4.5 stars rounded up. This book was so much fun to read. I loved all the fairy tale connections and the humor was great. The plot felt a little repetitive at times, but I was having so much fun reading that it didn't really matter. I really liked the characters in this one. Even the unlikable ones were likable in a way. The story ended neatly, but I would love to read a sequel or something else set in this quirky, cozy world.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

If it wasn’t clear from the title that this novella has a fairy tale slant, it is very quickly apparent from the opening pages. The writing is delightful, at once homage to older fairy tale stylings and crackling, near constant send up of the same.

The prince - who proclaimed and declaimed rather than merely said (see what I mean about sending up the language) - has turned out to be [spoiler] a bit of a cad regarding the princess to whom he was swearing his undying love not long ago. Or rather proclaiming it. When he throws her over, inevitably, her ensuing rage is such that her father promises her literally anything if she will simply stop smashing the crockery.

I will leave you to discover what she asked for and let you meet the stepsister and find out where she fits into this topsy turvy melange. The language is assured and the characters sparkle (some literally). There's some nested subtext about feminism and power imbalances but this is first and foremost a lark that should come with a 'beverage alert' label on every chapter.

This lively little fairy tale is full of derring-do and disguises, brave and foolhardy exploits worthy of love and laughter, all propelled by the most contemporary of fairy tale princesses.

This was so fun. I love the humor and satire of this whole book and just felt almost like I was reading a mix of a Mel Brooks movie, a Douglas Adams Book, and a Stephen Sondheim musical. It's delightfully fun, wonderfully inclusive, and whimsically exciting. I would happily read more of Melilot and her adventures were Herman to write any.

I appreciated the witty dialogue, the unique monsters, and the idea of a feminist fairy tale with a queer heroine.

However, the characters were not as developed as they could have been. For example, readers receive minimal information about the villain; we learn why they do what they do but not much about who they are. it's possible the lack of character development is due to the inclusion of a large number of secondary characters on Princess Melilot's quest.

The ending doesn't fit with the feminist advertising. Characters who treat feminine people badly, either intentionally or unintentionally, don't learn anything; this is even when it's explained to those characters in detail how harmful they've been. That's not a happily ever after ending for me.

I had high hopes for this one, but This Princess Kills Monsters didn't work for me.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This ARC was witty and absurd in the best way.
From the ancient talking lion with his crazy gender based tests, the oblivious and heartbroken prince, and those damn spider wolves that grossed me out. I had to laugh at the names of some of the monsters she faced because they were so random.
I loved the concept of the 12 identical, masked huntsmen all being women and having to hide it from the annoying lion advisor. I've never read The
12 Huntsmen by Grimm Brothers' so it was an interesting tale to watch play out this way. Melilot has to try to save her home and herself from someone who is out to kill her, but makes some interesting connections along the way, my favorite being with the Prince's sister. This is Tangeled, The Princess and the Pea, and a few other Princess stories + the Grimm Brothers' tales wrapped into one good satire/parody.

This Princess Kills Monsters is a delightful, lighthearted fairytale romp retelling the relatively ridiculous and obscure story of the Twelve Huntsman. I’d never heard this story before reading this book, but the narrative makes sure you know what’s being referenced, which I found to be a nice touch.

The characters are so fun to follow, both well-rounded and hilarious. They’re not so far from their fairytale counterparts as to be unrecognizable, but more of a more reasonable exploration of “what would living in a fairytale be like?”. Even the minor characters shine, with my particular favorite being Gnolfwhogir, a six foot tall, green, sword-happy fairy princess. The wicked stepmother also gets some wonderful detail and development, which I won’t get into because spoilers.

There’s also a delightful contrast between the two kingdoms of Skalla and Tailliz, one of which is clearly up to its eyeballs in magic and curses and fae nonsense, whereas the other is much more “Normal” and occasionally struggles to comprehend the others approach to the world. A delightful bit of world building.

The romance is sweet but doesn’t overwhelm the plot, and the world building is a bit shaky, but in the way that all fairytales have a little bit of logistical nonsense going on.

All in all, 4 out of 5 stars from me. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Loosely based on The Twelve Hunstmen, this book was a delightful read! I found myself laughing throughout it and I absolutely felt like this book was inspired by Shrek (in a good way!!). I loved that the folktale this was based on was not a super well known tale but had enough of the common elements you could still tell what this was based on and how Herman's writing was both inspired and deviated from the original.

This book throughly surprised me. When I started it I felt the humor was very juvenile and ridiculous, but as the story continued on the characters became more real and lovable and there were moments when I was genuinely laughing due to just the sheer silliness of this book, but it worked so well!

This is a cozy, lighthearted, humorous fantasy that is perfect if you need a little break in between the heavier stuff. It's a fun blend of action, adventure, romance and comedy. I think it definitely got slower and slower for me as the story went on, but it was a really nice blend of fairytales and I definitely enjoyed it.

The bridge between the cliches of stereotypical fairytale classics and an original fantastical world with changing politics made me so happy. Why did I wait so long to read this? The characters are goofy and fun. Melliot’s immersion into her power growing is amazing. Thank you for the LGBTQIAP side characters and a spectacular adventure.

I enjoy different takes on stories. Especially little known ones folks might not be familiar with. Ry Herman delivers that with "This Princess Kills Monsters."

Showing up to meet your groom to be, that you haven't met before, on the orders of your sorceresses queen step-mother, and getting attack by novel creatures is business as usual for Meliot. Doesn't mean she isn't tired of it. Her life has been going from one ridiculous situation to another, and now there is a talking lion trying to do gender tests on the 12 identical huntsmen while someone tries to kill her. Not like she even wants to be there.

Reasons to read:
-Common sense medical information
-Gave me a couple of cackles
-Maybe open and honest communication is helpful for both parties
-New take on the stories we've been told
-Solving one problem doesn't fix everything all at once

Cons:
-Who published that lion's book???

This was such a fun read! I appreciate a good retelling but after a while I need some twists and turns to the same old tale. In this aspect, I really appreciated that this story was loosely based on The Twelve Huntsman, what I feel is a less mainstream fairytale and so therefore I've seen fewer references & retellings related to it, and also had its own spin on things. There were plenty of moments that had me chuckling and I really enjoyed how it poked fun at many classic fairytale tropes & themes at times.

This was so much fun! Loosely based on the Grimm’s fairy tale of The Twelve Huntsmen, this feminst retelling follows Melilot who is ordered to marry the prince of a neighbouring kingdom by her stepmother. But of course nothing goes to plan! Combining sorcery and SO many elements of different fairytales, you can’t help but have fun! This was the perfect lighthearted and funny fairytale retelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book.

This was absolutely a fun read!

Melilot is witty and such a fun character. The author is definitely familiar with her fairytales and lore and does a wonderful job incorporating these into her writing while also adding original story elements.

Though slow in the beginning, the character growth that happens over the course of the story is phenomenal and its nice to read a story where you can love the villains just as much as you love the heroes.

Over all a wonderfully fun read.

This was definitely a fun time! Filled with a plethora of references (the majority of which were apt & funny) & plenty of fairy tale logic, this book focuses on the stepsister princess Melilot. We follow her along her journey to the kingdom of Tailliz, where she is meant to marry the new king. However, we are told from the beginning how the story will end in the prologue, where Melilot gives us her summarized version of the Tales of the Twelve Hunters. From there, Melilot gets to tell her own side of the story, along with fun new details that cannot be found in the Brothers Grimm tale.
This was truly a delight with lots of great LGBT+ characters. Gotta love a bisexual princess, women in disguise, & a great trans story as well (left vague for spoilers). This was a fun departure from your classic fairy tale while also handling Melilot's low self-esteem (when compared to her talented family), forced gender roles (especially at the hands of a particularly misinformed magic lion), & "doomed" romance.
I will admit the beginning dragged just a bit for me as we introduced our magical land and its constant callbacks to other tales. However, as soon as Melilot met the huntsmen, the story took off & I was immediately pulled in. The villain twist was a bit obvious but, isn't it always in these types of tales? Plus, I was impressed that I really liked Melilot's romance subplot.
Overall, a great new queer fairy tale which makes me excited to see what Ry Herman will do next!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of This Princess Kills Monsters.

I love Grimm's fairy tales; in fact, the grimmer, the better.

The premise caught my eye and I was eager to dive into this.

There were parts I liked and some parts I didn't like:

1. It's long, lots of lengthy exposition, pithy observations from the wisecracking, not your average princess named Melilot.

There are fairy tales within the fairy tale that serve as flashbacks and exposition to all the many characters in the story.

2. The premise takes the Grimm fairy tales tropes and archetypes and satirizes it, mocks and makes fun of it, and uses it to their advantages when it suits their purpose. Like magic.

I enjoyed Melilot's wisecracks and sarcasm, how else would she survive in a world populated with an evil sorceress stepmom, beautiful half sisters and monsters everywhere?

But at the same time, it seems like events are happening to her instead of her taking action especially when she gets to the palace to meet her betrothed.

3. A lot of stuff happens, like fairy tale stuff, action and adventure and battling monsters and ogres and all that goof stuff, but the meat of the story is...what exactly?

We don't get to see the battle until the very end and it's typical fairy tale stuff.

4. I loved the girl power, the female army, and how Meilot's sisters and family minus her stepmom come to rescue and support her.

This is really a narrative about realizing that the only way to get out of your family's shadow is to go on your own journey to discover who you are.

I guess it's also a story about family drama, but what story isn't?

5. There's a YA vibe to the narrative, not that it's a bad thing, but it's in the tone.

There's plenty of magic, monsters, and blood, and villainy and sorcery and silliness and patriarchal stereotypes.

I liked this but I didn't love it. It's a good use of taking fairy tale tropes and spinning it in a modern-ish way.

I realized I prefer Grimm and old school fairy tales because...well, because they're grim.

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for the ARC!

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH OMG. I am such a sucker for fairy tale retellings, and this one was so good. The queer rep? The Grimm references? The CHARACTER GROWTH? The characters? All of it was so good. Very rarely do I enjoy a book as much as I enjoyed this one. I laughed, I cried, I smiled, and I raged reading this book.

If you love fairytale retellings, you gotta check this one out.

This Princess Kills Monsters is an adventurous feminist twist on Grimm Brother’s fairy tales. This is a retelling of Twelve Huntsmen but there are mentions of other Grimm fairy tales sprinkled throughout that is so endearing.

Princess Melilot is an at first sight crush girlie which is so real! The romance was sweet and tender. Melilot tells her life story in fairy tale format was my favorite part such a cool way for share her backstory and make it relevant to the rest of the book.

This book is queer AF! A world where Princesses can marry Princesses, the MMC is trans, the FMC is queer, women dressing as men.

Highly recommend if you love a retelling with a queer twist! If you liked Gwen & Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher then you’ll love this book!

🩷 Magical Princess X Huntsman
💜 Grimm Brothers Retelling
🧡 LGBTQ+ characters
🩷 Quest
💜 Failed arranged marriage
🧡 Supportive sisters
🩷 Broken 4th wall

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review!

This Princess Kills Momsters is a retelling of Grimm's The Twelve Huntsmen and really just every fairytale ever written. It was chaotic, silly, and insanely fun.
I loved all the nods to fairytale classics, I think it made this retelling completely unique. The characters are a lot of fun, and even though there were a ton of them it was easy to keep track of who was who because they all had very distinct voices and personalities.
I don't know if this is intended to be the first book in a series but I really hope it is.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me access to the eARC of this book!

(This book is already published; I lost track of time and didn’t read it before the pub date)

This Princess Kills Monsters by Ry Herman is an amalgamation of fairytale retellings. We follow our Princess From The Mountains, Melilot, and her sisters as they are sent on quests by their (step)mother. Melilot is definitely Rapunzel coded (she was locked in a tower and her hair spontaneously grows when she’s stressed).

Melilot is the least magical and enchanting of her sisters, but still she is asked to marry a king she does not know. The feminist undertones are very prevalent from the beginning of this book; our main character does not agree that she and her sisters should be used for political gain and only seen as pawns and means to an end.

At first the writing felt like I wasn’t going to like this book, but I’m very glad I kept reading because I do really like this story. I can’t say it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever read or even read this year but it’s a good story. It’s a very interesting concept and I always love a strong FMC and books that aims to undo the ingrained patriarchy of our “classic” fairytales.

If that sounds up your alley then this book is for you.