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A review by jafinc
Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
4.0
Note: I am not sure how to review Damsel without giving away some aspects of it, so I will give a general spoiler warning. I try not to explicitly reveal plot points, but just in case, potential spoilers ahead.
Damsel starts off like your average fairytale: a prince (Emory) is on his way across a grey barren land to slay a dragon and rescue a damsel. It is a tradition that has been done for as long as any one can remember. For a prince to become a king, he must slay a fierce dragon and return triumphant with the woman who will become his bride.
But that’s where the similarities between fairytales and Damsel end. As soon as our damsel wakes up astride a horse and in the arms of Prince Emory, no memory of her life or even her name before that moment, you can tell that this won’t be your average fairytale. This is apparent a little before, but becomes evident when *he* chooses her name for her: Ama.
The feeling of wrongness grows as the story progresses, as Ama is introduced to the former damsel and Queen Mother, as she tries to settle into life at the castle and learn her place in it and the expectations that everyone seems to have of her, as her future becomes clearer the more she learns about the women who have come before her.
“Ama was, she saw, both terrifically important and terribly insignificant, in equal measures, at exactly the same time.”
It is dark and unsettling and beautiful and tragic. Ama’s story, her position, as a damsel, as a women, is so close to home for a lot of women out there. The idea in the kingdom that just because things have always been a certain way, they should continue to be so, is one that is prevalent in a lot of societies. Traditions are important, they can be fundamental in understanding cultures and histories and lives, but some traditions are detrimental to growth. And many traditions seem to exist at the expense of women.
“That is the way of being a woman, to carve away at herself, to fit herself to the task, but, also, to be able to carve herself in a different way, when a different shape is needed.”
I’m rambling, I know, and not really discussing the book, but it contains so much commentary on the role of women and the view and burden of expectation of them that I can’t help it.
“You see, Ama, it is for men to create. It is for men to decide. It is for men to speak. It is your place to listen, and follow, and gestate. And those are no small things! For without women to listen, how would the men’s words be heard?”
Ama, our damsel, is strong and sympathetic and kind and hopeful. She begins the story with a certain naïvety having no other option but to trust what she’s being told, the stories of her rescue.
“She did not know where she had started, or what she had been, but she knew it was not this.”
Emory, our prince, is caught up in his own privilege, his inflated self-worth and entitlement being backed by a system that’s been rewarding him and his male ancestors for as far back as the memory of the land goes.
“It did not matter if she believed him. What she believed would change nothing.”
The language was beautiful, sadness and a sense of loss serving as the undercurrents of the story. The characters that surrounded Ama were alive, though most you can’t help but dislike (for reasons that make more sense if you read the book). The sense of unease that Ama feels is palpable. And the ending? Bittersweet and triumphant.
It is not an action heavy “fairytale”, nor is it romantic in anyway, despite the dragon and the prince. The journey Ama goes through, and it is very much Ama’s story, despite the initial chapters from Emory’s POV, is one of discovery. It is about gaining knowledge and truth and power, as well as a story of control. Both the lack of control women in the kingdom and Ama have of their lives, and the ways they find to take control. Some of these ways, you discover, are not at all pleasant. In fact, a lot of the incidents that occur in this book are horrifying, leaving the reader uneasy and nauseated. There are, among other things, mentions of self-harm, incidents of sexual assault, and animal cruelty.
“Secrets, like memories, do not disappear just because they are buried by snow or time or distance.”
It’s a quick read, though a bit emotionally straining, and more than worth it. This is especially true if you’re into subverting traditional stories of knights in shining armor and damsels in distress. It is a beautiful story. It is a terrible story. It is a powerful and brutal story. It is an important story. It is all these things at once and so much more.
Damsel starts off like your average fairytale: a prince (Emory) is on his way across a grey barren land to slay a dragon and rescue a damsel. It is a tradition that has been done for as long as any one can remember. For a prince to become a king, he must slay a fierce dragon and return triumphant with the woman who will become his bride.
But that’s where the similarities between fairytales and Damsel end. As soon as our damsel wakes up astride a horse and in the arms of Prince Emory, no memory of her life or even her name before that moment, you can tell that this won’t be your average fairytale. This is apparent a little before, but becomes evident when *he* chooses her name for her: Ama.
The feeling of wrongness grows as the story progresses, as Ama is introduced to the former damsel and Queen Mother, as she tries to settle into life at the castle and learn her place in it and the expectations that everyone seems to have of her, as her future becomes clearer the more she learns about the women who have come before her.
“Ama was, she saw, both terrifically important and terribly insignificant, in equal measures, at exactly the same time.”
It is dark and unsettling and beautiful and tragic. Ama’s story, her position, as a damsel, as a women, is so close to home for a lot of women out there. The idea in the kingdom that just because things have always been a certain way, they should continue to be so, is one that is prevalent in a lot of societies. Traditions are important, they can be fundamental in understanding cultures and histories and lives, but some traditions are detrimental to growth. And many traditions seem to exist at the expense of women.
“That is the way of being a woman, to carve away at herself, to fit herself to the task, but, also, to be able to carve herself in a different way, when a different shape is needed.”
I’m rambling, I know, and not really discussing the book, but it contains so much commentary on the role of women and the view and burden of expectation of them that I can’t help it.
“You see, Ama, it is for men to create. It is for men to decide. It is for men to speak. It is your place to listen, and follow, and gestate. And those are no small things! For without women to listen, how would the men’s words be heard?”
Ama, our damsel, is strong and sympathetic and kind and hopeful. She begins the story with a certain naïvety having no other option but to trust what she’s being told, the stories of her rescue.
“She did not know where she had started, or what she had been, but she knew it was not this.”
Emory, our prince, is caught up in his own privilege, his inflated self-worth and entitlement being backed by a system that’s been rewarding him and his male ancestors for as far back as the memory of the land goes.
“It did not matter if she believed him. What she believed would change nothing.”
The language was beautiful, sadness and a sense of loss serving as the undercurrents of the story. The characters that surrounded Ama were alive, though most you can’t help but dislike (for reasons that make more sense if you read the book). The sense of unease that Ama feels is palpable. And the ending? Bittersweet and triumphant.
It is not an action heavy “fairytale”, nor is it romantic in anyway, despite the dragon and the prince. The journey Ama goes through, and it is very much Ama’s story, despite the initial chapters from Emory’s POV, is one of discovery. It is about gaining knowledge and truth and power, as well as a story of control. Both the lack of control women in the kingdom and Ama have of their lives, and the ways they find to take control. Some of these ways, you discover, are not at all pleasant. In fact, a lot of the incidents that occur in this book are horrifying, leaving the reader uneasy and nauseated. There are, among other things, mentions of self-harm, incidents of sexual assault, and animal cruelty.
“Secrets, like memories, do not disappear just because they are buried by snow or time or distance.”
It’s a quick read, though a bit emotionally straining, and more than worth it. This is especially true if you’re into subverting traditional stories of knights in shining armor and damsels in distress. It is a beautiful story. It is a terrible story. It is a powerful and brutal story. It is an important story. It is all these things at once and so much more.