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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
For a YA fantasy, which aren't usually my cup of tea, this was quite good! The love between Amarande and Luca is gentle and sweet but deep. It serves as the primary motivation for both characters. I'm interested to see what the crew of Amarande, Luca, Ula, Urtzi, and Osana get up to now that they are faced with a continent on the verge of war and a usurper to Amarande's thone.
I really enjoyed reading The Princess Will Save You. I always was so frustrated at how useless Buttercup seemed in The Princess Bride, I love seeing a female character who is actually active in the adventure. I also love seeing the pair as an equal team, fighting their way through challenges. Though inspired by The Princess Bride, The Princess Will Save You stands on its own. A very involved storyline that has so many twists and turns you will not want to put the book down. The characters are very enduring, I wish I had more time to get to know them.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for adventure, intrigue, and (of course) young romance.
Have fun storming the castle!
I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for adventure, intrigue, and (of course) young romance.
Have fun storming the castle!
I can excuse books where I know what's going to happen along the way, those can still be fun books to read. But all the characters were so one demential in this one. Half of what happened was unnecessary for plot (and there was no character development). I went into it figuring it would be a 3 star read for me but hoping it would surprise me, but it just kept making me more annoyed as I went on sadly.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A Princess Bride inspired story? SIGN ME UP! The first book in the duology and oh boy was it amazing! The story follows princess Amarande of Ardenia as she deals with the mysterious sudden death of her father and is given the ultimatum: marry a stranger at sixteen or lose the crown. Amarande was raised to be a warrior and after failing to get the council to change the law to allow her to rule without being forced to marry a stranger she must also deal with another threat.... her childhood friend and true love, stable boy Luca is kidnapped and she is threatened that if she does not marry one of her suitors he will be killed. But Ama is not having any of that, threatening her and threatening those she loves? Big mistake. Now Ama must go on a journey to rescue her stable boy, fight off bandits, and thwart the attempts by maniacal princes. I absolutely adored this story and AMA!!! SHE WAS SUCH AN AMAZING PROTAGONIST! I loved her ferocity and her strength. I loved how much faith Luca had for her and I just enjoy where the love between two people is just understood. They love each other and have faith in one another and that is just wonderful. Seriously READ THIS!
This book has been on my TBR for awhile, so when I was approved for an eARC of book #2 I figured it was the perfect time to pick up The Princess Will Save You. I have loved The Princess Bride film since I was young, so I was obviously very excited to see a YA feminist twist on the tale.
The retelling aspect started out strongly with Princess Amarande and her stable boy Luca in love, the prospect of arranged marriage for Ama, and most importantly Luca’s kidnapping, which I was actually SO excited about. Who doesn’t love the idea of Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo reimagined as a band of teenage outlaws? And to make the twist even cooler, Inigo’s character was a sword-wielding young woman, which I loved. While the personalities of these young pirates were not nearly as memorable as the characters in the film, the introduction of this cast of characters combined with the political intrigue and the promise of adventure made for a compelling start.
Unfortunately the middle portion of the book did not captivate me quite as much as the beginning. The plot meandered on its way to reunite Amarande and Luca, adding a clump of subplots and scenes that introduced side characters and worldbuilding elements that barely affected the overall plot, if at all. For all its desolation, the Torrent was not nearly as impressive of a setting as the Fire Swamp, and The Princess Bride references became scarcer or just harder to detect. Prince Renard was not as detestable a villain as the film’s infamous Prince Humperdinck, though the unpredictable behavior of his cruel brother Prince Taillefer (who was a standin for the Six-Fingered Man) definitely heightened the stakes. (Although, and this is me being extremely nitpicky, Ama and Luca constantly remarked that Taillefer had a fox-like appearance, but the author chose to name his brother Renard which literally means “fox” in French…it made no sense to me lol.)
To my relief, the story found its mark again in the third act and turned back into the retelling I was hoping for. The action and tension were both nonstop, and I couldn’t wait to see how it all ended. Without getting into spoilers, there were moments where my heart broke and my mouth dropped open in shock from the twists and turns. Ultimately, it provided a great set up for book #2 and made me excited to dive into it in the next few months.
While the romance in this book was sweet, I would have liked to see it developed further both pre-kidnapping as well as after Ama and Luca’s reunion. As someone who reads a fair amount of Romance, I did not find myself swooning or smiling over Ama and Luca’s relationship, as much as I did want them to end up safe and happy. Hopefully this will be developed further in the second book as they continue to use their love to overcome every challenge thrown their way.
My last critique is around the POV switches in this book. The chapters are not labeled as they often are in multi-POV books, so it sometimes took me a paragraph or two to comprehend whose head I was in. While most of the story is told from Ama’s POV, we also get Luca’s POV as well as the POV of various side characters. Some of these side POVs were well-placed, but others seemed thrown in for the sake of exposition. Personally I would have liked a bit more consistency and intentionality with the POVs, however this did not ruin the book for me; it just wasn’t to my taste.
Overall, I would recommend this book for younger fans of YA Fantasy. I think it would have done well as a standalone retelling, but since I loved the ending of this book I am definitely looking forward to The Queen Will Betray You.
The retelling aspect started out strongly with Princess Amarande and her stable boy Luca in love, the prospect of arranged marriage for Ama, and most importantly Luca’s kidnapping, which I was actually SO excited about. Who doesn’t love the idea of Vizzini, Fezzik, and Inigo reimagined as a band of teenage outlaws? And to make the twist even cooler, Inigo’s character was a sword-wielding young woman, which I loved. While the personalities of these young pirates were not nearly as memorable as the characters in the film, the introduction of this cast of characters combined with the political intrigue and the promise of adventure made for a compelling start.
Unfortunately the middle portion of the book did not captivate me quite as much as the beginning. The plot meandered on its way to reunite Amarande and Luca, adding a clump of subplots and scenes that introduced side characters and worldbuilding elements that barely affected the overall plot, if at all. For all its desolation, the Torrent was not nearly as impressive of a setting as the Fire Swamp, and The Princess Bride references became scarcer or just harder to detect. Prince Renard was not as detestable a villain as the film’s infamous Prince Humperdinck, though the unpredictable behavior of his cruel brother Prince Taillefer (who was a standin for the Six-Fingered Man) definitely heightened the stakes. (Although, and this is me being extremely nitpicky, Ama and Luca constantly remarked that Taillefer had a fox-like appearance, but the author chose to name his brother Renard which literally means “fox” in French…it made no sense to me lol.)
To my relief, the story found its mark again in the third act and turned back into the retelling I was hoping for. The action and tension were both nonstop, and I couldn’t wait to see how it all ended. Without getting into spoilers, there were moments where my heart broke and my mouth dropped open in shock from the twists and turns. Ultimately, it provided a great set up for book #2 and made me excited to dive into it in the next few months.
While the romance in this book was sweet, I would have liked to see it developed further both pre-kidnapping as well as after Ama and Luca’s reunion. As someone who reads a fair amount of Romance, I did not find myself swooning or smiling over Ama and Luca’s relationship, as much as I did want them to end up safe and happy. Hopefully this will be developed further in the second book as they continue to use their love to overcome every challenge thrown their way.
My last critique is around the POV switches in this book. The chapters are not labeled as they often are in multi-POV books, so it sometimes took me a paragraph or two to comprehend whose head I was in. While most of the story is told from Ama’s POV, we also get Luca’s POV as well as the POV of various side characters. Some of these side POVs were well-placed, but others seemed thrown in for the sake of exposition. Personally I would have liked a bit more consistency and intentionality with the POVs, however this did not ruin the book for me; it just wasn’t to my taste.
Overall, I would recommend this book for younger fans of YA Fantasy. I think it would have done well as a standalone retelling, but since I loved the ending of this book I am definitely looking forward to The Queen Will Betray You.
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was actually so cute. It feels like fluff and honestly it’s perfect. This is the first book I’ve read from this author, and her descriptions are great but oftentimes her dialogue is painful. The title is actually accurate, as fmc has to save mmc like three times in a row (stop taking him from her; and I love Luca and he is really sappy but my guy needs to learn how to defend himself omg 😭). The plot twist/cliffhanger ending was great and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder
Minor: Child death, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Classism
I don’t think I loved this one. You ever read a book and think, “well, it’s fine, but I didn’t feel very strongly about it”? That was me. The writing was fine, I guess I just didn’t love what it was about.
The Princess Will Save You is about princess Ama running off to rescue her stable boy from kidnappers. It had a couple cute parts in it, but it was more of an action/drama. It’s a bit odd, because it’s A SMIDGE inspired by The Princess Bride (due to the nature of the romance between the princess and her stable boy), and there were even scenes like one with a torture dungeon and “mostly dead” that certainly harken back to The Princess Bride… but this is a drama and The Princess Bride is a comedy, so to me the Princess Bride is like a thousand times more enjoyable. Probably the best thing about this book is its cover art.
Also I think I might’ve been expecting more of a John Wick style murder rampage from Ama on behalf of her stableboy. And like, since we didn’t get that, I appreciated that she didn’t murder everyone because some of the “villains” actually ended up being nice people. But it wasn’t what I expected from the beginning.
The Princess Will Save You is about princess Ama running off to rescue her stable boy from kidnappers. It had a couple cute parts in it, but it was more of an action/drama. It’s a bit odd, because it’s A SMIDGE inspired by The Princess Bride (due to the nature of the romance between the princess and her stable boy), and there were even scenes like one with a torture dungeon and “mostly dead” that certainly harken back to The Princess Bride… but this is a drama and The Princess Bride is a comedy, so to me the Princess Bride is like a thousand times more enjoyable. Probably the best thing about this book is its cover art.
Also I think I might’ve been expecting more of a John Wick style murder rampage from Ama on behalf of her stableboy. And like, since we didn’t get that, I appreciated that she didn’t murder everyone because some of the “villains” actually ended up being nice people. But it wasn’t what I expected from the beginning.
I'll be honest, I've never seen The Princess Bride before. So I can't really compare this book with the movie that inspired it. Instead, I'm going to focus on how I felt about this book.
Soooo... I loved it. I think Sarah Henning is starting to become one of my new favorite authors. Yeah, there was a hint of predictability. And yeah, maybe the pacing was a bit slow in the middle buuuut, I just loved the plot and the intrigue. Sure, I didn't like Luca (he was too weak for my taste), but Amarande was a great heroine. She was strong but still vulnerable; young but firm in her beliefs. Honestly relatable for teens (and millenials, like me). Then there's Ula who you couldn't help but root for too. I honestly can't wait for the next book.
Soooo... I loved it. I think Sarah Henning is starting to become one of my new favorite authors. Yeah, there was a hint of predictability. And yeah, maybe the pacing was a bit slow in the middle buuuut, I just loved the plot and the intrigue. Sure, I didn't like Luca (he was too weak for my taste), but Amarande was a great heroine. She was strong but still vulnerable; young but firm in her beliefs. Honestly relatable for teens (and millenials, like me). Then there's Ula who you couldn't help but root for too. I honestly can't wait for the next book.