Prince Poison

I found the size of this book very intimidating, but I am appreciative of high fantasy and I think it has to be considered high fantasy at 800 pages long. It would be an absolute crime if this book was slow but it was enjoyable and finishing this book in two sittings is good.

A brief summary is that our protagonist has sacrificed her mortality to save her sister and is now under the servitude of Kaden, who requires the Book of Azrael.

I requested this book via NetGalley because I wanted a high fantasy novel that wasn't Brandon Sanderson or emphasized male characters too much. Of course, I wanted a book of quality with a fresh voice and that's what I got! This book is not derivative at all and I don't feel it is trying to copy formulas of big franchises.

This was a comfort read in terms of tropes like a villainous female main character (Dianna) and enemies to lovers yet not unreasonable, poorly written spice at all. This book gave me a lot of things I never knew I wanted from books. I feel that in my limited experience of high fantasy, I haven't read anything like this and I absolutely loved it.

This book is excellent from the characters to world building. I am excited to see more from these characters.

Finally, yes this book does show a bit of inexperience as a debut and the editing could be improved but it is a very promising start and I am thrilled to have read this e-ARC. Thank you to NetGalley and Rose and Star Publishing for giving me an opportunity to read this work for free in exchange for a review.

4.5 stars!

This book reeled me in straight away, the action happening at the start was so fast-paced I just had to continue. The pace began to slow as soon as Dianna got caught, but it was comfortable.

The whole book was amazing and the ending was so confusing. But I liked that even more (I was not okay, it was 2am and my analysis of the ending was a mess).

But yes, 2nd book of 2024 and my favourite so far (doesn't really say much so far but it'll still be one of the best at the end of the year

3.5 Stars

I am kind of stuck between a 3 and a 4 Star rating for this one. I am going to keep my review fairly brief so as not to give too much away, but also because there is another book coming and I'll wait to review them in more depth as a pair.





I was enjoying this book for the most part until we hit the halfway point, then I started to get a little tired of it just being scene after scene of sex and humiliation. I wanted more depth. I wanted more background details about the story and characters. Practically every other page was sex, humiliation, and punishment. Now don't get me wrong, the sex was hot (for the most part. I am not a massive fan of humiliation) but for me, it was just a bit TOO much. On top of that, I wasn't a fan of the whole “Isreal” turn the book took. I was invested in the connection between Ares and Pet, so when Isreal got thrown into the mix, it took away from the relationship that was already established.





That said, the writing was well done. It was a relatively short book that was well paced. It is told through a dual POV format. If you have triggers, then this isn't the book for you. There is heavy BDSM. M/M, M/F/M and M/F sex scenes. The plot was engaging enough that I am onboard with seeing where the author is heading with the story. Especially with that cliffy ending. Hopefully, we will move away from so much sex and get some answers and explanations for the five thousand things that left me scratching my head. (lol)