"The Prisoner's Throne" by Holly Black

 

“The Prisoner’s Throne” by Holly Black is a romance, fantasy novel set in the pre-established world of Fae within the Holly Black universe, and serves as a sequel to “The Stolen Heir” by Holly Black. The story takes place after the events of the first book, in the perspective of Oak, a young, prodigal prince in the middle of a tense war between two kingdoms. One of the kingdoms is run by Wren, the girl he loves, the girl he betrayed, and the girl he would be willing to do anything to win back her trust. However, the other kingdom is his own, and is currently run by his human sister, Jude Daurte, known for being ruthless and unapologetic to traitors. Oak has to use all his skills and abilities in order to keep the people he cares about from getting hurt, but with tensions constantly being on the brink of war, Oak fears he will have to choose a side and ultimately toy with the fate of both kingdoms.

In my opinion, “The Prisoner’s Throne” was a fun, tense book with wonderful world building and great stakes. As a fan of Holly Black and the Cruel Prince series, I was very excited to get and read this book for months, even going back and rereading the first trilogy and the book prior to this one. I really enjoyed reading from Oak’s perspective, the drama and tension through his eyes made it interesting and fun to read. As well as his conflicting views on the overall issues and wanting to satisfy everyone around him made him develop into a more relatable and interesting character, compared to the first book. The plot got a bit confusing at times, with everything happening at once, but the characters and their dynamics always hooked my attention regardless.

One thing I found memorable was the inclusion of past characters within the story. Having read the Cruel Prince series, I was very excited to see the past character once again and where their stories would go. Small scenes and small references were very exciting and fun to read throughout the sequel.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Poppy War Series Review

 To be honest, I don't even know where to start. R.F. Kuang is no doubt one of my favorite authors, I love the way she writes her characters and builds her worlds. To be fair, I've only read Babel and The Poppy War series so far but they were enough to make me keep reading and that's enough for me. The Poppy War has the most brutal, heartbreaking, and immersive stories I've read in a while. Rin is a beautiful unreliable narrator and her thoughts and relationships are so intense and genuine. The book is a military fantasy, so there is a lot of war strategy and military aspects to all three of the books, but it's usually understandable and interesting enough to keep me reading even though I don't usually find that aspect of books all that readable lol. This book also contains a lot of references to real world tragedies and is mainly based off of history, which all in all makes these books all that much impactful and awful. I say awful because that's what it is...
Read more

"Icarus" by K. Ancrum

Image
  “Icarus” by K. Ancrum is a romantic retelling of the Greek myth of the Tale of Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun. The story stars Icarus, the son of a vengeful thief, who struggles with his understanding of the world outside of his father and his own situation of thieving and forgery. Icarus then meets Helios who is the son of Mr. Black, their main wealthy target. Icarus and Helios obtain a curious alliance and friendship in the beginning, before seeking more comfort and longing towards each other due to their own circumstances. This novel is filled with tension, betrayal, and friendships, with deeper themes such as abuse, addiction, the feeling of loneliness, and the loss of innocence. In my opinion, “Icarus” was a tense and heartbreaking story with realistic situations and real life references. Icarus displayed a relatable understanding with his worries of the future, and his worries of social situations. For example, his struggles with making friends and understand...
Read more

"Under The Surface" by Diana Urban

Image
“Under the Surface” by Diana Urban is a thriller, mystery novel set in the catacombs of Paris. The story revolves around Ruby, a smart, protective, and resilient girl, who visits Paris with her high school French class. When Ruby’s best friend makes a dangerous decision, Ruby initially goes after her to bring her back. However, curiosity gets the better of her, and Ruby finds herself, and four other teenagers, lost within the underground catacombs, with a mysterious danger chasing them throughout the maze and no way out. Meanwhile, the boy Ruby loves, Sean, does everything he can aboveground to find her and bring her home. Ruby’s journey is filled with fast paced danger, tested friendships, gut wrenching loss, and heartbreaking betrayals. In my opinion, “Under the Surface” was a fast-paced, suspenseful book with interesting characters, dynamics, and plot twists. I thoroughly enjoyed the history and background surrounding the Paris catacombs, and the development of the overall setting a...
Read more