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Elodie has been raised in the dry land of Inophe, which has been stuck in a famine for decades. It has few resources but she and her father, the duke, do all they can to make the most of them and help its citizens.
So when the prince of the wealthy land of Aurea requests Elodie be his bride, Elodie jumps at the opportunity. The alliance will provide Inophe’s inhabitants with many vital resources.
Upon their arrival to Aurea, Elodie and her family are awed by its beauty and prosperity. She is lavished with food and luxuries in preparation for her marriage. Little things crop up every so often that seem a bit off, but no matter: Elodie is helping Inophe.
Unfortunately, she finds out after her marriage that she is just one in a long line of princesses sacrificed to a dragon. For hundreds of years, Aurea has had an arrangement with the dragon. In return for giving it three princesses every harvest, it will let the country continue to grow rich off the bounty of the land. No princesses sacrificed would mean the dragon destroying Aurea.
After she’s thrown into the mountain where the dragon lives, Elodie decides she will not just go quietly. She will find any way she can to evade it and even defeat it. Sure, no princess has done so in 800 years, but a number of them have at least left behind clues in the many caves in the mountain. And Elodie will use that information to save herself, and even the whole land, from the ancient, powerful dragon.
Damsel has an interesting plot once it really gets going about a third of the way in. It was compelling to see how Elodie managed to survive despite such difficult and impossible odds. And I liked how the story concluded. But so much of the writing was not that great, particularly that first third. It felt like a child’s fairy tale, with simplistic style. I thought this may be the author’s first book, but then I looked her up and found out it was not. I see that this book is being adapted for Netflix, and it will make a great movie if done well. It’ll be one of those few occasions I’ll say a movie will be better than the book. So I recommend waiting for that.
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes a few instances of moderate profanity, fewer than 10 uses of mild language, and about 20 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content just includes the heroine referring to having had sex before her marriage and coming on to her fiancé/husband. Violence is fairly frequent, with lots of danger, injuries and blood.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
