⭐️Overall 5/5

🌶️ Spice 3/5

🖤Dark 1/5

WOW, I didn’t know what I wanted in a Fae until Prince of Darkness. A twist on the Night Court but at the same time it is exactly what it is expected to be. There are so many books with day court and night court in a Fae World that read the same, well Prince Of Darkness is not that book. Prince of Darkness follows the story of 4 characters, 2 males from the Night Court and 2 Female Characters, both from different courts/worlds.  The characters are each so different but all work together for great banter, character growth, some Fae politics, internal struggle, and more. Kidnapping, Forced Proximity, enemies-to-lovers, instant love, fated mates, bonds, family, magic, self-discovery and more.  

The book is written in an easy to follow format and the world building is given a needed so there is no a huge info dump. (Which I prefer it this way, written into the story and not a page worth of info just so you understand). There is so many questions you are left with and THE CLIFFHANGER!!! I need the next book!

Amazing fantasy read. Focus on the dark night fae, but also has witches. Vast variety of different fae creatures, not just elves, including a featherduster you will love. 

Prince of Darkness is a bit of a dark fantasy with witches and fae. This book is told from multiple points of view, with a story that connects seamlessly between each point of view. 

Etain- Etain is a witch who lives in the human realm, located outside of the Night Court, home of the Night Fae. Etain lives alone after her mother passes away and is ostracized by the humans who fear her. Etain finds herself in a new place surrounded by people she does not know, learning about her past and her future.  

Ciaran- Prince of the Night Court, troubled by a curse that he cannot speak about, and unable to access his full power and become the Night King. He finds it impossible to gain feelings for anyone, that is until he meets Etain.

Anin- A Nymph of the Day court who has lived in hiding and is forced to go on the run. She escapes one enemy only to be captured by another. She does not trust anyone due to her troubled past, and she holds secrets that could affect them all. 

Kes- Cousin of Prince Ciaran, and matched equally in power to the Prince. He is a bit of a ladies' man and finds it frustrating that he not only finds a day nymph attractive, but she seems to be immune to his charm. Despite their distrust for each other, Kes and Anin are more connected than they thought. 

The plot of Prince of Darkness is original and well-planned. There were many twists and turns that kept me guessing. This book is very long but definitely worth it. The character building was beautiful and full of details that made the story come to life. The worldbuilding was compelling and unique. 

I genuinely enjoyed this book. It was a little slow in the beginning but picked up quickly. I would say it is a medium-paced book overall. If you are looking for a spicy fantasy about witches and fae, this book is definitely for you. 

2 Feather Duster Stars⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️.5/5

What was very cleverly disguised as the perfect book for me, turned into the personification of the majority of the pet peeves I have in books.

These are very specific pet peeves so if this sounds like the book for you I hope you enjoy it!

This book follows four POV's. We have Boys - the broody Prince of Darkness, Ciaran, his birdy cousin, Kes. The girls are a little red-haired witch, Etain and a tree Nymph, Anin. All of them essentially find their paths crossing on the night of the new moon when the veil between the Fae realm and the Human realm can be crossed. The boys make a bet to capture the best prize, and as fate would have it, their prizes are the girls who are both running from their lives.

The first thing that really bothered me about this is basically chapter two it is revealed that the couples are fated mates, yet all four characters experience the same repetitive internal dialog of is it just attraction? Is there something else? What is going on?. This would have been fine if it were not ALL FOUR CHARACTERS going through this. Nothing felt new or different. It was the same thing over and over that each was dealing with.

The second thing that turned me off was by 24% of the book, our one couple is at the point of professing undying eternal love...by 24%. Which to make it worse is basically 2 days into them knowing each other. While the other couple is VERY slow burn... for one couple to be professing this level of love - is a little too instalovie for me.

The characterisation was a little lacking. I think the most developed characters were Kes and Seasmus (the Human captured with Etain) but it also felt very typical cookie-cutter personalities. The overly flirtatious guy and the religious shortsighted zealot. The rest of the characters felt very surface-level and generic.

The book in my opinion just lacked some foundational editing as the aspects of repetition and not deep character development showed. Most of the book could be summarised as seeing the same thing happen over and over again. The characters would meet in a room, eat and have discussions and then one of them would end up in the bathroom taking a bath or shower...Any conversation or major interaction with an external character to the four felt very brief, rushed and quick. We were often just told conversations happened instead of seeing the exchange of dialogue.

It also wasn't just the plot that felt repetitive but the actual sentences...
The following was taken from Ciaran's POV about Etain at 47% into the book-

The following was taken from Kes's POV about Anin at 49%

Then there were aspects of the actual writing style I didn't like. The dialogue felt very "old fashioned". Like it fell into the trap that to make us believe they were royal and Fae they needed to talk in Victorian English - there was not one contraction in the book. Any shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't, hadn't, was should not, would not, could not, had not. Now I take it that this might have been a very cognisant decision in the writing style, but it led to dialog sounding forced and unnatual.

One thing I really DO want to commend is I LOVED seeing the worldbuilding - which was really a massive strength of this book (and one of the reasons why I kept reading). The fae were not just "pretty humans". Our main characters have black eyes, dark grey skin and feathers for hair. All aspects I haven't seen done much in books with Fae - so it was refreshing to see now.

I really did try to like this book and it really does have the elements of being great, but with the numerous aspects I didn't like this was not the book for me. 

This was amazing. Holy shit that ending. I need more

If you are in a post ACOTAR hangover looking for a dark fae fantasy to scratch that itch then look no further than Prince of Darkness.

Ciaran, the prince of the night court aka the dark prince and his cousin Kes, his next in line lives are turned upsides down when they encounter and capture woman who are not what they seem to be.

Etain a human witch is forging through the forest when she is accosted by Seamus who has been pining for Etain with unwanted advances. Ciaran, a fae who relished in depravity finds himself compelled to intercede on her behalf and whisks the maiden away only to discover an unyielding connection to the witch who might be the key to break the curse Ciaran is bound to.

All the while Kes captures a wood nymph on the run from the Day Court. Despite being in opposing courts he finds himself captivated by the feisty nymph who is harboring a secret that could place everyone in danger.

Overall it was an interesting story. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Kes and Anin. 

Tropes include - Instalove (Ciaran & Etain), fated mates,  forced proximity, touch her and💀

Spice was a 3 

The cliffhanger and final reveal is were excellent. I’m looking forward to reading the novella and seeing how the story continues.