The politics were what took me out of the story but I rather enjoyed the fantasy side of this. I love the increase in these types of stories.

On Goodreads this is categorised as Romantasy but it isn't... where was the romance?

It starts off intriguing with the witches hiding and being burned because the Emperor has spread lies and made them into villains, even though they are pacifists. Shakti goes against the witch rules and uses her magic to harm in an act of revenge but then we find out other witches are using their magic to fight back even though this is against everything they stand for.

The Royal family are all over the place and have no real depth as characters and the storyline with The Collective is brushed over so seems a bit insignificant. Overall the story didn't suck me in and I only finished it because I read an Arc.

Overall the story was just boring with no real stakes, so I won't be continuing.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The premise sounded super interesting and promised much deadly tension in a world inspired by the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India.

And the start of this story was interesting enough, with two POVs that seemed explosive once the protagonists meet.

However I had the feeling that the setup didn't pay out, and I kept waiting for the story to really start.

I'm sad to say this was a 3/5 for me because I couldn't get hooked.

Thank you @netgalley and @harpercollins for the eARC!

Thankyou net galley & harper Collins for this arc copy I was drawed into this book from the description, the first few chapters of the book pack with action and immediately engross you wanting more however after the first few chapters I felt the world building was a little mismatched, I would xlsss this book as a ya book and do think it has very high potential to make it 5 stars 🌟 in the future if they carry on into a series

A wonderful story involving Royals, Witches and Curses, loosely based on the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India. In a conflict of the Emporers family against a sect of Witches, we see the ruthlessness of both sides and one man who wants the conflict to end. Unfortunately, despite being a Prince, he has limited power to do anything. Fighting against his family, Prince Ashoka wants to live a life of peace and wishes for that peace to extend to those in his father's kingdom. Shakti is a Witch who has lost everything to the Emperor and his war on her kind. She wants revenge, and she casts a curse that puts the Empire into chaos, which is both what she does and doesn't want.

This was a really enjoyable read. I liked the two points of view, one of Prince Ashoka who is desperate to be different from his father and siblings and stop the senseless killing of mayakari (witch like women who are mainly pacifists and can communicate with nature spirits). But he is the youngest child, seen as weak and silly by his Brutish older brother and ruthless older sister. The other POV is of Shakti, a mayakari herself, who wants revenge for the killing of her people, especially her Aunt.

The story itself has a lot of politics in it, which usually puts me off, especially in fantasy books. But in this case, it works. The author hasn't got too bogged down in the nitty gritty that can turn chapters into tedious discussions around a table. Instead, it's presented differently and requires no long talks. Which i loved. You get the story and the politics but none of the boredom.

The characters are great. Each with a different, strong personality and clear character development.

After finishing this, I'm excited to read the next in the series!

Firstly thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

I was really excited to read this book as the blurb sounded really interesting . However for some reason I could not connect with the story and so I DNF’d at 35%

Apologies

I started off loving the book but it started getting messy around 35% in.
The beginning sets up the plot and the characters and I really enjoyed it. The middle started getting slower in plot, but I also started getting confused by some of the plot details or characters decisions. It was very YA so wasn't for me.
I really liked the two main characters and the way they developed throughout the story, especially the prince by the end. I give this book 4 stars because even though it wasn't for me, I can see why someone else would really enjoy it.

I found this book to be very interesting, albeit a bit disappointing. Perhaps because of all the hype it's been getting lately, but I felt it didn't live up to it.

While the story does have potential, is action packed (which I love) and it's easy to follow and entertaining, it feels like the book errs too much on the YA side - the characters feel a bit immature and at times they're a bit unlikeable and there should be more world-building, as there are some political issues that kind of happen out of nowhere.

Overall it is an entertaining book, but nothing mindblowing.

I really wanted to love this. The concept sounded incredible and as others have mentioned, the idea of the nature spirits very much gave Princess Mononoke vibes - which is my favourite Ghibli film so I was so excited going into it. Unfortunately that’s where my excitement ended. It wasn’t bad, but it was by no means good either. It was fine - slow, unexciting, unfortunately fairly boring, and the characters were difficult to connect to. I really had to push through with this one, and probably won’t be carrying on with the series, which is a shame.

I loved the concept of a Prince Without Sorrow and was really excited to read it but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me. I found it so hard to connect with the characters, the pacing was very slow and I feel this made it difficult to keep me engaged and found that in the end I really had to push through to finish.

I did love the writing and the way it flowed and the storyline I just wish I could have enjoyed it a little more than I did.

I enjoyed this! It’s a great adventure and I was sorry when my kindle copy glitched a few pages from the ending. I thought it was an interesting take on Indian fantasy with some cool ideas- especially the way the titular prince deals with his lack of aggression, balancing it with his desire to rule (also love that that isn’t presented as a bad thing). A fun read!

WELCOME TO THE RAN EMPIRE.

Where winged serpents fly through the skies.

Giant leopards prowl the earth.

And witches burn blue as they die.

A prince born into violence

A great read, interesting characters, slow burn possible romance, wonderfully realised world I cannot wait for the next one.

Quite a slow book, found I had to really push myself to carry on reading. Didn’t particularly enjoy the story unfortunately, I liked the concept of the nature spirits, felt quite princess mononoke but just felt like the whole book lacked any excitement and was quite easy to figure out what was going to happen. Great concept just not executed very well unfortunately

I really wanted to love this book, but I couldn't connect.
I kept getting slightly confused and times.

The Prince Without Sorrow follows two POVs. The first is Shakti, who is a mayakari, and the second is Ashoka, the emperor’s third and least favoured child. The mayakari are witches who can commune with Spirits and who, despite their largely peaceful natures, are feared and persecuted. Ashoka’s father, Abdul, has been the primary force behind stoking this malcontent. In this book, we don’t yet understand the motivation behind Adil’s hatred. However, unlike many popular fantasy romance books, which seem to have villains with flimsy motives, a more nuanced approach is hinted at here in respect of Emperor Adil: “Hatred was not born, it was made.” And I’m hoping his gets explored and explained in the next book.

Shakti is definitely a morally grey character, who is willing to do what it takes to seek her revenge, although it’s easy to understand why when, at the start of the book, she sees her only relative burned at the stake simply for being a mayakari. The results of cursing Adil lead her to work for his family, as she starts trying to use her new dream walking power to influence the new rulers. However, her naive and, at times, clumsy attempts look like they may lead to more harm than good.

I like the way Ashoka’s character develops over the course of the book - he’s been physically and mentally abused by his father but, with Adil’s death, he starts to feel able to carve his own path for the first time. However, the change did feel a bit too abrupt for me, from a pacifist who wouldn’t kill a deer to contemplating murder for the so-called greater good.
“Ashoka, don’t you worry?…That in trying to reverse everything your father has done, you’re becoming more and more like him in the process.”
Bearing in mind this is going to be a series, I would have preferred that this happened a little more slowly and organically. I’m also rooting for him and Rahil 🤞.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for the e-ARC.

I really wanted to love this book, but I'm afraid I just didn't.

Ashoka is the pacifist youngest son of a rather violent emperor. Shakti is a young and angry Mayakari (non-violent witches). When Ashoka's father and Shakti's aunt die on the same die, their lives are deeply affected while the empire is thrown into chaos.

I love the concept of this book, and I liked aspects of the execution, but overall it just fell flat for me. The world it's set in is really interesting, and the plot became significantly more promising near the end, but because nothing up until that point got me invested, I didn't really care anymore.

The book is very heavy-handed, and you could probably fill an old school political pamphlet with all the unnecessary moralising statements about non-violence. At times it felt a bit like an old school Christian youth novel where 'moral education' trumped good story-telling. I enjoyed the vibe of the writing, but it felt overwritten and underedited with sentences that didn't always make obvious sense. The characters felt one-dimensional, especially Ashoka and the imperial family. The plot did really get significantly more interesting near the end, but didn't necessarily feel like it logically followed from the rest.

A lot of unfulfilled potential as far as I'm concerned. For what it's worth, I do think there really was potential, and based on the ending I think the sequel will be significantly better. I'm just not sure that I'm invested enough to try once that comes out.

Many thanks to HarperCollins UK and Netgalley for providing me with an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Prince Without Sorrow is the debut novel of Maithree Wijesekara, and the first instalment in the Obsidian Throne trilogy. This book follows Shakti, a witch, and Ashoka, the son of the emperor, who deeply opposes his father’s brutal destruction of the witches. Shakti vows retribution for the murder of her aunt and annihilation of her village at the hands of the emperor, while Ashoka is a pacifist who wants to right his father’s wrongs. After Shakti casts a violent curse, her and Ashoka are left grappling for power.

I really enjoyed that this book took inspiration from the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India. While I enjoyed some elements of the world-building, I did struggle with the magic system. The paragraphs explaining magic felt out of place and a little info-dumpy, which took me out of the story.

I also found the writing clunky, and some sentences didn’t quite make sense. It almost felt as though the author was trying to make the writing more poetic and lyrical, but it just made it seem nonsensical. However, this could be easily solved with further editing.

The characters felt one-dimensional and I struggled to connect with them. They were very naive, acted a lot younger than they were, and lacked any kind of development. I found that the characters in this book were either pacifists or “evil” - there was no in between or morally grey, which felt unrealistic.

Despite being really intrigued by the premise of the book, the plot failed to grip me. It lacked tension and stakes, as every problem or mystery that the characters came across was so easily solved, and not by the characters actually putting in the work and finding the answers or solutions themselves. Everything is just handed to them on a plate, and it made for a very uninteresting read.

Overall, this book wasn’t for me and I won’t be continuing with the series. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager UK for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit I really struggled to get into the story. I found it hard to follow the plot points. I kept going but found I wasn’t drawn to it.

I thought the premise for this book was very interesting, unfortunately I don’t think it really fulfilled its potential. I really wanted to like Shakti and Ashoka, but found they were rather one dimensional, so I didn’t find myself rooting for them, or being that invested in where the story was going.