Sleepy Princess in Demon Castle volume 3

This is a nice improvement on volume 2. I felt things went Syalis's way a little too often, and made her a little less sympathetic. This one is better about that. She is still a relentless sleep-seeking fiend, but she also gets a good karmic kick every now and then. Also, her antics are more clearly due to misunderstandings or apathy instead of malice or manipulation.

One occasion of the former is during a Demon Castle Christmas party. Twilight arranges it to be kept a secret from Syalis and to take place late at night. It is a hush-hush event in darkness when the Princess should be asleep, and so they can have their "dark mass" in peace. Syalis finds out, of course, and infiltrates the party.

She does so because first prize in the Bingo Game of Darkness (I'm not kidding about the name) is a sleep aid she wants. By utilizing the social graces she developed as a princess (i.e. various methods of cheating), she rigs the game so that she is guaranteed to win. However, the Bingo Game of Darkness takes place after the Buffet of Darkness and the Oration of Darkness. The later of which takes so long that she falls asleep, is discovered, and thus does not win the Bingo Game of Darkness (that is actually fun to write!).

An example of the latter is when Princess Syalis knits a pair of woolen underwear for herself. The demons notice that she's up to something again, and she deliberately refrains from telling them that is just about knitting. This is because her mother the queen forbid her from talking about her underwear due to an incident in her childhood. So she uses other means of communication as a compromise: charades, morse code, pictures etc. Due to different frames of reference, the demons think she is declaring her intent to massacre them with alien back-up.

Both of these events are fun to read, and well-constructed.

Furthermore, Syalis shows a willingness to include her nominal captors in her adventures in better sleep. This happens in the very first chapter of the volume, and involves a magical device with the power to subdue demons. It is a wooden device which can trap demons within its confines and inflict them with laziness, rendering them harmless. It is a kotatsu.

Like the previous two volumes, each chapter is a self-contained story, so I could go about all the stories in this volume. I won't because that would take too long.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Sleepy Princess in Demon Castle volume 3" an A+

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Click here for my previous book review: Spiral - Bonds of Reasoning volume 2

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.