Princess of Souls / Alexandra Christo / Book Review

Selestra Somniatis is trapped. For sixteen years, she has never left the confines of the palace  she calls home. Heir to the great Somniatis Witch--the last witch in the country, thanks to her family--the king won't let her leave. To let Selestra leave is to let his power--and his immortal future--fade.

Tied by a blood oath to steal souls for the King of the Seven Isles, Selestra knows her future. Year after year, desperate people arrive for the Festival of Predications. Year after year, Selestra watches her mother predict their fates. Three times they must evade death to earn an impossible wish. Most of them do not succeed, and their souls come to rest at the king's immortal feet. Someday, Selestra will stand in her mother's place.

A revered soldier in the king's army, Nox Laederic doesn't fit the usual desperate profile of those seeking a festival wish. And he has no plans to have his soul eaten by his king. No, he's out for blood. He's out for a chance to outrun death and bring the immortal king to his knees. That's Nox's impossible wish.

When Selestra touches Nox to predict his fate at the king's order, however, something goes awry. It's not only Nox's fate tied to the competition. Selestra's bound to it, too--and she's bound to Nox's life. If she wants to live long enough to leave the castle, she'll have to keep Nox alive--or else.





Thoughts

I'm having a hard time finding something good to say about a book I'm sure many people will love. It just wasn't for me. The concept is fun, if a bit generic. The execution is weak.

Pros

  • Sympathetic Witch: It is so easy, in a fairytale retelling to make the older-woman-character prototypically evil. After all, all the original fairytales do. Here, however, that's not the case. Sure, this wicked witch is particularly wicked... but she's also controlled by the evil king. The real evil here is the man in charge of it all, and I can appreciate that subversion. 
  • Present Evil: At its heart, this book reads like a quest, and in a lot of quest-style fantasy books, the big bad character isn't very present. He's a looming evil, of sure. His shadow is always over the group, but it is nice in this book to have an evil king that must be defeated who is part of the story outside of the climactic battle. The king here is a very present threat from the start. 
  • Adventure: Rarely can a fantasy published these days be called an "adventure," and yet that term most definitely fits here. These characters go galivanting across the land, a quest urging them on. There are pirates, high seas, and shouting guards at every port city. Adventure is at the heart of this tale, and I love that. 

Cons

  • Nonsensical Styles: Rarely am I a fan of fantasy stylings that are purely there for aesthetic. If some type of character has antlers or snake eyes or scales or green hair, I need to know why. When the aesthetic is just aesthetic, no purpose, it always sounds a little bit... dumb to me. Others might like it, but I'm not here for a "monstrous" character who is, at the end of the day, just a beautiful woman with yellow eyes and green hair. 
  • No Chemistry: Witty banter does not replace chemistry, regardless of what several recently-published fantasy books would have you believe. Alexandra Christos is by no means alone here. Even the banter wasn't that great--it was pretty bland, to be honest. The characters had no reason to like each other outside of that, and they didn't dwell on each other long enough for lust to be the determining feature. There was no reason to think they were into each other except for the fact that I was told as much. 
  • Weird Terminology: The terminology thrown so casually into this book makes no sense. Nox almost immediately refers to Selestra as a princess, which is perhaps a nod to the "Rapunzel" story structure here. But a princess is a very specific thing that Selestra most certainly is not. The fact that she grew up in a palace and wealthy doesn't cut it. Many other noble girls could claim as much. The fact that the king refers to her as his "heir" was also irritating to me. He means the heir to the witch, both of whom he owns. Therefore, she is, possessively, his. But she's not his heir, not the one set to inherit his power, and so this terminology thrown around all the time felt wrong. Randoms on the street see Selestra and shout "A Witch!" This, too, feels weird because... there are only two witches left? So she's not just "a" witch. She's one of two very specific witches. All of this to say, it felt a little clunky. 

Rating

⭐⭐⭐
3/10

Those who enjoyed Rosamund Hodge's Cruel Beauty might enjoy some more deals-with-the-not-quite-literal-devil. Fans of Emily Thiede's This Vicious Grace will appreciate another magic girl bound by fate--and with a handsome sidekick she could never, ever date. 

Details

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Date: October 11, 2022
Series: N/A
Add to Goodreads
Buy It HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

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