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A review by hyzie
Demon Princess by Kassandra Lynn
3.0
I may have accidentally read the entire book in one sitting without even stopping for water because I needed to see what happened. And I am remarkably okay with that, except now I am ready for the next one and it is going to seem like a ridiculously long wait.
I won't say that this book touched me deeply, but I was definitely drawn in quickly and it was hard to stop reading. It was fun, which is sometimes more than I can say about books, even books I genuinely like, and there will always be a place for fun books in my reading.
Adriana, our titular "demon princess", is actually more of a character than simply that, which is refreshing. It is an unfortunate thing I have noticed in YA fiction where once a character is given a "thing" that (s)he is, the author feels like they are done and no longer have to bother fleshing the character out. This is not true here, and it made it much easier to get inside Adriana's head and stay there happily.
She does not do knee-jerk reactions to things, she's capable of being patient and thoughtful and actually clever, and she's willing to re-evaluate things that she's heard all her life without falling into either the trap of immediately tossing everything (herself and her opinions included) aside OR refusing to look at things that contradict her previous beliefs. Thank you, Kassandra Lynn, for a YA main character that doesn't act like a complete idiot.
Because of all of this, I am significantly more invested in the romance that eventually starts to develop, and I'm much more willing to go along for that particular ride. Bonus points for it being a generally non-creepy romance, of course--I've seen a few too many books where the romance is treated as the pinnacle of the characters lives and is also a deeply unhealthy relationship besides. This does not do that.
I feel like I've spent a lot talking about what this book is not, which is good in that all the things I've mentioned are things I don't want my books to be, but probably not the most helpful in explaining what the book actually is.
It is a good read, certainly, and filled with characters that are different. A few of them fall into the "overly villainous villain" category, but it's the first book in a series and is in Adriana's viewpoint, so that gets some slack. The rest of the crop are interesting, and if we don't get to hear as much about them as would be helpful in fleshing them out, they also seem to be characters that actually have something there to flesh out, so that is a hopeful sign for future books in the series.
I really liked the whole "Wise Man, Savior, Warrior" part of the world. It felt a little like an RPG, but in a good way (is there a bad way it can feel like that, though? Just me?). I'm interested to see where that is going, and what may come of it. I'm thinking prophecies in the next book, maybe? I do love me some prophecies.
I'll be picking up the next book and probably swallowing it whole, as I did with this one.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I won't say that this book touched me deeply, but I was definitely drawn in quickly and it was hard to stop reading. It was fun, which is sometimes more than I can say about books, even books I genuinely like, and there will always be a place for fun books in my reading.
Adriana, our titular "demon princess", is actually more of a character than simply that, which is refreshing. It is an unfortunate thing I have noticed in YA fiction where once a character is given a "thing" that (s)he is, the author feels like they are done and no longer have to bother fleshing the character out. This is not true here, and it made it much easier to get inside Adriana's head and stay there happily.
She does not do knee-jerk reactions to things, she's capable of being patient and thoughtful and actually clever, and she's willing to re-evaluate things that she's heard all her life without falling into either the trap of immediately tossing everything (herself and her opinions included) aside OR refusing to look at things that contradict her previous beliefs. Thank you, Kassandra Lynn, for a YA main character that doesn't act like a complete idiot.
Because of all of this, I am significantly more invested in the romance that eventually starts to develop, and I'm much more willing to go along for that particular ride. Bonus points for it being a generally non-creepy romance, of course--I've seen a few too many books where the romance is treated as the pinnacle of the characters lives and is also a deeply unhealthy relationship besides. This does not do that.
I feel like I've spent a lot talking about what this book is not, which is good in that all the things I've mentioned are things I don't want my books to be, but probably not the most helpful in explaining what the book actually is.
It is a good read, certainly, and filled with characters that are different. A few of them fall into the "overly villainous villain" category, but it's the first book in a series and is in Adriana's viewpoint, so that gets some slack. The rest of the crop are interesting, and if we don't get to hear as much about them as would be helpful in fleshing them out, they also seem to be characters that actually have something there to flesh out, so that is a hopeful sign for future books in the series.
I really liked the whole "Wise Man, Savior, Warrior" part of the world. It felt a little like an RPG, but in a good way (is there a bad way it can feel like that, though? Just me?). I'm interested to see where that is going, and what may come of it. I'm thinking prophecies in the next book, maybe? I do love me some prophecies.
I'll be picking up the next book and probably swallowing it whole, as I did with this one.
This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.