The Dragon and Her Princess

by Vyria Durav

Prince Darius seems eternally doomed to bachelorhood, unable to maintain a relationship for more than a few months. The king declares that if he is unable to find a bride, one will be found for him. A grand ball is announced, summoning the kingdom's most eligible women to transform the wallflower prince into a suitable king. Disillusioned, Darius drifts through the festivities until he meets a mysterious woman who offers him freedom.

Now her prisoner, Darius learns she is part of a revolutionary conspiracy that means to keep him safe as the king is overthrown. Drawn to their cause, Darius pledges to help, even if it means sacrificing everything, including the false identity she's been forced to endure.

The Dragon and Her Princess is a romantasy following a trans woman's fight to break free from the chains of abuse, supported by her true loved ones.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Transgender, Queer, Dragons, LGBT, Lesbian

71 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 22, 2024

Reviews

[Autumn Lanning · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining story with some tender moments and great spice. I think the ending unraveled just a little bit, but I would definitely read a sequel.

All in all, a fun time.

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

One cannot remove their personal experiences and biases when critiquing a work of art. A truly objective review is a myth, which is why I must start this review with a caveat.
Eggfic is a genre of trans literature that is defined, in my experience, by a main character who starts their journey in denial of their true identity. For example, a transfemme who has outside forces that keep conditioning her to view herself as a man. It is often through the power of external forces (other people, magic, or sci-fi technology, for example) that the main character discovers and accepts who they truly are.
Vyria Durav excels at eggfic, a genre that I personally struggle with. Another of her works that I have read, Catnip, was quite challenging for me – that’s not to say the stories, setting, and characters aren’t compelling. Catnip’s worldbuilding and characterisation are delightful. I just have a hard time reading eggfic. The tropes of the genre, for me, often feel like grinding through page after page of a character whose experiences and self-perceptions were once far too relatable for me to enjoy, waiting for their egg to either crack or be cracked.
Thankfully for me, The Dragon and Her Princess is a relatively bitesized work, at around novella-length, with the magical transgender transformation occurring at around the one-third mark. It also balances its eggfic-iness with a delightful sense of whimsy, a simple yet compelling story, and a healthy dose of gay panic. (I mean who wouldn’t be a blushing mess around a buff flirty dragon?)
Post-egg cracking, this book is absolutely delightful. Tres, the trans princess, and Ianthe, the dommy mommy dragon, had me grinning stupidly at how much fun their relationship is. Their first (and only) time having sex was really sweet, and a lovely depiction respecting someone’s past traumas with intimacy. Ianthe’s sheer presence is captivating and brain melting, and the scene affirms Tres’ gender whilst still being grounded in the truth of having sex as a trans woman. I wish we got to see more of Tres learning how to be herself, and how to fuck as herself.
After stumbling head-first into a rebellion to overthrow her father, the king, Tres joins the final battle alongside Ianthe, coming out on top. The action in this sequence is compelling, and the other characters featured feel well rounded for a work of this size. The Dragon and Her Princess’ ending is incredibly sappy and sweet, and made my heart swell. I would have loved to have spent more time exploring the world and the many quirks Durav presented us with, and getting to know the other leaders of the rebellion (who are both Tris’ exes) better.
All this leads me to an interesting conclusion: despite my personal frustrations with eggfic, I want more of The Dragon and Her Princess. I’d love to see Tres and Ianthe’s relationship explored more deeply. What would their second time having sex look like? How does Tres change and grow to become who she truly is? How does Tris reconnect with her exes after her transition? What did the world look like before the rebellion? What does the world end up looking like after the rebellion?
There are so many good eggfic stories out there, this definitely being one of them. My significant enjoyment of the last two-thirds of the book just makes me upset that the tropes inherent to eggfic as a genre grate against me so much. I’m just glad that I was able to push through those frustrations and have a good time with The Dragon and Her Princess.

[Sophia Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few things off the top - I've read both The Hatchling and Catnip. I felt like Catnip was the stronger of the two and that The Hatchling leaned too much into the revenge aspect.

Flash forward and we have a new novella by Vyria, one that a lot of folks I know are either actively reading or interested in. That's excellent. And hearing the positive feedback is great (I hope more makes it here)

But for me? This one falls a bit short. It holds pretty strong for three chapters. Eggfic of the likes Vyria is known for. Relatable, and at times forehead slapping. If you like eggfic, no doubt you'll enjoy those bits.

Where things seem to fall down for me was the final chapter. It was significantly shorter than the penultimate chapter, making the story feel rushed. New characters appeared, new mythology was introduced, a great battle takes place hastily . It's a blur. I think this could have used a much more expanded final section, and include additional info for what happens there in earlier chapters. The setup would have felt more weighty and the ending more satisfying.

Without the final chapter, with an alternate ending that doesn't move into trans revenge fantasy, I would have rated this a bit higher. The tone of the first three chapters, with their playfulness and colour, wasn't continued in the fourth chapter, and I feel like that's a shame. It was a good tone, and matched the fun energy of Catnip.

[Abhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vyria Durav is such an artist of combining the loving and domestic with the inherent "Oh this is who I am" moment of eggfic. This time like Hatchling, we venture back with hot dragon goddesses. Despite its hopeful and domestic moment, the story is never low-stakes ; you as the reader knows these stories always come with the consequential personal journeys of trans women is achieved - realisation and body. This time venturing into fantasy, the story is about a prince who is miserable under the iron fist of a tyrannical king and is kidnapped by a really hot dragon. The dragon's magic unlocks the prince's true self and helps her blossom into a dragon lady named Treasure, god magic HRT rules. We get revolutions, ex girlfriends who have waited for their girl to find herself and a shitty dad who gets his comeuppance. Perfect lovely fairytale for the lesbians and trans women out there :-D.

[Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliantly fun book to read. Vyria writes a sweet love story of a trans woman and her accepting wife. The book does well showing the progressive realization of a trans woman coming to the realization of who she is. The relationship between the two is cute and supportive Ianthe showing endless patience and care. When I put it down the first thing that came to mind was how I just want to read more.

[Elena Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much like her other stories, Vyria is a peerless writer of these fantasies and sci fi books that really make you feel what it's like to be trans, to discover yourself, to be called to be your true self. It's something I can't describe nearly as well, but I appreciate every word she writes of it because it's so real and honest.

[Dani Finn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute, fun palate cleanser of an eggfic novella. A breath of fresh air, more akin to The Hatchling than Catnip, for those who've read the author's other works. While the larger themes aren't explored too deeply (this is a light novella, after all), it's a cozy read and a lovely way to spend an hour or two.

[Fray Crowett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, Gay, and Good

First off, it's wonderfully gay and has some polyamorous representation later in the book, which is always nice. I didn't notice anything about the writing style but that just means it was done well enough that it flowed so seamlessly. It was cute and worth reading through. The story was decent, I liked the characters, I have no complaints.

[J.F.R. Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Almost disappointingly short, this is a fairly simple and positive story without too much going on to distract from the key moment. This is a story about a transition and a realisation. There isn't much more to it than that.

I'd love to see more of this story and characters told in greater depth, but what there is here is fantastic to read. Simple, quick, and positive.

[Angelica Skog · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldnt finish this even though it was so short, blatant shitty representation, "hi yes our blood bond turned you into a woman because you where always a trans woman even thought you never knew" fuck off book

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

🐲 Short and sweet

🐲 I liked the bit of world building we got to see

🐲 Love that it's sub top x dom bottom

🐲 The gender journey/diiscovery was satisfying to read

[The Book Badger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, cute and a surprisingly good demonstration of how sex scenes can involve stuff like consent, willingness checks and before/during/aftercare and still being hot.

Love it!

[Mira Snelder · Rating 3 out of 5]

🐔

[John Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read

This was a fun read. It gets a bit spicy (I don't typically read spicy things) but not too much. Final battle had an epic feel and satisfying end.

[Delfunia · Rating 3 out of 5]

De todos los posibles finales una relación poly entre 4 dragonas era lo que menos me esperaba (pero good for them 👍)