Review: The Dragon and Her Princess
Note: I was given a free copy of this book but purchased it on several platforms anyway just so I never lose it, and this is a voluntary review.
Purchase: Itchio | Kobo | Amazon
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I don’t know if this post will go out before or after my post about my favorite reads of the year. I wrote that post and included The Hatchling also by Vyria Durav and I held myself to a promise that I would only include one book per author for the sake of my sanity and word count. But this book also deserves a huge shout out despite coming out after I had done my 2024 Favorite Books list.
As I mention in my 2024 Favorites Post, I spent much of my childhood waiting for a unicorn that would never come. I was obsessed with unicorns, waiting for one to show up and tell me that they were there to take me away—away from the crappy childhood and abusive and neglectful household. Sometimes, I would dream of the unicorn telling me that I wasn’t really the child of my parents, and they were there to collect me and take me to my real family. Sometimes, the unicorn would tell me that they had seen my true heart and knew I deserved better.
Either way, it was abduction via unicorn and on to a better, more wonderful life!
Between The Hatchling and The Dragon and Her Princess, I feel far less alone in harboring hope that Fantasy would save me.
Fair warning, there be spoilers ahead. I’ll try to keep them as vague as possible, but you’ve been warned.
“My father won’t pay a ransom, you know, he’ll probably thank you for taking me off his hands.”
When we meet Tres, she’s still very much an insecure egg who hasn’t quite figured out who she is, just who she thinks she should be and what she isn’t. Her father has all these ideas of what a prince should be, how a prince should behave, and so much of it is wrapped up in a toxic form of stoic and detached lack of emotions. Which Tres achieves though that one cool trick: being so depressed you dissociate.
I related to this way too much; the extreme disconnect only occasionally lifted long enough to realize what is happening but not long enough to put together the why or the how. Taking on the expectations of others and internalizing them despite only vaguely realizing those expectations aren’t something you want to live up to.
“No self-deprecation in my lair, treasure.”
The Dragon in question, Ianthe, has such a gentleness as she coaxes Tres out of the cage her father had tried to keep her in and into the person (dragon?) she always was deep inside.
And Ianthe does this both in and out of the bedroom. This story has a good amount of light teasing balanced out by light praise-kink during their ‘first time’ together that I really appreciated: it kept their negotiations and consent obtaining high-heat and playful without breaking immersion or seeming overly done. A lot of people who write sex scenes gloss over consent negotiations because they aren’t “hot” or are “boring” and while these authors may leave end notes or fore words saying, “Consent is good, don’t try this at home,” I think it’s a limiting point of view to believe that negotiations can’t be just as sexy as the action itself. Durav achieves this balance perfectly.
“The lust is like nothing I’ve ever felt. Like an inferno roaring within me.”
“You don’t need to apologize for your desires. I’d be a hypocrite if I held that against you, since I’ve desired you since the moment I’ve laid eyes on you.”
I really enjoyed this scene and hope to see more like it from Durav in her future works. As Tres grows in her understanding of herself and her place in the world, she utters the words that my little leftist heart longs to hear.
“No more kings, no more despots, no more passivity.”
As much as Tres undergoes a self-revolution, she decides to take action alongside her former girlfriends and bring down her father. I really hope Durav explores revolutions more in future books. If you’ve read any of my books, you’ll know I love a good revolution and want to end the misconception that rebellions are only found in science fiction or that the rebellions that take place in fantasy are merely replace-bad-kings-with-good-kings. I want to see what Durav does if given more narrative space to expand on what’s established in The Dragon and Her Princess. This story is romantasy, and it does Romantasy very well. I really believe Durav could write a riveting revolution from start to finish, though. It’s true Tres comes into the revolution at its last stage, so perhaps something from Marigold’s or Laurisa’s POVs as bonus material in the future? Hey, an enby can hope.
Overall, I give this novella 5 out of 5 stars and a hearty endorsement for anyone looking for a cozy romantasy with loads of trans joy, dragons, and revolutions—the big macro-political kinds and the internal and intimate kind.
“Put your trust in me, my lovely treasure, and I’ll show you a dragon’s appreciation.”