by Sarah Henning
Series: The Princess Will Save You #1
Published on July 7, 2020 by Tor Teen
ISBN: 1250237424
Format: eARC
When a princess’s commoner true love is kidnapped to coerce her into a political marriage, she doesn’t give in—she goes to rescue him.
When her warrior father, King Sendoa, mysteriously dies, Princess Amarande of Ardenia is given what would hardly be considered a choice: Marry a stranger at sixteen or lose control of her family’s crown.
But Amarande was raised to be a warrior—not a sacrifice.
In an attempt to force her choice, a neighboring kingdom kidnaps her true love, stable boy Luca. With her kingdom on the brink of civil war and no one to trust, she’ll need all her skill to save him, her future, and her kingdom.
Just Not Unique Enough to Make Me Keep Reading
The Highlights:
- Strong female lead
- Gender bent twist on The Princess Bride
- Pretty similar to so many other YA fantasies
- Very slow moving
Well. That was disappointing.
Look, just because I couldn’t finish The Princess Will Save You it doesn’t mean that I think this book will fall flat for most readers. I think that if I’d picked this one up years ago, before I’d become well-versed in YA fantasy, I maybe could have enjoyed it a lot more. But me now? The whole time I was reading I just couldn’t stop thinking to myself, “This has been done before.”
I love a strong heroine as much as the next gal does, I really do. But I just couldn’t get into Amarande as a lead character. She was so boring to read. Nothing about her screamed unique to me. Yes, she was strong, a fighter, and didn’t want to cave to the pressures of others. All qualities I respect. But I’ve read that same story so many times now. To the point that it frustrated me to realize there was nothing else about this character that made me cheer her on. Plus, the fact that she was a princess who refused to even consider marrying outside of true love drove me a little bit nuts. I mean, I get it, but also, royalty comes with responsibility so maybe think a little before throwing a fit.
Also, Luca, the love interest? Yeah, I really don’t even remember much about him because he was also very bland and boring. *sigh*
So I was bored reading this one. It happens. The thing that really pushed me over the edge was when I got almost a third of the way through, I remembered that The Princess Will Save You is supposed to be a gender bent spin on The Princess Bride. And I felt so let down that I’d gotten so far into the book without feeling even a hint of resemblance to the source material. The quick humor, lovable characters, campy excitement? None of that was there. It was so disappointing.
Do I think The Princess Will Save You was a terrible book? No, not really, but it definitely wasn’t for me. It wasn’t what I hoped for. Nothing about it stood out to me, and I will probably have completely forgotten about it by the end of the year. If you’re looking for a very formulaic YA fantasy, then you’ll actually probably love this one. But I wanted something different, something that grabbed me in a way other books hadn’t, and that just didn’t happen.
About Katie
I'm a twenty-something aspiring writer who really, really needs to get back to revisions. I've been reviewing books since 2014, and am determined to somehow make stories my day job. I truly think that every book out there contains something good and is meant for somebody.
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