Damsel

Damsel is a dark fairytale deriving its inspiration from the stories of valiant knights who would save maidens from the dragons imprisoning them. Ama is told by her ‘rescuer’, the heir to his kingdom, Emory, that he saved her and it is the tradition of his kingdom, a rite of passage for the ascending king to slay a dragon and marry the maiden he rescues so. She doesn’t remember anything before waking up in his arms, and the slow realization that she is going to be trapped in a life where she bound by what she is supposed to do, and no room for her own desires. Initially charmed by him, but slowly realizing his cruel nature, she tries to make peace with her lot in life, but the blank slate of her past has her on edge all the time, along with the attitudes of the people around her, who may pity her situation but are unable or won’t help her. The overwhelming dread throughout the novel might be difficult for many readers. I, myself, had to put it down a couple of times because of my worries over what might happen next. Emory proves to be a walking dick, in more ways than one, even from the first few chapters which are from his POV (the book is entirely in the third person). He is a spoiled brat of a prince, who has basically taken what he wanted and was taught only one kind of masculinity – which thrives on the submission of women. I have read way more about his yard (who even knew that word is used in this context?) than I intended too, and in situations that I would rather forget. Ama, meanwhile, is instinctively fearful of him – well, the male species – even from her first waking memory, and her instincts are proven right when he brings her to his castle and parades her around like a trophy while forcing his affections on her. She bears with most of it for the sake of her pet lynx kit (which was orphaned thanked to Emory) who is being threatened by the falconer/best friend of the prince, another cruel character. I thought maybe she would find some comfort of support from the Queen Mother, who has been a Damsel herself, but that woman has been long resigned to her fate. The book doesn’t try to be subtle about the threat of the violence permeating it, nor the roles these characters play. There are frequent enough mentions of Ama’s body (enough with the nest, please!)and her beauty- a way to establish her chief value in the eyes of the people, and the inherent threat of being a woman in a misogynistic world. The men in this book thrive off making the women submissive creatures, and the women have been bred and brought up in a culture that even they only see one use for themselves. She is, quite simply, helpless for most of the novel, but chases down the slim thread of a memory of warmth and the insistent nudge in her heart that something is there in her past. She tries to find a place for herself in her new life, but like her lynx kitten, she is a creature not meant to be kept in captivity. The gloomy and threatening nature of the novel does evolve into a satisfactory ending, though, which makes up for the anxiety this novel put me through. Finally, while this is being shelved as YA, I would advise caution to younger readers due to the content and nature of the novel. There is darkly fantastic tales and then there is simply dark tales. Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review from Balzer + Bray, via Edelweiss.