Ahoy there me mateys! I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So here be me honest musings . . .
Title: princess floralinda and the forty-flight tower
Author: Tamsyn Muir
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Publication Date: MONDAY!! (hardback/e-book)
ISBN: 978-1596069916
Source: NetGalley
The cover drew me in and three things convinced me to read this book:
- There is a dragon on this cover and the book has a great title;
- It is a Subterranean Press book and they do great work; and
- I enjoy unusual fairy tales.
I liked the beginning of this book and other parts of it but did not love it overall. When I requested this, I didn’t recognize the author’s name. Turns out she wrote gideon the ninth. I abandoned that book and disliked it enough that I did not review it anywhere because me opinion was so far out of the norm and I really didn’t feel like taking time to explain why it irks and infuriates me. So had I realized who the author was, I likely wouldn’t have requested this book.
I really, really did enjoy the set-up for this one. Floralinda is a weird princess in a weird tower. I loved that the princes gave up on rescuing her and she is stuck there. I loved the weird mean fairy. I even loved how Floralinda dealt with floors 39 and 38 even though the plot moved slowly. After these floors, the plot stalled and I began to get bored. The humor from the beginning didn’t change and grew stale. The metatextual aspects became tiresome. Once Florinda began descending floors again, the author sped through them in a blur. I wanted to know about the floors that were just described by monster name and passed by. And the climax and conclusion were basically nonsensical and rushed. The very last line made me mad. I don’t like the commentary on how Floralinda’s journey changed her. It was too negative. And I usually like negative.
This author and her style are not for me though I am very grateful to have received a review copy. Arrrr!
So lastly . . .
Thank you Subterranean Press!
Goodreads website has this to say about the novel:
When the witch built the forty-flight tower, she made very sure to do the whole thing properly. Each flight contains a dreadful monster, ranging from a diamond-scaled dragon to a pack of slavering goblins. Should a prince battle his way to the top, he will be rewarded with a golden sword—and the lovely Princess Floralinda.
But no prince has managed to conquer the first flight yet, let alone get to the fortieth.
In fact, the supply of fresh princes seems to have quite dried up.
And winter is closing in on Floralinda…
To visit the author’s website go to:
To buy the novel go to:
princess floralinda and the forty-flight tower – Book
To add to Goodreads go to:
Confession: I HAD to read this review because I recalled you mentioning you DNF’d Gideon the Ninth — so I was shocked to see Muir on your blog again. Turns out it was just a simple memory slip. Oops! Did you read this book all the way through? If so, why? And are the things you dislike about this novel similar to those you disliked about Gideon?
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The concept of this one sounds fun, but I did see who the author was and so that made me think I might not like it. (I haven’t read Gideon the Ninth, but I’ve read enough about it to think that I probably wouldn’t enjoy it. I don’t plan to read it at this point.) And I’ve since then read at least one other review of this book that makes me think I wouldn’t like Princess Floralinda, either. Oh well. I like Subterranean Press in general, but I guess I can’t like them *all*.
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Ahh, I actually started Gideon but put it down (for a little while at least) so maybe this one isn’t for me either.
Lynn 😀
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Sorry this didn’t work for you. This is a book I was debating on picking up myself, think I’ll pass.
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Muir is a hit and miss for me, and I‘ll pass this one – I don’t enjoy fairytale/retellings in general.
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