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A review by softstarrynights
Cursed Prince by C.N. Crawford
2.0
Cursed Prince is the first in a fantasy trilogy that takes a lot on inspiration from Norse mythology. In dual perspectives, we follow Marroc, a dark magician under a curse, and Ali, a Night-Elf who wished to free her people from their imprisonment by the High-Elves and take place after Ragnarok. I am going to put my cards on the table here and admit that I picked up this book on the promise of the cover alone, which I still love, but was left disappointed. The world that these characters inhabit is incredibly messy and utterly uninteresting. The elves, both night-elves and high-elves, live alongside the ruins of human civilisation. There aren't any humans in the book itself, but there are iPods, blenders, and Beyonce. Worst of all there are multiple references to being Rickrolled. That should tell you a lot about what you're getting yourself into with this book. I ignored the warning signs that existed within the world-building because I had faith that the characters would carry the book. I will always choose a character-driven story over a plot-driven one. Ali constantly claimed to be a super-assassin, but never truly exhibited any skills that made me believe that someone would pay her to be an assassin. Marroc was interesting at first. He was moody, angsty, and had a tragic backstory. I will admit that I was into it. He was cursed so that he couldn't speak, but as soon as that curse was lifted all the faith I had in him to rescue this book dissipated. He was much more appealing when he was mute. Ordinarily, I adore dual perspective and was so excited when I realised that this book was going to give that to me. However, there is a skill in writing dual perspectives because ultimately they ought to complement one another. What they should not do is repeat each other. To give you an example of the way this book failed; Marroc's POV would have his say that he wanted to consume Ali's soul, which is an inner thought. Ali's POV a chapter later would include her saying that Marroc looked as though he wanted to consume her soul. There was also a lot of repeating plot points and background, which suggests to me that either the author doesn't trust their reader or the book is so complicated the reader needs constant reminders. Neither option is particularly pleasant. To recap thus far, I hated the plot, the characters were uninteresting and to top it all off the big twist was so predictable I guessed it maybe 25% of the way into the book, and that is me being generous. There was also a reveal at the end which felt like it should have been surprising. But here is the rub;. I was so excited to read this from the promise of the cover and am so disappointed that I'm not even sure who I would recommend this to. It's such a shame that the cover for the sequel is equally as gorgeous, but I don't think I can bring myself to read more of this mess.