I was prepared to really hate or really love this book based on the reviews, but man was this bizarre. This is a Sleeping Beauty retelling but felt crossed with Alice in Wonderland and with some Wizard of Oz thrown in for good measure. 

Bitsy is a princess who's criticized for her plain appearance and intelligence, both of which are really getting in the way of her marriage prospects. Independent thought? Total dealbreaker. 

After doing the requisite finger-pricking on a spindle thing, Bitsy is dropped into another world, where some beings are heralding her as their prophesied savior while others want to kill her. She travels between cities, meeting various eccentric people and experiencing progressively stranger cultures as she goes. The way this portion of the story is written reminded me a lot of The Princess Bride or Monty Python and the Holy Grail--it was intentionally zany, and a lot of fun to read because I had no idea what was going to happen next. There were some hilarious elements of satire and lines showing the story wasn't taking itself too seriously, which I really appreciated.

It was the ending of this book that really threw me for a loop. Part of me appreciates how "WTF" it was, but I wish that the resolution itself had played out over more than a few pages to give me time to process the reveals as they came. It felt so abrupt as it was that I had to reread it a couple of times because I was so thrown off. I enjoyed this author's voice a lot and would be curious about other books from her, but I don't know if I'll ever know how to feel about the end of this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.