A review by tej_reads
The Prince Without Sorrow by Maithree Wijesekara

3.75

There's definitely a Game of Thrones-esque vibe to Price Without Sorrow, with our three siblings all making plays for the Obsidian Throne, which I loved. I think PWS did a great job setting up the opening gambit. Our three players end the book in position ready to make their moves, though it felt slightly predictable. Especially, the ending with Shakti, and I'm not sure how I feel about her. Shakti is one of the more interesting characters as she is behind the scenes manipulating everyone and so you really do gain the most political insight into her mind, and then Ashoka. I did think it was interesting that Aarya, did not have a POV and I'm very happy with that as it made her character unpredictable but from the get go you know that she is smarter that Arush, if not equally unstable. I liked the switching of traditional gender roles by making Ashoka a pacifist and Shakti a more decisive, prone to violence character, I think it went against the stereotypical sort of fantasy pairings that we commonly see.

I loved that the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India was the inspiration for this book. Being Indian myself, it's always a pleasure to be able to read books inspired by the culture, especially as it encourages more Indian inspired books to be published.

I'm excited to pick up my copy of Prince Without Sorrow and to see where the Obsidian Throne trilogy leads.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | HarperVoyager for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.