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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Oh god, I loved this. The world building, the lore, the magic, the main character. I loved it all so much.
I wanted to stay lost in this world longer, to get further introduced to the magic as well as Saffron, so I immediately bought the second book and will be diving in in just a moment.
Saffron...I felt so many emotions for this boy. He deserves so much. I loved his personality, his kindness, his friendships, his sacrifice and strength. I wanted to cry over him.
The thing that kept this from receiving flying colors was the way the romance panned out. Cylvan was a PRICK at the beginning, and didn't do anything to deserve Saffron's affection, yet, he just suddenly turned nicer. Cylvan deserved to be called out and Saffron deserved rage. He deserved to feel it and express it.
I won't lie, this one ended in a way that makes me fear I maybe frustrated with book two for at least a bit, if not more. I just hope it doesn't last long, because I really want to continue loving this series.
I wanted to stay lost in this world longer, to get further introduced to the magic as well as Saffron, so I immediately bought the second book and will be diving in in just a moment.
Saffron...I felt so many emotions for this boy. He deserves so much. I loved his personality, his kindness, his friendships, his sacrifice and strength. I wanted to cry over him.
The thing that kept this from receiving flying colors was the way the romance panned out. Cylvan was a PRICK at the beginning, and didn't do anything to deserve Saffron's affection, yet, he just suddenly turned nicer. Cylvan deserved to be called out and Saffron deserved rage. He deserved to feel it and express it.
I won't lie, this one ended in a way that makes me fear I maybe frustrated with book two for at least a bit, if not more. I just hope it doesn't last long, because I really want to continue loving this series.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
there were some scenes in this that were very very romantic in a way i haven’t read in the longest time and i Did Not See That Coming. author writes beautifully without purple prose, which is a breath of fresh air. the world building managed to catch my interest without committing the mortal sin of Too Many Details.
this book almost failed to hold my interest, though. i was hoping for something more fast paced and perhaps more intense, but this was still a fun read. will check the following books in the series.
this book almost failed to hold my interest, though. i was hoping for something more fast paced and perhaps more intense, but this was still a fun read. will check the following books in the series.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Prince of the Sorrows is for the weird kids, who, in their earliest queer days, read about changelings and wishes that could happen to them. It’s for the weird kids who wondered if Beauty preferred the castle when it was darkness and decay. If I were to summarize this, I’d say it is a romantic fantasy with elements of horror and mystery. I would probably define the romance dynamic between the two main characters as servant-and-prince plus Beauty and the Beast, plus Irish myths and faeries, with a dash of The Shop Around the Corner. All of these things are right up my alley.
The setting of Prince of the Sorrows is almost claustrophobic, contained by the overarching threat(s), with a great sense of a larger world and its machinations at play. From the other books I have read by Kellen Graves, this seems to be their style. A 'small' story in the heart of a big world. I very much enjoyed the cruelty, darkness and violence of the fey characters and its world, the emerging hints of an interesting magic system, and the dual-world aspect of it (the faerie world and the mortal world) which brings to mind some of my favorite older fairy-related fantasy from the 80s and 90s. I especially liked that the cruelty and inhumane nature of the fey was highlighted.
I actually DNF this book in 2023 for various reasons, mostly due to my own burnout and simply not feeling as compelled to read ebooks, but as a fan of other books by Kellen Graves and the world that Prince of the Sorrows takes place in, I wanted to give it another fair shot. To be honest, I came across the exact kind of negative review of the book that makes me want to know more about it– someone who had gotten invested enough in all of the characters to be very angry at one or of the main characters and the way the romance shook out. For me, that’s often a sign I’ll enjoy a story. I like things messy.
At times it almost felt like Graves couldn’t settle on which romantic moments or tropes to bring in, so they included all of them, like a buffet of cupcakes in different flavors. But who would hate so many cupcakes? They’re cupcakes!
Regarding problematic elements—I personally like that there are clear issues in the relationship, some of which immediately rear themselves, some which become key plot points. There are issues power imbalance, especially within a fundamentally abusive society, deception and miscommunication within the relationship and the book in general. Some may feel like these issues were not properly spelled out or condemned or are presented in an overly lurid manner. I believe this is a matter of taste. I felt that it was intentionally dark and gothic in the classical sense.
There is a sex scene in the book that didn't strike me as particularly smutty or graphic. The romance at this point seems more emotional than sexual, but there's three more books in this series so I suspect it will go much further as the story progresses.
I did find myself wishing the book had stronger editing. Sentences often run long and change subject halfway through. I also have quite a pet peeve around “Damnit” instead of “Dammit” or “Damn it” and that, again, seems like something that could’ve been fixed in an edit. I assume to some extent that those are the seams of indie publication. While I feel this is an issue in Graves’ other work to some extent, it wasn’t quite as distracting in A Bone in His Teeth or The Fox and the Dryad. Bearing in mind that Prince of the Sorrows was their debut (I believe?), it seems this issue has improved somewhat in later books.
The hard-cover Rainbow Crate edition I have of Prince of Sorrows is beautiful and detailed, with dozens of little flourishes I really enjoyed, especially the way book is presented as an in-universe tome beneath the dust jacket. I did not particularly enjoy the use of differing fonts to denote handwriting as it looked a bit jarring and too modern compared to the rest of the aesthetic of the book. I think italics would have sufficed. Otherwise, the typesetting and layout of the book was beautiful. The personalized touches that came with this edition were nice as well.
The setting of Prince of the Sorrows is almost claustrophobic, contained by the overarching threat(s), with a great sense of a larger world and its machinations at play. From the other books I have read by Kellen Graves, this seems to be their style. A 'small' story in the heart of a big world. I very much enjoyed the cruelty, darkness and violence of the fey characters and its world, the emerging hints of an interesting magic system, and the dual-world aspect of it (the faerie world and the mortal world) which brings to mind some of my favorite older fairy-related fantasy from the 80s and 90s. I especially liked that the cruelty and inhumane nature of the fey was highlighted.
I actually DNF this book in 2023 for various reasons, mostly due to my own burnout and simply not feeling as compelled to read ebooks, but as a fan of other books by Kellen Graves and the world that Prince of the Sorrows takes place in, I wanted to give it another fair shot. To be honest, I came across the exact kind of negative review of the book that makes me want to know more about it– someone who had gotten invested enough in all of the characters to be very angry at one or of the main characters and the way the romance shook out. For me, that’s often a sign I’ll enjoy a story. I like things messy.
At times it almost felt like Graves couldn’t settle on which romantic moments or tropes to bring in, so they included all of them, like a buffet of cupcakes in different flavors. But who would hate so many cupcakes? They’re cupcakes!
Regarding problematic elements—I personally like that there are clear issues in the relationship, some of which immediately rear themselves, some which become key plot points. There are issues power imbalance, especially within a fundamentally abusive society, deception and miscommunication within the relationship and the book in general. Some may feel like these issues were not properly spelled out or condemned or are presented in an overly lurid manner. I believe this is a matter of taste. I felt that it was intentionally dark and gothic in the classical sense.
There is a sex scene in the book that didn't strike me as particularly smutty or graphic. The romance at this point seems more emotional than sexual, but there's three more books in this series so I suspect it will go much further as the story progresses.
I did find myself wishing the book had stronger editing. Sentences often run long and change subject halfway through. I also have quite a pet peeve around “Damnit” instead of “Dammit” or “Damn it” and that, again, seems like something that could’ve been fixed in an edit. I assume to some extent that those are the seams of indie publication. While I feel this is an issue in Graves’ other work to some extent, it wasn’t quite as distracting in A Bone in His Teeth or The Fox and the Dryad. Bearing in mind that Prince of the Sorrows was their debut (I believe?), it seems this issue has improved somewhat in later books.
The hard-cover Rainbow Crate edition I have of Prince of Sorrows is beautiful and detailed, with dozens of little flourishes I really enjoyed, especially the way book is presented as an in-universe tome beneath the dust jacket. I did not particularly enjoy the use of differing fonts to denote handwriting as it looked a bit jarring and too modern compared to the rest of the aesthetic of the book. I think italics would have sufficed. Otherwise, the typesetting and layout of the book was beautiful. The personalized touches that came with this edition were nice as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
It was nice book but not what i expected from a fantasy book. I feel like the author wrote a lot of things but nothing important. In my opinion this felt more like a romance book tan a fantasy one. I understand that this book was made the way it is to get us into the world building but it really made me sleep. There was nothing interesting happening at all, just two dudes with different backgrounds starting on the wrong foot get to fall for the other but as far as the plot go in my opinion nothing interesting happened until the end and it was like 4 chapters of it.
It took me a page or so to understand the pronoun use. "They" is used when talking about somebody else, usually when they're not present. If they are present, then the more defining pronoun is usually used. Do note: there's LGBTQ representation. But also note: this is all everyday to them. To be bi or gay appears to be the norm. There is no use referring to anybody as bi/gay. They just are. Just like how it's common practice to refer to another person (especially not present) as "they" for a pronoun. That's just how it is in this realm. (And I'm here for it!)
Furthermore, the humans (beantighes) are servants to the fey at a school. They have to wear veils so they can basically blend in with the walls (though there are other cultural reasons too). How they interact with the fey is such an everyday expectation of how one would think it to go if fey were real. So that does mean there is a lot of bullying and abuse. This whole world Graves has immersed us in makes so much sense for fae-human living... It's never over-the-top in abuse, except for one person's actions. (But even then, that one person is the token villain.)
And don't get me started on the way mythos was weaved in! I know the answers are there in what we learn through this book (through the stories and books within). In fact, I love that both of the main characters read and that the plot moves forward with the help of the library and schoolbooks.
Now, the characters: Cylvan and Saffron both have their own selfish reasons for doing what they do, but eventually they have unselfish reasons too. (This back and forth is really to be expected in high fantasy romance books that involve human/fey relations.) I really don't want to give details, but I 'ship them and only want the best. They deserve the extra cuddles!
It does end on a cliffhanger! Parts of the main story are resolved in this book, but Cylvan's core issue (for instance) is very much unresolved.
Furthermore, the humans (beantighes) are servants to the fey at a school. They have to wear veils so they can basically blend in with the walls (though there are other cultural reasons too). How they interact with the fey is such an everyday expectation of how one would think it to go if fey were real. So that does mean there is a lot of bullying and abuse. This whole world Graves has immersed us in makes so much sense for fae-human living... It's never over-the-top in abuse, except for one person's actions. (But even then, that one person is the token villain.)
And don't get me started on the way mythos was weaved in! I know the answers are there in what we learn through this book (through the stories and books within). In fact, I love that both of the main characters read and that the plot moves forward with the help of the library and schoolbooks.
Now, the characters: Cylvan and Saffron both have their own selfish reasons for doing what they do, but eventually they have unselfish reasons too. (This back and forth is really to be expected in high fantasy romance books that involve human/fey relations.) I really don't want to give details, but I 'ship them and only want the best. They deserve the extra cuddles!
Spoiler
(Oh, and this book does carry spice! Not a huge amount, but there's this one scene... Chapter 20, I think?)It does end on a cliffhanger! Parts of the main story are resolved in this book, but Cylvan's core issue (for instance) is very much unresolved.