You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
*sigh*
This brings me back to all those Charlie Bowater covers: pretty, but conceals the not so great content within.
I am a bit upset because I saw a crap ton of good reviews for this one, and of course, ITS GAY. I should absolutely be swooning right now and I’m NOT. I’m definitely not.
This book, to put it simply, was full of both great elements and some not so great elements. All of which were not executed well at all.
There were plenty of descriptions—a lot of descriptions pertaining to the scenery when it wasn’t needed—and they lasted for literal PAGES. Instead of letting us get to know Saffron as the protagonist, we were more concerned with what the world LOOKED like around him, and it was definitely off-putting. It would have been much much better if we had spent that time getting to know the Saffron, who I still don’t actually know by the end of this story.
Cylvan? Idk, I really don’t. He existed. That’s all I can tell you at this point. I didn’t care about him at all, unfortunately. He was the prince that was salty about the incident that occurred in the beginning, but beyond that? Not much development, and that sucks because he came off as someone interesting to start.
Their relationship did NOT develop very well. I was uninterested enough that I made Megan summarize the last bit of the book for me because I just didn’t enjoy what I was reading. It started off promising and quickly plummeted. Instead of receiving a healthy amount of dialogue between Saffron and Cylvan, we got even more scenery and on occasion Saffrons feelings. We went like 10 pages in the middle of the book without ANY dialogue, just to give you an idea of how much it was lacking in that first half. At the crucial moment when they are supposed to interact, their interactions were instead summarized. Bummer.
Also the plot was NOT clear. Not even close, not until the end-end, and even THEN it’s still not clear. I really wish this author would have taken the time to receive more feedback because I didn’t really have an easy time following the overall plot, romance, or character development.
*spoilers up ahead*
So….there’s this…scene (thank you Megan for summarizing it for me) where Saffron HAUNTS the school by dressing up as a ghost covered in blood (Rowan berries) to get them to stop a wolf…….i didn’t….like that much. He haunts the school to take care of the enemy??? *exists room angrily* I found that to be a bit frustrating.
So yeah, unfortunately no….I wouldn’t recommend this book myself.
This brings me back to all those Charlie Bowater covers: pretty, but conceals the not so great content within.
I am a bit upset because I saw a crap ton of good reviews for this one, and of course, ITS GAY. I should absolutely be swooning right now and I’m NOT. I’m definitely not.
This book, to put it simply, was full of both great elements and some not so great elements. All of which were not executed well at all.
There were plenty of descriptions—a lot of descriptions pertaining to the scenery when it wasn’t needed—and they lasted for literal PAGES. Instead of letting us get to know Saffron as the protagonist, we were more concerned with what the world LOOKED like around him, and it was definitely off-putting. It would have been much much better if we had spent that time getting to know the Saffron, who I still don’t actually know by the end of this story.
Cylvan? Idk, I really don’t. He existed. That’s all I can tell you at this point. I didn’t care about him at all, unfortunately. He was the prince that was salty about the incident that occurred in the beginning, but beyond that? Not much development, and that sucks because he came off as someone interesting to start.
Their relationship did NOT develop very well. I was uninterested enough that I made Megan summarize the last bit of the book for me because I just didn’t enjoy what I was reading. It started off promising and quickly plummeted. Instead of receiving a healthy amount of dialogue between Saffron and Cylvan, we got even more scenery and on occasion Saffrons feelings. We went like 10 pages in the middle of the book without ANY dialogue, just to give you an idea of how much it was lacking in that first half. At the crucial moment when they are supposed to interact, their interactions were instead summarized. Bummer.
Also the plot was NOT clear. Not even close, not until the end-end, and even THEN it’s still not clear. I really wish this author would have taken the time to receive more feedback because I didn’t really have an easy time following the overall plot, romance, or character development.
*spoilers up ahead*
So….there’s this…scene (thank you Megan for summarizing it for me) where Saffron HAUNTS the school by dressing up as a ghost covered in blood (Rowan berries) to get them to stop a wolf…….i didn’t….like that much. He haunts the school to take care of the enemy??? *exists room angrily* I found that to be a bit frustrating.
So yeah, unfortunately no….I wouldn’t recommend this book myself.
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is another self-published book that, with the work of an expert editor to hash out some plot points and phrasing, could easily be a 5 star for me. It's just fun mm fae romantasy that I devoured quickly and enjoyed the whole time.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF at page 1. I fought the law and the law won.
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Kept my interest on a long flight, but not enough to read the next one
Loving the story so far, some parts can get a bit mulled in my opinion but it’s still a very enjoyable book. Loved the Cardiff reference, I love the balance between the plot and the growing love interest between the prince and saffron. Already began book two! I’m a sucker for a slow burn and it’s queer fantasy romance? Yes please!
By all means, this should be a perfect book for me. Folk-inspired fae lands with a bloody mystery and queer main characters? It feels like this was written specifically for me. The premise had also sounded fun and original - having to solve something that requires reading without the knowledge how to do so, needless to say I decided to give The Prince of Sorrows a read.
Some people use the phrase that something is "written like a fanfic" to say that it is written badly, but I think this would be a disservice to all the well written fanfiction I read over the years and that have stuck with me. My high expectations for this book were sadly not met and I only finished the story out of frustration, hoping that surely the next chapter will be better, surely there's a method to this madness!
We follow Saffron, who is our human main character, as he tries to solve the mystery of his friend Arrow's murder. However, Saffron gets distracted by the Big Horns of Prince Cylvan and instead we witness their romance bloom and the mystery gets forgotten about until the last few chapters.
The LI starts as a horrible person, abusing their power over Saffron (I found the party scene with the fruit eating particularly vile). It felt absolutely unrealistic to me for Cylvan to turn into this suffering fragile prince who kisses the ground our human MC walks on not even halfway through the book. Their romance did not win me over.
The side characters are only mentioned in name and in relation to the MC, other than that they felt paper thin and not fleshed out. Only Lettuce, Saffron's friend is privy to a romance of her own, but even this is mentioned in a couple of sentences, for we are told about this rather than shown.
I liked the idea of the human settlement and its more rustic feel, as well as the naming customs for the Beanthinges, as each is called after a spice, textile, vegetable and so on. Kellen Graves certainly knows how to paint a picture for the audience. The reader is taken to multiple locations that have been carefully thought about. The author also knows how to design a visually striking characters - you can tell that Saffron and Cylvan were crafted with love.
Perhaps the story would have benefitted from being only a romance, as this was clearly Graves' favourite part. The murders and the wolf in the woods have fallen short in comparison, so much so it was actually sad to see. Either cut it out, or let the story marinate a bit longer.
Despite all of the above, I plan on continuing the series, as I am hoping that the author's craft will hone with next volumes of Rowan Blood tetralogy. After all, I was positively giddy when discovering the book for the first time and was looking forward to the read.
Some people use the phrase that something is "written like a fanfic" to say that it is written badly, but I think this would be a disservice to all the well written fanfiction I read over the years and that have stuck with me. My high expectations for this book were sadly not met and I only finished the story out of frustration, hoping that surely the next chapter will be better, surely there's a method to this madness!
We follow Saffron, who is our human main character, as he tries to solve the mystery of his friend Arrow's murder. However, Saffron gets distracted by the Big Horns of Prince Cylvan and instead we witness their romance bloom and the mystery gets forgotten about until the last few chapters.
The LI starts as a horrible person, abusing their power over Saffron (I found the party scene with the fruit eating particularly vile). It felt absolutely unrealistic to me for Cylvan to turn into this suffering fragile prince who kisses the ground our human MC walks on not even halfway through the book. Their romance did not win me over.
The side characters are only mentioned in name and in relation to the MC, other than that they felt paper thin and not fleshed out. Only Lettuce, Saffron's friend is privy to a romance of her own, but even this is mentioned in a couple of sentences, for we are told about this rather than shown.
I liked the idea of the human settlement and its more rustic feel, as well as the naming customs for the Beanthinges, as each is called after a spice, textile, vegetable and so on. Kellen Graves certainly knows how to paint a picture for the audience. The reader is taken to multiple locations that have been carefully thought about. The author also knows how to design a visually striking characters - you can tell that Saffron and Cylvan were crafted with love.
Perhaps the story would have benefitted from being only a romance, as this was clearly Graves' favourite part. The murders and the wolf in the woods have fallen short in comparison, so much so it was actually sad to see. Either cut it out, or let the story marinate a bit longer.
Despite all of the above, I plan on continuing the series, as I am hoping that the author's craft will hone with next volumes of Rowan Blood tetralogy. After all, I was positively giddy when discovering the book for the first time and was looking forward to the read.