Was immediately pulled in by this beautiful cover but to my pleasant surprise the story is just as wonderful!!

I can tell this is going to be a story that a lot of people love! Very reminiscent of the princess bride and the Brothers Grimm. Melilot is such a relatable endearing character that had me giggling and kicking my feet! A lovely feminist retelling with queer representation and a main character that will charm your pants off!

Wacky. Unabashedly queer. A wild romp of fairy tale parody, memey humour and some wisdoms about prejudice, tradition and how family is complicated. Fun but kinda forgettable.

Recommended for fans of humorous fantasy and satire of tropes, like Dreadful, Long Live Evil, How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying, That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon and similar.

Bonus points for queer rep including trans love interest and lesbian side characters.

Unfortunately this has the same weaknesses as many other comedic fantasies: inevitably the characters feel like 2-dimensional caricatures and the plot feels like a theme park ride ticking off attractions (tropes) from a list. But since I managed to finish it without quitting of cringe, I'm giving it a 4 for effort.

I seriously hoped Angelique would redeem herself, Gervase would abdicate and everyone would feast on a roasted lion in the end, but alas, this isn't that kind of book. Maybe I should just go watch Cinderella with Camila Cabello instead for some wacky fairy tale twist.

The cover is stunning though and enchantingly rainbowy, as suitable for a very queer book.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group: Dial Press Trade Paperback for the ARC!

Extremely funny. Even though this is a retelling, it’s managed to craft a unique story all on its own. The romance and LGBTQ+ representation is outstanding. This book took me away into a new world, that I wish I was a part of!

Retelling of the Grimm's Twelve Huntsmen. Melilot is being married off, but on the way to her betrothed, she is attacked. She's rescued by 6 of the 12 huntsmen, who don't really know who she is, but take her to the castle anyway. She pretends to be just a handmaid while trying to figure out if someone is trying to kill her, or if something else is going on in the kingdom.

This was such a fun read. There were mentions of so many other fairy tales. It was amusing and thrilling.

This book was super fun! I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I love how meta and tongue in cheek the writing was. It was a delightful fairytale romp, I loved the characters as well as the set tin and am interested in what else the author has written.

I would absolutely comp this book to "Kill the Farm Boy" Absolutely hysterical satire for people who love adventure fantasies.
Complex female character, who you root for from the start.

Really fun read. I really enjoyed the romance inclusion and all the little fairytale trope Easter eggs. Ending fell a bit flat for me, but not worth docking my rating.

This Princess Kills Monsters has a lot potential, and some great elements, but suffers from structural issues and some troubling themes.
Princess Mellilot, a classic "underfoot fairytale stepdaughter" type, is sent by her sort-of-evil, definitely-a-dictator stepmother to be wed to the king of a small, non-magical kingdom. Melilot is unremarkable compared to her very powerful sisters, and despite loving them, also kind of resents them. Arriving in the kingdom to meet her fiance, things immediately go wrong when Melilot is attacked by monsters, and realizes the kingdom is waiting for her to save the day (except they're under the impression she's strong like her sisters). From here, the book advertises there will be a love triangle between one of the king's mysterious twelve identical hunters and the king's smokin' hot sister. That's where the problems with this book begin to really show.

The Good:
- The contrast between the insane fairy tale world Melilot is from and the mostly-non-magical kingdom the story takes place in is excellent and often humorous
- The humor is sometimes painfully corny, but when it's not, it can be pretty funny
- Overall, mostly the concept, setting, and fairy tail backdrop are the biggest strengths. The world is fun.

The Bad (SPOILERS AHEAD) :
- The promised love triangle romance is executed so poorly as to basically not exist. The romance arc with Sam comprises nearly 90% of the book's content, with the promised sapphic romance elements in the synopsis boiling down to a couple of short scenes where Angelique says a flirty one-liner and Melilot blushes. This make the synopsis feel wildly inaccurate, which is frustrating on its own, but it leads to structural and thematic issues in the third act of the book.
- Sam's reveal that he's a trans guy is a bit of a thematic shift for the book, and I feel a little silly for not seeing it coming. I liked this reveal, and I like Sam as a character, but given how absolutely little time the supposed sapphic love interest was given, and the total lack of relevance Sam's trans identity has to any character arc, this felt a little bit like a "bait and switch" from "love triangle with sapphic romance" to "hetero romance, but the guy is trans even though it's never relevant, and the woman is bi, even though it's also never really relevant". 90%+ of this book's content is focused on a straight romance where the queer nature of the characters is largely inconsequential to the story being told. Unfortunately, when these queer themes do come to the surface, it's surprisingly kind of... thematically misogynist? Which comes to the next point.
- The lesbian love interest that's shunted to the side and is built on like... four pieces of dialogue between the two characters.. is revealed to be THE villain. The explanation has lots of feminist undertones... women in our settings are second class citizens with no power, no rights, and women can't inherit the throne. Oh wow, that's a huge problem, right? Maybe we should actually side with this usurper because she's the only one in a position of power that cares about the rights of women in her country, right? WRONG, she's INSANELY EVIL. Like, she immediately begins monologuing about how she's been kidnapping and torturing animals since she was a child and how she's willing to murder anyone and everyone solely because she wants power for the sake of power. Excuse me... What... the.. fuck?? So we've spent 90%+ of the story focused on a hetero romance, and even if we HAD given equal time to the sapphic love option, it doesn't matter because she's a serial killer animal torturing power hungry narcissist because... feminism?
- Casual misogyny abound. Grevase, the new king, presses back at every opportunity when a character is like "Hey, maybe.. women's rights?" with some variation of like "Well, it's too much, or maybe we'll talk about it later?" His love interest has to be literally bleeding to death and demanding it before he's like "Okay... I mean.. we'll try.. women's rights.. I guess.. if we have to." That's the side the reader is supposed to be cheering for. Even after knowing his sister, whom he relied on and brought to the kingdom for guidance because he didn't know how to rule, was targeting the rest of the family because she'd been denied the right to rule due to her gender, Grevase does... nothing? Isn't like "Oh shit, maybe she has a point, actually" and instead lets his fiance murder the shit out of his sister. King Grevase's response to his sister's death, ultimately drawing its cause all the way back to the oppression of women in his kingdom, is to FORBID ANY MENTION OF HER EXISTENCE. Bruh.
- The ending barely solved the core thematic issue of misogynistic oppression. The king begrudgingly lets his wife be a military leader and ends gendered segregation at her dying demand. And that's all the effort he takes. Setting up education and support programs for these women who were until now essentially baby factories? Well, that's his wife's responsibility, obviously. The king? He's going to keep his impossibly misogynist talking lion adviser in his position, but just... ignore him. Oh wait, except they're letting him give hours-long sexist diatribes at every royal meeting to discuss policy, and commission a second edition of his ultra ultra sexist book, which is like the entire UNDERPINNING of the sexist social and legal structure in their country. I am so sorry, because the bones of a good book are here, but this is a zero out of ten ending.
- The character arc for Melilot is kind of nonsensical. Like, yeah, her stepmother actually IS abusive, but maybe she actually DID abuse Melilot because she cared about her, and maybe actually she's AFRAID of Melilot who is now super powerful because really all she needed was to believe in herself... which she was only able to do because she... didn't have her abusive stepmother pointedly ruining her life. Melilot's abuse is hand waved away as like "Well there was no way to reach her and the queen ran out of options and what she did wasn't good but maybe she meant good" when it's like "Bruh, Melilot was a rebellious CHILD". She stands up to her stepmother after years of being neglected and abused "for her own good" and then is like "Well, maybe I'll still take quests from my stepmom, but only when I feel like it, and I'll do some traveling, but I'll probably come back and visit some every now and then". It just seems like the book's take on child abuse is like "maybe it's more complicated than we might think", which is frankly, just awful.

This was very sweet, fun, witty and feminist! The plot was a bit too slow at times for my taste but otherwise I had a great time.

A hilarious re-telling of the classic brothers grimm fairy tale "The twelve huntsmen" ! This was a really fun read, and I definitely recommend it just from how often I genuinely laughed!
While this was lighthearted and easy to read, I really didn't enjoy the main characters energy. She kind of reminded me of those really annoying spoiled brat kids you see on the internet.
Overall, if you can look past the character flaws, this isn't a bad read, but there are definitely some cringes and eye-rolls among the laughs

4.25 stars. This Princess kills monsters is a queer, feminist retelling of the Brothers Grimm 'The Twelve Huntsmen with a few other fairy tales mixed in as well. Honestly I had never heard of The Twelve Huntsmen story before this and it was really refreshing reading a fairy tale retelling that I've never seen done before. I really liked the humour in this book and how it pokes fun of fairy tales, like in a princess bride kind of way, I laughed out loud so many times.

Overall I thought this book was funny, magical and heartwarming. I would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys fairy tale retellings.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is a feminist and LGBTQ retelling of The Twelve Hunstmen fairytale. We meet Melillot, the queen/evil sorcerer’s step daughter. Melilla has two other sisters who seem to be better at everything they do compared to Melilot. They always end up saving her too when her adventures go awry. Then her stepmother tells her she is going to be sent off to marry a young king in a different land. Melilot and her stepmom do not get along very well, so she’s already upset about having to do another crazy task for the queen. Her carriage is attacked by spider wolves (honestly they seem a bit terrifying) and she meets 12 identical huntsmen who save her. They help her get to her new home but something is amiss.

This is really good for a light fantasy read. If you want something that takes it self seriously, don’t read this. This is part love letter and part satire of fairytales. It was fun getting most of the fairy tale references, and it was a quick read. The romance was a bit lackluster, which might be a killer for some. I did feel like the story dragged a bit until closer to 60/70ish percent. It’s definitely going to be a book that some really love but others won’t really like. It did feel a bit disjointed at times. I needed a light fantasy read so it did its job!

This post is live right now, 3/2/2025 on Goodreads, Fable (Book Club App), and Storygraph.

Sadly this book was not for me, I really really wanted to enjoy this books so much as the premise was very intriguing. However the writing style and pacing just wasn’t for where I needed it to be in order to keep me interested and hold my attention to keep reading. I ended up DNFing at about 50%.

3.5 stars

This book is a quirky, fun retelling of the Grimm's "The 12 Huntsmen" told from the perspective of the fiancé princess. It combines elements from multiple different fairytales and mentions all the typical fairytale tropes in passing at least once. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and so is generally funny, heartwarming and full of action.

What I liked... I thought the humor was great and there are definitely some laugh out loud moments. The characters are generally pretty good, with my favorites being Liam and Sam. I wish we could've learned more about them! I also liked the magic and that the 12 huntsmen all have different (and fun) abilities. And I liked the way the author wove in background stories as separate stories - I thought it was a nice touch that didn't make it feel like info dumping.

What I didn't like... Melilot (FMC) was probably my least favorite character in the book. She suffers from some extreme middle child / step child syndrome, which causes her to feel inadequate and lash out at her sisters and her step mother. Normally, I wouldn't have an issue with this (we all feel this way at times!), but my main problem is that she knows that she does this, recognizes it, tells everyone about it and yet... does absolutely nothing about it, except complain. So I really think there were opportunities for her to grow more that were left unexplored, making her character journey feel a bit incomplete. I also wish that there had been more opportunities to actually learn about and explore the huntsmen and their abilities, but I don't think there was enough space in the book.

Overall... I definitely think that you should read this book if you enjoy fairytale retellings! There are some fun twists as well, with complex family dynamics and some great trans rep. It combines an adventure and a battle with romance and humor, in a well balanced way. I really enjoyed reading this and it moves quickly, making for a fun read!

This princess kills monsters is a retelling of the Grimm brothers “the twelve huntsman”

I tried really really hard to get into this book but I just could not get into it or the retelling of the stories .

I DNF’d this book at 40% because of how bored I was and because it felt like a chore reading the book.

One of my main issues was that while being a retelling they constantly found moments to make fun of and badmouth the original fairytales which I didn’t much like, another big issue I have is nothing in this story was ever taken seriously which isn’t really for me I’m not a big comedy fan and much prefer the original fairytales.

Thank you Netgalley Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Dial Press Trade Paperback for the arc

I LOVED this modern take on fairy tales! It was exquisitely well written and so funny that I laughed out loud in several parts. I’m not much for fantasy stories but this was marvelous! Can’t wait to read so much more from this brilliant and fascinating author.

Thank you #netgalley for the ARC!

I devoured this book. I started reading it last night and stayed up way too late because I had trouble putting it down. So yeah, I ended up finishing it less than 24 hours from when I started reading it.

What did I enjoy the most? Was it the retelling of a fairytale I had always found super weird and delightful (The 12 Huntsmen)? Was it the humor? Was it the Easter eggs from many different fairytales? I think it was the combination of all of the above.

World building was fun, characters were a delight to get to know, and the story itself made wayyy more sense than the original (but that’s not a terribly high bar).

Pick up this book if you’re looking for a cozy, funny, warm, delightful read …. and if you’ve read those classic Germanic fairytales I venture your reading enjoyment will grow exponentially with each recognized reference.

This book is fantastic. It reminded me strongly of fantasy I read as a kid, but geared towards adults. The protagonist is witty, sarcastic, and funny, and the story is told in a conversational tone that made me feel like I was in the world. I enjoyed all the little references to different fairytale archetypes and themes. The plot manages to be suspenseful even though the reader is technically told how the story ends at the very start of the book. I would absolutely recommend this book to lovers of fairytales.

While described as a cozy retelling of The Twelve Huntsmen, this book weaves in numerous other fairytale references throughout the plot.

The prologue sets the tone, establishing a whimsical and absurdist storytelling style. Everything you’d expect from a fairytale happens, in a playful, humorous way. There are allusions to behind closed door romance, and glimpses and kisses between the FMC and two love interests with a HEA.

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately I did not. The main issue was its excessive length, both in wordiness and overall page count. While the absurdist style and chaotic plot were fun at first, they became tedious by the end. This made the pacing feel uneven, and I often found myself skimming.

Overall, I appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation, feminist themes, humor, and the variety of fairytale elements, but the book felt too long and wasn’t quite to my taste. I can see many readers loving it but it just wasn’t for me.

Spice 1.5/5
Plot 4/5
Writing 4/5
My Enjoyment 3.5/5

Review posted on Goodreads, romance.io, Instagram, Tome, personal blog, & will post on Amazon when available.

This was a really fun book. I enjoyed every minute reading this. I love fairytale retellings and this was just a fun take on that. It gives Shrek or Princess Bride type vibe the play it plays with tropes and characters we already know but turns them on their head. This book also had some great trans rep which I absolutely love. My only issue was the writing was a little oddly paced so it took a minute to get used to but it was definitely worth it. I plan to read the rest in this series and see where Herman takes this.