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thespacejamber's review
2.0
[I received a copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.]
The thing that high fantasy and historical writers tend to gloss over (or entirely erase) time and time again is this: queer people absolutely existed, regardless of social status. Princesses, even those that turn into dragons, absolutely fell in love with other princesses — and often. Luckily, Lizzie Colt’s debut novella, Tale of a Dragon Princess, allows readers the opportunity to see the development of one such sapphic relationship. However lovely the subject matter, though, there are quite a few significant issues within the novella’s execution that give me pause.
Following Princess Mellie, Tale of a Dragon Princess chronicles the experiences of one young woman faced with a dreadful curse placed on her as an infant. When night falls, she turns into a powerful ice dragon capable of freezing kingdoms. On the eve of the blue moon following her eighteenth birthday, Mellie and Adie — a princess from a neighboring kingdom — travel to lift the curse before she’s forced to live with it for good.
I absolutely cannot undercut how important it is for authors to tell stories of their own voices. As a fellow queer disabled lady, it was awesome to see solid representations of those identities. Mellie is described as only having had relations with women in the past, whereas Adie has enjoyed the presence of multiple genders. It’s rare that I see fiction that not only celebrates all sapphic identities, but also doesn’t pit them against each other, as if bisexual and lesbian folks need to fight to be The Best Sapphic Identity. I’m glad that Colt has recognized that this kind of solidarity is important, especially as a queer woman herself, and has included it in the novella.
Furthermore, Colt has included good disability representation through Adie, the warrior princess. Upon her first introduction to the audience, our attention is drawn to fingers on her hand that are underdeveloped and don’t function. Adie mentions that she’s continually underestimated as a warrior because of her disability, but also that she’s taken it in stride to become the strongest fighter she can. When she’s reintroduced later for Mellie’s journey, her fingers have been replaced with a prosthetic version that allow her to grip things and maneuver better. She’s not made a character to pity; she’s ready to kick ass.
While I do appreciate the wonderful representation for marginalized identities, I still think there’s a lot of room for improvement in the rest of the book. One of the more glaringly obvious things that could be improved is Colt’s proclivity to literally tell us, the readers, exactly what’s going on rather than showing us through the prose. The vast majority of the story’s action takes place within the confines of quotation marks from the characters’ speech rather than their actual interactions with each other. As a result, dialogue is often long and self-referential, with everyone essentially giving a long speech every time they talk.
Because actions are delegated to the dialogue, I found that character and setting descriptions, as well as plot structure significantly suffered. Any descriptions we’re given of any of the characters — Mellie, her parents, Adie — are very surface-level, reduced generally to just hair and eye color. Adie’s race, for instance, is not revealed into far later into the story, after she’s halfway through the journey with Mellie. In terms of the plot holes, I noticed that large swaths of time would pass between each of the chapters: sixteen years passes between the first and second chapters, then later another two-year jump. Each chapter feels more like a series of vignettes rather than following a linear timeline because of this. It made me feel like there was no sense of urgency with actions leading to a climax, then natural resolution, which is almost crucial in a high fantasy story.
Overall, I did think Tale of a Dragon Princess was cute and did a good job at turning the spotlight on some marginalized groups that often don’t get the attention they deserve. However, I felt like there was a fair amount of substance lacking in terms of everything else that makes a story engaging: world-building, character building, and plot structure. I think if Colt took the time to expand upon the world and societies she created, this story would be an excellent addition to my collection.
The thing that high fantasy and historical writers tend to gloss over (or entirely erase) time and time again is this: queer people absolutely existed, regardless of social status. Princesses, even those that turn into dragons, absolutely fell in love with other princesses — and often. Luckily, Lizzie Colt’s debut novella, Tale of a Dragon Princess, allows readers the opportunity to see the development of one such sapphic relationship. However lovely the subject matter, though, there are quite a few significant issues within the novella’s execution that give me pause.
Following Princess Mellie, Tale of a Dragon Princess chronicles the experiences of one young woman faced with a dreadful curse placed on her as an infant. When night falls, she turns into a powerful ice dragon capable of freezing kingdoms. On the eve of the blue moon following her eighteenth birthday, Mellie and Adie — a princess from a neighboring kingdom — travel to lift the curse before she’s forced to live with it for good.
I absolutely cannot undercut how important it is for authors to tell stories of their own voices. As a fellow queer disabled lady, it was awesome to see solid representations of those identities. Mellie is described as only having had relations with women in the past, whereas Adie has enjoyed the presence of multiple genders. It’s rare that I see fiction that not only celebrates all sapphic identities, but also doesn’t pit them against each other, as if bisexual and lesbian folks need to fight to be The Best Sapphic Identity. I’m glad that Colt has recognized that this kind of solidarity is important, especially as a queer woman herself, and has included it in the novella.
Furthermore, Colt has included good disability representation through Adie, the warrior princess. Upon her first introduction to the audience, our attention is drawn to fingers on her hand that are underdeveloped and don’t function. Adie mentions that she’s continually underestimated as a warrior because of her disability, but also that she’s taken it in stride to become the strongest fighter she can. When she’s reintroduced later for Mellie’s journey, her fingers have been replaced with a prosthetic version that allow her to grip things and maneuver better. She’s not made a character to pity; she’s ready to kick ass.
While I do appreciate the wonderful representation for marginalized identities, I still think there’s a lot of room for improvement in the rest of the book. One of the more glaringly obvious things that could be improved is Colt’s proclivity to literally tell us, the readers, exactly what’s going on rather than showing us through the prose. The vast majority of the story’s action takes place within the confines of quotation marks from the characters’ speech rather than their actual interactions with each other. As a result, dialogue is often long and self-referential, with everyone essentially giving a long speech every time they talk.
Because actions are delegated to the dialogue, I found that character and setting descriptions, as well as plot structure significantly suffered. Any descriptions we’re given of any of the characters — Mellie, her parents, Adie — are very surface-level, reduced generally to just hair and eye color. Adie’s race, for instance, is not revealed into far later into the story, after she’s halfway through the journey with Mellie. In terms of the plot holes, I noticed that large swaths of time would pass between each of the chapters: sixteen years passes between the first and second chapters, then later another two-year jump. Each chapter feels more like a series of vignettes rather than following a linear timeline because of this. It made me feel like there was no sense of urgency with actions leading to a climax, then natural resolution, which is almost crucial in a high fantasy story.
Overall, I did think Tale of a Dragon Princess was cute and did a good job at turning the spotlight on some marginalized groups that often don’t get the attention they deserve. However, I felt like there was a fair amount of substance lacking in terms of everything else that makes a story engaging: world-building, character building, and plot structure. I think if Colt took the time to expand upon the world and societies she created, this story would be an excellent addition to my collection.
iceprime5's review
4.0
This is a short story (~60 pages) that follows a cursed princess as she tries to understand her curse. The story mainly revolves around the princess Mellie and her friend Adie. The story is good and I would have loved if the story was longer to better expand on the plot and world. There isn't a lot of action and the end wraps up quickly; again, there are lots of areas for the story to grow if this were longer but it's a nice quick read.
tja055f6's review
2.0
I don't usually read F/F books usually when I read LGBTQ books it's M/M. But something told me to request this plus the description sounded too good to pass up. This book had so much potential I mean the storyline in itself was practically yelling "READ ME", but besides the great storyline, this book had nothing going for it. The characters were one dimensional, I knew nothing about them except they were gay and the princess turned into a dragon. My main problem was the book was just awkward especially the relationship that came out of nowhere. What you're in love? Um ok... Maybe if the book was longer I would've got something from it but instead, it just fell flat.
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