Scan barcode
books_and_cha's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
M.A. Grant's Prince of Air and Darkness came recommended to me a few times. Someone likened the book to a darker, sexier version of Rainbow Rowell's Carry On, a favorite of mine. The two books have similar themes: an impending war, unrequited love, roommates and enemies with underlying sexual tension, the characters even resemble each other physically: Simon and Phineas are both blonde with freckles, while Baz and Roark are dark-haired and poised.
That's where the similarities end. The characters themselves, the world-building, and the plot are very different. I loved the dynamic between Finn and Roark - how they go from riling each other up to protecting one another, how they're vulnerable with each other, and their magical chemistry. The romance was a wonderful mix of lust and tenderness, and I was glad the former did not form the main form of affection between the two. There were moments when it got a little too angsty, but nothing that wasn't fixed soon. There was anguish, but not prolonged sadness.
It was interesting to read about the fae, the two Courts, and the host of different creatures that sprang from Grant's imagination. The magic was also new - there are glamours and Finn's ley lines and a lot of ice magic. The Unseelie Court politics and action scenes kept the book quick-paced and absorbing.
The writing, while not mature or impressive, had a lot of potential. Grant is very good at diving into the heads of her characters and expressing their emotional states. Roark was strongly written and was connected to his emotions, motivations, and actions all through the book. He came off the page. Finn was less captivating, but I appreciated his character development. He might not shine right off the bat, but he has grit and blossoms beautifully towards the end.
Overall, the Prince of Air and Darkness was an exciting, entertaining read with strong characters and a romance worth rooting for.
M.A. Grant's Prince of Air and Darkness came recommended to me a few times. Someone likened the book to a darker, sexier version of Rainbow Rowell's Carry On, a favorite of mine. The two books have similar themes: an impending war, unrequited love, roommates and enemies with underlying sexual tension, the characters even resemble each other physically: Simon and Phineas are both blonde with freckles, while Baz and Roark are dark-haired and poised.
That's where the similarities end. The characters themselves, the world-building, and the plot are very different. I loved the dynamic between Finn and Roark - how they go from riling each other up to protecting one another, how they're vulnerable with each other, and their magical chemistry. The romance was a wonderful mix of lust and tenderness, and I was glad the former did not form the main form of affection between the two. There were moments when it got a little too angsty, but nothing that wasn't fixed soon. There was anguish, but not prolonged sadness.
It was interesting to read about the fae, the two Courts, and the host of different creatures that sprang from Grant's imagination. The magic was also new - there are glamours and Finn's ley lines and a lot of ice magic. The Unseelie Court politics and action scenes kept the book quick-paced and absorbing.
The writing, while not mature or impressive, had a lot of potential. Grant is very good at diving into the heads of her characters and expressing their emotional states. Roark was strongly written and was connected to his emotions, motivations, and actions all through the book. He came off the page. Finn was less captivating, but I appreciated his character development. He might not shine right off the bat, but he has grit and blossoms beautifully towards the end.
Overall, the Prince of Air and Darkness was an exciting, entertaining read with strong characters and a romance worth rooting for.
jacqueleenthereadingqueen's review
5.0
YA/NA isn't normally my wheelhouse. I can however enjoy one if it involves paranormal/fantasy elements mixed with an interesting plot and slow burn. This mixture tends to call my name. While this start to a YA/NA series isn't as enrapturing as John Goode's Lords of Arcadia series which begins with [b:Distant Rumblings|13555608|Distant Rumblings (Lords of Arcadia, #1)|John Goode|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1332357095s/13555608.jpg|19126298], in my opinion it was still great.
Roark is the Prince of Air and Darkness. He is also a goddamn martyr. He does everything he can for his people the Unseelie. He's strict, but ultimately fair. He's also spent almost 4 years protecting Finn, the human he secretly loves, while Finn has no idea of his affections. In fact, Finn believes they are more like enemies and makes no secret of his negative feelings toward Roark and his family. Through everything Roark still protects Finn from the barrage of monsters which attack him constantly, even at a personal price to himself.
" And no matter the cost, I’ll never regret what I did. "
Finn is a human trying to control his magick. He has access to ley lines and every human before him who has ever had his power had died before their 21st birthday. Finn is the longest living so far in the history, but is absolutely terrible at using his gift. For example; almost every time he uses his magick something gets set unintentionally on fire. Following this Roark usually arrives to save his ass. How Finn didn't realize Roark was protecting him all these years is beyond me. The man saves him numerous times throughout the book with barely more than a thank you at times.
It drove me crazy when Finn would yell at Roark with us being privy to the truth of Roark's past actions. I couldn't wait until Finn understood everything. This was part of what kept me reading on. I needed to know how it all played out. I also read on to devour all the delicious slow burn aspects of the book. For a YA/NA there was a bit more steam than I expected though it was fairly tame. The ending came up quick and almost felt as if a sequel would be written but it seems the next book features a different couple. Hopefully we will have glimpses of these two in the next installment.
Finn is my beginning and, as I always knew, he will be my end.
Roark is the Prince of Air and Darkness. He is also a goddamn martyr. He does everything he can for his people the Unseelie. He's strict, but ultimately fair. He's also spent almost 4 years protecting Finn, the human he secretly loves, while Finn has no idea of his affections. In fact, Finn believes they are more like enemies and makes no secret of his negative feelings toward Roark and his family. Through everything Roark still protects Finn from the barrage of monsters which attack him constantly, even at a personal price to himself.
" And no matter the cost, I’ll never regret what I did. "
Finn is a human trying to control his magick. He has access to ley lines and every human before him who has ever had his power had died before their 21st birthday. Finn is the longest living so far in the history, but is absolutely terrible at using his gift. For example; almost every time he uses his magick something gets set unintentionally on fire. Following this Roark usually arrives to save his ass. How Finn didn't realize Roark was protecting him all these years is beyond me. The man saves him numerous times throughout the book with barely more than a thank you at times.
It drove me crazy when Finn would yell at Roark with us being privy to the truth of Roark's past actions. I couldn't wait until Finn understood everything. This was part of what kept me reading on. I needed to know how it all played out. I also read on to devour all the delicious slow burn aspects of the book. For a YA/NA there was a bit more steam than I expected though it was fairly tame. The ending came up quick and almost felt as if a sequel would be written but it seems the next book features a different couple. Hopefully we will have glimpses of these two in the next installment.
Finn is my beginning and, as I always knew, he will be my end.
missawn's review
4.0
That was quite good. I really got sucked into this story -- and found it refreshingly unique and imaginative. The thing I probably enjoyed the most was the tempestuous chemistry between the MCs and how it just worked somehow. It is also what makes this a rather unique pairing and one that I enjoyed tremendously. I found the plot to be overly complicated and there were too many characters to keep track of - which served to dilute the main plot slightly and make the overall a little more convoluted than it needed to be. It also impacted how this story ended -- tying all the threads together and satisfactorily resolving the steadily building tension was not done as well as I would have liked. It was a little too quick and neat -- and didn't quite fit the build-up and the earlier plot details. Oh well ... I was still absorbed with this imaginative story and impressed by the strong writing that made it all come to life so wonderfully. I'm interested to see what comes next in this series ...
mcassin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kavasghost's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
I’m a bit surprised how much I liked this, for the sole fact that I only picked this book out by its title and that I' 've never heard anyone ever talk about it. But this was really good. I loved both protagonists and thought the relationship between them was well-developed. The hints about their feelings were wonderful and subtle enough to make me go aww. I really don’t care for stories about school, and I' 'm not that interested in Fae but the school plot was minor and the Fae politics were fairly mild. I will definitely continue reading because I liked the characters so much and I hope the politics won’t take over in the next book.
Also the narrator of this was fantastic!
Also the narrator of this was fantastic!
intheend's review
4.0
3.5 Stars.
I'm disappointed that this story doesn't follow Phineas and Roark. The ending was rushed. I was left thinking what's going to happen to Phineas now that he's the Knight. I guess being Knight is different for humans and they can retain their memories. I also assume that Phineas is in control of his ley line now. These things should have been addressed in the book.
I'm disappointed that this story doesn't follow Phineas and Roark. The ending was rushed. I was left thinking what's going to happen to Phineas now that he's the Knight. I guess being Knight is different for humans and they can retain their memories. I also assume that Phineas is in control of his ley line now. These things should have been addressed in the book.
helllucifer's review against another edition
4.0
3.75 stars. Good read but the last part was just way too rushed.
eedr's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
brokenrecord's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. I really loved this while also having some pretty major complaints. The biggest being just that I felt like I didn't know enough about what was going on with the plot. I still don't think I could explain exactly what happened 6 years prior to the start of the book or the political situation or really anything about the school the main characters attended (it was a magical school, right? What kind of classes did they take? How many years does one attend the school? Those kinds of things.), or… really anything? I felt like I was just dumped into the middle of a story and no one was willing to stop and explain anything or catch me up on what was going on, to the point where I had to keep double checking/reassuring myself that I was reading the first book in a series and I hadn't accidentally jumped into the middle of a series, or there wasn't some other connected series I should've read first.
At the beginning I also thought this was YA (I mean, this was more just my assumption — I didn't actually check one way or the other, so that's my fault) and was thinking the characters were like 17-18, but then later on it became clear that they would have to be early to mid 20s, and this definitely isn't YA based on the fairly explicit sex scenes, but I really got no sense of that from the beginning at all. And I don't typically need a lot of handholding or for things to be spoon-fed to me — I'm usually good at picking up clues from context and figuring out what's going on — but I just didn't feel like I had a grasp of ANYTHING.
And with all that nitpicking, it probably seems unreasonable that I've given this book 4.5 stars, but somehow I still enjoyed the hell out of this. I just adored Roark and Finn's dynamic so much. As long as I buy the characters and the romance and am invested, I'm willing to wave everything else away as not super important. I loved seeing Roark and Finn work together and Finn learn to use his power. They had amazing chemistry and tension, and I loved seeing Roark try to fight against what was going on between them while Finn came to realize he had misjudged Roark in prior occasions. I really do feel like my complaints are major enough that I should be knocking this down further, and I get that all these issues might be greater stumbling blocks for other people to get past, but even though like half the time I didn't really feel like I had much of a clue what was going on, I had a lot of fun with it and was kind of able to just go with the flow. That being said, I do wish there had been more backstory earlier in the book. Or honestly even a prequel novella with what happened in the past would be so great. It looks like there's going to be a sequel with different characters, and I'm definitely up for more in this world (and maybe I'll even start to get a clue about how the world functions!).
At the beginning I also thought this was YA (I mean, this was more just my assumption — I didn't actually check one way or the other, so that's my fault) and was thinking the characters were like 17-18, but then later on it became clear that they would have to be early to mid 20s, and this definitely isn't YA based on the fairly explicit sex scenes, but I really got no sense of that from the beginning at all. And I don't typically need a lot of handholding or for things to be spoon-fed to me — I'm usually good at picking up clues from context and figuring out what's going on — but I just didn't feel like I had a grasp of ANYTHING.
Spoiler
Like, what was Finn and Roark's relationship like before Roark's mom kidnapped him? I get that the experience and forgetting what Roark did made Finn dislike Roark for years, but… idk, were they friends? Did they just kind of know who each other was? How did Finn end up being okay with being Roark's roommate? I get that Roark orchestrated it, but… why was Finn on board with it? I know that he says it works out all right (or maybe it was Roark who said that? It was fairly early on in the book and it was also months ago that I read it), but it seems weird to me that he'd agree to it at all. My biggest complaint of all was really like… what the fuck was the point of Roark making the deal and making Finn forget IF HE JUST ENDS UP AGREEING TO BE A KNIGHT IN THE END ANYWAYS? Like, he hears the parameters and is like, "Yeah, okay, sounds good to me." It makes almost everything that happens in the book (and the time since Finn's kidnapping) seem kind of pointless.And with all that nitpicking, it probably seems unreasonable that I've given this book 4.5 stars, but somehow I still enjoyed the hell out of this. I just adored Roark and Finn's dynamic so much. As long as I buy the characters and the romance and am invested, I'm willing to wave everything else away as not super important. I loved seeing Roark and Finn work together and Finn learn to use his power. They had amazing chemistry and tension, and I loved seeing Roark try to fight against what was going on between them