Given follows Yenna, a fierce princess determined to learn new magic to save her father and kingdom. However, despite Yenna’s excellent characterization, the romance fails to engage the reader.

Sexist Language?

Okay, I wanted to like this novel, and in the beginning, I was in love with it. It had everything I wanted:

Girl power? Check.
Diverse? Check.
Dragons? Check.
Fantasy? Check.

The beginning of the novel was excellent. And then Taylor introduced the reader to Weysh. Weysh is a sexist dragon, and the way he kept referring to her as his “Given.” I get it, that is the title of the novel, and I was not oblivious considering the book description does reference it. However, it was the tone, and the way Weysh used it was bothersome.

Weysh keeps calling Yenna his given. The tone is possessive and sexist, especially when he tells everyone, “she is my given.” He makes no effort to get to know her and tells people she is his and that when they get married, she will stay home, have kids, her “womanly duties.” It was just bothersome especially considering that it is clear they are going to end up together.

When the reader sees them together, the reader does not want Weysh to be with her. First of all, it is not her job to change him. Yes, it is that classic “Beauty and the Beast” trope; the beauty changes the beast for the better, making them worthy of their love. However, that trope did not work here because of how sexist he is and how fierce and fabulous Yenna is.

Final Thoughts

It was hard for me to enjoy the novel because I do not think that Weysh deserved Yenna, and she could have done better. Yes, Weysh grows, but his selfish and sexist attitude lasted much longer than it should have for me to enjoy this novel.

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Product Details:

Pub Date: January 5, 2021	Page Count: 480pp	Age Range: 12 & Over
ISBN: 978-1-9893-6563-2	Publisher: Wattpad Books	List Price: $10.99

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