Cara’s Reviews > The Princess Knight > Status Update

why they can’t both be in their 20s - there’s no actual reason he needs to be 19 and i think it underserves the plot bc he doesn’t have the years of experience he could, them meeting before the real plot of the book is kind of empty. they removed the teeth of what makes emmett such a compelling character - scrappy, smart, kind - all things that at first elle doesn’t realize or admire but comes to find the importance of. and this also undersells clia as an elle standin - she has none of the airheadedness that is quintessential to the elle archetype - a layer to pull back and show that she can be both materialistic on the surface but have hidden depths uncovered when she’s pushed by the world opening up to her and new experiences and perspectives. clia doesn’t have to try hard to go to war college because all royals are allowed to go if they accept their invitation. there’s no show of smarts or dedication that elle displays to harvard, she just writes a letter and relies on her uncle figure to aid her and she’s accepted very easily. obviously legally blonde doesn’t start at harvard, we see elle sell herself to harvard and push herself to study - “what, like it’s hard?” is a pivotal piece of elle’s character. we don’t get that with clia. i know that they’re not supposed to be the same character (obvs that would be boring) but i find that where it borrows from the material, it under serves it, and where it changes it is a disservice to the plot so far.

not to say it’s not good, but there’s definite changes i would have made - if you’re going to market this book as medieval legally blonde, then you’re already making the comparisons yourself. i just find that i’d rather rewatch the movie while reading this

who knew i was so passionate about legally blonde

probably bc the narrative structure of the movie is already so good that the tweaks this book makes are all not as good

and another thing! emmett’s kindness works bc he’s a tertiary character to elle’s. he pops in and we get glimmers revealed to us of his story and his character. his innate kindness. having dual POVs doesn’t aid in what (to me) is endearing about him. instead we get to hear ronan say his thoughts about clia which don’t really do anything for me between generic “she smiled at him and for some reason it made him feel warm” for some reason surely bc there’s nothing textually that would really lend itself to that feeling (from my POV)