xeni's review against another edition
4.0
I love Melanie Rawn, but it always takes me ages to get into one of her books. It's a shame, though, because her writing really is amazing. My most favorite book by her is The Golden Key which was a joint work with Kate Elliot and second favorites would be the Ruins of Ambrai.
It was hard for me to get into the Dragon Prince, but mainly because it dealt heavily from the beginning with intrigue and delved straight into the plot. There was no introduction to the world or anything. Now a days I like that, but back when I first started reading this novel I thought it was really confusing and annoying.
But once I managed past that, the story really flowed. I adored the characters and how the plot unfolded. I never picked up the second in the series, but I think I will one of these days!
It was hard for me to get into the Dragon Prince, but mainly because it dealt heavily from the beginning with intrigue and delved straight into the plot. There was no introduction to the world or anything. Now a days I like that, but back when I first started reading this novel I thought it was really confusing and annoying.
But once I managed past that, the story really flowed. I adored the characters and how the plot unfolded. I never picked up the second in the series, but I think I will one of these days!
magickislife's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This was a reread for me, and I don't feel the same way about it that I did before. I love Rawn's writing so much in other works that I was excited to listen to this as I hadn't read it in ages. And it began well but it took such a dark, uncomfortable turn toward the end. It felt icky.
ladyofbooks's review against another edition
2.0
Okay. I reread a quarter of this before deciding to dnf it. I don't remember anything and now I know why. This book is utterly forgettable and boring. The dragon hunting scene at the first chapter was something intriguing. But after that?
Nothing but political intrigue about marriage and setting up events for war, backstabbing betrayal and from the brief bit I read-instalove. [Correct me if I'm wrong!]
I'm not impressed with the writing style nor did I particularly care about the characters. I'm going to ignore this series and mark this as read. 2 ⭐ and I will probably not come back.
Nothing but political intrigue about marriage and setting up events for war, backstabbing betrayal and from the brief bit I read-instalove. [Correct me if I'm wrong!]
I'm not impressed with the writing style nor did I particularly care about the characters. I'm going to ignore this series and mark this as read. 2 ⭐ and I will probably not come back.
wdkilpackiii's review against another edition
5.0
Every once in a while, there are books that change the direction of fantasy as a genre. This is one of them. First, Melanie Rawn is one of the few fantasy authors who I think really understand medieval politics (particularly the politics of arranged marriages). Second, her version of magic, based solidly in the four alchemical elements was a nice, fresh concept. Next, Sioned. Ah, Sioned ... strong, beautiful, and certainly not one to mess with. Rohan was the perfect match. The last thing that really struck me was the strength of female characters in general. In this and the others in these series, the villains plan and plot very intelligently but, when the chips are down, the man throws all aside and goes for blood. The woman steps away into the shadows, knowing that she'll be back, but with a vengeance ... maybe married to her enemy's son. The worst villains are always the women, and they are just brutal in all the ways that steel and blood cannot even begin to achieve. Highly recommended!
katie37's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
hjswinford's review against another edition
5.0
Melanie Rawn delivers to readers a deep world with fascinating magic and characters to love. I loved the relationships between the primary cast from the start and it helped propel me through an interesting world of magic and court intrigue. It got dark around the halfway point, but even so the characters were determined that love/good would conquer hate/evil and even when bad, hurtful choices were made, the characters dealt with them and grew out of them. I will most definitely be continuing with the series.
blackcatbinx29's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wynwicket's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This actually got worse on a second reading. It has not aged well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
mystearica's review against another edition
2.0
JRR Martin basically borrowed this story and made his own (and better) version.
I just can't with this book. The fantastical names were hard enough to remember let alone the 1000 members of every family and how they are related. I started tuning out much of it. The narrator's monotone helped me lose focus with ease. so that was a plus.
spoilers
The entire introduction of Rohan I thought he was just some book worm who would struggle with ruling and fighting. Nope. Becomes the greatest king ever with false modesty and everything.
Their whole love affair felt empty and witless. she fell in love with an image and projected her ideas of him onto it.... and nothing. they are just head over heels and throw away every plan they have and it all.... works....
Chenayd gets DRUGGED by the high prince and then immediately Rohan wants to bone her? this book did NOT age well. that is rape my friend.
then Rohan gets kidnapped.... and they leave a red herring for anyone that would follow... only for Ayanthi to just throw it all out there for him to be immediately rescued? this doesn't compute for me.
you cannot rape the willing. she wanted that second time, ensuring a pregnancy. you regret THAT????
then they decide to kidnap the baby and kill Ayanthi and the three sons! what was the point of having three?
And that Chiana is just way to damn smart for a 6 year old.
I just can't with this book. The fantastical names were hard enough to remember let alone the 1000 members of every family and how they are related. I started tuning out much of it. The narrator's monotone helped me lose focus with ease. so that was a plus.
spoilers
The entire introduction of Rohan I thought he was just some book worm who would struggle with ruling and fighting. Nope. Becomes the greatest king ever with false modesty and everything.
Their whole love affair felt empty and witless. she fell in love with an image and projected her ideas of him onto it.... and nothing. they are just head over heels and throw away every plan they have and it all.... works....
Chenayd gets DRUGGED by the high prince and then immediately Rohan wants to bone her? this book did NOT age well. that is rape my friend.
then Rohan gets kidnapped.... and they leave a red herring for anyone that would follow... only for Ayanthi to just throw it all out there for him to be immediately rescued? this doesn't compute for me.
you cannot rape the willing. she wanted that second time, ensuring a pregnancy. you regret THAT????
then they decide to kidnap the baby and kill Ayanthi and the three sons! what was the point of having three?
And that Chiana is just way to damn smart for a 6 year old.
ketreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Book TW:
Rape, Sexual assault, miscarriage
Spoiler free:
I'm so conflicted on this book.
Some of you may have seen my original surprise and enjoyment of the book in the beginning.
I loved the rich world, new magic system (one that is based on using light as a power source), and nuanced character work. I was so pleasantly surprised our main character of Sioned and her strong but feminine presence within her narrative. I feel all too often fantasy books rely on real world oppression as a basis for a fantasy world and I'm so sick of seeing women character in fantastical worlds still facing the same historical issues. Rawn's world of the Dragon Prince felt refreshing felt refreshing in it's approach to his women characters, each having their own distinct personalities, aims, and desires.
Our second main character of Rohan was more in the veins of a stereotypical male protagonist though made for a good source of conflicts in which both him and Sioned would work together to solve.
I stupidly did not read the blurb a second time before starting this read. I bought the book knowing the jist of the blurb so understandably went in with a different expectation than I received. While I'm not against political fantasy, and have enjoyed quite a few in that wheel house, I didn't love the way it was done here. This book leans HEAVILY on it's more romantic elements, especially in the first half. While I didn't hate this either, the heavy tonal shift from gentle political & romance fantasy romp to something much darker in the second half was even more off-putting.
I should mention now that past the 70% mark is where the TW mentioned above come in. The shift in tone goes hand and hand with also a shift in pacing. Everything up to that point felt natural and while we had a few jumps in time here and there, we were along for the day to day of these characters life's. After the shift in tone it felt like we were speeding through the story. At some points we were skipping days, weeks, even months at a time in every shift in perspective. While the book did slow down at some points to add slightly more nuance to events, it still felt very disjointed in other respects.
Overall I'm unsure if I'll continue with the series. For a book called The Dragon Prince, there continues to be a suspicious lack of dragons. Especially as conflict involving dragons and humans overexploitation of the creatures is brought up pretty early in the book. Similar plot points are bought up and left to the way-side as the narrative progresses and I just felt it could have been dealt with better.
Rape, Sexual assault, miscarriage
Spoiler free:
I'm so conflicted on this book.
Some of you may have seen my original surprise and enjoyment of the book in the beginning.
I loved the rich world, new magic system (one that is based on using light as a power source), and nuanced character work. I was so pleasantly surprised our main character of Sioned and her strong but feminine presence within her narrative. I feel all too often fantasy books rely on real world oppression as a basis for a fantasy world and I'm so sick of seeing women character in fantastical worlds still facing the same historical issues. Rawn's world of the Dragon Prince felt refreshing felt refreshing in it's approach to his women characters, each having their own distinct personalities, aims, and desires.
Our second main character of Rohan was more in the veins of a stereotypical male protagonist though made for a good source of conflicts in which both him and Sioned would work together to solve.
I stupidly did not read the blurb a second time before starting this read. I bought the book knowing the jist of the blurb so understandably went in with a different expectation than I received. While I'm not against political fantasy, and have enjoyed quite a few in that wheel house, I didn't love the way it was done here. This book leans HEAVILY on it's more romantic elements, especially in the first half. While I didn't hate this either, the heavy tonal shift from gentle political & romance fantasy romp to something much darker in the second half was even more off-putting.
I should mention now that past the 70% mark is where the TW mentioned above come in. The shift in tone goes hand and hand with also a shift in pacing. Everything up to that point felt natural and while we had a few jumps in time here and there, we were along for the day to day of these characters life's. After the shift in tone it felt like we were speeding through the story. At some points we were skipping days, weeks, even months at a time in every shift in perspective. While the book did slow down at some points to add slightly more nuance to events, it still felt very disjointed in other respects.
Overall I'm unsure if I'll continue with the series. For a book called The Dragon Prince, there continues to be a suspicious lack of dragons. Especially as conflict involving dragons and humans overexploitation of the creatures is brought up pretty early in the book. Similar plot points are bought up and left to the way-side as the narrative progresses and I just felt it could have been dealt with better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Miscarriage