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A review by kp_hobbitreads
The Prince's Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner
3.5
#1 The Prince's Poisoned Vow: ★★★✮☆ | 3.5 stars
This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I have loved Hailey Turner's other two series so much, so when I heard that she was writing a queer, steampunk inspired epic fantasy romance, I knew I had to read it. But, while this is absolutely a queer, steampunk inspired epic fantasy it is not in any way a romance. There is almost no romance in this book. Yes, there are romantic couples and even a few on page sex scenes. But, all the actual relationship development between the couples takes place off page. I was expecting to see this great romance between Soren and Vanya, but instead we are just told feelings develop without actually getting to see it. And, the one couple we see the most romantic moments between has already been married 5 years when the bulk of the story takes place. If I had known that this wasn't a romance going in, I think my feelings about it might be slightly different - but, I can't quite forget the disappointment of waiting for a romance that never happened.
Romance aside, the book itself is really good. Hailey Turner has created a really interesting fantasy world with interfering gods, poisoned lands, magic, revenants, a secret organization, and a ton of political scheming. The scope of the world building is very impressive, and there is plenty of action that keeps you on the edge of your seat. There isn't really a way to summarize the plot of this novel into a paragraph, I think it's better just to experience it. But, it is an epic fantasy so there is a pretty steep learning curve. And, Hailey Turner drops you right into the action with a horrible tragedy that tears Ashion apart and has devastating consequences that set the story into motion.
I did have two issues that made it hard for me to connect to the story:
1. There are 14 different POV characters in this first book. And, while I can understand why it is this way, you spend so little time with most of the characters that I don't feel like have an emotional connection to any of them. Blaine and Soren have the most POV's, and I think Blaine is the most developed character. But, when some of the biggest emotional beats happen to other characters you aren't invested enough in them for it to impact you the way I think the author intended.
2. There are a bunch of time jumps. The first one made sense to me. We got to see the characters as children and Hailey Turner was able to show us what was happening rather than telling us in flashbacks so when the story jumped ahead 15 years I had no problem with it. But, the rest of them? We get a 1-year jump and then 2 separate 2-year jumps that I didn't really understand. Going 2 and in some cases 4 years between seeing characters means either we miss out on a ton of character development or that nothing really changes in big chunks of time - neither of which are great when you're telling an epic fantasy story.
Three Thoughts:
1. I really liked how queer this story was and that there didn't appear to be any homophobia or racism in this world. There are achillean and sapphic relationships as well as a demisexual/demiromantic character (though those terms aren't explicitly used) and multiple main characters of color.
2. As a general rule, I'm not a fan of zombies or zombie stories. But, the way this was set up and the reason behind the revenants was really interesting and the secret plots using them are a little bit horrifying.
3. I know there are multiple romantic pairings in this story, but the only one I'm really invested in (as of right now) is Blaine and Honovi so I'm hopeful we will get more scenes of them working together in future books.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story, and I will definitely be continuing this series. The cliffhanger ending has me both nervous and excited about what's going to happen next.
content warnings: violence, death, murder, loss of a loved one, debt slavery, revenants/zombies, poisonings, sex (on page), cheating (political marriages with lovers on the side), death in childbirth (child survives, off page), mental compulsion, attempted kidnapping
**I received an ARC from the author via Valentine PR in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**
This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I have loved Hailey Turner's other two series so much, so when I heard that she was writing a queer, steampunk inspired epic fantasy romance, I knew I had to read it. But, while this is absolutely a queer, steampunk inspired epic fantasy it is not in any way a romance. There is almost no romance in this book. Yes, there are romantic couples and even a few on page sex scenes. But, all the actual relationship development between the couples takes place off page. I was expecting to see this great romance between Soren and Vanya, but instead we are just told feelings develop without actually getting to see it. And, the one couple we see the most romantic moments between has already been married 5 years when the bulk of the story takes place. If I had known that this wasn't a romance going in, I think my feelings about it might be slightly different - but, I can't quite forget the disappointment of waiting for a romance that never happened.
Romance aside, the book itself is really good. Hailey Turner has created a really interesting fantasy world with interfering gods, poisoned lands, magic, revenants, a secret organization, and a ton of political scheming. The scope of the world building is very impressive, and there is plenty of action that keeps you on the edge of your seat. There isn't really a way to summarize the plot of this novel into a paragraph, I think it's better just to experience it. But, it is an epic fantasy so there is a pretty steep learning curve. And, Hailey Turner drops you right into the action with a horrible tragedy that tears Ashion apart and has devastating consequences that set the story into motion.
I did have two issues that made it hard for me to connect to the story:
1. There are 14 different POV characters in this first book. And, while I can understand why it is this way, you spend so little time with most of the characters that I don't feel like have an emotional connection to any of them. Blaine and Soren have the most POV's, and I think Blaine is the most developed character. But, when some of the biggest emotional beats happen to other characters you aren't invested enough in them for it to impact you the way I think the author intended.
2. There are a bunch of time jumps. The first one made sense to me. We got to see the characters as children and Hailey Turner was able to show us what was happening rather than telling us in flashbacks so when the story jumped ahead 15 years I had no problem with it. But, the rest of them? We get a 1-year jump and then 2 separate 2-year jumps that I didn't really understand. Going 2 and in some cases 4 years between seeing characters means either we miss out on a ton of character development or that nothing really changes in big chunks of time - neither of which are great when you're telling an epic fantasy story.
Three Thoughts:
1. I really liked how queer this story was and that there didn't appear to be any homophobia or racism in this world. There are achillean and sapphic relationships as well as a demisexual/demiromantic character (though those terms aren't explicitly used) and multiple main characters of color.
2. As a general rule, I'm not a fan of zombies or zombie stories. But, the way this was set up and the reason behind the revenants was really interesting and the secret plots using them are a little bit horrifying.
3. I know there are multiple romantic pairings in this story, but the only one I'm really invested in (as of right now) is Blaine and Honovi so I'm hopeful we will get more scenes of them working together in future books.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story, and I will definitely be continuing this series. The cliffhanger ending has me both nervous and excited about what's going to happen next.
content warnings: violence, death, murder, loss of a loved one, debt slavery, revenants/zombies, poisonings, sex (on page), cheating (political marriages with lovers on the side), death in childbirth (child survives, off page), mental compulsion, attempted kidnapping
**I received an ARC from the author via Valentine PR in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.**