A review by jayceejarvis
The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince by Jeffe Kennedy

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.