A review by dgrachel
A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying by Kelley Armstrong

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I'm on the fence about this one. I struggled to get into it and trudged along because I received an ARC of book four and assume that, as a MG fantasy series, I need to read the previous books to make sense of the last one. It took me a while to warm up to the main character, Princess Rowan.  I think I like the "monsters" better than the human characters. Rowan is a headstrong rule-breaker, but she does mean well. There were some good life lessons here, and they weren't too heavy handed. I appreciate how she learns to better interact with new people and animals/monsters as the story progresses. I see potential here and am interested to see how Rowan and the friendships she's formed continue to grow. Also, I love her jackalope. I'll come back for book 2 just for the jackalope.