Reviews

Damsel by Elana K. Arnold

lee_s's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


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readerlatte's review against another edition

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1.0

This book was a grey book with a grey world and in that world it was full of med that slayed dragons to find damsels but he had to have sex with the hole that his sword made in that dead dragon. (yep its not word for word but that's in there!!!).

lexofterrasen's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0


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ebelarge's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I wouldn't say this was a good book, but I liked it. Fairly predictable.

bookish_mrs_w's review against another edition

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DNF @ 33%
First of all, I have to say, the cover is beautiful! I love this cover. However, I tried to slug along through this and I couldn’t get through more than a few pages at a time. I couldn’t stand the writing, and I couldn’t stand how pompous and simple minded the author made the Prince/King sound. I normally try to avoid reading reviews while I’m reading a book, but I had to go back and see if I missed something about this book when I bought it. The reviews confirmed my suspicions in both the positive and negative reviews. I’m all for feminism, but using feminism to shame ALL men and society frustrates me. I won’t be finishing this piece of propaganda trash, especially when it is marketed to Young Adults and pulls in young girls with a pretty cover.

abigailryan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thepaige_turner's review against another edition

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1.0

Received a free copy from the publisher, unsolicited. Obviously. This is no way influences my opinion. Again, obviously.

Awful. Terrible. Triggering. Disgusting??

Hey guess what Emory and Donkey from Shrek have in common; they both had sex with a dragon.

There were so many loose ends to this and parts from the very beginning, straight through the entire thing that put me on edge. Why did I even bother finishing it? Because I wanted to know for sure that Ama would kill everyone. And did she?? We have no idea because the ending was like "oh a dragon flew away. Poetry" or some garbage like that.

I had originally read this because there is a lot of hype surrounding Red Hood, that's going to be coming out this year but I'm so disgusted right now that I don't think I'll be reading anything by this author again.

Look, I get what the story was TRYING to do (keyword: trying) but come on. At a certain point subtleties fall away and straight up disgusting and abusive behavior take over which have no place in a YA book. Honestly, shame of the publisher for even printing this.

We're 10 days into the new year and I already know this is going to be one of my most hated books of 2020, possibly all-time.

jenntyn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

anely73's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

lermonysnickers's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I actually kind of loved this book but it does have 2 particularly massive flaws. To start, it was published as a YA book under a children's imprint. This book does not belong in the same room as a children's imprint and I'm baffled as to how and why they thought it would be a good fit. Damsel is an adult book because of the graphic abuse that is depicted on page. Which brings us to the second issue. Though feminist themes and messages can be found throughout the story, no overtly feminist actions are taken until the very end. And I mean the VERY end. The first 95% of this novel is just women suffering under patriarchy and being horrifically abused and I don't think that's a good balance, especially when the ending could have done a lot more than it did both for the outcome of Ama's liberation, but also the liberation of all women in the kingdom suffering under this system.