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Tuesday, July 29, 2025

This Princess Totally Slays


This Princess Kills Monsters
(the misadventures of a fairy tale stepsister) 

by Ry Hermann

If it wasn’t clear from the title that this novella has a fairy tale slant, it is very quickly apparent from the opening pages. The writing is delightful, at once homage to older fairy tale stylings and crackling, near constant, send up of the same.

The prince - who proclaimed and declaimed rather than merely said (see what I mean about sending up the language) - has turned out to be [spoiler] a bit of a cad regarding the princess to whom he was swearing his undying love not long ago. Or rather proclaiming it. When he throws her over, inevitably, her ensuing rage is such that her father promises her literally anything if she will simply stop smashing the crockery.

I will leave you to discover what she asked for and let you meet the stepsister and find out where she fits into this topsy turvy melange. The language is assured and the characters sparkle (some literally). There's some nested subtext about feminism and power imbalances but this is first and foremost a lark that should come with a 'beverage alert' label on every chapter. 
 
This lively little fairy tale is full of derring-do and disguises, brave and foolhardy exploits worthy of love and laughter, all propelled by the most contemporary of fairy tale princesses. 

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