Review: Princess of Thorns

Game of Thrones meets the Grimm's fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty's daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne.

Though she looks like a mere mortal, Princess Aurora is a fairy blessed with enhanced strength, bravery, and mercy yet cursed to destroy the free will of any male who kisses her. Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora's throne ten years ago.

Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it's too late? Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love?

My Review 

Author: Stacey Jay

Pages: 400

Publication Date: December 9 2014

Source: Library

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Dear Princess of Thorns, 

I love you beyond words. However, seeing as humanity is not yet capable of communicating the depths of our feelings without some verbal cues, I am forced to use words to convey my utter appreciation for you. 

I luh you. 

Aurora, is awesome. She is loud, proud, and stubborn as hell. She has a destiny and refuses to back down from it. She is willing to do the most ridiculous things to get what she wants, and her go-getter attitude is the fucking bomb. I wish she could be real so we could be BFFs and tbh I've always loved squirrels. She never takes shit from anyone, and she made mistakes, but she was so passionately herself, so loud and free and wild in the most gloriously Aurora-way ever, and I love her for it.

Niklaas... his character development was ON FLEEK. He started out gorgeously quippy, (I mean, a freaking sun god? What's not to like?) yet I could not appreciate his casual, much manly man misogyny. But he learned grew through deeply analyzing his feelings and finally, he saw women as people. I love that. I love Stacey Jay for the extremely delicate way this was covered. Niklaas was an asshole, but other parts of him were lovable, like his wit, his sense of duty, and his stubborness too. Damnit, Niklaas and Aurora are the most stubborn couple that ever was and that will ever be.

I ship it.

The best part was that Jay wrote about Niklaas' past and why he had grown up, socialized to believe in certain things, and how he finally overcame it. #feminism #geteducated

And then, Princess of Thorns, there is the lovely spirit of destiny. All the lovely components of Sleeping Beauty are twisted into something new while maintaining the spirit of the original fairy tale. This was done through the writing. I always thought Stacey Jay was a great writer, but it was not until Princess of Thorns that I truly appreciated the poetry of her words. Stacey Jay incorporates mystique into every word, and her creative use of perspectives elevates Princess of Thorns. Different characters with complex motivations are revealed, and the story has a few moving parts that converge in a satisfying climax and resolution.

Princess of Thorns is mostly a romance, and Aurora and Niklaas eclipse everything else in the story. There is a great evil that they both fight, but that is very secondary to Aurora learning to use her fairy gifts, and frankly, I enjoyed the banter between the two so much that I did not care about the overall plot as much as I may normally. I was under a spell.

Princess of Thorns, you are no retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty is the inspiration, and there are direct links to the original tale, but the story is something completely different, and it is wonderful. It is full of castles and wars, corruption and hate. This is a journey between Niklaas and Ror, and frankly, I wish Stacey Jay's kickstarter was still running because I love these characters and I wish I could read more about them. Alas, it's too late now, and I can only hope that Stacey Jay will one day write another book and I will read it.

Princess of Thorns, to me, is definitely on the level of other brilliant retellings by the likes of Jackson Pearce and Rosamund Hodge. I recommend this for fans of the other two, or fans of gorgeous writing in fantasy.

-P.E.