Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir
dates read: 2024/12/30 - 2025/01/01
Hey, my first book of the new year and it's by Tamsyn Muir, so I had a great start to this probably cursed year!
I was honestly expecting this to be gayer than it was, but I still really enjoyed it. Short recap, a princess is shoved into a tower by a witch so princes can attempt to rescue her, but the witch put the dragon on the first floor to mix things up, so the prince supply dried up pretty quick. So our princes, Floralinda, has to rescue herself, going through the flights of the tower, top to down.
In this little novella, you get to see Floralinda's growth as she does increasingly un-princess-like things to survive, like gangpressing a fairy into coming along to help her. This story really brings to mind that first reboot Tomb Raider video game, with Lara's very similar transformation.
It's Muir, so it can be kind of brutal at times, but god does it ever work for this story. I really loved this book.
Spoilers Ahead FYI
The scene with the unicorn is haunting in such a good way, I'll never forget it. I love Floralinda so much .