Damsel

Before I even get into this review.

CONTENT WARNING. DOMESTIC ABUSE. SEXUAL ASSAULT. ANIMAL ABUSE. GASLIGHTING. 

For all that, though, I loved this book. The protagonist suffers through all of that and perseveres. But it's important to expect those things going into this book, because the central plot of the book is our protagonist being severely gaslit, with the rest of the abuse being in support of that. I agree with other Goodreads reviewers that it's surprising it's being marketed as a Young Adult book because these themes are VERY adult.

So. With those caveats, this book was outstanding. The book opens on Prince Emory riding his horse towards the castle of the dragon, intending to slay it and rescue his future wife, as his tradition in his kingdom. Emory seems to be your typical prince, accomplished, at ease with his sword, his horse, and himself, yet there is the occasional part of his inner narration that comes off...oddly. He enters the dragon's castle, defeats the dragon, and leaves with his prize, a damsel who can remember nothing about herself or her past. A blank slate. Perfect for a queen-to-be.

But as Ama, so named by Emory, learns more about her new kingdom and future husband, and what her place will be, she realizes this is not what she wants. The more Emory tries to convince her that it IS what she wants, the more we get into the abuse factor of the book.

It's very well done. It's a dark fairy tale, it's a consistent metaphor for - well, humanity's treatment of women, really. Sit down, shut up, look pretty, and birth the next generation. You are important because only you can do that, but don't let it give you uppity ideas. All that kind of patronizing misogyny.

I really loved this book, but it's definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and the triggers might be too much for some of the people who WOULD otherwise like it. So know that going in.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

My first DNF book.
Men are bad, men are bad.
Yes, we know we are bad, that's why we started to shave our testi**es with Gillette!

When the king dies, his son must “slay” a dragon and save the damsel. Then he becomes king and marries the damsel. That's the tradition anyway.

This book is disturbing. The story itself was ok, but the many references to the prince's “yard” were crazy. I actually laughed at those parts although I don't think that was the intention. The women are just property or “vessels “. Like I said, disturbing. That stuff aside, it was ok.

Hey this book is good! It makes me want to write papers about how good it is...

I got about 1/3rd into this and insisted that my coworker tell me if the cat dies!!!!!!

the cat does not die but whew there are some perilous situations

anyway WHEW this is a gripping read. Difficult, emotionally speaking (and not only for cat-related reasons), but gripping. A lot of content warnings here, but in the right hands/setting could be great for a class on fairy tales/gender/etc.

but also like yo at the end of the day, the king fucked that dragon's armpit wound though like wow though

The blurb does not lie. This is truly a dark, twisted, unforgettable fairy tale, and I love it in all its nasty glory. There will definitely be people who find this sickening, because the nastiness is what makes this book beautiful. There is no romance here. If anything, this is more like the unraveling of a potential romance.

The story starts with our prince in the middle of a quest to slay a dragon and rescue a damsel, who later on wakes up in the arms of the prince with no memories. As he brings her back to his kingdom to become his queen, however, she quickly realizes that it's... not the happily ever after kind of life she's heading into. The kingdom has questionable views of women, the men are nasty with fragile masculinity, and the prince himself quickly turns into a sexual predator.

Through the entire book, Prince Emory constantly belittles and talks down to Ama. He judges her openly, jumps on every chance he gets to molest her, humiliates her in front of everyone in the castle, threatens to kill her pet lynx, and later on even hits her when she refuses to play by his rules. Plus, we later find out that Ama is the dragon, whom Emory turned into a human by raping her via a sword cut. You read that right. He raped the dragon by proudly inserting his pee-pee into a wound. He also demands her to thank him for this, because he "made her beautiful".

I picked up this book knowing exactly what I was going to get, and it feels weirdly satisfying to see Emory acting like a completely irredeemable asshole that I was expecting him to be, even more so whenever Ama questions his behavior despite the acceptance he drilled onto her. I read this to the end expecting Emory to get punched in the face for all the nasty things he's done, and in that aspect the book does not disappoint at all. In fact, the ending is SO satisfying.

Read this if you want to see trash men getting what they deserve.

3.5 stars