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amyreadsandsails's review
It feels like she’s forcing herself on him - not taking no for an answer. Like she knows what he wants better than he does.
jayceejarvis's review
5.0
This books marks the beginning of what I saw someone else call The Twelve Kingdoms: the Next Generation, which I think describes it perfectly. It does indeed follow the children of the characters from the Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms series. As the first book in a new series, there was quite a bit of time establishing our new cast of characters, and I was really, really grateful for the family tree at the beginning of the book. I've read most of the previous series (missing only a few short stories here and there) so the chart was all I needed to keep everyone sorted at first. It is hard for me to guess how this book would land if you hadn't read the other series (and they are wonderful, so do go and read them!) but I think I like these books even better than the original series. The cast is a fun group, and the action is creative and in keeping with the unique world-building for this universe. I also felt like the romance was even stronger in these books. Most (all?) of the previous series were told from the perspective of only one character, while this book (and presumably series) is in dual POV, which really lets the reader marinate in the angst in the relationship. Aster and Zephyr have angst in spades, and it was delicious! Definitely pick this one up if you like lots of lust and pining to go with your fantasy adventure.
somasunshine's review
Am I the only one disturbed by the fact that their grandmothers were sisters??
I was so excited to find out that this series existed and that I would get to read about the grown up twins and the other's children. Unfortunately this fell a bit flat for me. The storyline is ok, but a bit boring :/
I was so excited to find out that this series existed and that I would get to read about the grown up twins and the other's children. Unfortunately this fell a bit flat for me. The storyline is ok, but a bit boring :/
timitra's review
4.0
Rated 4.5 Stars
The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince was an utter delight to read. The world building was superb. I loved getting to explore new territories in this one, new parts of a world that I’m already familiar with. I loved it. There’s action, politics, an intriguing conundrum and so much. I can’t wait to read the next book to see what happens next. I highly recommend this book, it’s a great start to what I’m sure will be a truly wonderful series.
Copy provided by author
The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince was an utter delight to read. The world building was superb. I loved getting to explore new territories in this one, new parts of a world that I’m already familiar with. I loved it. There’s action, politics, an intriguing conundrum and so much. I can’t wait to read the next book to see what happens next. I highly recommend this book, it’s a great start to what I’m sure will be a truly wonderful series.
Copy provided by author
mdlaclair's review
3.0
3.5 ⭐️
I was so excited to return to this world! Having said that I found these characters less flushed out then the previous books. Maybe because the group has 7 newish characters, it seems hard to really understand the characters. The characters are often said to be like their mother or father. While we have read the parent’s stories, the children are their own characters. Unfortunately sometimes coming off as immature and whiny for their ages (Gendra I’m looking at you). I still enjoyed the characters and the books setting. I am hopeful that in the next books maybe some more maturity will be seen.....
I was so excited to return to this world! Having said that I found these characters less flushed out then the previous books. Maybe because the group has 7 newish characters, it seems hard to really understand the characters. The characters are often said to be like their mother or father. While we have read the parent’s stories, the children are their own characters. Unfortunately sometimes coming off as immature and whiny for their ages (Gendra I’m looking at you). I still enjoyed the characters and the books setting. I am hopeful that in the next books maybe some more maturity will be seen.....
emmelnie's review
5.0
Do you love classic fantasy quests, where a varied group of people work towards achieving a goal? Do you love romance, where couples establish a relationship and explore what that might be? Do you like reading about a variety of characters, personalities, and talents? Boy, will The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince work for you.
I loved this quest story, particularly because it featured something rare in romance—a large, interconnected group working together on a common goal. Sure, there might see teams in, say, romantic suspense, but rarely are they as varied as what Kennedy gives readers here. There’s everyone from basic humans to shapeshifters to sorcerers, from nobility to the common classes, from ultra-talented to the somewhat gifted, from impassioned to rational—Kennedy’s cast of characters is just so *interesting* that I found myself rapidly turning the pages to learn more about them.
This book focuses on the heir to the high throne of the Thirteen Kingdoms, Astar, a man torn between duty and his desire for Zephyr, a free-spirited shifter who couldn’t be less tied to obligations and expectations. They are a great couple, and the gradual and yet inevitable acceleration of their feelings for one another is expertly illustrated. The secondary characters are wonderful, and Kennedy nicely sets up forthcoming books in this series by making each person stand out in their own way. This also greatly builds that sense of an integrated, interesting team working to fulfill this classic fantasy quest.
Kennedy returns again to her related Twelve Kingdoms/Dasnarian worlds, but if you haven’t read her before, this book is an excellent entrée to them. It’s in essence “Twelve Kingdoms: The Next Generation,” and working with a new bunch of characters—the children of protagonists from earlier series—eases readers easily into this world without requiring knowledge of earlier books.
There are minor quibbles here: some of the antagonistic characters are really two-dimensional, and I would have liked to have seen them be less overtly negative than they were. But I just adored this book. Any fan of high fantasy and romance should run to pick up this one.
I loved this quest story, particularly because it featured something rare in romance—a large, interconnected group working together on a common goal. Sure, there might see teams in, say, romantic suspense, but rarely are they as varied as what Kennedy gives readers here. There’s everyone from basic humans to shapeshifters to sorcerers, from nobility to the common classes, from ultra-talented to the somewhat gifted, from impassioned to rational—Kennedy’s cast of characters is just so *interesting* that I found myself rapidly turning the pages to learn more about them.
This book focuses on the heir to the high throne of the Thirteen Kingdoms, Astar, a man torn between duty and his desire for Zephyr, a free-spirited shifter who couldn’t be less tied to obligations and expectations. They are a great couple, and the gradual and yet inevitable acceleration of their feelings for one another is expertly illustrated. The secondary characters are wonderful, and Kennedy nicely sets up forthcoming books in this series by making each person stand out in their own way. This also greatly builds that sense of an integrated, interesting team working to fulfill this classic fantasy quest.
Kennedy returns again to her related Twelve Kingdoms/Dasnarian worlds, but if you haven’t read her before, this book is an excellent entrée to them. It’s in essence “Twelve Kingdoms: The Next Generation,” and working with a new bunch of characters—the children of protagonists from earlier series—eases readers easily into this world without requiring knowledge of earlier books.
There are minor quibbles here: some of the antagonistic characters are really two-dimensional, and I would have liked to have seen them be less overtly negative than they were. But I just adored this book. Any fan of high fantasy and romance should run to pick up this one.
alexiachantel's review
5.0
Kennedy brought us back to the land of the Tala, and it's fantastically fantastic!!
If you're familiar with the Twelve Kingdoms series and its spinoffs you'll recognize these seven friends embarking on a quest—they're the kids of our favorite heroes and heroines that have come before! And Zeph is the daughter of one of my favorite, light-hearted characters, Zyr!
Zeph definitely takes after her father's Tala side and can shapeshift into a number of forms, but her favorite, and first form, is a gríobhth. One of my favorites too. And her gríobhth animal is possessive, and she decides Prince Astar, heir to the High Throne, is hers.
Ah, but honorable Astar carries the mantle of heir well and never strays out of line. He heads the quest and keeps everyone in line...well, until he can't. On the way they stumble across a creature that stinks of Deyrr, it's capable of shapeshifting into whatever form it sees and in its wake are left pieces of people and animals mashed together. Together they shut down the beast, but Zeph is injured. Astar's desperate attempts to wake her end up with him promising the one thing he knows she can't resist, one night with him to do whatever she wants. Did I mention that Astar takes after his father, Prince Hugh—the golden Prince Charming? Zeph stays conscious long enough to shift back to human.
The set of friends continue on and end up in the castle by the mystical lake they're supposed to investigate. This is where things get really fun. The best scene is when Zeph tells Astar that she's claimed him and that's that. But it's also great when they head out to the lake and Zeph ends up traveling through a portal, what she finds is fantastic!! Spoilery though, so you're going to have to read it.
I loved how Zeph and Astar grew and changed their views a bit. Kennedy's fantasy romance always delivers excellent characters and potent romance. And this beginning to a series has another puzzling danger to roll out!
Reviewed for Reading Between the Wines Book Club
If you're familiar with the Twelve Kingdoms series and its spinoffs you'll recognize these seven friends embarking on a quest—they're the kids of our favorite heroes and heroines that have come before! And Zeph is the daughter of one of my favorite, light-hearted characters, Zyr!
Zeph definitely takes after her father's Tala side and can shapeshift into a number of forms, but her favorite, and first form, is a gríobhth. One of my favorites too. And her gríobhth animal is possessive, and she decides Prince Astar, heir to the High Throne, is hers.
Ah, but honorable Astar carries the mantle of heir well and never strays out of line. He heads the quest and keeps everyone in line...well, until he can't. On the way they stumble across a creature that stinks of Deyrr, it's capable of shapeshifting into whatever form it sees and in its wake are left pieces of people and animals mashed together. Together they shut down the beast, but Zeph is injured. Astar's desperate attempts to wake her end up with him promising the one thing he knows she can't resist, one night with him to do whatever she wants. Did I mention that Astar takes after his father, Prince Hugh—the golden Prince Charming? Zeph stays conscious long enough to shift back to human.
The set of friends continue on and end up in the castle by the mystical lake they're supposed to investigate. This is where things get really fun. The best scene is when Zeph tells Astar that she's claimed him and that's that. But it's also great when they head out to the lake and Zeph ends up traveling through a portal, what she finds is fantastic!! Spoilery though, so you're going to have to read it.
I loved how Zeph and Astar grew and changed their views a bit. Kennedy's fantasy romance always delivers excellent characters and potent romance. And this beginning to a series has another puzzling danger to roll out!
Reviewed for Reading Between the Wines Book Club
audiobookmel's review
Review originally posted at BooksOfMyHeart.net.
When I was given the opportunity to review this book, I jumped at the chance and didn’t even look at the blurb. So I had no idea that this was another spinoff of The Twelve Kingdoms series. This series follows the grown children of the couples of the original series and of the spinoff series, The Uncharted Realms and The Chronicles of Dasnaria.
This first story features Astar, the son of Princess Amelia and nephew of High Queen Ursula. He is also the heir to the throne of The Thirteen Kingdoms. He got this designation at birth before the former High King Uorsin died, so he has always known that this will be his fate. He takes this responsibility very seriously, which means he is far from the life of the party. He is also expected to marry for the good of the kingdom, like many royals.
Zephyr is a free spirit and loves her life as a Tala. She is the daughter of Zyr is a Tala male who’s first form is the gríobhth, which he passed down to his daughter. A gríobhth is what we would call a gryphon, with a body of a lion and head and wings of an eagle. The Tala have a different view of relationships. Many are not monogamous, while some have settled down with a mate.
This book was a bit more “new adult” than I prefer. There were some times early in the story where there were some almost more young adult type conversations, but once the action started, the group does seem to grow up and act more like the adults that they are.
One other complaint I had was that Ursula and her sisters were even trying to push Astar to marry for royalty and not love, when two of the three of them are with men who would not be worthy of their list. Since this is a romance (not to mention the title), I don’t think it is a spoiler to say that Astar does indeed follow his heart and not what he was ordered by his queen.
All in all, I did enjoy this story, even with the complaints I mentioned above. The action scenes were really great and there were some wonderful suspense scenes as well. The romance was well written, like all of Kennedy’s stories. And I do love all the characters. You can read this story without having read the original series, but will not have the full backstory of the parents of these characters (and I do love those stories too, so worth a read). I’m really looking forward to the next book, The Sorceress Queen and the Pirate Rogue, which will be out in April 2021.
**I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
When I was given the opportunity to review this book, I jumped at the chance and didn’t even look at the blurb. So I had no idea that this was another spinoff of The Twelve Kingdoms series. This series follows the grown children of the couples of the original series and of the spinoff series, The Uncharted Realms and The Chronicles of Dasnaria.
This first story features Astar, the son of Princess Amelia and nephew of High Queen Ursula. He is also the heir to the throne of The Thirteen Kingdoms. He got this designation at birth before the former High King Uorsin died, so he has always known that this will be his fate. He takes this responsibility very seriously, which means he is far from the life of the party. He is also expected to marry for the good of the kingdom, like many royals.
Zephyr is a free spirit and loves her life as a Tala. She is the daughter of Zyr is a Tala male who’s first form is the gríobhth, which he passed down to his daughter. A gríobhth is what we would call a gryphon, with a body of a lion and head and wings of an eagle. The Tala have a different view of relationships. Many are not monogamous, while some have settled down with a mate.
This book was a bit more “new adult” than I prefer. There were some times early in the story where there were some almost more young adult type conversations, but once the action started, the group does seem to grow up and act more like the adults that they are.
One other complaint I had was that Ursula and her sisters were even trying to push Astar to marry for royalty and not love, when two of the three of them are with men who would not be worthy of their list. Since this is a romance (not to mention the title), I don’t think it is a spoiler to say that Astar does indeed follow his heart and not what he was ordered by his queen.
All in all, I did enjoy this story, even with the complaints I mentioned above. The action scenes were really great and there were some wonderful suspense scenes as well. The romance was well written, like all of Kennedy’s stories. And I do love all the characters. You can read this story without having read the original series, but will not have the full backstory of the parents of these characters (and I do love those stories too, so worth a read). I’m really looking forward to the next book, The Sorceress Queen and the Pirate Rogue, which will be out in April 2021.
**I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
all_time_mon's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
2.5
I'm sorry to say that I just found so many world-building details that kept taking me out of the story and lessened my enjoyment. The whole shapeshifting magic didn't make sense to me in the way it was explained. Many things seemed to be there just for convenience without even trying to explain them in-world. Add all the jealousy and possessiveness and it really wasn't my cup of tea even though it wasn't bad.