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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
3.5⭐️
The first half of the book was a solid 5⭐️ for me. The second half was kind bleh.
I absolutely loved Nemeth. He was so kind and caring towards Candra.
Okay so f*ck the knot. If I had to hear about that one more time I was about to close the book. That was honestly the only thing I truly disliked about the book.
The first half of the book was a solid 5⭐️ for me. The second half was kind bleh.
I absolutely loved Nemeth. He was so kind and caring towards Candra.
Okay so f*ck the knot. If I had to hear about that one more time I was about to close the book. That was honestly the only thing I truly disliked about the book.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this arc!
Bound to the Shadow Prince was inspired by the Trojan War. Two rival armies send one of their own to a tower to be locked up for the next seven years. Candra and Nemeth should hate each other as they’re enemies, but their forced proximity brings them together. Candra has a blood curse who can’t get pregnant (or so she thought). And Nemeth cannot weird magick as well as the rest of their family. As their yearly supplies disappears, the two decide to do the forbidden and leave the tower. From there, they figured out just how corrupt both sides are.
This is a thrilling ride of fantasy filled with spice, forbidden love and plot twists!
Bound to the Shadow Prince was inspired by the Trojan War. Two rival armies send one of their own to a tower to be locked up for the next seven years. Candra and Nemeth should hate each other as they’re enemies, but their forced proximity brings them together. Candra has a blood curse who can’t get pregnant (or so she thought). And Nemeth cannot weird magick as well as the rest of their family. As their yearly supplies disappears, the two decide to do the forbidden and leave the tower. From there, they figured out just how corrupt both sides are.
This is a thrilling ride of fantasy filled with spice, forbidden love and plot twists!
I enjoyed this. I'm not sure how to review without giving away too much but THAT plot twist towards the ending! I did not see that coming! I loved out two main characters. The only thing that would have made it better is if we could have had his POV as well. I loved the spicy bits of the book as well as the sweet moments. The author really gets you hooked and I was stressed for these characters throughout the book.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This started off pretty cool. There was a curse, a missing princess and our main character had to step up to the plate to take her sister's place. Loved the concept of the tower and the isolation. The main character and love interest have to be in the tower for 7 years to appease the goddess. They are from enemy kingdoms so of course they are enemies to friends to lovers. They are literally sealed in the tower together.
I liked how we got a lot of time seeing how the tower life worked. I was really liking that setting, and how the supplies and living situation was described. Made for some interesting forced proximity moments.
The first like 60% of the book was pretty good. I thought it was going to end up as a fun fantasy romance with a cute happy couple. And then the last part of the book happened. It was certainly shocking, and some parts of it made sense, but then there were other parts that had me scratching my head. I felt like this maybe should have been broken up into two books? One part the tower and the other book what happens after that 60% point.
Overall the ending definitely took away some of my enjoyment, but overall it's a pretty good book. There are some sweet and lovely moments, some great writing, and the characters are pretty well done. I'm not sure if this is a standalone or part of a new series in the future, or if it is part of a series if we will follow other characters,
!!!!! Spoiler Thoughts !!!!!
There are some very dark things, such as slavery and implied SA/rape for females. That isn't unusually for Dixon's books. But in this one it just felt like it came out of nowhere. We finally understood the love interest, and that they both had prejudice against each other. Only for that to be thrown on it's back.
Her "dead" sister faking her death and deciding in the end to be randomly evil? I don't know. We barely knew of that character so it didn't feel like a twist as much as it felt like thrown in there. There was plenty of conflict with the warring kingdoms. Might have just been me but that aspect felt strange.
Also, this isn't a criticism just a thought I had the whole book that we never got answers for. How do they get air in this tower? I suspended my disbelief but I still want to know. Mostly for curiosity reason lol
I liked how we got a lot of time seeing how the tower life worked. I was really liking that setting, and how the supplies and living situation was described. Made for some interesting forced proximity moments.
The first like 60% of the book was pretty good. I thought it was going to end up as a fun fantasy romance with a cute happy couple. And then the last part of the book happened. It was certainly shocking, and some parts of it made sense, but then there were other parts that had me scratching my head. I felt like this maybe should have been broken up into two books? One part the tower and the other book what happens after that 60% point.
Overall the ending definitely took away some of my enjoyment, but overall it's a pretty good book. There are some sweet and lovely moments, some great writing, and the characters are pretty well done. I'm not sure if this is a standalone or part of a new series in the future, or if it is part of a series if we will follow other characters,
!!!!! Spoiler Thoughts !!!!!
Her "dead" sister faking her death and deciding in the end to be randomly evil? I don't know. We barely knew of that character so it didn't feel like a twist as much as it felt like thrown in there. There was plenty of conflict with the warring kingdoms. Might have just been me but that aspect felt strange.
Also, this isn't a criticism just a thought I had the whole book that we never got answers for. How do they get air in this tower? I suspended my disbelief but I still want to know. Mostly for curiosity reason lol
I love Dixon’s books, she excels at world building. It gives the story so much more depth. This was one of her darker books, though. The stakes felt a little too high, and it took me out of the enjoyment. Still an interesting read. Her love scenes are frequent and perfectly written.
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
3.5 hearts
Bound to the Shadow Prince is a stand alone novel outside of any of the worlds that we have previously read about by Ruby Dixon. I was excited to read something outside of the Ice Planet Barbarians series by Ruby Dixon, but big blue alien men with horns and a tail are still my kink. The story is single PoV and follows two characters Princess Candra, of Lios and Prince Nemeth of Darkfell. Candra, the narrator of our story, is the throw away princess. She has a blood illness and is barren so her entire life is being pampered, taking lovers and play around with court intrigues. That is until she is told her sister, the one slotted to be the sacrifice to the tower has died in a shipwreck and she has three days before she will take her place in the Tower with a Prince of their enemy.
Unprepared to live on her own, Candra ends up as the sacrifice to a Goddess, to go live in the Tower for seven years with the enemy of her people. She has no skills, has never cooked for herself and has to take a medicine by syringe daily for her blood illness, one she now has to make for herself. She was not prepared to live on her own in a dark tower. Nemeth, on the other hand, has been living with scholars and monks for years preparing to be the sacrifice. They are enemies but if Candra is going to survive, she is going to need some help from Nemeth or she will need to kill him to take all of his supplies.
It took a little while to warm to Candra. She is spoiled and a little whiny about her situation and doesn't like to read *gasp*. But as she struggles alone in the tower, she becomes a better person in general. She learns some lessons, becomes more kind and appreciative of those who served her previously (although she treated her favorites well) and becomes a character you can root for. I like Nemeth from the beginning though. We don't get real interaction with him for quite awhile but when we do you can tell he is a good and kind man. I was extremely interested in his culture and people and the differences between the lore of his people compared to Candra's. They turn from friends to lovers in their tower isolation but when they yearly supplies don't show up after a few years they must decide. Stay in the tower and starve, or leave and feel the wrath of the goddess on their people.
I enjoyed this story quite a bit overall. The sex scenes were spicy and the overall story line was really interesting. The pacing struggled in a few spots, especially once Candra and Nemeth left the Tower in search of what happened to all the people. I would have liked a little better flow in the beginning 15% and final 30%. I did like the reveal at the end and while sad, how the Goddess took her revenge out on the people of Lios and Darkfell while they were in the tower and the twist to the story. The lore and history of both cultures was really interesting to me as well. So the only reason I took a few stars off is for pacing since I think it will really affect others' enjoyment of the story.
If you are new to Ruby Dixon, I highly recommend one of her books in the Ice Planet Barbarians series. But this could give you a decent understanding of her writing ability.
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
3.5 hearts
Bound to the Shadow Prince is a stand alone novel outside of any of the worlds that we have previously read about by Ruby Dixon. I was excited to read something outside of the Ice Planet Barbarians series by Ruby Dixon, but big blue alien men with horns and a tail are still my kink. The story is single PoV and follows two characters Princess Candra, of Lios and Prince Nemeth of Darkfell. Candra, the narrator of our story, is the throw away princess. She has a blood illness and is barren so her entire life is being pampered, taking lovers and play around with court intrigues. That is until she is told her sister, the one slotted to be the sacrifice to the tower has died in a shipwreck and she has three days before she will take her place in the Tower with a Prince of their enemy.
Unprepared to live on her own, Candra ends up as the sacrifice to a Goddess, to go live in the Tower for seven years with the enemy of her people. She has no skills, has never cooked for herself and has to take a medicine by syringe daily for her blood illness, one she now has to make for herself. She was not prepared to live on her own in a dark tower. Nemeth, on the other hand, has been living with scholars and monks for years preparing to be the sacrifice. They are enemies but if Candra is going to survive, she is going to need some help from Nemeth or she will need to kill him to take all of his supplies.
It took a little while to warm to Candra. She is spoiled and a little whiny about her situation and doesn't like to read *gasp*. But as she struggles alone in the tower, she becomes a better person in general. She learns some lessons, becomes more kind and appreciative of those who served her previously (although she treated her favorites well) and becomes a character you can root for. I like Nemeth from the beginning though. We don't get real interaction with him for quite awhile but when we do you can tell he is a good and kind man. I was extremely interested in his culture and people and the differences between the lore of his people compared to Candra's. They turn from friends to lovers in their tower isolation but when they yearly supplies don't show up after a few years they must decide. Stay in the tower and starve, or leave and feel the wrath of the goddess on their people.
I enjoyed this story quite a bit overall. The sex scenes were spicy and the overall story line was really interesting. The pacing struggled in a few spots, especially once Candra and Nemeth left the Tower in search of what happened to all the people. I would have liked a little better flow in the beginning 15% and final 30%. I did like the reveal at the end and while sad, how the Goddess took her revenge out on the people of Lios and Darkfell while they were in the tower and the twist to the story. The lore and history of both cultures was really interesting to me as well. So the only reason I took a few stars off is for pacing since I think it will really affect others' enjoyment of the story.
If you are new to Ruby Dixon, I highly recommend one of her books in the Ice Planet Barbarians series. But this could give you a decent understanding of her writing ability.