4.5 stars - I really, really enjoyed “This Princess Kills Monsters” and I am not even a very big high fantasy fan! This story, however, really won me over - especially with its amazing, bad ass protagonist, Melilot, the titular princess. I loved the feminist & queer representation & joy here, but more - I really, really enjoyed the very wacky & off-beat humor and the super skewed & whimsical look at some classic fairy tales - just amazing world building!! This is just plain FUN!! Recommend highly, so glad I requested it. My thanks to Net Galley & the publisher for the advance readers copy - sincerely enjoyed this title!!

I enjoyed this quirky queernorm fairy-tale retelling. I am ranking it 4 stars rather than 5 because it did feel somewhat disjointed towards the end and I think could have used some slightly better editing (though honestly this could have been due to the source material and underlying fairytale rather than editing). That said, the foreshadowing must have been perfect because as the reader I had suspicions about the book's various mysteries that turned out to come true in interesting ways, the setting was fun and fantastical, and it was wonderful in 2025 to read a queernorm book with trans joy and wish my country's only problems were being invaded by magically-created nightmare creatures <spoiler>(spider wolves?!?!?)</spoiler>.

A silly and enchanting tale with sweet romance, fast action, and trans advocacy! *Siri play "What a Girl Wants" by Christina Aguilera
If I tried to describe the plot of this book to someone, I'd say imagine that somehow all of the grimms brothers fairy tales happened to the same person- who has evil stepmother mommy issues and an innate knowledge of modern medicine- written in princess bride style... don't know about you but I know I'M intrigued! Comedies that throw a realist into a cast of completely unrealistic characters (i.e. bob and his family in bobs burgers) will always get me, so I loved Melilot and the huntsmen. The rules of the sorcery and magic in this story were complicated in a way that kept me engaged and guessing, rather than confused, so props to the author for somehow striking that balance. And I just loved how creative this story felt despite being so familiar!
If you look for fast-paced dangerous magical peril that will make you laugh a lot (and you also just kind of need to be held for a minute) look no further!!
Thank you so much netgalley and random house publishing for the arc!

I love fairytale retellings! This Princess Kills Monsters is quirky in the best of ways and gives an alternate, more feminist view of several intertwined classic fairytales. For me though, at certain points, it was slow and a little jumbled; I found myself wanting it to end as opposed to wanting it to be longer.


Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this eARC!

Thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for a review

This book feels like it was written specifically for me. Queer + fairy tales + quirky characters = a dream set up. Luckily, this book took all the great ingredients and ended up with a wonderful result. I was unfamiliar with the story of The Twelve Huntsmen before this, but really enjoyed the inspiration from this and all the other fairytales woven throughout. Ultimately, this book shines through the characters. I love every single one of the huntsmen, especially Jack, and I adore the sisters and their spouses. Jonquil is everything I want in in a badass dragon riding character. I enjoyed the romance for each couple we saw, the banter had me smiling constantly. There were sometimes where I found myself a bit confused about which huntsmen was which, but that felt inline with how the characters were supposed to be viewing the situation. I loved the inclusion of stories within the book, especially how we get a different version of a fairy tale from different perspectives of the story. This was just such a joy to read! Fast paced, engaging plot, and good amounts of humor made me fly through reading this. I will definitely be recommending this to friends and looking into other works by the author.

I loved this book! I’m a sucker for existing stories that are given a revamp, and this one did not disappoint! It was funny and cute and beautiful, and I loved it! I also loved how stereotypical monsters ended up being a little bit more than initially thought, and how the evil stepmom and stepsisters trope was there, but with more love than usual. I would definitely read this again and again.

"This Princess Kills Monsters" offers a tongue-in-cheek retelling of The Twelve Huntsmen, brimming with humor and fairy tale references. Our main character, Princess Melilot, inhabits the expanded role of unnamed-mountain-sorceress-princess-rejected-by-the-prince, granting us a new point of view in this lesser known Grimm tale. In Herman's version of the story, Melilot faces spider-wolves (NOT wolf spiders), giant animate rock creatures, and heaps of suspicion turned her way.

One reviewer likened this story to "The Princess Bride" and I couldn't agree more. This is a story that never takes itself too seriously, offering up snappy witticisms and wry commentary. Despite its largely satirical nature, this is a story with heart. Melilot, who begins the story with a bit of an inferiority complex, comes to accept the assistance that her loved ones have to offer.

a fun, sapphic read! i enjoyed reading this, however the pacing felt all over the place. this is a good read if you’re looking for something light hearted & fun to read!

a princess on a mission to discover who actually wants her dead and falls in love on the way? and it’s queer!

Fairytale retellings are not my usual choice, but I still enjoyed this one! It has some truly wonderful queer representation, and while it’s also really funny most of the time, I feel like it may have been relying on humor just a bit more than I felt was necessary.

I also felt like the pacing was a little off, but not so bad it completely took me out of the story or anything. it’s definitely chaotic and fun and sapphic and a great read if you’re not looking for something to take too seriously.

This book was so much fun! The humor was great (the prologue actually made me laugh so hard that I teared up), and all the characters were so quirky and lovable. I love Melilot so much, and it was a joy being in her head. I think my two favorite characters were Sam and Gnoflwhogir. Who wouldn’t love a six foot tall, ripped fairy lady who loves stabbing a bit too much?
The plot was wacky, and the sheer amount of fairy tale references crammed in was incredibly impressive. The romance also ended up being much sweeter than I expected, so I think this would appeal to romance lovers.
I think my only real complaint was that I felt like the pacing was off? A lot would happen at once, in quick succession, and then nothing of note would happen for a while. It left the plot feeling disjointed, and made me want to put the book down and take a break after each (numerous) breakneck pace action scene. The author definitely relied on humor to carry the book forward, which got old at times, and if you don’t vibe with the humour then you will not like this book at all. Personally, I thought the vibes were fantastic, but I wish the story itself had a bit more substance. But I still had a ton of fun, and I would recommend this book to fans of cozy fantasy.

I really enjoyed the plot of this story. I thought the characters were interesting. The battle scenes felt a little bit on the long side, but I cared enough about the characters to feel the stakes.

Just finished This Princess Kills Monsters and honestly, I had such a good time with it. It’s got queer romance, geeky D&D vibes, and some really sweet (and messy) emotional moments. The characters feel real, the banter is fun, and it’s all wrapped in a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously but still hits you in the feels. If you’re into chaotic sapphic energy and a little bit of magical mayhem, give this one a shot.

This book was really good! I really have been looking for a book with a feel like this one and it did not disappoint. The characters were great, the plot was engaging and I am looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Bitingly funny and occasionally borderline nonsensical, This Princess Kills Monsters is the woke fairytale adults didn’t know they needed. While she dearly loves her sisters and their spouses, Meliot is suffering from a major inferiority complex as the middle child and non-biological child of a powerful sorceress queen. After being shunted around on pointless tasks, Meliot’s stepmother decides her next contribution will be to marry a king in a non-magical kingdom. Except about two seconds into said non-magical kingdom she’s attacked by creatures that don’t seem to be a product of nature. Being very practically raised that what seems to be out to kill you probably is out to kill you, Meliot decides to pretend to be her own nonexistent maidservant Clover to try and find out why someone wants her dead. Turns out the person least likely to want to kill her is the king’s ex-fiancée, the one he broke things off with to fulfill his father’s dying wish. So that really narrows things down. As she works to narrow the suspect list, misadventures and mayhem ensues, Meliot finds feelings for someone other than the king, and comes under suspicion herself. Once the real culprit is identified, Meliot teams up the family that’s always had her back and some new friends that are learning to in order to save the day, the king and the kingdom. But will she get the happily ever that she wants? Would you honestly want to stand in the way of a HEA for a princess that kills monsters? Before the story ends she may even see her stepmother in a different light. While it occasionally veers into the nonsensical (in the book’s defense, one of these periods is when Meliot is running a fever), the book is charming and laugh out loud funny. With the way Ry Herman ends their book, they leave open a possibility of another chapter in this story and I sincerely hope there’s more to read. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As a German, I must shamefully admit that I have never heard of the tale of "The Twelve Huntsmen". And I would definitely remember it with its twelve identical hunters who don't really serve a purpose in the story or the kinda sexist talking lion. It's a tale of a prince who is already in love but has to marry a foreign princess to fulfill his father's last wish. But after a bit of crossdressing shenanigans and some mortal peril, he comes to the realization that he can't possibly marry anyone else than his beloved, and the foreign princess is thrown under the bus. Ry Herman decided to give a voice to this princess and enhanced the story, because let's be real, the original tale leaves much to be desired. Herman starts out by giving the foreign princess a name for once – Melilot – and creates a backstory set in a strange fairy tale kingdom full of silly magic. It's Melilot's job "to go on nonsensical quests and solve annoying puzzles", and to do basically anything her stepmother, the wicked sorceress queen, tells her to. Her sisters often come to her aid and while Melilot loves them fiercely, she can't help but feel like the least among them. Her sister Jonquil rides a dragon and is married to a bloodthirsty faerie warrior princess, and her sister Calla is friend to all animals (the kind that weaves clothing for you or that would join you in a musical number), while Melilot's most prominent magic is about making her hair grow really fast. She's also the only one who is married off to a foreign land, but there's really nothing she can do about that. So Melilot finds herself in a kingdom plagued by weird hybrid monsters that's ruled by a somewhat useless king whose first adviser is this talking lion that's always promoting his book about human nature. But stranger things have happened in this fairy tale world, where silliness awaits around every corner. Every other character has a strange affliction or weird magic, and the way this was so bluntly talked about cracked me up every time. Like of course Melilot can't use the spinning wheel when they are known to bring curses and death, and yes, Jonquil's father died from ripping himself into two pieces when someone guessed his name right, it happens. This book took common fairy tale themes and showed how ridiculous they often are, and it was such a fun time. Many fairy tales are referenced, some even retold at length. The overarching plotline was just ok, but the world and the characters really made up for it. Melilot was a no-nonsense character in an all-nonsense world, and I liked her a lot as a main character. It was great to see the strong bond she had with her sisters and their spouses, and the relationship with her stepmother was complex and not at all the basic evil-stepmother trope that's common in fairy tales. The little romance was cute too, but it's really not the focus of the story. It's more about Melilot finding her place in life and maybe saving the kingdom while she's at it. And yes, she slays more than one monster in the story, but I'm not a fan of the title of the book. Melilot is really not the warrior princess the title makes it sound like she is, but I hope it draws some well deserved attention to this book. The cover is incredible, though. Kudos to Alexis Flynn who designed it. So yeah, I can recommend this book without any reservations. For readers who like … fun, I guess.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House / Dial Press for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun fantasy adventure book! I had such a great time reading this. I loved the main characters and all of the side characters so much, the relationships were great, and the plot was pretty fast-paced. The mix of fairytale retellings and humour was so much fun, and I really hope that this author writes more books like this in the future! I would completely recommend this book :)

I really enjoyed this. It really drew me in and was a ton of fun! I loved the queer and trans representation. All the fairy tales written in this book were very unique and laugh out loud funny!

A wonderfully whimsical tale that features snippets of the best fairy tales. It started out so strangely to me, in how the story was told but I find myself swept away in the fantasy of it all. Loved the characters, loved the queer universe. A fantastic read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinions

I like parts of this, and I nearly expired laughing during the prologue. I've left it feeling tepid, but I can see other people having a better time than I did.

I know people LOVE fairytale retellings. Personally, I need something more. I'm a big fan, for example, of 'The Tenth Kingdom,' and this book initially seemed like it was going to have that energy. I wish that there had been less time spent squeezing in as many fairytale references as possible and more time on the characters and pacing. There's also a lot of stuff that happens off-page, and the characters will spend ages summarizing and recapping it, but there were large chunks of the story where surprisingly little happened. On top of that, there were two extended surreal sequences that didn't do the pacing any favors.

That said, this was still fun. I didn't actively dislike it, but I never got pulled into the story in an emotional sense. Herman clearly embraced the complete chaos that is fairytale logic, and while I found the constant need to include random Brothers Grimm references, I really enjoyed the ways in which the author played with expectations regarding those references. They also tease some magical concepts out to (or past) their logical conclusion, which made for some fun dialogue. I just never fully unearthed the emotional core of the story.

tl;dr: If you like fairytales, irreverent dialogue, and slightly offbeat humor, I would recommend giving this one a shot. I would also like to acknowledge that it is EXTREMELY POSSIBLE that my response has as much to do with current global events as it does with anything to do with this book. Humor has to work pretty hard to pull me in at the moment.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this novel.

Although this book isn’t my typical genre, I did quite enjoy it. If you enjoyed the mini series The 10th Kingdom or any fairy tale retellings, you will certainly enjoy this book. It was witty and laugh out loud funny. I loved the queer and feminist vibes as well. The author’s note made the whole book more interesting too because they spoke of giving a voice to a fairy tale character who otherwise didn’t have a storyline. It was a good mix of well known fables and the more niche ones. I also loved that they mentioned the many women who originally told these famous tales but didn’t ever receive credit for it. Overall, the book was a good break from my norm and I would recommend it!

I got this book for free as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review!