Book Review: The Princess Will Save You (Kingdoms of Sand and Sky #1) by Sarah Henning

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Sarah Henning
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: July 7th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Princess Will Save You is a YA fantasy adventure inspired by The Princess Bride, in which a princess must rescue her stable boy true love, from the acclaimed author of Sea Witch, Sarah Henning.

When a princess’s commoner true love is kidnapped to coerce her into a political marriage, she doesn’t give in—she goes to rescue him.

When her warrior father, King Sendoa, mysteriously dies, Princess Amarande of Ardenia is given what would hardly be considered a choice: Marry a stranger at sixteen or lose control of her family’s crown.

But Amarande was raised to be a warrior—not a sacrifice.

In an attempt to force her choice, a neighboring kingdom kidnaps her true love, stable boy Luca. With her kingdom on the brink of civil war and no one to trust, she’ll need all her skill to save him, her future, and her kingdom.

TRAVELLING TROPE.

Oh goodness. I don’t *mind* a travelling story. There can be a lot to them that takes away form the fact that the characters are going hundreds of miles somewhere. Take ship stories for instance! They’re on the water plenty and I rarely find it such an issue.

Here? Yes, issue. Even in audio book form I was going wild listening to the repetitive motion of the girl or guy getting captured, then finding a way out, to start all over again.

In instance of The Princes Bride similarities, I did see some. I haven’t watched the movie in a very long time so I won’t speak more to this. But even a casual watcher of it could see where some of the story interlapped.

I liked Ama just fine as a main character. She was interesting. Loved her trying to take down a society that clearly has some flaws by forcing a woman to marry and not letting her rule in her own right. Totally here for that part. I didn’t even mind the love story that much because it was given from the start. It took me some time to get on board with the ship, from having to learn the characters, but I liked the idea.

I kind of think this should have been left as a standalone. With a different, more closed off ending, but I’m not sure how a full second novel will not drag about to continue this story. It’s a predictable plot, with slow pacing that really left me underwhelmed.

Overall audience notes: