This Princess Kills Monsters takes fairy tales and their tropes, mixes them into one world, and turns them on their head-- and it's hilarious. The overarching theme of stories and the power of them and how they're told really resonated with me.

Melilot's keeps going on impossible quests. The most recent of which relies on Melilot getting past three sphinxes determined to eat her, but not before she solves some riddles and listens to some bad poetry. But that quest is rendered null and void when she comes across her half-sisters Calla and Jonquil, who've already completed said quest. Melilot is understandably annoyed; not at her sisters, really, but at the evil nag of a queen (her stepmother, naturally) who keeps assigning her tasks while still showing blatant favoritism to her own daughters. Melilot's rebelled before; but that didn't end well. So when her stepmother announces she's to go to another kingdom and marry their King, there's not much that she can do about it. So she's off to meet her appointed fiancé when her carriage is attacked by bizarre hybrid monsters and she's rescued by six (of twelve) identical masked men. It's clear nothing around her can be trusted, so Melilot pretends to be her own handmaiden to try to get to the bottom of this latest ridiculous quest, and hopefully avoid death or a loveless marriage.

This book has the absolute funniest prologue I think I've ever read. I was literally crying from laughter. I don't really annotate books, but I highlighted SO many funny parts on my digital copy to amuse myself again later. Ry Herman's prose also intricately weaves all sorts of fairy tales and folktales together seamlessly, so you immediately appreciate the ridiculousness of various tropes and scenarios. With the juxtaposition of the two kingdoms, they show how both extremes can be utterly nonsensical, from Skalla's magical yet convoluted land in which all tales exist simultaneously and in unexpected ways, or with Tailliz's mundane, conservative nature where fear and tradition rule. 

I really enjoyed the first half of the book; sadly, once Melilot

turns into a lake

, the sequence of events became far less clear to me. It was harder to follow and understand what exactly was happening until the climax, which was rather jarring. I'd also have preferred to have the characters fleshed out a bit more, so it felt like the stakes were higher. 

All of that said, I still found the book a fun read, and would 100% recommend it to anyone who can appreciate the chaos of fairy tales and nursery rhymes while also acknowledging they're inherently ridiculous. If you loved Disney films and fairytales growing up and can laugh about it now (and think Enchanted is one of Disney's best works), this is a great book to pick up!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press Trade for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!