It’s not everyday that an author who has been out of the game for a minute due to personal issues gets a request to write the novelization of a Netflix movie with a pretty big name attached to it. That’s exactly what happened to Evelyn Skye when she was asked to write the novelization of the movie “Damsel” starring Millie Bobby Brown.
As of the time I’m writing this review, the movie has not come out yet, so I can’t make any comparisons between the two in that regard.
Damsel [Buy Bookshop Amazon] follows Elodie as her life is seemingly changing for the better, even though she doesn’t have much say in what’s happening. She’s from a poor, famine-stricken country and has been preparing to lead at some point in the future. But instead of taking over for her father, she finds out she will be marrying a prince from a rich area, and through this deal, her own people will be provided food and supplies. She’s unsure of the match at first, but goes with it to take care of her people. Elodie and Henry start exchanging letters until she begins her trip to his realm, and whaddaya know? He seems pretty alright for a husband she’s never met.
However, things aren’t always as they seem. Once married, Elodie learns that the real reason Henry picked her to marry is so he can sacrifice her to a dragon to keep his land prosperous. Once she ends up in the dragon area still alive (yes, I’m being vague so you can enjoy how that all plays out), Elodie learns that she’s not the first to be sacrificed, but she intends to be the last.
You can hear more about how the creative process worked for this story in my interview with Evelyn on YouTube, but the main point here is that she had to play within some guidelines from Netflix while writing this story. It doesn’t feel as lush as The Hundred Loves of Juliet [Buy Bookshop Amazon], but it feels like it would be much harder to describe something from someone else’s imagination instead of your own.
One of my favorite details of this novel is the dragon language. Throughout the story, Elodie is trying to figure out what the dragon is saying and cataloguing phrases in her mind while running and fighting for her life. What makes this so cool is that Evelyn’s teenage daughter created it. She apparently has a mind for language and thoroughly built it out. We’re talking a pronounciation guide and mini dictionary in the back of the book. It’s impressive and gives the story’s worldbuilding a fun added layer.
Overall, this is a solid YA fantasy adventure and I am excited to see how it plays out on screen.
Literary HypeWoman 