Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Pan Macmillan/Tor for the digital ARC, it hasn’t affected my honest review.

TW: death, war, violence, abuse, torture, trauma, references to self harm

On a bloody battlefield, two nations fight for the ownership of a sacred river. Prince Elician, the heir to the throne, is a Giver- capable of healing any wound and reviving the dead but he also can’t be killed. This must remain a closely hidden secret, because Givers are never supposed to be on a battlefield or to reign. In the midst of this war, a Reaper- an assassin from the opposite side who can kill with a single touch- reaches Elician, but fails in his mission. The Reaper knows if he returns home he’ll be slaughtered by his people and is shocked when Elician offers him a new life in enemy territory. Taking the name that Elician calls him, Cat never realised that he could ever experience kindness from anyone, let alone the prince of his enemy. However, Elician’s kindness is about to be taken advantage of and as a deadly plot comes together in battle and at court, new conflicts break out. Caught up in the middle, capable of giving life and death, Elician and Cat have to try to find some semblance of peace as everything tries to drive them apart. At the same time, we follow Elician’s teenage adopted sister Fen as she attempts to understand why magic works the way it does, why she thinks a certain way and how to challenge these biases.

I loved this book from the first page and the way it pulls you into a war torn, bloody battlefield that gradually leads into some of the best political fantasy I’ve read. The queer very slow burn between Cat and Elician is definitely a highlight but it isn’t the main focus; I expect there’ll be more of this in the sequel. It’s beautifully written, brutal and raw but with some of the best character work I’ve seen as Cat, Elician and Fen navigate a complicated and deadly world. I clicked with Cat straight away, especially as he’s forced to reconcile his life back home with the one being offered by Elician. I loved how Fen is forced to confront all her biases and learn to be better, especially because she’s been raised to view Reapers as monsters. The things Elician goes through in ‘The Sun Blessed Prince’ are rough to read, he’s emphasised as being so consistently kind and good hearted, but I came out of it just loving him more. This is a complex, slow burn and violent book, following a society burdened by an excess of rules around life and death, with a perfectly building plot. Around the halfway point I nearly screamed as I realised the significance of one of the characters. Having patience with the characters and the plot is definitely worth it. I’m a huge fan of books where there’s a wide arching conspiracy set in the centre of royal courts and ‘The Sun Blessed Prince’ did this brilliantly. I can’t wait for the sequel.

DNF at 20%. I really wanted to love this one as the themes sounded phenomenal, but I really struggled with the writing style - third person present tense rarely works for me and with a book as in-depth an epic fantasy as this one, I just couldn't connect to the story enough. I may try it again in future!

I LOVED this! The main characters, Prince Elician and ‘Cat’, were beautifully written and I loved reading about their relationship developing. The concept of Givers and Reapers was really interesting, especially as Elician himself was a secret Giver. Elician’s sister also explored her abilities and tried to hone them in a secure facility for Givers and Reapers, and I liked her friendship with Cat. This was a really good book and I can’t wait for more!

The kingdoms of Rafria and Eskarven have been locked in a brutal conflict for centuries. Edric and Zephyr, the heirs to these warring nations, have grown up in the shadow of endless battles. When a catastrophic war results in the death of their predecessors, the two princes inherit their thrones, and with them, a fragile hope for peace. The solution seems clear: a formal alliance through marriage between the newly crowned monarchs.

The magical system was super interesting and unique. I adored the characters, they felt well fleshed out and real with complex motives and thoughts.

To be honest, I needed quite some time to get into the story. The setting didn't sit well with me and the whole story didn't manage to catch me until around 1/3 or half through the book (which might also partly be related to the arc being a pdf file, which truly a pain to read on a small phone screen). But THEN! I couldn't just put my phone aside. Do much happened, progress, backstepps, twist and turns. I loved it. The wotldbuilding was exceptional too, as well as the character design! Though it was hard to grasp the timespan the characters were separated, first Lio's and Elician's abduction, later when even they got torn apart and on the other side Fen's and Cats journey around that time. Actually, most of the timelines and times span were difficult to follow with. Up until now I'm not quite sure how much time Cat and Fen spend at Kreuzfurt or even how many months or years they hoped and waited for Elicians and Lios return. In my opinion this should've been mentioned more often to fully be able to dive into the whole extent the Story went.
Not to go on for any much longer (as I could, I still have do much to say, loved the characters, politics, so many little parts of the story and so on...):
Overall a great book, highly recommend! Can't wait for volume two!

Thank you Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the free eArc in return for an honest review. Sorry it's a little later than I hoped


Two kingdoms at war.
Givers - those who heal. Reapers - can kill with a single touch.
Royal family with a Giver prince captures Reaper assassin.
Things get complicated (as one would expect).

Big win with the world building and magical system.
Relationship dynamics hit the mark too.
It could have been about 100 pages shorter. Or maybe 2 shorter books? Is there meant to be a sequel?

What I thought was really clever was the critique of healthcare. Ethics were touched on with the healing during pregnancy and access in town vs rural. I love when things like this come up because it makes people think whilst escaping into fantasy.

Would definitely recommend.

I fear this one just wasn't for me. There is a lot of potential in <i>The Sun Blessed Prince</i> based on the blurb - Death and Life Powers, political intrigue, enemies to lovers, lyrical writing. Sadly it didn't really live up to any of that potential.
The Death and Life Powers are pretty awesome, yes. But the political intrigue is very undercooked and simplistic bordering on nonsensical at times, and so are parts of the world building. There is no actual enemies to lovers dynamic at all because both guys, Elician and Cat, are just really nice and immediately like each other. There's not even much of a romance to begin with to be honest, Elician and Cat spend most of the book separated from each other - which I actually didn't mind so much because I didn't feel their relationship to begin with. There's a third perspective of a young adopted princess, sister to Elician, that definitely has some interesting aspects but took a surprising amount of space for a perspective that isn't even part of the book premise. Generally, I didn't really care for any of the characters very much (though I did feel for Cat, mostly) so I just wasn't very invested in anything going on with them.
There are constant time skips that ruined the pacing and made the whole narrative feel disjointed and confusing, and the twists and turns of the story are either very predictable or really don't make much sense if you think about them a little too hard. There are interesting ideas in here, for sure, but they're just not executed well enough in my opinion.
Still, you might enjoy this if you like very sweet, genuinely good characters with lots of trauma and don't expect a full on romantasy, because this is not one (which, again, is something I enjoyed about it), nor incredibly deep storytelling. The world building around Life and Death magic, Givers and Reapers, are genuinely really cool and are the one thing I would have loved to learn even more about in a sequel. Sadly, it's not enough for me to pick that sequel up.

The kingdoms of Rafria and Eskarven have been locked in a brutal conflict for centuries. Edric and Zephyr, the heirs to these warring nations, have grown up in the shadow of endless battles. When a catastrophic war results in the death of their predecessors, the two princes inherit their thrones, and with them, a fragile hope for peace. The solution seems clear: a formal alliance through marriage between the newly crowned monarchs.

Great story. Interesting concept . I actually found myself wishing it had been longer or even two books to let the story unravel especially the last quarter this would have earned a 5 star review . I usually skim sex scenes but I found the ones in this book intriguing. Will be looking at the authors other books going forward.

3.5 Stars

Sun Blessed Prince by Lindsey Bird is a story with a lot of heart, and what really carried it for me were the characters. They're layered, likable, and go through meaningful development that kept me invested even when the plot slowed down. That said, the pacing did feel a bit sluggish at times, and I went in expecting more of an adult fantasy vibe while this definitely leans more toward YA in tone and style.

The world-building has promise, and the concept itself is intriguing, but I sometimes found myself distracted by the complex/similar or hard-to-follow character names. It wasn’t a deal-breaker, but it did pull me out of the story now and then. Overall, a solid read with strong character work, even if the plot and tone didn’t quite match my expectations.

I loved this book so much! 4.5 rounded off to 5!

The magical system was super interesting and unique. I adored the characters. Cat was my favorite and I really enjoyed the banter between our MMCs. they felt well fleshed out and real with complex motives and thoughts. The plot and pacing were good though a little jumpy at times but I didn't feel that detracted from the story at all.

All in all it was a wonderfully fun read, with wonderfully likable characters who I cared a whole lot about by the end of the story and actually wanted the story to continue to not say goodbye to lol I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Fantasy with a romantic subplot and LGBTQ+ characters.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own and I am leaving a review voluntarily.

I absolutely loved this. Everything about this book is incredible: the worldbuilding, magic system, characters. I enjoyed seeing the origins of the gods and world slowly unfold throughout the story. The Givers/Reapers are a unique take on life/death magic and it was fun to see the characters powers evolve throughout the story and push the boundaries of their powers. It was like the reader was learning along with them and I never felt lost or confused in the narrative.
There were a few big plot twists throughout the story that actually left me shocked. The ending ties up all the plot points nicely but leaves an opening for a sequel. I would absolutely read a second book.

Lindsey Byrd’s The Sun Blessed Prince is a lush, emotionally charged fantasy that weaves together themes of war, destiny, and forbidden love with the lyrical beauty of The Song of Achilles and the intricate character dynamics of She Who Became the Sun. At its heart, this is a story about opposing forces—life and death, mercy and duty—and the fragile hope that bridges them.
Prince Elician is a Giver, a royal secret with the power to heal and resurrect, cursed with immortality as his kingdom wages an endless war. When he spares the life of Cat, a Reaper (a soldier whose touch brings instant death), their fates intertwine in a delicate dance of trust and tentative affection. Byrd crafts their relationship with exquisite care, moving from enemies to reluctant allies to something far deeper, all while political machinations and battlefield tensions threaten to tear them apart.
The world-building is rich but never overwhelming, with a magic system that feels both elemental and deeply personal. Elician’s life-giving abilities contrast hauntingly with Cat’s lethal touch, and their dynamic—Elician’s weary compassion versus Cat’s hardened survivalism—drives the narrative with quiet intensity. The supporting cast, particularly scheming courtiers and war-weary soldiers, adds layers of intrigue, though the true strength lies in the protagonists’ introspective journeys. Byrd’s prose is poetic yet precise, balancing battle scenes with intimate moments of vulnerability. If there’s a flaw, it’s that the pacing occasionally lingers in contemplative passages, but the emotional payoff—especially in the climactic convergence of war and love—is worth the patience.

I'll be looking forward to the sequel!

It might be for you too if you like:
❤️ Queer romance as a small side of your fantasy
🩷 Huge character development
🧡 Loveable underdog characters
💛 Warring Kingdoms
💚 Enemies-allies-friends?
💙 Not quite knowing who to trust
🩵 Elements of magical training
💜 Split narratives and multiple POV
🤎 Magic based on "chosen ones"
🖤 An endearing cast of characters
🩶 Emotional conclusions
🤍 Only one horse 👀

Do not trust the summary for this one. Do not. The Sun Blessed Prince is more character-driven political fantasy than enemies-to-lovers romance; our romantic interests, Cat and Elician, end up separated for more than half the book.

Romance aside, the characters themselves were the best part of the book. We have three POV characters, Elician, Cat and Fen. Fen’s POV fills nearly half the book, and is a pretty important character, despite her absence from the summary. It’s through her POV we learn more about the magic system of this world, and her friendship with Cat is definitely better developed than the would-be romance between Cat and Elician.

The philosophical dilemmas of Givers and Reapers I found intriguing and I hope we see more of that in book 2. The political plot, however, felt oversimplified, and it read more like a YA fantasy than an adult one. The story also severely suffered from pacing issues, and it could have been easily 70 pages shorter, as it dragged in a lot of places.

Overall, a mixed read for me. 3/5

I loved the idea of this book and the opening scene on the battlefield drew me in immediately.
Elician is the crown prince of his country and is also ‘a Giver’, one chosen by the god to be able to return the dead to life. There is an assassination attempt on him on the battlefield but the assassin fails and is captured. The captured assassin Cat, is ‘a Reaper’, the complete opposite as Cat can kill with just a touch. Elician decides the best thing to do is to take Cat to a city where other reapers stay and where he will be safe and others safe from him.
There was a huge amount of this book that I loved. The friendship between Elician and Lio is brilliantly portrayed and was one of my favourite parts of the book. It was so good to see a relationship where the characters meant so much to each other but without any hint of romance. The opposing characters of Elician and Cat were nicely balanced too. Elician really is all sunshine and he genuinely wants the best for everyone, even someone who is his enemy. Cat on the other hand, can’t actually believe that someone like Elician can be real as his experience so far has been so different. It was lovely seeing Cat gradually come to realise that Elician is exactly who he seems to be.
I also enjoyed the exploration of the ideas of life and death and the introductions to each part of the book were a fun part of that. The idea of the gods taking a direct part in people’s lives and choosing some to play a special role is definitely not a new one but I liked the way it was done here. There was a nice science side to things too.
The book fell down a bit for me when Elician disappears from the story line and we get his younger sister Fen as the main POV character. While these chapters were still interesting, they didn’t grip me and the whole book from this point had a very YA feel. Fen is only a teenager and this part is very much a story about her growing up. The main plot line of the war between the two countries and the assassination attempts becomes sidelined which I felt was a shame.
I enjoyed the fact that although this is part of a duology, the book didn’t end on a cliffhanger. Instead, we have a resolution for this part of the story leaving the characters ready to start the next part of their lives which was really satisfying. Sadly though, I didn’t find the events leading up to the resolution very convincing. The characters behind the plots felt very 2D and almost felt like comic book characters with little depth or subtlety.
I felt that this could have been a brilliant book but for me, it seemed to lose its way a bit. I would also question the fact that it is being marketed as a romance as well as a fantasy. While there is a romance that grows during the novel, it is only a tiny part of the whole and anyone expecting a romatasy is likely to be very disappointed.
Thank you as always to the publishers Pan Macmillan and Net Galley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5/5 stars

The Sun Blessed Prince is the first book in the queer fantasy duology A Tale of Two Crowns. Prince Elician is a Giver, holding the power to heal and bring people back to life, making him practically immortal. On the battlefield, he captures a Reaper whose touch brings death from their rival kingdom sent to assassinate him. Cat expects to be put to death but is instead given a chance for a better life by the kindhearted prince. Just as the possibility of friendship builds, plots from both their kingdoms drive them apart.

I really enjoyed this book, but I think that was because I already adjusted my expectations based on earlier reviews. This book is being mismarketed—the queer romance, main plot, and comps aren’t accurate and misrepresents what the book truly is.

It is not the queer fantasy romance that is being promised. Both Elician and Cat are indeed gay, but the romance isn’t really there and just more of a potential as they are only physically together in the first quarter and the final two chapters of the book. There’s an entirely separate plotline that takes up half the book about the life/death magic system where Elician’s adopted sister Fen is learning the science of it. In fact, Elician despite being the titular sun blessed prince plays third fiddle to both Cat and Fen and doesn’t get much to do. As for the book comps provided, it is neither as lyrical nor as romantic as The Song of Achilles, it does not play with power and gender like She Who Became the Sun did, nor does it handle identity and family as delicately as Sistersong did.

All that being said, what the book does do, it does well. Half of the book is a political fantasy like Captive Prince or The Scottish Boy but without the eroticism and just a passing suggestion of a queer romance. It is well set up and full of intrigue and conspiracies and a convoluted mystery. The other half has a strong YA feel because of Fen’s storyline with her being a teenage girl learning about her powers. I enjoyed this aspect too in its exploration of the honestly intriguing world that has been built.

The book’s greatest strength lies with the relationships. Elician has a best friend/companion Lio throughout the book, and their brotherhood just absolutely shines. They really ground the story and bring so much of the emotionality and stakes. I was fully invested in them and did tear up at some point because of them. While Elician and Cat’s relationship can barely be called a friendship, the book teases their potential romance really well in just their thoughts and reflections, putting it at a great place for the sequel.

With the correct expectations, The Sun Blessed Prince does indeed deliver a queer political fantasy.

*Thank you Pan Macmillan for the eARC via NetGalley

For some reason, this is marked as romantasy on Goodreads. This might cause some readers to be disappointed in this book because it is very much not romantasy. It’s a political fantasy with a romantic element to it.

I really liked The Sun Blessed Prince. The premise is very interesting, that there are people who can heal and raise the dead alongside people who can kill others and I feel that Byrd used that premise very well in this book.

It’s a slow moving plot. There are moments of action followed by a lot of characters interacting with each other and I really liked it. It helps to build the relationships between the characters. There are three POV characters: Elician, a Giver who has to hide his true identity otherwise he would not be able to become king, his adopted sister, Fen, who is also a Giver and Cat, a Reaper, who is captured by Elician. I enjoyed all the POV characters, they are all sympathetic and likeable and they all interact well with each other.

The story is interesting and there are a few twists and turns along the way. Elician is in a war fantasy and Cat is in a mystery plot, trying to find out who is plotting to kill the king. The two stories link together very well in the end and it went to a place I didn’t quite expect. It definitely makes me interested to see what happens next.

The Sun Blessed Prince is a very enjoyable book as long as you’re not expecting any hot romantic action between the two main characters. The romance is a definite slow burn and it is almost chaste, which I really like. For me, the build up is often better than the pay off when it comes to romance. I liked the plot and the world was very interesting.

3.5 stars!

When I read the synopsis to the Sun Blessed Prince, I was instantly captivated by the premise and to the author’s credit, I had so much love for the main characters and really enjoyed the first 40% of the story before the plot began to veer in a direction that didn’t quite hit the mark for me and left me feeling frustrated yet dying to read the sequel because of how the book ended.

I absolutely LOVED our main characters: Elician, Cat, Lio and Fen. They were all so different yet equally likeable and I would have given the book 4 stars for them alone. Elician, our MMC, blessed with the powers of life, is just like the sun. He has an endless kindness to him that extends to his friends and his people as crown prince, and has a strong sense of self righteousness that shines throughout the novel. I adored Cat too who was on the more socially awkward and shy side yet equally as kind. Though imbued with the powers of death, Cat, like Elician, only wants peace and for both their kingdoms to be united. I can see why many people found Fen annoying, but personally I thought the way she was written was appropriate for her age. Fen is stubborn and headstrong, but it comes from a place of good intentions. She’s appropriately naive for her age and makes mistakes and I did enjoy her POV chapters and believe she’ll have a more prominent role in the sequel as I see the potential for growth for her character. But I think Lio had to be my favorite character in the novel with his undying loyalty to Elician as his best friend and brother in arms, but also just how funny he was. Poor Lio went through it this novel and I was just stressing for him each time.

Unfortunately, the romance was a double edged sword for me. I loved what we were given, but I craved more out of it. The synopsis was very misleading and the romance was very minimal, feeling more like a subplot in the story and overpowered by politics that were too convoluted. Nonetheless, the scenes between Elician and Cat were everything and I savored it all. The slow burn, pining and yearning was everything, and it absolutely killed me because it was too little! I need more PLEASE. I feel like a starving woman.

I also really loved the relationship Elician had with Lio. I do think Elician has more screen time with Lio than Cat, but I still really enjoyed their bromance and I’ll genuinely cry if anything happens to both of them. I also enjoyed the slow building friendship between Cat and Fen. The found family really is so wholesome and the character-driven plot really was the strongest element to the novel.

Unfortunately, my main grievance with the novel was that it began to drag for me towards the 40% mark and I found myself enjoying it less as it went on because of the direction the narrative was taken. The novel started off on the slower, cozier side and I didn’t mind at first since I enjoyed the interactions between the main characters. The politics were easy to follow, but became too convoluted with too many characters suddenly involved in the second half. I struggled to follow along and the fact that everyone was named so similarly only added to my frustrations with the novel. I wasn’t a fan of how the romance was shoved aside for the politics and I deeply missed the interactions between Elician and Cat.

Praying for more Elician and Cat in the sequel because of that ending!

Thank you NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and Tor for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The author "warned" me on TikTok that this is a slow burn romance, and I think more people needed to know this before diving into the book! This isn't a romantasy! It's a fantasy book that has a romance sub-plot, and the difference is a big one if you've got preferences in this category. Luckily for me, I prefer my romance to be a sub-plot, and I adored this book!

A queer epic fantasy with royalty, god-blessed people with life and death powers, two countries at war with complex politics. What else could you need in a fantasy book?! Throughout this book there are kidnappings, attempts at regicide, magic training lessons, and a little bit of torture.

The world-building was absolutely fantastic, the injustice that is face by those god-blessed in both countries is on very different levels but is still unfair, and the politics is weaving and complex and I enjoy that whilst these children are necessarily caught up in it (one of our main characters is next in line to the throne) the adults are doing a lot without their knowledge which impacts their next steps.

The relationships in this book are fantastic. As I mentioned at the top there is a slowwww burn M/M romance and I loved seeing this develop as they learn more about each other and realise their feelings. But the platonic relationships are fantastic too, with a best friendship that dreams are made from and a little sister that it so relatably annoying but she grows over the course of the novel.

I'm so excited to carry on with this series cause I need more from this world and these characters! Thank you to BookBreak for sending me an ARC of this book.

My main impression is that this book should've been a lot shorter, and frankly I lost my focus around the third time that yet another character told the same story about the protagonist's childhood. I wish that was the only repetitive story/message, but alas - it got to the point where I started wondering whether the author had doubts about which POV would best showcase some thought and decided to keep it across multiple POVs just in case. Significant parts of this book are unnecessarily dragged out, especially some of the more dramatic scenes that simply lost their entire punch because of how long and/or repetitive they were, with everyone's feelings and motivations explained in excruciating detail.

I'm generally not a fan of multiple POVs and this novel has not made it to my list of exceptions. While some thoughts in different character's internal monologue were truly unique and reflected their upbringing, values and personality, mostly their voices blended into something that was too similar. I genuinely liked a number of culture-related notions, including the limitations that were placed on the magical beings in the warring countries (different, yet limitations nonetheless) and the way some plot twists were handled. That said, other decisions regarding plot development made little sense to me, and the ending in which is nowhere even in the ballpark of 'vaguely realistic'. And yes, I'm aware this book has magic, but any magic would choke on a political challenge of this scope, god-given or not. Alas.