This was brilliantly done, what a fantastic debut by Wijesekara!
I really enjoyed the characters and the plot of the discriminated mayakari people vs the empire. Getting the two povs of Ashoka and Shakti really brought the storyline to blend together while.they are making different moves politically and also fighting against the antagonists. The villains of Ashokas father and brother were implemented well with Adip being a great evil presence looming over everyone.

Shakti was a great vengeful main character and Ashoka a protagonist whose morals are being questioned fighting in a revolution. The mayakari are interesting and it will be fun to see when it's revealed that Shakti cursed Adil and the Great Spirits in doing so alas the mayakari.

4.5 stars 🌟

unfortunately, couldn't get past the prose. i think the book holds a lot of promise, the concept is nice, the worldbuilding is interesting, and i like the parallels between the two protagonists. the writing however is consistently clunky, with odd word choices and sentence constructions, and i can't gloss over prose as much as other readers with different tastes might.

i think it would have benefitted from stronger, tighter editing, or perhaps the author needs more books under their belt to truly find their style and unique way of building atmosphere - what i was getting from this (and i could be wrong!) is a layering of synonyms of more common words in an attempt to get a Fantasy Voice And Vibe. it unfortunately rarely does the trick, and only comes off a little forced. the book does have a solid vision, but a real struggle in execution that makes it really hard to get into the emotional beats of the story.

i'll be keeping up with the author to see what comes next, and am curious to check out the published version and whether it'll have gone through some more editing. maybe i'll pick it up again at some point! i also do believe this is a book that can find its loving audience, i only hope it will :-)

The Prince Without Sorrow by Maithree Wijesekara from @harpervoyageruk

Huge thanks to NetGalley and HarperVoyager for my e-arc.

This book draws on inspiration from the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India - I think this might be the first Eastern inspired fantasy book I have read, and it's certainly made me curious for more.

It's about Shakti, a Mayakari witch who is being hunted in her home country and Prince Ashoka, the third child on Emporer Adil. Prince Ashoka is a pacifist and opposes his father's violent reign and attempted genocide of the Mayakari witches. It's a dual POV book, and the swapping of perspectives works really well.

The Prince was a really well done character - his development through the book with family bereavement, political drama and exile. Shakti's attitude was interesting too, she really stood up for herself and seemed to inspire the Prince who is very laid back and resigned to start with. I enjoyed reading of his ambition growing.

I have to say there wasn't much romance at all - a few glances between two close friends perhaps. I'm interested in seeing if those goes further in future books in this series. I'll definitely be looking out for a sequel, I'm eager to find out where this goes. The world building here in particular is pulling me back! Hopefully the wait isn't too long...

I loved this fantasy book! It was interesting and the world building was easy to follow but descriptive. Would definitely recommend

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the arc of the prince without sorrow was excited to get it and as I have it pre ordered on Waterstones the book is as good/not bad in between it’s a fantasy story the characters was were alright and the world building was ok but the first half of the book lacked at some bits could have been a bit better and some of the sentences didn’t make sense and to me the first half should have got me more engaged in it but didn’t much and should say it’s very YA more for a younger audience definitely would like more I’m older lol

Omg I loved this one!!! I loved the prince the most, hos character development and the relationships were my fav bits!

I am not a big fan of world building/very descriptive but I fell madly in love with this world! It made me feel like I was actually there??

Admittedly, I was rather put off by the UK cover. But since the original cover, with the stag and the dragon, had already enchanted me for a long time, I was still happy when I received the eARC of ‘The Prince Without Sorrow’ from NetGalley.
The setting is a classic high fantasy where the witches are being persecuted and killed and our main characters are trying to change these circumstances. However, these are different to the ones we read about all the time. The non-heterosexual relationship, for example, which is mentioned right at the beginning, ensures this.
Unfortunately, most of the characters seem one-dimensional. They do seem to have one or two character traits that define them, but they lack complexity. Granted, in real life some people hate just for the sake of hating, but in a book I would like to see a little more substance in such mindsets.
In addition, the pacifism in the book is presented in a way that is very exhausting and incomprehensible for the reader. The witches don't want to harm anyone so as not to incur bad karma and the prince is pacifist because the rest of his family is not. The fact that they make life difficult for themselves at times - especially when it comes to food - seems to be a minor matter.
Unfortunately, there is never enough tension to really keep you reading. Don't get me wrong: it wasn't as if I didn't want to continue reading - but I didn't feel the need to do so either. Unfortunately, it simply didn't matter whether I continued reading or not.
Despite all these weaknesses, one must not forget that this is only the first volume of a trilogy. Of course, I would have liked to feel more entertained by the book, but as a set-up for what's to come, it's still very readable - especially since, as far as I know, it's the author's debut. So I'm looking forward to the next volumes and waiting to see what happens.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
I truly enjoyed the debut novel The Prince Without Sorrow and I look forward to reading the second in the series. I liked the writing style and it wasn’t too intense. The sibling rivalry and the battles of wanting to be true to what you believe in and not just what your parents believe. Even if he was the Emperor. I enjoyed going on the journey with Ashoka and Shakti in the battle to do the right thing. The artwork on the cover and throughout the book is stunning.

It wasn’t a painful read, but it wasn’t particularly good either. The book has a promising premise but could benefit from better editing, as many of its intriguing ideas are unfortunately not well-executed.

The book deserves praise for its creative concept and world-building, which is inspired by Indian mythology. The story takes place in a kingdom where the ruling royal family persecutes witches. The main characters are Shakti, a witch who lost her loved ones in purges ordered by the emperor, and Ashoka, the youngest prince and a pacifist who opposes his father’s political stance. The premise is genuinely engaging, as is the magic system, but unfortunately, these strengths aren’t enough to compensate for the shortcomings in the plot.

The fundamental issue with the novel is the lack of clear goals for its main characters. While we understand their motivations—revenge for Shakti and pacifism for Ashoka—we don’t know what they are actively striving for, as motivations and goals are not the same. As a result, the book lacks stakes, and the use of two POVs feels unjustified. This leads to two significant problems. First, there’s no sense of connection between the protagonists’ fates—how could there be, if we don’t even know whether their goals align? Second, both Shakti and Ashoka often seem to act reactively and somewhat randomly. There’s no clear logic behind their decisions or any ultimate resolution they’re working toward.

I also take issue with the “romantic angst” promised in the blurb—it’s practically nonexistent. While the author deserves credit for subverting expectations and avoiding the typical approach to romantic relationships found in romantasy, the absence of any significant romantic development or even hints of slow-burn tension makes it hard to see romance as a meaningful element of the story.

Overall, the book feels like several hundred pages of setup for the main story—perhaps that’s exactly what it is. I’m not dismissing the trilogy outright, as it’s impossible to predict where the character development and plot might go based on the first volume alone. That said, it shouldn’t feel this way, which is why The Prince Without Sorrow isn’t a particularly strong book. Still, anything could happen in the sequel—characters could become heroes or transform into villains. I’m intrigued, but before committing to the sequel, I’ll likely check reviews to see if it’s worth the effort.

I wanted more than anything to love this book but unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

I’ll be honest, I struggled to finish it (as you can see by the time it took to read). I enjoyed the first 30-40% and I could see the potential! I just felt that it dragged on too much with nothing overly interesting happening.

I found the FMC, Shakti, quite unlikeable even with her controversial violent tendencies. She essentially is rewarded with powers after going against everything she was brought up to believe and preach.

Ashoka had his moments where I had the odd smirk and found him likeable but we never receive much of an explanation as to why he’s so pacifist.

The witches are all very timid, tame and accept their fates due to the lack of using their magic for sinister or untoward acts. I’m not saying that they should’ve…but Shakti at least attempted to get revenge on someone for slaughtering her family.

I think it’s always hard to start a new fantasy series and I applaud the author in their efforts at world building and trying to get the reader to become familiar with their characters. I just, unfortunately, do not think this series is for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVoyager for accepting me to read this ARC in return for my honest opinion.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this. I really enjoyed this, I liked the fantasy, the world building and the characters but I hoped for a little more romance.

This wasn't as bad as I would've expected after seeing the ratings. But unfortunately, it also wasn't overly good.

The beginning was lackluster. Yes, there was some action, but it felt very constructed. On top of that, I was so confused about the ages of the characters. I expected them to be adults, but some scenes felt like flashbacks to a pre-teen age and I couldn't figure out what timeline we were in. At some point, a certain character behaved in a way that me assume she was perhaps 12 - and then it got dropped, that she was in fact 22, and we were in the present time. Honestly gave me whiplash. At 22 you're definitely an adult and supposed to behave like one. Not running around, enjoying life, with no responsibilities. Especially in a non-modern world. Quite a few people would already be married at that age and have children!

At least that got better and the characters behaved mostly in an age appropriate way.
The main characters were a bit too one dimensional for me. Ashoka is very kind and pure, refuses to kill, is just very sweet. I would say boring, but he actually went through an interesting development and I'm kinda curious were this is going.
Shakti was just basically mayhem. She probably meant well, but she literally never stopped to think about consequences and it infuriated me. Basically none of the problems in this book would've existed if she had just stopped and thought about everything for a second.
I was surprised to see what an interesting character Aarya turned out to be. I had hoped for even deeper layers, but maybe that will happen in the next book.

As for the plot - it was fine. Again, most of it could've been easily solved, if Shakti had just waited a minute, but the way it happened, was alright. I have to criticise that there are still so many unsolved things at the end of the book.
Sure, that'll get solved over the next book(s). But I'd like to get some crumbs in this one, please.

As for the romance - and this is just plain facts, without judgement - there isn't much of it. From the very beginning it is obvious that Ashoka is in love, but he never acts on it, and that's all there is to say about that topic. Representation was nice, but as there's not much romance in general, it's difficult to say anything about it.

The ending was fine. It could've been more exciting, but it built up the next instalment.

Overall - this book was, once again, fine. Completely fine. Not especially bad, but also not very good. Some nice ideas, but nothing special.
I am kind of curious about the things that'll happen in the next book, but probably not enough to actually read book two.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Although I really liked the world building of this book, I struggled to get through it. The writing style wasn't for me and I found the plot difficult to follow at points. It got better the further in I got though!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The Prince without Sorrow is the first of the Obsidian Throne novels, loosely inspired by the origins of the historical Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty of ancient India. It features Shakti, a witch capable of raising the dead and communing with nature spirits, and a young prince Ashoka, a pacifist who wants nothing to do with his father’s violent reign.

This book had the potential to be really great, but the writing is clunky and a lot of words are used incorrectly. There are some gaping holes that are aching to be filled that would really help with the backstory and the plot. It feels more YA than adult, which is no bad thing, but potentially missing its market audience. Some tighter editing would help.

The premise of this was amazing but fell really flat. Didn’t enjoy the characters or the writing style.

Well written and a good story line but just wasn't for me. Stuck with it and it turned out pretty good.

This comes under the heading of 'I was seduced by a beautiful cover'. That's not a bad thing. It was solid fantasy and entertaining. It was just as someone who has read a lot of fantasy over the lsst 4 decades, something was missing for me personally. Great world building, wasn't really connected to the chatacter.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book. A gorgeous 4 star read book from me. What an exciting plot, vivid storytelling and relatable, rich characters. I could put this book down – absolutely loved it.

Unfortunately this book was just not for me.
The premise sounded amazing and had a lot of potential but it fell flat. I really struggled to not be bored by the characters. This could have been because it felt a bit repetitive when describing the characters traits.
For people who don’t mind the repetitiveness I think it could be an enjoyable read.
Thank you netgalley for this arc

This was a great read! I’m so glad I was offered the chance to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley for a copy.

Ashoka and Shakti are excellent. Ashoka reminds me so much of other misunderstood princes in literature and especially the fantasy genre and that theme encompasses his whole story. He is gentle and kind and determined to do good. It’s not until he finds his own feet that he really came into his own. I despised his siblings, particularly his sister, and that hatred just grew and grew as I continued turning each page. Awful people. I

Shakti… is slightly less well formed in my mind, and I can’t say for sure how well she shone on the page for me. However! She was the initial hook for me reading (which is surprising as I generally prefer male characters).

I will say that the magic was lost on me.. which is a shame because there is lots of magic! The creatures, the dreams, the spirits… all a bit confusing. I followed the general gist but I didn’t find it clear how the magic worked. All the same, it did not detract from my overall enjoyment of what I was reading.

Pacing was excellent. I often find myself at the 40-60% trying to crawl through some sort of sludge. This was not the case at all. The plot is tight, and Maithree uses this to pull along the character development expertly. It just.. worked. I didn’t have to push myself to finish this book, enjoying every page.

This was a new culture for me. I’ve never read anything inspired by Ancient Indian lore. I’m so glad this book was my first look. And I am very keen to watch Ashoka’s tale and journey to power unfolds in the next instalment, as well as discovering just how Shakti will get out of the pickle she is in. That’s the biggest problem with being an ARC reviewer. Shame I now have to wait!