When I received the ARC of this book from NetGalley I somehow missed that it will soon be a Netflix movie starring Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things).

Elodie cares deeply for the people of her drought and famine stricken Inophe, so when her father arranges a marriage with a prince whose family wealth can save her realm, she’s happy to accept the proposal. Prince Henry’s home of Aurea is beautiful, and Elodie is surrounded by luxury. She soon learns that the beauty and luxury come with a price – princesses are sacrificed to a dragon to maintain the idyllic land. She certainly didn’t sign up for that.

Elodie is plucky and clever. She doesn’t curl up in a corner of the dragon’s lair and wait to die – she’s determined to fight until the end. Eight centuries of sacrifices equals the population of a small town, and I liked that previously deceived princesses left messages in the caves for those that came after them. Elodie’s relationship with her younger sister is also a positive. It’s nice to read a novel where women aren’t pitted against each other.

What I missed was getting to know Elodie before she was tossed into the dragon’s lair. I felt like I knew very little about her until the middle of the story, although I eventually grew to like her. Pacing slowed a bit in the initial cave scenes, but it soon got back on track.

I’m a dragon fan and thought the dragon language was pretty cool. Even more so when the author’s note revealed her thirteen-year-old daughter created it. And kudos to the designer for a gorgeous cover that perfectly complements the story.

I’m a fan of Millie Bobby Brown, and I’ll definitely be watching this when it drops on Netflix. I’d recommend it to fans of dragons and fairy tales with a twist.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Full of visceral emotion, lovely characters, and strong sisterhood, I really enjoyed ‘Damsel’ by Evelyn Skye and would highly recommend picking it up!

5 stars = Outstanding!

Wow! This was fantastic. I loved Elodie. The author does a great job of keeping the story moving considering how much of it is Elodie working through things alone. I was riveted!

Damsel is just the sort of girl-power story I'm happy to read! Smart and capable, Elodie takes on the overwhelming challenge of not only surviving, but defeating the literal and metaphorical dragons in her story. She doesn't escape unscathed, as any triumph comes at a cost to body and soul, but she endures with strength and compassion to bring about a fulfilling story.

Language: None
Drugs: Mild
Sex: Mild
Violence: Moderate

Soon to be a Netflix movie!
20yo Elodie is excited to meet her betrothed, Prince Henry of Aurea. Elodie is one of three princesses who will be given to the dragon during Harvest Week in exchange for Aurea’s prosperity. Each year for the last eight centuries, three princesses from different parts of the world have been brought to Aurea under the guise of marrying Prince Henry, only to be sacrificed to the dragon. After unceremoniously being sent into the dragon's lair, Elodie keeps going by relying on her wits, her strength and the help of past princesses through clues they’ve left behind. She might just survive to save the next princess.

Likes/dislikes: The story is slow in the beginning to give the reader a sense of calm but then the action picks up once Elodie learns the secret of Aurea. I enjoyed how the author meshed the past and present princesses together and the perseverance of each. I'm impressed how the author’s 13yo daughter created a functional language for the dragons in this story. The language syntax, grammatical rules and words are in the back of the book.
Mature content: PG for brief kisses.
Language: R for 35 swears, no f-bombs.
Violence: PG-13 for Men being eaten by dragon, detailed sounds. Being burnt by flames. Pierced through skull by dragon wing point.
Ethnicity: The ethnicity of Elodie and Henry fall to white, but brown skinned characters are found in the book also.

A feast of YA Troupes.

Listen, I get it, troupes typically are given a bad rap. I find that in the right setting though, they can feel so epically nostalgic! Skye has woven a tale that will feel familiar to most. It's neither unique or mind bending, but I dont think it's trying to be either!

If you want to settle in with a story that is effortless to follow and reminiscent of early YA, Damsel might just be for you.

The novel upholds feminist values, exploring themes of sacrifice, loyalty, strength, and love. The portrayal of a formidable female character defies the conventional damsel-in-distress stereotype, which I found particularly impressive. And the DRAGONNNNNN, I mean, come on. Divine.

Elodie sacrifices herself to help her starving country and agrees to marry a foreign prince. Unfortunately the beautiful kingdom has it's own horrid secrets. Using clues left by former princesses Elodie saves both kingdoms.

Evelyn Skye novelizes a forthcoming movie from Netflix, which is an exciting survival tale about a Damsel (hard from Random House Worlds) in distress. Elodie, a princess from the dry island of Inophe, is betrothed to a prince from the wealthy island of Aurea. It’s an exciting time for her traveling and preparing, but she doesn’t know that after her wedding, she will be sent into a Dragon’s lair, one of three princesses per year that the Dragon demands. What follows is a tale of survival, as Elodie navigates the maze surrounding the Lsir, hunted by the Dragon, and guided by words scratched into the walls by previous victims of eight centuries of girls like her eaten by the Dragon. Lots of fun. I hope the movie is as good.

I thank Author Evelyn Skye and Netgalley for this ARC. I am voluntarily leaving a review. After reading some of the reviews I'm left wondering if I was reading the same book. Elodie is promised to the Prince of Aurea to help save her homeland. Her sister Floria accompanies her after the wedding and the unexpected happens. Elodie is thrown into a battle for survival that has been going on for many years. Elodie is a strong female character who refuses to back down and I truly loved it. Lucinda,their stepmother surprisingly ends up being a top tier character. I enjoyed this story a lot and I am glad that it will be on our screens as well.

Freaking brilliant!!! Absolutely can see Millie Bobbie Brown in this part. Wonderfully written, the story is fabulous. Evelyn paints a picture of the history of Aurea and the caves the dragon lives in. Her daughter, Reese, is also incredibly talented in creating the dragons language. I cannot wait to watch the movie after reading this gem.

I really wish I had something good to say about this book. I am a huge Evelyn Skye fan but this book was NOT it. I am sure it wasn’t all her fault, considering it was based on a screenplay written by a man (and has all the pick me tropes imaginable).

Elodie was the worst character I have read recently. She was *SO* smart and beautiful and just amazing… gag me with a spoon. Also: learning a whole dragon language in A DAY?! Yeah that’s totally doable. It was as if the chosen one trope had a baby with a pick me girl and Elodie was the result. She was just not relatable in any sense of the word. despite coming from humble beginnings, she still had no redeeming qualities.

By the end of the book, I was just skimming and hoping the dragon would eat her, at least to break up some of the monotony of this book. Alas, it ended almost exactly as you would expect. As a total and utter disappointment.

Elodie has been raised in the dry land of Inophe, which has been stuck in a famine for decades. It has few resources but she and her father, the duke, do all they can to make the most of them and help its citizens.

So when the prince of the wealthy land of Aurea requests Elodie be his bride, Elodie jumps at the opportunity. The alliance will provide Inophe’s inhabitants with many vital resources.

Upon their arrival to Aurea, Elodie and her family are awed by its beauty and prosperity. She is lavished with food and luxuries in preparation for her marriage. Little things crop up every so often that seem a bit off, but no matter: Elodie is helping Inophe.

Unfortunately, she finds out after her marriage that she is just one in a long line of princesses sacrificed to a dragon. For hundreds of years, Aurea has had an arrangement with the dragon. In return for giving it three princesses every harvest, it will let the country continue to grow rich off the bounty of the land. No princesses sacrificed would mean the dragon destroying Aurea.

After she’s thrown into the mountain where the dragon lives, Elodie decides she will not just go quietly. She will find any way she can to evade it and even defeat it. Sure, no princess has done so in 800 years, but a number of them have at least left behind clues in the many caves in the mountain. And Elodie will use that information to save herself, and even the whole land, from the ancient, powerful dragon.

Damsel has an interesting plot once it really gets going about a third of the way in. It was compelling to see how Elodie managed to survive despite such difficult and impossible odds. And I liked how the story concluded. But so much of the writing was not that great, particularly that first third. It felt like a child’s fairy tale, with simplistic style. I thought this may be the author’s first book, but then I looked her up and found out it was not. I see that this book is being adapted for Netflix, and it will make a great movie if done well. It’ll be one of those few occasions I’ll say a movie will be better than the book. So I recommend waiting for that.

Elodie agrees to marry the prince of a rich kingdom in hopes that it will help save the people of her realm. At first she doesn't understand why she was chosen and thinks the whole exchange is too good to be true but she's willing to try for the sake of her family and realm. However, shortly after she's married, she's immediately whisked off under the guise of tradition and soon finds herself thrown to a dragon as sacrifice for the kingdom. Elodie must find a way to survive and heeds the advice of the princesses sacrificed before her to plot her escape. The more time she spends in the dragon's domain, the more she realizes not all is as it seems and she learns more about the dragon's history and comes to understand their position. Overall, an engaging adventure that's partly about one's survival but also what one is willing to do for their family. The linguistic aspect with the dragon's language and Elodie's analysis of the language was particularly interesting.

Based on a screenplay by Dan Mazeau, Damsel is a collaboration between New York Times bestselling author Evelyn Skye and the team behind the upcoming Netflix film Damsel (Oct. 13), starring Millie Bobby Brown.

I almost always like the book better than the movie, so it will be interesting to see how this collaboration pans out. I am, however, glad I got to read the book first, because I got to imagine things my own way.

Skye does a good job setting the tone. You immediately feel the desolation in Inophe and the hope that comes from seeing the lush lands of Aurea. There’s a lot of foretelling early on, and that feels like the result of adapting a screenplay. The book probably would have been more than 368 pages without those constraints.

That said, Skye manages to create a real sense of place, particularly in the caves where most of the action takes place. The oppressive claustrophobia, isolation and heat radiate off the page.

Elodie is a character you want to root for, and the inclusion of flashbacks to previous princesses helps fill in the historical blanks.

Damsel is a fast-paced, cinematic novel that reads a bit like a fractured fairy tale/ This fantasy should appeal to readers now, and a new group once the movie premieres.

Damsel appealed to me immediately with its intriguing concept and cool cover. I was also curious to read it as it was adapted from an upcoming screenplay of a movie for Netflix. The writing reads like a screenplay in some ways so I think Netflix will not have any problems bringing this story to life where the novel and movie feel connected. The story follows the main character, Elodie, who is from drought stricken Inophe where her father is lord. Her father arranges for Elodie to marry the crown prince of Aurea to form an alliance and help save their people. The marriage is not what Elodie was hoping for when she is sacrificed to a dragon. For me, I did not like that this was all spelled out in the synopsis as I felt the reader loses the tension leading up to the sacrifice.

The standout of this novel is the relationship between Elodie and her sister, Floria. The bond they share was well-written and explored. As for Elodie herself, I did find her a little inconsistent to fit the tropes instead of these traits just being part of her character. She was clever in scenes that called for it and timid in others. She is written following a lot of tropes, such as, “not like other girls” and “the chosen one.” I am usually a fan of the latter one, but I rarely enjoy the first as it usually involves putting down every other female character just to make the main one stands out. Unfortunately, this novel followed this where it tried too hard to show that Elodie was “special.” This does get better as the story moves forward, but, for me, it could have used a lot more care.

The novel includes a whole language for the dragons, so the story goes into its interpretations and basic linguistics. While it is commendable that this large task of inventing a whole language was done, it does take up a lot of the story. Since there is only so much the author can do to stay true to the screenplay, I understand that there are limitations; however, I do wish that maybe it was separated a little more, so it didn’t seem as formulaic where it tries to check off every box from the screenplay. I would have loved some expansion on Elodie’s personality which would greatly have helped me connect more with her decisions as the story moves forward. I do love the idea of the princess saving herself from evils, but I feel this novel did not quite get there. I do think it will make a nice young adult movie, so I look forward to watching it later this year. Overall, this was a great concept, but did not quite work for me as a novel.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Random House Worlds, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

First, let's address this gorgeous cover art! It's enough to pique the interest of anyone browsing the genre.

Damsel, as damsel in distress, is not your typical story. Elodie will first sacrifice her choices for a happily ever after to obtain enough wealth to rescue her family and the rest of the inhabitants of Inophe. With this one decision, she lifts many out of "distress". Then, when it looks as if Fate will reward her, she finds that a choice has been made for her that leaves her without a future.....definitely distress time. But this damsel will refuse to sacrifice everything, including her life, and fight against her worst challenge, a dragon.

while this is most definitely a YA book, it is also entertaining and well written. The visual from the cover fits the heroine of this story and all the others who would stand and fight instead of accepting their fate as decided by others.

Damsel started as a film created for Netflix and the film writer decided it would be cool to have a book to go along with it to help flush out some parts, or go deeper into the world building, I guess. An “expansive story” the intro note to the novel said.

Alas we have Damsel, a YA fantasy that is action packed and reads as though it is a film, and dare I say, will be better as a film. I love me some dragons and can see how the action here will be explosive on screen.

That being said, I feel like the book missed the mark on an expansive story. Things are surface level, and we don’t really get to know the characters much. But it is a fast read and has a nice little twist at the end.

Mix of young writing and descriptive, graphic violence. Little to no romance. And a dragon language that I found to be distracting, but is fully broken down at the end for those who care.

Aurea is a kingdom of wealth and plenty so when Elodie, daughter to Duke Bayford of the poor Duchy of Inophe, is betrothed to its prince and heir she can not believe her fortune. Her marriage and connection to Aurea will feed and sustain her people for decades. As she is courted by Prince Henry through letters over the sea, her commitment to her people by moving to a far away land is strengthened by her resolve to be the best princess she can be to her future home. This resolve holds steady even as her arrival to Aurea and time before her wedding starts to trigger some red flags. However, the evening of her wedding has a surprise ending involving a dragon that finally makes things crystal clear. What comes next is a trial in survival that Elodie hopes to win.

This was a easy but dark read of deception, familial love, and strength. Elodie’s journey after the dragon is interesting in how it unfolds as well as the parallel perspectives we are treated to as the story progresses. I do feel some areas in the story telling were light on details, glossed over or just assumed but overall was still engaging despite these things. Good read. Curious to see how the show compares. 3 stars.

Review based on a digital Uncorrected Proof provided by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley. Thank you!

I fully admit that I came into this one fully expecting a letdown simply because it's based on a screenplay for a movie being produced by Netflix. But I shouldn't have underestimated Skye because she took what on the surface sounds trite and done and created a story that pulled me in from the very first chapter and demanded that I finish Elodie's story before it would let me go.
Elodie is the daughter of the Duke of a very poor duchy that's suffering the effects of decades of drought. It's a tough life, but Elodie has always been willing to do the hard work as she works with her dad and her people to eke out survival. Until an envoy from a faraway island nation shows up with an offer of marriage that will save her people, and Elodie and her family get whisked off to the lavishly beautiful kingdom of Aurea. It's magical and perfect despite a few wrinkles until the wedding night turns out to be nothing like what Elodie was expecting. Now, she has to use all her skills, knowledge, and power to survive as the latest sacrifice in a ritual that's been taking place for 800 years. It's a battle of wills as she does her best to escape the dragon, but what will happen when the dragon doesn't get their tithe?
It's a fascinating study of what duty and sacrifice truly mean played out through the eyes of a young woman who is brave and determined. I truly could find no fault in Elodie, even when things should have been obvious or suspicious, Skye writes it so that it's other people distracting her. And then the trials truly begin and we get to see what all the characters are truly made of. Every single one gets a moment of introspection and action that play a pivotal role in the plot, which makes every dangerous moment feel even more exciting.

Delighted thanks to NetGalley and Random House Worlds for the most excellent read!