12+B – Damsel in Delight

12+B

I love this book sooo much! I’ve just reread it for the second time and it is so much better than I remembered! (I mean I had it already as a five star read but it just got better!)

It looks and feels mostly like a cosy fantasy that follows a previously sheltered princess finding love and herself as well as a found family BUT it is so much more than that. We begin in the palace of Istralam during Miyara’s political crossroads in her life. As the fourth daughter she is expected to follow the third into a previously travelled controlled route. Miyara makes the random decision to leave fleeing the city and her family’s control. I honestly like the idea of the princess in exile because she wanted to.

This first part is the least connected to Miyara as a character and that is because she doesn’t really have a character yet. She is used to fitting into the spare corners of her cold royal family and she is used to being passive, not active. Miyara is an interesting character because she is so set in her decision – she doubts herself but not her decisions.

I love her growth and her interaction with the other characters. Ms Blair excels at hanging a lantern on how Miyara’s privilege gives her more security to change things. Because of her princess training, she can perform the tea ceremony well enough to instantly have a status in the world (more on the tea and the world later). The book explores systematic oppression (I would say deftly but it is through the experience of Miyara who has never been oppressed and is shocked by it so it isn’t subtle because Miyara isn’t subtle about it. She hasn’t been taught or learnt to ignore it or fear it or hide it or manipulate it unlike the other characters).

I also love the witch/mage idea and the idea of the witch hunts not only being sexist but also racist – the women thought to be witches are of the foreign oppressed race. It is a little bit more complex than that but I cant say anymore for spoilers!

Last thing – tea. Like the title suggests tea is very important. Tea is diplomacy, it is expression, it is universal and in this kingdom which is quite low fantasy it forms the almost magic that I hope will be explored later on.

Characters: 4/5 stars. I really like them, Miyara reflects the characters around her so well. I think the best mc’s are the ones that truly allow other people to display facets of their perspective on the world while still having their own.

Romance: 5/5 stars – Soft Romance – Its so sweet! Its also a subplot but I do love it.

Plot: 4/5 – I do like the plot but it almost comes secondary to me. For most of the book, the reasons for the plot are being developed, the oppression which makes the ultimate confrontation and take down (with legalities included and awkward councils open to bribery).

World: 4/5 – I love this world and I cant wait to explore more of it.

Things to be aware of: racism. It was tricky to give it an age rating, I would personally say that twelve and up could read it but they might enjoy it more if they were a bit older – it has a lot of moving parts in the story. The romance is very minimal so if you are looking for a read that doesn’t focus as much on the will they wont they then this is such a relax to read. Also if you are looking for an LGBTQ+ read then this is enjoyably subtle and woven in without the clumsiness of some books!

As you all know I make sure to put age ratings and why I have rated them a 12 or a 15 or a B as well as my favourite things about the books and the characters on ALL my reviews, but I thought i would define what I call YA and what my age ratings mean on Damsel in Delight.

YA means young adults and through this can be stretched to cover anywhere from nine year olds to twenty somethings, I focus on the middle around 12- 18 and will report back on books accordingly. Everyone’s reading levels and comfort levels with different topics are completely different, of course, and it is immensely difficult to pin down exactly WHEN you should read books on your tbr, but in the end I am just offering the information so you can decide what you would be comfortable reading.

So my age ratings and what they mean:

10+ – These are books that are about 1/5 on violence and hardly ever have any romance. My reviews mention things to keep in mind when you are choosing to read them so just check those out.

10+B – Might have a little bit more violence or a few darker themes

11+ – Pretty much the same as a twelve ¹ but essentially its just what age group I think would enjoy that book the most!

11+B – Honestly down in the lower categories the B doesnt really up the violence/themes/topics and I wont use it often.

12+ – these are books that are about 1.5/5 on violence, and 1/5 on romance. The exact amounts differ, but there is no truly out there content that would not be suitable for most 12-year-olds. The main themes that absolutely will NOT be in twelves include SA and self-harm as well as tropes that can be morally questionable like assassins being portrayed as heroes or arranged political marriages (even through i love them in some of my older reads, i feel like in a 12 they often are a little too much for especially younger readers )

12+B – These are essentially the 12’s with more violence. Still very little romance, but that might go up to a 1.5 depending on the book (that will be in the specific review). The violence will usually be strictly fantasy violence, and nothing too graphic for most readers, however these 12’s may be a little older than some readers are looking for.

13+ – This is where some of the more complex decisions come in. 13+ on some websites can have some incredibly mature and dark themes, which I adore when I read them portrayed well, but i think its important to read them when you would enjoy them more, and perhaps understand them more than get scared or put off by them earlier. My 13+ does have more violence in general than my 12+B’s, about a 2 or 3 out of 5, but most of them are not too graphic. The romance/sexual context in my 13+ recommendations is slightly higher, but there will be NO smut (non of the books i recommend have anything other than clean romance – look at my other blog post for my definition of that and how they correspond to the age ratings!) and in general will not progress much further than a few kisses.

13+B – this is very similar to a 13+ but is for the books between a 13+ and a 14+. I would usually say that these books will have a 4/5 of violence but the romantic content will be at a 3/5 and a few more complex themes may come in.

14+ – my 14+ do raise the bar from the 13s as they will consider darker topics and tropes/themes. The violence here will rise to a 4/5 for violence, but the romance in each book will vary, however they will remain AT OR BELOW a 4/5 and of course will be clean (see my other blog post for this exact definition). These is the age rating that I start introducing some more mature themes/topics including mentions of prostitution/sex/extreme drunkard behaviour. These will of course have trigger warnings of the individual reviews themselves as 14+s could be solely for violence as well.

14+B – These 14+Bs start drifting towards the significantly older category, but the violence and romance will remain the same, it will just be the darkness of the setting and world that will bump these up to a B. Darker worlds that have very in depth wars or brutal traditions or other themes that I feel justify a B just to let the reader know. (As a side-note, most dystopian books will float between a plain 14+ and that all important B because while they do have some similar topics to fantasy, they are the fictions satire and so are sometimes disturbingly close to reality)

15+ – These are books that can approach a 5/5 on the violence scale and will have a 4.5/5 romance level usually – usually still clean! – but will ultimately be books that look at some of the topics of 14+ and 14+B in a greater depth, and expand them. There may, depending on the book, be mentions of toxic relationships but i will give warnings for those, and off the page SA.

15+B – This is mainly going to be for violent sexual content like SA and harassment which does come in to older YA reads.

16+ – a definite step up from a 15+ this will contain more betrayal/backstabbing and darkness than earlier ratings as well as more sexual content (check individual content warnings).

16+B – B’s are usually for violence, sexual or otherwise.

17+ – this is almost adult so it does contain more graphic depictions of violence etc.

17+B – B’s for sexual content and violence.

Adult – by this point very mature themes are being explored and if you are on the younger end of adult I would definitely encourage a good read of the content warnings.

Some books are really hard to fit into these categories – eg the First Test by Tamora Pierce, i absolutely adore it and read it when i was about 12, but there is a lot of overt sexism towards the main character that may be too much for some readers, which is why I have bumped it up a rating to a 12+B just to be safe.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Different books in the series may have different age ratings, especially as the plot/romances/threat develops, so just make sure that you make sure that the further books in the series are also what you are comfortable with.

On a side note – my book ratings do not collaborate with movie ratings, movie twelves certainly have a LOT more in them violence wise than I would have in a book rec so if you are comfortable reading a little bit more violence or darker themes then have a look at some of the B reviews or go up a category, plenty of these books can be read earlier or later depending on your comfort level!

Tag: 12+B

A Coup of Tea, Casey Blair

Guide to the Damsel rating system