I love when you find a random book at your local library that you’ve never heard of and end up having a great time reading it!

In Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir, Floralinda is captured by a witch and trapped in a tall tower (I bet you can guess how tall) which is filled with all sorts of nasty creatures, from goblins to dragons and more. Floralinda has to wait, with scant—albeit magical—supplies for a prince to make his way up the tower to rescue her. The only problem is, every prince who arrives can’t even make it past the first floor. So Floralinda, joining forces with a snarky fairy known as Cobweb, decides to make her own way out of this tower, even if it destroys her.

You’ve heard of supporting women’s rights, yes? Well, this book supports women’s wrongs. And it’s kind of fascinating.

Firstly, this is one of those fun books that takes fairy tale themes and tropes and plays with them, inverts them, and affectionately pokes fun at them. The narrative voice helps with this a lot, being very sarcastic and dry-humored. It’s a very conversational tone, and that’s a lot of fun.

I also found Floralinda to be a very interesting character. She’s quite naive and innocent to the ways of the world at the beginning, as one might expect from a sheltered teenage princess. Her ignorance is a little annoying at times, but also she’s easy to empathize with, considering what a horrible situation she’s in. And her development over the course of the book is both impressive and excellently paced. Some of her decisions are morally questionable, and where she ends up is drastically different from the beginning, but what a ride it was.

Her bond with Cobweb, the only other significant character, is really the star of the show. It’s a complex, even slightly toxic bond. The omniscient narrator knows, and even the two characters themselves know, which adds a layer of intrigue. I was very invested in seeing what would happen with the two of them, especially as they became unwilling allies and began to make their way down the tower as a team.

As for the tower itself, it’s a really fun setting. Most of the monsters only make brief appearances, which was a little disappointing, though I understand this is a symptom of this book being barely 200 pages. (And had the tower been shorter, in order to cut down on the number of monsters for Muir to write, well, that wouldn’t be an intimidating-sounding tower, would it?) And as for the ones that do have more significant effects on the plot—the spider, the goblins, and the siren come to mind—they’re well-written and make for exciting opponents.

The ending of this story was especially thought-provoking. The entire story has explored what it means for something to be called a “monster,” and all that comes to a head at the conclusion. I can’t really explain without going into spoilers, but know that it’s diabolical and rather delightful.

In the end, I had fun reading Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower. This ferocious little book packs a punch, twisting around the usual format of a fairy tale in a way that allows for a lot of morally gray themes and characters, as well as a lot of snarky dialogue and monster-fighting. It’s so weird, but also a good time!

PS If my best friend is reading this, I KNOW, this isn’t Gideon the Ninth! I promise I’ll read that someday! At least this is the same author! Leave me alone 🤪