Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

The cover drew me in and three things convinced me to read this book:

1. There is a dragon on this cover and the book has a great title;
2. It is a Subterranean Press book and they do great work; and
3. 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!