago when damsels in distress were all the rage, but now that every YA heroine acts like she doesn't need anyone in the world to save her sorry hide from scrapes she gets into, this is the default trope, actually. I can remember a number of books with this Dragon Sacrifice trope in which the damsel "takes on" the dragon in ways that are really just twists in which it's revealed the dragon isn't really a bad fellow or, like here, resorting to a trick a male dragonslayer has used and writing a female in his place. If you think Elodie's solution to the dragon is so unique, you need to read more mythology. Perseus and Medusa, anyone?

And if it weren't enough, the revelation on how she "takes on" the dragon (I don't think this is a fair way to put it, since Elodie didn't go for the dragon and was forced to) is so very convenient, done at the last moment with little build-up, and melodramatically executed so it interrupts a wedding, allows Elodie to give some dramatic speech, and crowns her as this overpowered saviour of a world that's so poorly built it's not even developed as a place that feels lived in and rich but a Fantasy copypasta of several European countries, mostly England. And don't even let me started on the 800 uninterrupted years of dragon sacrifice that didn't lead to rebellions or trouble and that somehow stayed a mystery for near a millennia until Princess Special Snowflake could break the streak with the help of, you know, magic, because magic is the new Deus ex Machina.

But the thing that really bothered me early on was the invented language. I appreciate the creativity that goes into inventing a fictional language, it's truly a work of art, and there's fictional languages out there that have a deserved cult following, such as Tolkien's Elvish. But this? The language used here is incredibly crude to the point it's likely to sound laughable to a speaker of any of the languages it's based on. To me, it was so like a butchered amalgamation of French, Italian, and Latin with some nonsensical sounds that when I sounded them out loud they rang like a drowning Dothraki. It's so crudely done it's annoying, and also very childish. If they thought we'd not notice how lazy it is, too, then they underestimated the audience. To a native speaker of any of these languages, it'll be obvious that it's merely changing some letters and calling it a "new" language. As if writing "merdú" and "vorrai" would fool anyone that it's anything but merda and vorrei (in Italian).

Chopping up words from a given language and giving it new vowels and endings doesn't make a new language. Stringing together grating sounds and slapping the grammar rules of a existing language on them doesn't make a new language. It's simply letting your child play Scramble while pretending it's somehow as genius as Tolkien. And I'm sorry, but this isn't Quenya, isn't Klingon, isn't Valyrian, and isn't Dothraki. It's an amorphous blob and the creator is not the new Tolkien. Leave the creation of fictional languages to people who actually know how to create them, and don't drag your child's hobby into a novel because you think it's cute.

I'd imagine Netflix want to hop into the dragon bandwagon started by GOT and House of the Dragon, but they could've done better than this. Not recommended.

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

2 likes

I love a book with a strong, independent female lead, and this book fit that bill. I wasn't quite sure where the book would end up, and I was pleasantly surprised by the end. I enjoyed how the author set out the different characters motives and developed them throughout the story. I am intrigued to see what happens with the film.

Thanks Netgalley and publishers for the free e-arc.

I was absolutely intrigued by Damsel as soon as I first read the book description - I knew I just HAD TO get my hands on it. Thank you Random House Publishing Group Ballantine for a digital ARC!

Skye is such a great craftswoman at building mythical worlds and illustrating their settings, that as the reader, you really feel pulled in right from the start. The main character, Elodie, is genuinely brave and bold and makes for a great heroine to root for and follow. I will say that the target age group for this book in my opinion is very young adult, as in no older than 17 0r 18. As someone older than that reading Damsel, I felt there were just a few parts of the story I couldn't 100% connect with just because certain moments felt a bit too "young" or adolescent.

However, I cannot wait to see how Netflix develops this wonderful story!

I always struggle with third person pov but this story didn’t stand out to me compared to any other young adult fantasies I’ve read.

4.5 stars

That was an intriguing read that will check a lot of boxes for a lot of people.
The MC was likable and made sense as a character.
The villains had understandable reasons and dimensions.
Definitely interested in seeing this once it comes to Netflix.
Recommended.

BEYOND PHENOMENAL! Damsel by Evely Skyes is a perfect example of why I so rarely give 5 stars. This book is easily my favorite YA of the year, hands down. I can not wait to get my hands on a physical copy this coming March.

"A damsel in distress takes on the dragon herself in this epic twist on classic fantasy"

Get ready to who you believe the villain is over and over again, and yet still find yourself not quite sure by the end.
Elodie sacrifices the choice of husband and life on her lands by agreeing to marry the prince of a far-off unknown land in exchange for ending the starvation that is plaguing her desert home. Little does Elodie know, wording is always key and some sacrifices are too monsters for one to imagine.

Overall 6/5 stars
Character detail and development 4/5
Fluidity of timeline and character pov:5/5
Writing style 5/5
Spice: 0/5

Trigger warnings: one mention of purity and lack there and there is mention of death and violence throughout but both are written in a very respectable manner that is appropriate for a YA book.

that cover drew me in and I'm so glad I was able to read this. It was what I was hoping for from the first page, it was really well done. It was a great fantasy novel and I could see why it's a upcoming movie. I enjoyed the plot of the book and getting to know the characters. It was exactly what I wanted from this type of book. I look forward to reading more from Evelyn Skye.

"But, oh! How we wanted to stay! We had seen what the rest of the world had to offer us, and it was nothing. This was the only place our people could begin anew. The only place we had the energy to pursue. The citizens—formerly of Talis, and for four years, of no country—refused to set foot on another boat again."

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Elodie isn’t your typical damsel in distress. Even if she’s married to a stranger to save her hungry kingdom. She’s smart. Fierce. And doesn’t give up on herself or on others. No spoilers, but she’s a clever princess who can save herself. Elodie is just the sort of do-it-yourself, latrine-digging-royalty that YA fantasy needed.