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A review by moonyreadsbooks
Curse of the Dark Prince by Ariana Nash
5.0
When I started reading the first volume of The Prince's Assassin I never thought this trilogy would enter my heart so deeply. Yet, here I am, at the end of this wonderful and devastating journey, drowned in an ocean of feelings, not at all ready to let go of these magnificent characters. Niko and Vasili unexpectedly and unconditionally took possession of my heart, leaving it in pieces. This hadn't happened to me in quite a while. Ariana Nash has all my respect, no doubt about it.
Let's try to go in order with this review.
He moved another step closer. The odors of smoke and metal and war came with him. Scents that reminded Vasili of eight years in hell, until Nikolas had entered his life and changed everything. Stubborn and rough, smelling of hot metal, horse, and wood smoke. It was the wood smoke that did it - reminded Vasili of the cabin in the woods. Of the short life Nikolas had made for him. A life with Nikolas at his side.
Vasili's point of view was all I needed. I would have liked it from the first book, but I fully understand Ariana Nash's choice to reserve his narration only for the last volume of the trilogy. King of the Dark's Vasili is a cold, cruel and calculating man, and the fact that we gradually get to know him from Niko's point of view made him even more interesting. Only in Reign of Darkness do we begin to see a hint of his true self, of his vulnerability, but it's still too early to completely erase all of his barriers and thoroughly understand him. In The Curse of the Dark Prince, however, we finally have an unfiltered Vasili, with his raw thoughts and true emotions, and we love him every page more by reading his innumerable inner conflicts and the true nature of his feelings for Nikolas.
He had not meant to fall in love with Nikolas Yazdan. Use him, yes. But never love him. He'd been so long without love, he hadn't seen it stalking him until it had struck. And now he was defenseless against it.
I appreciated Nikolas much more in this volume. He is finally free of any doubts about his love for Vasili, and has a well-defined goal in mind: to save his prince and ensure him the happiness he deserves.
Vasili Caville might be the bravest damn soul he'd ever met. He'd do any damn thing for him. And he wished he could take him away, like he'd promised. But as Vasili had always said, that was not their ending. "You were always that man."
I swear I'm not crying.
A special praise to Yasir, Adamo and Roksana, brave souls who deserve the world. (Yes, I included Adamo. Yes, Ariana Nash made me love a horse.)
Incredibly, in this last book, I empathized with Amir and felt hugely sorry for him. If things had turned out differently, if the flame hadn't whispered all of its evil words into the head of a lonely and abandoned young prince, I'm sure Amir would have been a good brother, perhaps even a good person. A little vicious, sure, but not cruel, not evil. He certainly deserved better, outside of the Caville curse. Poor boy.
He lifted his head and stared at the grain, imagining Amir standing on the other side. They'd been brothers once, not the enemies they were now. Vasili had pushed him away, but before then, before the elves, before the flame mean anything, before Mother had died, he'd read to Amir the story of the prince in his glass palace. That one had a happy ending. Theirs, he'd long suspected, did not.
So, to conclude, am I heartbroken? Yes. Am I completely in love with this trilogy? Absolutely yes.
Final rating: 5 stars round, and all that remains of my heart.
Let's try to go in order with this review.
He moved another step closer. The odors of smoke and metal and war came with him. Scents that reminded Vasili of eight years in hell, until Nikolas had entered his life and changed everything. Stubborn and rough, smelling of hot metal, horse, and wood smoke. It was the wood smoke that did it - reminded Vasili of the cabin in the woods. Of the short life Nikolas had made for him. A life with Nikolas at his side.
Vasili's point of view was all I needed. I would have liked it from the first book, but I fully understand Ariana Nash's choice to reserve his narration only for the last volume of the trilogy. King of the Dark's Vasili is a cold, cruel and calculating man, and the fact that we gradually get to know him from Niko's point of view made him even more interesting. Only in Reign of Darkness do we begin to see a hint of his true self, of his vulnerability, but it's still too early to completely erase all of his barriers and thoroughly understand him. In The Curse of the Dark Prince, however, we finally have an unfiltered Vasili, with his raw thoughts and true emotions, and we love him every page more by reading his innumerable inner conflicts and the true nature of his feelings for Nikolas.
He had not meant to fall in love with Nikolas Yazdan. Use him, yes. But never love him. He'd been so long without love, he hadn't seen it stalking him until it had struck. And now he was defenseless against it.
I appreciated Nikolas much more in this volume. He is finally free of any doubts about his love for Vasili, and has a well-defined goal in mind: to save his prince and ensure him the happiness he deserves.
Vasili Caville might be the bravest damn soul he'd ever met. He'd do any damn thing for him. And he wished he could take him away, like he'd promised. But as Vasili had always said, that was not their ending. "You were always that man."
I swear I'm not crying.
A special praise to Yasir, Adamo and Roksana, brave souls who deserve the world. (Yes, I included Adamo. Yes, Ariana Nash made me love a horse.)
Incredibly, in this last book, I empathized with Amir and felt hugely sorry for him. If things had turned out differently, if the flame hadn't whispered all of its evil words into the head of a lonely and abandoned young prince, I'm sure Amir would have been a good brother, perhaps even a good person. A little vicious, sure, but not cruel, not evil. He certainly deserved better, outside of the Caville curse. Poor boy.
He lifted his head and stared at the grain, imagining Amir standing on the other side. They'd been brothers once, not the enemies they were now. Vasili had pushed him away, but before then, before the elves, before the flame mean anything, before Mother had died, he'd read to Amir the story of the prince in his glass palace. That one had a happy ending. Theirs, he'd long suspected, did not.
So, to conclude, am I heartbroken? Yes. Am I completely in love with this trilogy? Absolutely yes.
Final rating: 5 stars round, and all that remains of my heart.