Reviews

Prince and Pawn by Tavia Lark

spicy_tofu60's review

adventurous lighthearted 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? Yes

3.0

I love Audric

amberdlewis's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

This book combines several of the things I loved about the first two books into this story and I loved it so very much! I think Corin may be my favorite character so far.

mary_soon_lee's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

This is the third gay-prince fantasy-romance in the Perilous Courts series, moving to the oldest prince in the family, Audric. As before, the perspective alternates between the two sides of the romance.

I found this very enjoyable and found both main characters likable, though book one remains my favorite. A content warning with a spoiler attached: this time the sex scenes are not only explicit but rough, which, though consensual is not going to be in everyone's comfort zone. It wasn't fully in mine.

Three and three quarter out of five bruised stars, rounded up.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence

ravenmicheleee's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

kellylayne's review

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? No

2.5

Parts of this book were fun, but ultimately, it did not work for me. There are many reasons I say that, but the main ones that I think may be helpful to others figuring out if this is for them: (1) the characters and their relationship were underdeveloped. Its classic instalove and even as I got to the end of the story it was not clear to me why they loved each other. I also felt that Corins characterisation was all over the place. (2) There is a massive power and sexual experience imbalance between the two characters that is not explored in any serious way. I found this particularly unsettling in the context of the undernegotiated pain kink where the powerful, experienced partner enjoys hurting and leaving bruises on his virginal partner. To be fair, his character doesnt know about the others lack of experience in the first encounter, but it is not seriously revisited once he finds out either. I will be honest that I dont generally enjoy reading about relationships with power imbalances or pain kink - so its very possible that if you do, these wont be issues for you.

gigiviolent's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

the_otaku_bibliophile's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

notamaced's review

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

yamuna_rai's review

emotional funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

fishreads's review

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

2.75

Audric Sandry, the first prince of Silaise, is on his way to claim Geoffrey Marcel as his betrothed. Their betrothal is a political arrangement to strengthen the alliance between House Sandry and House Marcel. Audric doesn't plan to spend his last night as a single man in a brothel, and he certainly doesn't plan to have sex with Corin, a very appealing stranger he meets there by chance. But he does, and the two of them engage in some rough sex and pain play. Both of them are more than a little surprised the next day when Audric arrives to claim Geoffrey and discovers Corin is Geoffrey's half-brother who will also be traveling back with them. Audric can't help being drawn to Corin, and the more he observes him, the more suspicious he becomes of Geoffrey's treatment of Corin.

Audric and Corin's romance didn't really work for me at all. I liked Audric's character in the previous books, but he didn't make the most interesting of main characters. His obsession with Corin, a man with whom he had a kinky one-night stand, made very little sense. Corin as a character was quite uninspiring and bland as well. I didn't find sex scenes throughout the series all that great in general so sex scenes in this book featuring a kink I wasn't particularly interested in I found even less appealing. The fact that his half-brother

was stealing Corin's own magic

was obvious from the beginning, so that aspect of the story, once it was revealed, also wasn't particularly exciting.

Overall, in addition to disappointing romance, the whole plot with House Marcel

plotting against House Sandry from the beginning of the series

wasn't particularly well done. 

I do hope that the Draskoran series arc will be more enjoyable than the Silaisan one, as my enjoyment of the series was diminishing with each subsequent installment with this being the worst book in the series so far for me.

(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, royalty, fiance's brother, BDSM, magic/mages, virginity