Take a photo of a barcode or cover
farronk 's review for:
Prince of the Sorrows
by Kellen Graves
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