This is probably the funniest book I've ever read! I think it's perfect for those who are fans of movies like Shrek and Ella Enchanted, especially if you love the way modern humor is mixed with twisted fairytales. This book sucked me in immediately, and I knew I was going to love it from the first page. The writing style is SO good, especially when the characters are telling their own versions of fairytales; there were several times I actually laughed out loud. I absolutely adored the characters, especially Melilot's siblings and their partners. My favorite thing about this book, though, is that it doesn't take itself seriously. The author knows the story is ridiculous and allows themself and their readers to have fun. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a light, enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC.

Normally, I do try to read my ARCS closer to the publishing date but after just reading disappointing read after disappointing read I wanted to treat myself to the book that was calling my name: This Princess Kills Monsters by Ry Herman. This was a request on a whim based purely on the cover art AND the title. I knew nothing else about the story as I didn't read the synopsis.

This book was such a treat. Once I discovered This Princess Kills Monsters was a fairytale retelling I was over the moon. I have such a soft spot for them... it's something about the whimsical nature that just makes my heart sing.

Typically I find they also come with their own humor that just elevates the original fairytales and makes them a blast to read a retelling of. This Princess Kills Monsters delivered on my expectations and kept me on my toes as I waited to see what would happen next. I loved the little tongue in cheek jokes and references to other popular fairytales. I could not stop smiling and giggling as the story continued to unfold, and grew even more appreciative with the LGBTQ+ twists added in.

I highly recommend this book to fans of fairytale retellings: This Princess Kills Monsters will be right up your alley!

Before I begin, I would like to thank Ry Herman for allowing me to read a Net Galley copy of their upcoming book, This Princess Kills Monsters, which will be available on Amazon on June 17th, 2025.

Princess Melliot is tired. Her controlling stepmother, the queen, keeps sending her on dangerous quests, and now the monarch has arranged a marriage between Melliot and a king the princess has never met. On her way to the king’s castle, she’s attacked by spider-wolves and rescued by twelve huntsmen who look too alike for comfort. Add in the fact that people keep trying to kill her, a talking lion that insists on bizarre gender test, a king that can’t recognize his true love if she put on a pair of trousers, and Melliot’s attraction to one of the huntsman and the king’s sister, the princess is beyond stressed. Melliot has to figure out what’s going on without dying otherwise their kingdoms will perish, and even worse, she might be married to someone she doesn’t love.

This book was fantastic. You have Melliot, a beautiful, sassy, intelligent, and cunning princess that is used to awful quests from her stepmother and having an envious and loving relationship with her sisters. This story is a satirical version of The Twelve Huntsmen fairy tale published by the Brothers’ Grimm, and the way tales are told by the characters is an absolute delight. There were so many secrets kept by the huntsmen, the king, and a lot of people that Melliot encountered, and the twists were well-written and enjoyable. There were honorable references of other fairy-tales that were incorporated flawlessly into the worldbuilding, and the dialogue was charming and funny. There were a lot of twists in this story, and they were expertly done. Overall, if you like complex characters, fantastic worldbuilding, great sibling dynamics, wonderful LGBTQ+ representation, and sweet romance with low on-page spice, then I would highly recommend this book. Here’s the link for more information: Amazon.com: This Princess Kills Monsters: The Misadventures of a Fairy-Tale Stepsister eBook : Herman, Ry: Kindle Store

This Princess Kills Monsters is a fun retelling of the Twelve Huntsmen and Rapunzel, where the Rapunzel character, Melilot, is sent off for a political match with a prince.

After what seems like a lifetime of doing her royal step-mother’s bidding (including a lot of dangerous quests that her sisters seem so much better at), Melilot is assigned to marry the prince from a faraway kingdom which needed one of the magical princesses for protection against the hybrid creatures that started coming out of the forest. When these creatures attack her in the woods on her way to her betrothed’s kingdom, Melilot takes the opportunity and claims that she is the princess’s handmaiden so that she can get to know the kingdom without the guides they might assign visiting royalty.

Alone and unaided for the first time in her life, Melilot faces mysterious magic, a very gender-segregated kingdom, and truths about her relationships, magic, and family in this fun fairytale retelling.

All-in-all, this story is a fun, quirky read for anyone who likes unexpected fairytales.

4.5 stars

The best bits:
- Feminist retelling
- Queer
- Badass characters
- ALL THE HUMOUR!!!!

This book was SUCH a good time. I gotta admit, the main appeal was the cover, but then i read the blurb and was sold. I am a sucker for a good fairytale retelling, and this one did not disapoint.

This Princess Kills Monsters is first and foremost a retelling of the Grimm Brothers' The Twelve Hunstmen, but it is full of references to pretty much every other tales there is. I was immediately taken with the Princess Bride-esque narrative and the meta about fairy tales, but more then that, the meta about princesses being told what do to and never being asked what they thought and what they wanted.

Princess Melilot, step daughter of an evil sorceress, is being told she has to set off to a different kingdom, where she is to marry the newly appointed king, King Gervase. Along the way, after her pumpkin carriage and her teeth guards are attacked with wolf-spiders, she is rescued by the King's twelve huntsmen. Worried that the attacked was targetting her, she lies on her identity, and is escorted to the Tailliz palace. There she finds out that her future husband did not need a bride - he needed someone to rescue them from some sort of evil - but what HE doesnt know is that Melilot never grew into her magic.

What i loved about this? Pretty much everything. The characters are pretty great, even the villains, and especially the side characters. I mean, how can you not like a dragon riding princess and her stabby fairy wife, genderqueer hunts(men) and a talking lion with really really set views on gender (not that i agree with him!). Melilot's biggest power, i.e. the ability to grow her hair in times of extreme stress was also HILARIOUS to me. There are so many funny and weird things in this book this review could go on and on and on.

If you like sorcery, feminist tales, queer positive worlds and laugh out loud stories, i would definitely recommend this book. And while, yes, there is romance, it is not the main focus: the sorcery, humour, and saving the kingdom parts are front and center.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This book was a satirical retelling of the Twelve Huntsmen, while also interweaving many other fairy tales. The beginning was a little jumbled for me and found it hard to get into, but after a couple chapters it held my attention better. I’ve read books with this similar, very tongue in cheek monologue and it wasn’t my favorite. I will say the author did a good job pulling from many different stories, and would definitely say it is original!

I initially picked this for the cover, THIS IS THE ONE TIME IT LED ME RIGHT!! I really did like it and I would recommend it to anyone. If I wasn't broke and could purchase it, I would read this over and over again!

I wasn't sure about this story until about halfway through the book, and then... I was hooked. This was such a fun ride! The characters were hilarious and the adventure was absolutely ridiculous - in the most positive way possible. The storytelling was great, and I found the relationship between the main character and her evil stepmother to be quite touching. I especially appreciated the acknowledgements, at the end, of all the individual European fairytales from which the author drew inspiration.

In this hilarious retelling of The Twelve Huntsmen, we follow Princess Melilot, and she’s extremely tired of being sent on ridiculous and dangerous quests that she can’t complete by her stepmother. Things take a strange turn when she’s told that a marriage to some king she’s never heard of has been arranged. Not only was her journey just to meet this king an adventure she’d like to forget, but she’s now also saddled with a strange group of identical huntsmen who are extremely suspicious of her. At least her fiancé's sister is hot, right? Wait. That’s not who Melilot’s here to marry!

Honestly, this book had me at a satirical lesbian retelling of "The Twelve Huntsmen." I knew I was in for a real treat! We follow Princess Melilot in a story peppered with nods to other fairy tales. There were a few easter eggs that flew over my head, but that’s because I’m not familiar with all of the fairy tales that were referenced. That said, it was a lot of fun spotting each reference whether or not I was familiar with the fairy tale in question. If that isn’t your thing, this might not be the book for you, but if you’re looking for a hilarious story that doesn’t take itself seriously and you also love fairytales, I highly recommend it.

This was such a fun read. I love how whimsical it was while remaining absolutely hilarious. I really liked Melilot from the start. The fact that King Gervase couldn’t recognize his ex-fiancé just because she wore pants was utterly delightful. The romance was cute and heavy handed but still done really well. Above all, it’s just a hilarious read. I had so much fun reading about all the different characters and their shenanigans. It was so much fun and the perfect book to round off 2024 with.

Girl power fairytale retelling? Yes! Sign me up!

This is a feminist retelling of "The Twelve Huntsmen" mixed with all sorts of other (mostly Grimm) fairytales. While the story itself has the huntsmen tale running in the background, the narrator/protagonist is actually a mix of all of the female heroines from other stories. The author did a great job of pulling in all of the best story details and turning them into a fiercely girlpower narrative.

I thought this was great. I love fairytale retellings, and this one definitely delivers. I would recommend it to anyone that likes fairytales.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC of This Princess Kills Monsters. I was drawn in by the pretty cover and was even more interested when I read the description. I love fairytale retellings, and would recommend this book to anyone who feels the same. I really liked how the author seamlessly blended multiple tales together. The story was silly and fun, and I like how whenever it got too silly, the characters acknowledged that what was happening was crazy. The one criticism I have is that the description mentions Melilot fighting attraction to her fiance’s sister, I would have liked to see that relationship explored more. I loved her relationship with the huntsmen though. I’m pretty sure this book is a stand-alone, but I would love to read more books about the other characters.

A fun take on fairytales, with lots of tongue in cheek references! I liked the different take and the characters were interesting- the romances were great too! A very fun read overall.

I found this book really endearing and I very much enjoyed reading it. I will also say that the style in which it is written will not be for everyone and if it had not been executed as well as it is, I might not have liked the writing style.

As it is, I found the storytelling to really add to the fairy tale vibes. I loved catching the little callouts to classic tales. I found the tone just silly enough to work without being annoying.

This pulls in large elements from classic tales to craft a story about a princess who is sent off to marry a prince and fails spectacularly in the best way.

This is the definition of a fun read.

Easy, Mostly lighthearted. Funny. Enough heart to make the emotional scenes have an impact.

Every single part of this narrative works. It just does. From the whimsical nature, to the goofy magic, to the meta fairytale references, to the heartfelt exploration of complex blended family dynamics, childhood jealousy of siblings, and growing up feeling like the odd-woman-out. It's a complicated balance, and Ry Herman does it seamlessly.

The only complaint I had was that the romance could have used a little more exploration, but then again, the romance wasn't a big part of the story, and it did read very much like a classic fairytale romance. Sort of instantaneous, very pure of heart, very courtly love-coded. It wasn't such an issue that I would knock a star off the rating.

This book reminded me of I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle, which was one of my favourite books I read this year. Tonally, it's in line with the self-aware fun fantasy of Galavant and The Princess Bride and Ella Enchanted. I think if you liked any of those, this would be a perfect book to add to your TBR.

Overall, this was a simple and funny read, toeing the line between comedy and cozy fiction. I really enjoyed the story and the creative insertion of classic fairytale elements (from Rapunzel to Goldilocks), adding modern and light hearted commentary to stories we all know well.

The only downside is that by the end I felt like I was reading the same page over and over, as the story and conversations became a bit repetitive.

I loved the cover and I’m a sucker for fairy tale re-tellings. I couldn’t get behind how quirky the writing was at the beginning but it evened out and became enjoyable. I liked the idea for the story but the long-winded battle scenes were super tough to get through. I think it was just long blocks of action then some dialogue and story then longer blocks of action that were a bad time. I’m glad I read this though!

I received this from net galley in exchange for a review.

Funny Sexuality-Bending Parody of Grimm Tales

Another pretty cover with a delicate design. I am tempted to attempt this type of drawing. I think I would have to do simple brush strokes over a cloned photo that combines elements like a castle, a dragon, a river… It’s very tempting to try this in Corel Painter, which I think would be suitable. The “book design” is “by Alexis Flynn”. His Instagram page says that he is a Royal College of Art PhD researcher. His paint-on-paper drawings are abstract.
As if in response to my earlier remarks about bending Celtic theology, this book opens with a quote from Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s “The Twelve Huntsmen” (1812), perhaps to show that the author has read this original story. Then, the “Prologue: The Tale of the Twelve Hunters, as It Has Been Inaccurately Recorded” directly indicates in this title that the interior of this book will not adhere to the dimensions for these characters that were set in the original. The rest of this prologue is written in a simple language, but it does delivery a pretty funny satirical parody of the initial tale by describing realistic emotions that would be going through the mind of a girl who is abandoned by a finance for another woman, and to get revenge gets together 11 girls that look like her, and has the 12 of them dress as men and pretend to be huntsmen. This is an example of simple language actually conveying a coherent, funny story (closer to Patterson), as opposed to other light-density novels that are not only light, but also stumble around in boring formulaic phrases.
“A princess with a mostly useless magical talent takes on horrible monsters, a dozen identical masked heroes, and a talking lion in a quest to save a kingdom—and herself—in this affectionate satire of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale The Twelve Huntsmen.” What? The princess fights the “heroes”? Doesn’t this mean that they are the villains from her perspective? Ah, after reading the prologue, I understood that the other huntsmen are her “twins” or lookalikes, and thus heroes like herself. But then, why would she need to take them on, when they are a gift who would in theory do as she commands, especially since they did agree to dress up as huntsmen for her… Ah, the rest of the summary clarifies that the heroine of this novel is the new fiancé, and not the old one who the prince/king abandoned to marry Princess Melilot. So, from her perspective, the huntsmen are the villains trying to kill her for the old fiancé to be able to marry her guy…? It really shouldn’t be this much work to figure out what the summary of a book is trying to say.
“Someone wants to murder Princess Melilot. This is sadly normal. Melilot is sick of being ordered to go on dangerous quests by her domineering stepmother. Especially since she always winds up needing to be rescued by her more magically talented stepsisters. And now, she’s been commanded to marry a king she’s never met. When hideous spider-wolves attack her on the journey to meet her husband-to-be, she is once again rescued—but this time, by twelve eerily similar-looking masked huntsmen. Soon, she has to contend with near-constant attempts on her life, a talking lion that sets bewildering gender tests, and a king who can’t recognize his true love when she puts on a pair of trousers. And all the while, she has to fight her growing attraction to not only one of the huntsmen, but also her fiancé’s extremely attractive sister.” In my research in Renaissance literature I found that dramatists tended to be homosexual, so plots where characters cross-dress should be taken as cross-dressing done by sexually-fluid characters, or those who want to attract these. Male homosexuality was punishable by death, but only men could work as actors, so it was necessary for them to cross-dress in nearly every play. And thus cross-dressing became a legal method of advertising a sexual preference. Thus, this turn from cross-dressing to lesbian love in this novel is suitable. “…If Melilot can’t unravel the mysteries and rescue herself from peril, kingdoms will fall. Worse, she could end up married to someone she doesn’t love.”
There are some good jokes throughout. I laughed at a paragraph about the princess (in first-person) starting “the tedious process of gathering a thousand teeth. After a few days spent dickering with dentists, I didn’t have anywhere near enough, so I started going door to door.” More details on this attempt follow. It’s great when fantasies seriously consider what the magical elements being described would be like if tried in reality. Though as I searched further into this book, most passages turned out to be hollow: repeating reflections about the points raised in the blurb. The beginning of chapters and sections appear to have been deliberately cleaned up with especially vivid details, like the pumpkin “turned carriage” that “lurched violently” in “Chapter Four: Going Places Is Bad, and You Shouldn’t Do It”. Though a few pages into this chapter, a random paragraph displays a wolf with “too many black, lidless eyes” and “eight legs”, with many other odd features, which is a fantastical sight to imagine. The dialogue explains this is a “spider wolf”. I think a teenager would enjoy reading this book. It’s full of silly incidents and ideas that draw a reader in.
—Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Fall 2024: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-fall-2024

This book re imagines several different classic Grimm's fairytales and twists them sideways and inside out. While the essence of the story remains everything is shaken to its core and made anew. The story is strong parts "Rapunzel" for our main lead. But the story also brings in lesser known favorites such as Grimm's "The Twelve Huntsmen", "How Six Men Got on in This World" and "The Six Servants".

The focus of the story is Princess Mililot. She has spent her young adulthood being sent on dangerous and impossible quests by her domineering stepmother. Usually these quest end up causing problems and she ends up needing to be rescued by her more magical stepsisters.

Now her mother is commanding she marry a king she's never met in a far away land. Things take a strange turn though when her carriage gets attacked by spider-wolves. Instead of her sisters rescuing her she is instead rescued by twelve eerily similar looking masked huntsmen.

There is more to the huntsman than they seem though, and Miliot will need all the help she can get. When she arrives at her soon to be husband's castle there are near constant attempts on her life. There is also a strange talking lion who is so focused on testing the gender of the huntsman. And a king who can't recognize his true love when she cross-dresses.

If the attempts on her life aren't enough to deal with. She also must deal with being attracted to one of the huntsmen and her fiance's extremely attractive sister Angelique.

Miliot must unravel the mysteries of this new kingdom to save the lives of her new friends. And to save herself from being married to someone she doesn't love.

This book started out slow for me. But I'm glad I stuck with it. It was queer and subversive and so so funny. I especially enjoyed the villain at the end and didn't see the twist coming. I especially love the parts where the characters explain their lives by telling each other stories. It reinforces the idea of the power of stories and fairy tales that is woven throughout the book. I encourage readers to get past the somewhat slow start because the rest of the book is so very worth your time. It is five stars for the themes it brings up and its diverse and engaging characters.

I especially enjoyed the way the author made things extra queer. Not only was the main lead bisexual. but there was also trans representation within the main cast. While the villain was also queer I didn't have a problem with it. This was because their reason for being evil had nothing to do with their queerness instead their reason was well backed by the plot.

This quirky retelling of a Grimm fairtytale is absolutely delightful!

I love seeing a female main character in a fantasy, and one who has so much personality!
You're rooting for her all the way through.

I am not usually a fantasy reader, but this book kept my interest all the way through!

This Princess Kills Monsters is chock full of homage to fairy tale stories we're deeply familiar with, heavy on modern-adjacent banter and narrative, and a handful of lovely little queer touches.

The book focuses on Melilot, resident middle child and princess of a mountain kingdom. She's called by her stepmother—a Melilot proclaimed evil sorceress and queen—and told that she's to marry a new King from a distant land. That king was ordered to ask for her hand by his dead father, except he was previously engaged to another that he truly loved, and SHE isn't taking the marriage being called off lying down.

It sounds like a lot, and it is—and you get all of this information in the first chapter.

This was a fun book that wasn't necessarily for me as a reader but I think many people will have a grand time with. The author has fun weaving references to all sorts of fairy tales in and out of the plot, which for me sometimes became a little much. It's definitely a plot heavy book over a character heavy book, with the author honestly doing more to add kooky lore to this wild universe than develop characters. The characters more than anything served as stand-ins (with a few delightful queer twists) for the ongoing plot. Every time I thought that things couldn't get more zany, they did—which was often for me a little bit jarring.

For me this wasn't necessarily helped by the plethora of added information. I think sometimes reading this book felt like more work than it needed to, not because the story wasn't fun but because there were too many odd things happening that you weren't entirely sure what you needed to retain for the sake of the plot. Weird creatures, 12 huntsmen who all look alike and who admittedly don't get enough character development that it's easy enough to remember which is which (including our main character who only barely is able to discern Jack, the former fiance of the king, and Sam, her love interest), existing within dream states where the narrator didn't entirely know what was real or not—all fun aspects to this book that put together definitely were a little too much for me.

I had a fun time with the primary romance between Melilot and Sam, and enjoyed the twist that came with Sam after what was implied in the original "story" iteration of the plot that came in the first chapter, and the dynamic with Melilot and her sisters was also fun and I wish we'd gotten a little more time and development with them, and with the King's sister, Angelique. There was a point where she told Melilot that she saw her as a sister, and so I knew time had passed at that point I wish we had gotten to see more of that development play out (particularly because the blurb for the book teased something potentially romantic with them—though I love Sam as the primary romantic interest I was definitely thinking there would be more conflict with this semi triangle situation).

The narration itself wasn't my thing either—but will be a ton of fun for those who love books like Gideon the Ninth, where the story measures together modern vernacular and quirky storytelling with a more classic setting that traditionally gets more "serious" narrative structure. For me it felt a little too close to traditional story book narrative, with some characters purposefully obtuse and reactions to oddities a bit blunt in a way that works for a shorter story that didn't work for me in a longer novel.

All in all, while this book wasn't necessarily MY thing I do think that there's an audience who will have a grand time on this adventure, laugh along with the absurdities and gags, and be thrilled to find queer stories normalized within fairy tale universes. 3.5 stars from me!

Thank you so much to Random House and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!