A review by shoni
The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning

adventurous lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Being stuck at work means reading this entire book in one sitting. Going in I had no expectations and while the title sounds interesting (and the reversible dust jacket I got is gorgeous) when I first started it I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it much. But with my fascination with royalty and my strong want to learn how to fight with a sword, this book kind of took hold of me. I will say, I do understand why this book at first glance gets compared to the princess bride. It has the core concepts of a princess, a stableboy, them caring for each other, and a loveable band of misfits… OH AND POISON. But aside from that it's very different. I also just kept thinking about the similarities to Descendant of the Crane by Joan He because the mysterious death of her father, her having to take the throne and just everything slowly revealing itself and going wrong at the same time just brought my mind back to that. 

At times I did feel like it was moving too fast with everything happening. Though after realizing that this is the first book in a trilogy it made sense as so much needs to be introduced in the first novel. The change in POV also threw me off as nothing indicated towards it and as it’s told in third person it made it even harder for me to be sure we switched POV. 

I did for awhile not realize that the MC is 16 and was shocked to realize that but this is coming from someone who didn’t read the summary of the book (where it clearly states that). Though also realizing that in a lot of fantasy with royals involved the women do often get married off young because they would stay true to the fact that a lot of women did get married young to be able to produce stronger heirs. 

Also the ending just makes me realize I need to get my hands on the second book asap because cliffhanger…
like I knew the general was just being way to suspicious and that she probably had something to do with everything. BUT THEN HER MOM COMING BACK AND BEING THE REASON LUCA LOST HIS MOM LIKE NO AND TO FIND OUT SHE LOVES THIS SON MORE THAN HER OWN CURRENT DAUGHTER UGH!