The Desert Prince

This is gonna be unpopular, which is why I think this is more of a not for me kind of book, or more specifically, not for me at this very moment. Will I pick it up again in the future and attempt it, only to see if my rating changed? Maybe, but right now I just felt it was slow and a bit cliched, and I couldn't get through with as much fervor as I usually like.

“Hollow needed a healing hand fifteen years ago, but it's time that hand held a spear once more.”This is basically Disney's Descendants with demons.The kids of the main characters from the first series are confronted with the same evil that was never quite vanquished the first time. Olive Paper and Darin Bales are the main protagonists here, with a side cast of other kids from notable names from the first series. We get a whirlwind tour of a lot of the notable places from the first series, end up in the desert with a rapid-fire training montage reminiscent of [b:The Desert Spear 6736971 The Desert Spear (Demon Cycle, #2) Peter V. Brett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388219761l/6736971.SY75.jpg 6527274], and have a confrontation at the end that seems familiar as well.That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book. Quite the opposite, I liked the return to a series I loved the first time around. But I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that, at least this book, feels like an infodump of the first series intended to onboard new readers. There's lots of points when characters are meeting other characters that we get a “and here's what this character did in the first series” narration. Everything we see and everywhere we go gets another little “and here's the impact this had on the first series” byline. So, I guess what I'm saying is, there's a lot to love here if you loved the first series, but if you're looking for a different take or a different feel, I don't know if this is for you. I will say that if you're new to the world, this book does a good job of giving you the high level plot points, major players and conflicts, and a rudimentary introduction to terminology enough to at least get you oriented.So, in summary, read this if you liked the first series, I think is what it boils down to. It really hits all the right notes and feels from its origins.

Unfortunately, I DNF'd this book at 40%. I enjoyed the prose and the world building, but I didn't feel comfortable with the way other characters treated the Intersex main character. As someone who is not Intersex, I cannot say whether it was good representation, but I can say that a lot of the things characters said and did once they found out the main character's “secret” (that alone made me feel uncomfortable) they treated her very weird and always said and did things that didn't feel right.




Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, and NetGalley for providing me with an eBook copy to review.