Damsel by Elana K Arnold
Publication Date: October 2, 2018
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 320
Rating: ★★
“The rite has existed for as long as anyone can remember: when the prince-who-will-be-king comes of age, he must venture out into the gray lands, slay a fierce dragon, and rescue a damsel to be his bride. This is the way things have always been.
When Ama wakes in the arms of Prince Emory, however, she knows none of this. She has no memory of what came before she was captured by the dragon, or what horrors she has faced in its lair. She knows only this handsome prince, the story he tells of her rescue, and her destiny to sit on the throne beside him. Ama comes with Emory back to the kingdom of Harding, hailed as the new princess, welcomed to the court.
However, as soon as her first night falls, she begins to realize that not all is as it seems, that there is more to the legends of the dragons and the damsels than anyone knows–and that the greatest threats to her life may not be behind her, but here, in front of her.”
Okay, so, this book . . . was not good. There was so much potential with the story but in the 300 pages it had to wow me, it failed. There are trigger warnings out the ass and do not even get my started on the shit-stain that is Emory. Originally, I had this book rated at 3 Stars but after discussing it with my coworker and bitching about it for a solid 20 minutes, I took it down to a 2 Star rating.
To start off, there are a ton of trigger warnings for this book. Sexual assault, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, hinted infidelity, and animal abuse. Not to mention some kind of weird sexual act with a stab would in a dragon, so I guess that is considered bestiality. So many rape threats. Like I said, trigger warnings out the ass.
Now, that the trigger warnings are out of the way, let me talk about the little shit that is Prince Emory. So, in the beginning, I had no issues with him. He is following tradition of going to slay a dragon, rescue a damsel, make the damsel his queen. The issues I ended up having with Emory came later. He liked to throw in Alma’s face that he saved her and he liked to use that as a bargaining chip, which is so not cool. He was verbally abusive. Emory would humiliate Alma and expect her to be thankful. I came to HATE Emory by the 100 page mark.
As I said above, I originally gave this book 3 Stars but took it down after really talking and thinking about it. This story had SO MUCH POTENTIAL and really fell flat for me. Alma had potential to be a strong character and I see what the author was trying to do with her but it just fell short. The writing was beautiful but the story was not. This is a case where the cover was beautiful and I had such high hopes of the insides being as stunning but, I was wrong. Remember, never judge a book by it’s cover.
seoullessreaders.home.blog 