Deborah Grace White

As the first book I've read by Deborah Grace White, The Unlucky Prince has convinced me that I should probably read everything she's written ASAP. Those who have already read Deborah's books will appreciate how many Easter eggs she left connecting this book to previous stories. (Prince Ari used to be a goose, and Princess Violet is one of twelve sisters. Both have survived curses. Take your best guesses.)

Princess Violet is so much fun. She is impulsive and determined to live in the moment, while simultaneously willing to make hard decisions to help her brother and serve their kingdom. Prince Ari just wants an adventure--he doesn't care what adventure--and is caught up in several that he didn't expect as he is just passing through town. I love them both. I love the frog. I love the chaos of all the sisters and the children and very few people in this story having any kind of verbal filter. It was charming and engaging, and I read it in an afternoon.

I received an ARC from the delightful people who masterminded the Once Upon a Prince multi-author series and have reviewed it willingly because the contents of the book demanded a review.… (más)

Okay. So I finally did it. I finished the series. If, like me, you were disappointed by the last book and are looking for guidance as to whether you should continue or not, I offer the following input: I enjoyed the first part of the book. But after the main events end (we get an answer that the author has been heavily hinting at for a while now as well as an unexpected onw, because, conveniently it is about forgotten knowledge so there is no way for anyone to state the twist before it happens) it strays into the nothingness of the second book. I will provide a spoiler for you in case you want to know what happens and don't want to read the last part of the book. THIS CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS> DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO DISCOVER THE WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY A VERY EXTENDED EPILOGUE FOR YOURSELF. Heath and Merletta get married and move to a palace on Vezula and Merletta is unable to pick up Tish repeatedly stating (and being hushed after) that they will be some kind of rulers. This frustrated me because she was always been the one to pick up on things and now suddenly she cant? I also feel like most people are far too accepting of all the big changes too quickly and it just didn't feel all that believable, even for the world this is set in. That being said, I do like the new direction Merletta's kingdom is taking towards equality and accountability. That part was good. Reka flies off to try find the answers he has wanted since the first book, promising to return before Heath and Merletta die.

I had a whole paragraph about Heath so an update. He finally starts putting some effort into his family in this book. And he became more tolerable. But he still annoyed me - he's still a lot of the same but tuned down a bit. And, I don't know. I think he's been a bad influence on Merletta. She feels less strong and independent than in the first book. There is a very out of character moment at the end in particular... she's always been pretty observant until this point. I still feel like this is more of an obsession (on Heath's side) rather than a romance. As for Merletta? Yeah, I'm not sure. Heath is still just as irresponsible and immature as ever. While he has his moments of rationality (e.g. convincing his cousins that breaking out Percival will just make things worse), he always throws it out the window again to rush off for Merletta, who is arguably more capable than him. He even runs off when he knows he can't actually go to her...

While the author was still often pretty heavy handed leading up to the twists, it was nice to see that she is capable of writing them without revealing them chapters in advance. I would have loved it if more of them had been treated in this way. I also liked that the dragons were given more attention in this book.

Like the series as a whole, I also felt like this was drawn out more than necessary. It was a nice conclusion to the series, although I think the after section could have been cut down substantially (as could the rehashing past plot points and heavy foreshadowing).… (más)

This book picks up where the previous book left off. Both Merletta's and Heath's kingdoms continue to fall apart with increasing tension and hostility in both. Someone seems to have it out for Heath's family and wants them discredited and someone is scared that Merletta is going to discover and reveal the truth that the Center has been hiding for so long. While we don't get many answers in this book, we sure so get a lot of mystery.

This is my least favourite book of the series so far. I think this would have been better as a trilogy instead of four books. While before it was still being handled in an interesting way, it is now feeling more like the author is dragging out the answers. It is still a fun read, but I also got annoyed. We get to see more of Merletta and Heath interact with each other, especially (spoiler is in blurb but spoilering anyway) after Merletta has to finally flee the antagonism of her home and decides to visit Heath's kingdom. I'm sure some people will prefer the increase in the romance aspect of the book, but I just don't. As I mentioned in the other review, it just doesn't fit. While the two do care about each other, the relationship seems built more on neither of them fitting in with their own kind rather than any kind of shared interests or values.

I suspect another big part of why I don't like the romance is that I don't like Heath You can skip this paragraph if you like. It's a bit of a rant. But feel free to read it if you also feel like there is something off about him. His story is an interesting one but there has always be smething that has prevented me from enjoying it as much as Merletta's and I think this is part of it. Merletta is a very driven individual. We see a lot of this. She is constantly actively trying to find ways to make her kingdom better and fighting for those she cares about. Heath on the other hand... It's not that he's heartless or doesn't care, but he's kind of selfish and self-centered. He's constantly disappearing off dreaming about or actually being with Merletta while his family are in danger. He has power but lies about how strong it is to everyone because it's more convenient for him that they don't know. He always swoops in (quite literally thanks to Reka) to save the day when things get particularly bad, but it is literally his job to try negotiate relationships so things don't get to this point. While this is no easy task and there are other forces at play, he just kind of neglects it which almost certainly makes things worse. And he seems to be ware of this to some extent. He puts all his energy into his relationship with Merletta at the cost of those with everyone else and possibly his kingdom's stability. He says he feels alone in his world but keeps everything that could connect him to them separate (e.g. his magic) and hides everything he can from everyone except Merletta, sometimes even her. He keeps lying and putting everyone else in danger for his own sake (he is constantly actively trying to find ways around his father's magic). I feel a little sorry for Reka, who is sacrificing so much of what he believes in for Heath, who always puts himself first and doesn't seem to have tried to learn very much about his friend's history over their years of friendship. I do think Meletta has a bit of this too (e.g. Tish) but it is a gentler and less pronounced reason. And she is fighting for something she believes in rather than neglecting duties that could save her kingdom.

Another thing I didn't like is actually something I also picked up in the previous books (I think I may even have mentioned it in one of my reviews). While kind of looked past it in previous books, it got worse in this one and I suspect that this is just how the author writes. The author keeps dropping incredibly heavy handed hints about things that are going t be revealed later in the story. This isn't even done subtly. It is often something a character says. While it is true that sometimes people say thoughts and don't pick up on the deeper implications, this happens far too often. A character will make a statement and many chapter later there will be a "oh look at this unexpected thing" moment. Except, no. You already told us this thing a hundred pages ago so it doesn't hit nearly as hard. There are also more this-is-questionable-but-I-guess-it's-fiction-so-I-can-look-past-this-thing moments. Also, how many guards are there actually? This was bugging me after one of the big events of this book. Especially since they apparently all know each other? the number seems to change as is convenient (or at least that is how it feels to me).

I know I have been complaining a lot, but this wasn't a bad book. The writing was (mostly) enjoyable and I was happy to get to learn a bit more about the dragons. They have been such a mystery until this point. They have such an interesting history and I hope we see more of it in the next book. While I didn't like this book as much as the last one (and was a little disappointed at times), I will still be picking up the last book in the series. I want to see if my theories are right.… (más)