Book Review: Prince of the Sorrows

In a world of fey, being human doesn’t get you very far. Saffron’s time in the fey world is coming to an end much sooner than he’d like. He doesn’t want to live in the human world. Saffron hopes he can find someone to give him an academic endorsement, so he can remain in the fey realm. But, getting an endorsement is not easy. What can he possibly do to secure one?

Kellen Grave’s Prince of the Sorrows is about a human named Saffron who works as a servant at Morigan Academy. He is about to be sent to the mortal world, but he doesn’t want to go. Instead, he hopes to gain an academic scholarship that will allow him to stay in the fey world. When Prince Cylvan comes to the school, Saffron just might have someone to help him. The only problem is, a large wolf is attacking his fellow human servants. Should he focus on the wolf or on the deal he made with Prince Cylvan?

Now, the first thing I noticed about this book is how dark the story is. From page one all the way to the end, this story is very dark. Lots of horrible things happen to the characters and to the people around them. This book won’t be for everyone. However, the way the book is written works really well for the story itself. The dark tone and dark events fit well for the world that Saffron lives in. Graves writes every event with a purpose instead of for shock value or novelty.

As for the characters, Graves does an excellent job developing deep and sophisticated characters. Saffron is the main character, and the reader follows him throughout his challenges at Morigan Academy. As the story progresses, he continues to grow and change while also sticking to his ideals. I really appreciate Saffron as a character and as an underdog. Prince Cylvan also becomes an important character and though I wasn’t really sure how I felt about him at the beginning, Cylvan also grows and flourishes as a person which I really appreciated. The romance between the two is well developed with a good pacing to match the plot line. There are also many important side characters throughout this book, and Graves develops each and every one of them into people the reader will know and care about.

I also appreciate the world building in the novel. Graves does an excellent job crafting the world of the fey. The culture of the cruel faeries and the dichotomy between them and the humans they use as slaves is seamlessly developed throughout the story. I love the magic in this world. It is fairly unique to the books I’ve read. Plus, it links old human myths and legends into a world of fantasy. It also influences some of the magic seen throughout the story. None of the world building is explained with exposition. Instead, the world is built by experiencing it in the story itself. I always appreciate books that can create a world without exposition or explanations. Those kinds of worlds always feel the most real and lived in.