This book was a little slow to start off with but once Nox was introduced and we got the interactions between him and Selestra it started to pick up so much more.

The storyline was great and the characters were well developed and I liked how certain characters were revealed to me linked through out the story.

There were parts which I wish had more time to be explored and developed further but I throughly enjoyed it nonetheless.

Major enemies-to-lovers vibes.

I’m really hoping a sequel will be released for this book soon as I would love to know how the story continues. I do feel that the story has been left open and there is so much more to be explored with the characters and the storyline.

Overall a solid YA Fantasy book, would highly recommend!

A fantastic second book based on Rapunzel. I didn’t think I would love any book as much as to kill a kingdom but can honestly say I loved this one even more. From the moment I started reading it I didn’t want to put it down.

This was a fun, fast and just overall enjoyable read. It's action packed, with sass/snark and the best kind of trope - enemies to lovers. I will be checking out the authors other books!

I picked up To Kill a Kingdom on a whim when it first came out a few years ago and immediately fell in love with Lira and Elian. So naturally when I saw that Princess of Souls was set in the same world, I couldn't resist requesting it. Then upon reading the blurb I discovered Princess of Souls had Rapunzel vibes and I knew I was in for a treat.

Admittedly this story headed in a bit of a different direction to the classic Rapunzel tale, but I enjoyed the way it unfolded regardless and found this to be a nice, easy fantasy read. The snark between Selestra and Nox was top notch and incredibly entertaining (although, I will say that it wasn't quite as 'enemies-to-lovers' as I had expected.)

If you're looking for a bit of a slow-burn, fast-paced fantasy romance, with some great world building and (of course) witches, then this is definitely the book for you,

Thank you, NetGalley and Hot Key Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed To Kill A Kingdom and when I found out this book was set in the same world as the first I was intrigued.

I would like to say I assumed that this retelling of a fairytale would be similar to To Kill a Kingdom. Now where Selestra had long hair and was in a tower for a bit it was a loose retelling in my opinion. Where Selestra and Nox started out with a little animosity their witty back-and-forth banter kept me invested in them as a couple.

This book was fast-paced and an enjoyable read. It is one I would certainly come back to.

Wow what a fantastic book with twists and turns all over the place such a good book I would definitely recommend it

This was advertised as a Rapunzal retelling set in the same world as To Kill A Kingdom so I was really looking forward to reading this.
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Though I don’t think I would call this a retelling though I can see some elements of the story. It’s more loosely inspired by Rapunzal.
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The story was interesting and it was nice to see more of the world. The MC, Selestra, and the LI, Nox, had some fun banter and I also loved seeing them each have their own friendships and how they loved & protected their friend.
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I really enjoyed reading Selestra’s arc and how she learnt to be more self confident and trust in her abilities and become stronger. She goes from being afraid to upset the king to taking him on to protect those she loves.
Nox also has an interesting arc where he begins the story wanting revenge and is grieving the death of his father to learning to come to terms with his father no longer being here and not letting it consume him.
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I think my main issue withthe story was the pacing. It dragged at times and then everything would happen at once. But overall i did enjoy it.

I really enjoyed To Kill A Kingdom and the twist on the Little Mermaid story, particularly the references to the Disney version. I think anyone expecting similar references to Rapunzel may be disappointed: there's a tower, the heroine has long, but not crazy long, hair, and there's multiple mentions of climbing up her hair in a jokey way, but they felt more like the characters were mocking fairy tales in general, and the idea of the character being a trapped princess, than an actual reference to Rapunzel.

This is a standalone story, and, while the story is set in the same world as To Kill A Kingdom, the events and characters are separate, so this book can be read without having read To Kill A Kingdom first.

I had a good time reading this, and read it really quickly, but the enemy-to-lovers aspect didn't work as well for me in Princess of Souls as in to Kill A Kingdom, the enemies aspect wasn't that well established, and it really only took a conversation or two for the characters to realise that they were wrong, and that therefore romance would swiftly follow. Maybe I was suffering from YA fatigue at that point, but it fell a bit flat for me.

I still really enjoyed the world though, and loved the idea of the soul magic and foretelling of death, the sinister edge is what I really like in both To Kill A Kingdom and Princess of Souls, I kind of wish we could have a little more of that, and a little less of the characters wondering to themselves if or why they like the other.

I loved To Kill A Kingdom so I was so excited about this book and the fact that it's set in the same world as the first!

This story has a perfect balance of romance and adventure which keeps you interested throughout. Similarly to the first book the love interests have a love/hate relationship where there is clearly attraction there but they don't trust one another and I really like that dynamic.

The magic was fun and made sense, I hate when books make characters too over powered and everything is unbalanced, but this book was just right.

I really enjoyed reading this and was really satisfied with the way it ended.

I’ve been trying to read this for a while now. There’s nothing wrong with it at all! It’s beautifully written, the characters are great, the story is interesting… but it hasn’t really gripped me.

Sounds odd when I read the same types of books over and over again and they always have the same ending…

Maybe fantasy just isn’t for me?

I made it up to chapter 32. And even though I was enjoying the story… I don’t know how to explain it. I guess I just wasn’t that into the characters. There was nothing wrong with them in particular, I just wasn’t into them.

I feel bad when I don’t finish a book. Writers spend so long thinking of a story, planning out the plot, characters, scenes – the world if it’s a fantasy like this one – and so I always feel like I should finish it.

“‘I’m not a princess,’ I say to Irenya. I’m something far more deadly than that.”

I finished this… but I’m not sure if I enjoyed it. It felt like I only persisted with finishing it to get the review done, but I also didn’t hate it.
I didn’t love the plot of the story. It felt like nothing was happening until everything happened at once.
The characters were not good or even particularly interesting. I wasn’t invested in the romance.
I was kind of disappointed as I really enjoyed TKAK, but at least it was easy enough to read.

A wonderful, magical and dark retelling of Rapunzel. I think this has to be my favourite fairytale retell to date. I love Selestra and Nox, the chemistry between them is superb. I always like a dual point of view to get a better picture of both characters' thoughts and feelings. The world that the author describes is just magical. I loved every word of this!

We are back in the world of the six isles! having read and enjoyed the first in Alexandra Christo’s book, to kill a kingdom, I was happy to sit down with this YA adventure novel. This is cited as a retelling of Rapunzel, however, besides being a girl and having long hair, this has no other comparison, but this didn’t take away from the main story which was original and easy to read. I loved the protagonists and their found family, the characters had great chemistry together with duel POV, romance, and banter.

Filled with the fantasy tropes we all know and love, expect nothing less than star crossed lovers, foretold destinies, evil Kings and misunderstood witches, Princess Of Souls is a light hearted YA adventure across The Six Isles originally introduced in Christo's previous To Kill A Kingdom.

The synopsis may refer to Rapunzel but aside from a girl with long hair in a tower and a few jokes about climbing her braid there really are no other similarities. If you're drawn in specifically by the idea of a retelling, this is not it- though not to its detriment, I still loved it.

For those who enjoyed To Kill A Kingdom, this latest novel is very much in the same vein. The relationships, setting, motives and obstacles are cookie cut but nevertheless a fun read.

Told from the perspectives of Selestra the misled Witch heir and cocky soldier Nox we follow their quest to relieve the Kingdom of its immortal ruler Seryth. Each has their own loveable loyal sidekick and weight of burden to carry.
I didn't find much character development, all end with the same values and personality they started out with. At times I found myself scanning the monologue of the main characters as they slowly and repetitively succumb to the obvious.

The discovery was in the world building and fun in the chase and history of the witches power. The writing and pace flows perfectly and is very easy to read. In particular the battle scenes were some of the best I've read; not overlong and very well choreographed.

If you're looking for a simple escape for a few hours Princess Of Souls is an adventure worth reading.

This book was so much better than I expected. I'm a sucker for books that are retellings and this book did not dissapoint! I absolutely flew through it!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Bonnier Books UK and the author, for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was another case of me not really enjoying the first book by the author to absolutely enjoying the second. With To Kill a Kingdom, I couldn't really get into the story. However this book was a blast. Selestra and Nox had proper chemistry and banter. The 2 things you need in a story. Also the magic sytem was relly cool.

Selestra has never seen the world outside the castle fort where she lives. She is beimng groomed to take the place of her mother and become the King's witch whose prime function is to make sure that the king remains immortal by consuming the souls of the subjects who forfeit their souls in the festival of predictions. Nox has only one thought on his mind, revenge and revenge can only come in one form, death to the cruel king who took his father from him. So he decides to participate in the festival. But what he didn't know was that his future is intrincically linked to Selestra'a and they are about to take a journey, which will either save the world and themselves or doom everything.

This book was pretty much the retelling of Rapunzel/ Tangled and the story telling was brilliant comedic points. The danger was palpable in the narration and it switched between POVs of Selestra and Nox.

TW: Blood, Death, Murder, Grief, Loss, Betrayal, Torture, Violence

This one was another book that I was really keen to read - I loved Christo’s previous book set in the same universe - add the premise of a Rapunzel retelling and I was sold.

Whilst I struggled to engage with the two main leads and their connection lacked a little something for me. I enjoyed the setting of this one, and the darker magical elements where Selestra takes people’s souls to elongate the tyrannical king’s life. I also thought a heroine with green hair was pretty cool. There are some great supporting characters in this.

Just what I needed - a fast paced fantasy book from a wonderful author. This was one of my most anticipated reads for the end of the year and it didn’t disappoint. A great stand alone but would do well as a duology!

This is young adult fantasy, set in the same world as To Kill A Kingdom.

Our female main character is the heir to the King's witch, and is limited in what she's allowed to do and locked away in the castle. The male main character is a soldier in the King's army but he wants to kill the king for killing his father. Only problem is, the King's immortal.

Only by working together can they possibly overthrow the king after his hundreds of years of rule.

I thought I would like this more than I did, having really waited To Kill A Kingdom. It just feels very young. It was also positioned as a rapunzel retelling, which I don't think I would have guessed if I hadn't known that going in. There's a couple of mentions about her hair, which is just described as below her waist. And twice the male main character makes a comment about climbing up it - which doesn't seem like it's long enough for that even as a joke!

3.5 stars rounded down to 3

“She's made from dark magic and I can't ever forget it. There's a fire inside of her- if she lets it, it'll burn through the world.”

“I look at him and his eyes glisten with a thousand futures. A thousand hopes and opportunities and life.”

Wow I could not put this book down! Loosely inspired by the tale of Rapuzel, Princess of Souls is tells the story of Selestra, a witch is preparing to take over from her mother, serving the King by predicting the deaths of others and helping him to capture their souls.

However, when she meets Nox, member of the Kings army and son of her old mentor, she sees has a vision of his death that will change the course of her own future. As Selestra and Nox’s fates become more and more entwined, they must work together to survive.

I absolutely loved both Nox and Selestra - both were fantastic characters in their own rights and the banter and tension between them was just top notch! This book was packed full of action, with Selestra and Nox fighting back against death, travelling across kingdoms and revolting against the King.

This was a sexy teen fantasy read with dual POVs, curses, adventure and plenty of tension 🔥 Highly recommend!