Reviews

Cursed Prince by C.N. Crawford

mccojb01's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

its_thekla's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

3.0

brits_bomb_books's review against another edition

3.0

Was this the best book I’ve ever read? No, but it was one that kept me engaged enough to finish and pick up the next book.

The Ragnarok plot line was most interesting to me, mainly because I haven’t read a lot of Norse mythology and I enjoyed hearing more about it (I also have no clue how accurate or representative this book is, so take that for what it’s worth

kbeebe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

kayla_rt's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

4.25

shebles's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.0

_ann_'s review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

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

3.25

sadlyitsnotalex's review against another edition

3.0

2.5

Well, that's that. Tbh, the book was quite predictive, but still kind of fun to read. Except for the fact that I dreaded reading the p.o.v of Marroc/Galin everytime they showed up, because it literally felt like I was reading the p.o.v of an angsty teen ( he kept saying stuff like: she's my mate, I want to protect her, but I want to drain her soul out of her body. But if I do that, I die. Also, I can't tell her the truth, because she will hate me.) IT WAS THE SAME SHIT EVERY. SINGLE. CHAPTER.

Also, I knew from the start that Marroc was going to be Loki or Galin, that part was soooo obvious, but I don't know why the author put it off until the end. It wasn't suspenseful or anything, just stretched.


But, the adventure was quite interesting and the MC was likable.

kirstenleigh's review against another edition

3.0

There are some things I liked about this book but also a lot I didn’t.... the most frustrating thing to me was that for a romance novel, the female lead didn’t seem to have hardly any interest in the male lead past calling him beautiful a few times. She seemed to have little emotion toward him other than feeling like she owed him because he saved her life. While he on the other hand was basically completely crazy about her, while never letting her know. And the entire book was just a search for one thing or another with what felt like very little payoff.... now with that being said I still can’t wait for the next one because I’m totally rooting for these two characters! I just hope the next book shows more growth, particularly for our female lead.

softstarrynights's review against another edition

2.0

Cursed Prince is the first in a fantasy trilogy that takes a lot on inspiration from Norse mythology. In dual perspectives, we follow Marroc, a dark magician under a curse, and Ali, a Night-Elf who wished to free her people from their imprisonment by the High-Elves and take place after Ragnarok. I am going to put my cards on the table here and admit that I picked up this book on the promise of the cover alone, which I still love, but was left disappointed. The world that these characters inhabit is incredibly messy and utterly uninteresting. The elves, both night-elves and high-elves, live alongside the ruins of human civilisation. There aren't any humans in the book itself, but there are iPods, blenders, and Beyonce. Worst of all there are multiple references to being Rickrolled. That should tell you a lot about what you're getting yourself into with this book. I ignored the warning signs that existed within the world-building because I had faith that the characters would carry the book. I will always choose a character-driven story over a plot-driven one. Ali constantly claimed to be a super-assassin, but never truly exhibited any skills that made me believe that someone would pay her to be an assassin. Marroc was interesting at first. He was moody, angsty, and had a tragic backstory. I will admit that I was into it. He was cursed so that he couldn't speak, but as soon as that curse was lifted all the faith I had in him to rescue this book dissipated. He was much more appealing when he was mute. Ordinarily, I adore dual perspective and was so excited when I realised that this book was going to give that to me. However, there is a skill in writing dual perspectives because ultimately they ought to complement one another. What they should not do is repeat each other. To give you an example of the way this book failed; Marroc's POV would have his say that he wanted to consume Ali's soul, which is an inner thought. Ali's POV a chapter later would include her saying that Marroc looked as though he wanted to consume her soul. There was also a lot of repeating plot points and background, which suggests to me that either the author doesn't trust their reader or the book is so complicated the reader needs constant reminders. Neither option is particularly pleasant. To recap thus far, I hated the plot, the characters were uninteresting and to top it all off the big twist was so predictable I guessed it maybe 25% of the way into the book, and that is me being generous. There was also a reveal at the end which felt like it should have been surprising. But here is the rub;

Spoiler

The book is called Cursed Prince and Marroc is cursed, so it would make sense that he is also the prince from the title.

. I was so excited to read this from the promise of the cover and am so disappointed that I'm not even sure who I would recommend this to. It's such a shame that the cover for the sequel is equally as gorgeous, but I don't think I can bring myself to read more of this mess.