Reviews

Prince and Betrothed by Tavia Lark

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alexreadsome's review

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lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

3.0

grover_25's review

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3.0

What I liked:
- Loska (Marek’s dragon) seriously the best character
- purple rats
- Sei making friends left and right
-How cozy Sei always seemed with Osric
-fellcats in general lol
-trans characters

fishreads's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Sei Mallory is a grail raised and educated by the Porcelain Guild of Fellrin in order to serve a mage one day. (A grail is a person possessing a huge reserve of magic which they are unable to access themselves, but their magic can help amplify another mage's powers when they draw magic from the grail.) At twenty-one, Sei is finally on his way to Draskora to meet a man he was betrothed to and who will also be a mage he should serve as a grail. When Sei finally arrives at Ostomar, flown in by Marek Dire, the second prince of Draskora, on the back of his dragon Loska, he discovers that his betrothed, Vana, the first prince of Draskora, has deserted, and that Marek is expected to claim him in his brother's place instead. This comes as a surprise to both Sei and Marek, and while Sei just wants to fulfill his purpose as a grail, Marek has a hard time coming to terms with expectations of using a grail.

I found both Sei and Marek to be very likable characters. Sei was sheltered and inexperienced, but he had guts and knew how to handle himself in his own way. Marek was noble and brash, but unlike Vana, he didn't seem in danger of falling victim to the court's scheming. Another thing that elevated this particular story for me were the animal characters of fellcat Osric and dragon Loska, which were both quite integral to the plot and had their own autonomy and close relationships with Sei and Marek respectively. Once again, Kazia made for such an intriguing secondary character that I could hardly wait for his own story.

Unlike previous romances in this series, Sei and Marek's romance progression felt organic and believable to me. It was really enjoyable witnessing Sei grow into his own power and stand up for himself and what he wanted instead of what was expected of him. Marek was just imperfectly perfect for him; I loved such a strong character finally realizing it was okay to lean on somebody else.

This was hands down my favorite book in the series and one that I might even return to in the future.

(All the book reviews for this series will be written somewhat quick and dirty as I read through all the books in the span of six days. I've written my quick overall impression of each book as I finished them, but now after finishing the whole series I find myself lacking energy and brainpower to try to write more detailed reviews for each book.)

Themes: dual POV, arranged marriage, magic/mages, dragons

honeycloouds16's review

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Shortened review without spoilers:
Love the fellcat and dragon, very fun to see how they interacted with Sei and Marek. Loved Marek and Sei as characters themselves, but I didn’t love the romance. Their romance always felt unfinished/incomplete in a way? Felt like there could’ve been more communicating between the two.

The rest of the review contains small spoilers

This was good…in some ways? There was just something about this book that made it so hard to read. It was a struggle and I actually cheered when I noticed I was finally at 80%- that’s how bad I was struggling to read it.

I loved Osric (I’m not sure if that’s how you even spell it 😭), who was just a cute fellcat who clearly cares so much for Sei. Their bond was so precious and I absolutely adored them cuddling 💞 Loska was such a funny dragon too, always crushing on other dragons and teasing Marek and Sei. The bond between Marek and Loska was also nice to read about.

Sei and Marek as individual characters are also endearing and lovable. Their romance? Not so much, it felt very rushed and out of nowhere honestly & it never felt complete? I didn’t feel that they were even communicating throughout their relationship. Even when they did, their conversations always felt unfinished, like there was more to say.

I did love reading how Sei became more confident in himself, reading how touch became something normal. It was nice seeing him grow into an entirely new person because he was no longer being restricted just because he’s a grail. I also loved reading how Marek was able to feel like he could finally depend on someone.

I honestly can’t write a perfect review because I was mostly skimming near the end. I just didn’t enjoy it, which is disappointing because the arranged marriage trope is one I also enjoy. Especially with such opposites personalities in the beginning.