The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning | DNF Review

The Princess Will Save You
by Sarah Henning
Series: The Princess Will Save You #1
Published on July 7, 2020 by Tor Teen
ISBN: 9781250237422
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

A PRINCESS
A STABLE BOY
A QUEST

When her father dies, Princess Amarande is given an ultimatum: Marry the leader of one of the four neighboring kingdoms, or lose her crown—and possibly her life. And to force her hand, her beloved, the stable boy Luca, is kidnapped.

But Amarande was raised to be a warrior, not a sacrifice.

And nothing will stop her from saving her true love and rescuing her kingdom.

The acclaimed author of Sea Witch turns the classic damsel-in-distress tale on its head with this story of adventure, identity, and love.

This Princess is No Westley

Oof. I had such high hopes for this book.

For the record, I wouldn’t say that the fact that I left The Princess Will Save You unfinished is a black mark against the book. Rather, I’ve just read a lot of YA fantasy (and love The Princess Bride) and simply wasn’t impressed. This is not a bad book but it didn’t stand out for me at all, and for what I read, I didn’t feel like it really owned up to the story it’s inspired by.

I picked up The Princess Will Save You primarily for the role reversal of “Buttercup” and “Westley.” I’m all here for young women taking their futures into their own hands. Princess Amarande (aka “Westley”) just didn’t live up to that. She’s all “I’m a warrior and I will only marry someone I love” which, look, princesses defying the whole marriage thing? Sort of over that. YA fantasy heroines who are great at fighting but not really anything else? Give me something new. I think this book will definitely appeal to a lot of readers but it’s something I’ve seen and read enough times to be over it.

But what really gets me is that I never actually got the sense that Amarande and Luca (aka “Buttercup”) had anything more than a crush on each other. There’s nothing to back up the true love argument. So when Luca being kidnapped is suddenly the turning point that pushes Amarande to do something, I couldn’t help but wonder why other than this book’s attempt to hint at the source material.

Also one of the things I LOVE about The Princess Bride is that it’s a bit campy (at least in terms of the movie) but in general, there’s humor. There’s ups and downs rather than all seriousness standard fantasy journeying which is what this book presents. I was missing that and I think that’s sometimes the struggle with writing a book that’s close to the original like I think this was meant to be.

Not that I can say it succeeded on that front but I think there was an attempt made and I started seeing some of the moments from The Princess Bride later on.

I enjoyed the writing style, and the quick chapters moved things along, but I finally gave up around the 60% mark. Perhaps the story gets better after that but considering I didn’t feel invested in it or the characters for over half the book, I’m not sure I’d have enjoyed it any more sticking through to the end.

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About Austine

I'm a 20-something research proposal developer with a background in the life sciences and education. Reviewer of books since 2011, amateur photographer by day, and aspiring author by night. I believe animals (and books) are better than people.