Despite my luke-warm reaction, I will definitely be reading the next book when it releases, I'm invested in this world and series enough to be intrigued about it's future. This imaginative retelling of Aladdin has enough similarities to be recognizable, but doesn't tie itself too tightly to the details of the original tale. Melanie Cellier is the author who introduced me to the wide world of indie authors with her first fairy tale retelling, The Princess Companion. Since then, she has written roughly a dozen more adaptations of classic fairy tales set in the same world of fairy godmothers and true love. The most recent of these is The Desert Princess. After reading so many books from the world of the Four Kingdoms already, it's a little difficult to experience a new book from these series that feels fresh and exciting. The prospect of a gender-bent "Aladdin" retelling is nothing new, but I was eager to see Melanie's unique take on it. However, this adaptation did not add any new developments to her many other fairy tale retellings set in this world. If you have never read another Melanie Cellier book before, this is a good introduction to her storytelling style.

The idea of a “piece of an action” stems from his Demon Cycle envisioning six novels, and standalone novellas: The Warded Man (or The Painted Man) and The Desert Spear, as well as The Daylight War. The Core builds on the laid foundations of the previous books and constitutes the climax of the main series with ending the storylines of Arlen, Rojer, Leesha, etc., while outside the main series a standalone novel comes to the fore, sharing the main characters. The pending question “Who is the Deliverer?” falls into the readers’ assessment. This book is a young adult fantasy novel with a romance. Though the third in the series, you can understand this story without reading the previous ones. There are nuances and ingredients of the traditional fantasy settings in Brett’s epics, but he challenges with a broader range of landscapes and cultures. The Krasian references in The Desert Spear and The Daylight War paint a rich culture of antagonists carrying their sins, but firmly striving for saving the world. Brett believes that line is a silver thread in today’s world behavior for which we are inclined to demonize people we’ve never met. Darin faces challenges of a different kind. Though free to choose his own path, the weight of legacy hangs heavy around his shoulders. It isn’t easy being the son of the man people say saved the world. Everyone expects greatness from Darin, but the only thing he’s ever been great at is hiding. In a Q&A with Goodreads, Peter V. Brett said the first book, The Desert Prince, was expected to release in Spring 2021, [6], but got pushed to late Summer 2021. [7] [8]I'm quite behind on Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle series and I have no excuses to account for that sad state of affairs. So when I was asked if I'd like an early read of his forthcoming The Desert Prince, I knew I couldn't say no. Especially given the fact that the novel is supposedly a good starting point for new readers to jump in.

This book does a great job of setting up the trilogy that is to come, introducing some fantastic characters and an intriguing conflict. It is, however, definitely a YA series—full of characters gushing over each other and obsessing about who kissed who. That’s not to say it doesn’t also have some great battle sequences, internal cultural conflicts, and political intrigue but the angst and romance was a little too much for me. He never knew his Da - him having died ending the war, but his legacy lives on and Darin cannot do all that his Da could. Wow. I am blown away. Firstly thank you NetGalley and Random House for sending me a copy of this gem. Now on to reasons why you should read this book as soon as you can get your hands on it!Everyone is related to a hero of the war somehow, and the extended families as well? It made the world feel smaller than it is. It wasn't lost on me that this may be a comment aimed towards people, such as myself, that expected the style and tone of this book to better reflect the previous series. But I respect it - wanting to do something different, going in a different direction, I just wish it had gone further , gone to new places with more new people and new conflicts. But I digress.) The Desert Prince is a welcome return to a world I thought I had left many a year ago. While this is not technically part of The Demon Cycle series, I would absolutely recommend reading that series first. Not only is this book set in the same world but events and characters from The Demon Cycle series are integral parts of the plot. Even though I had read the previous series it was many years ago and I found myself getting confused as I couldn't quite remember what happened and who each character was. The story is told from the tight first person points of view of two very different characters. Both are teenagers, but I would not characterize this book as young adult, even though in many aspects these characters and their friends are all coming of age. Both characters are intriguing and their development bodes well for the next book. the characters: All the characters were well done. Cassie is a fun protagonist; I liked how she was practical and smart but also caring. Zaid was awesome; he felt like a fully developed character in his own right. And all the side characters have roles that impact the plot; nobody was there just as a filler.

Cassie is such a great female character. She is strong, but her strength comes from her perseverance and her cleverness rather than any skill with arms or physical strength. I loved that she is short and small! As someone who is short and small myself, I COMPLETELY understand the whole getting mistaken for years younger than you are ALL THE TIME!Twitch.tv - Tea & Tales Ep 6 | Peter V Brett | Author of The Painted Man and The Demon Cycle Series by ReneeSky 17-Feb-2021 On the flip side, there is a relatively large group of characters in the Krasian portion of the book that I felt I should really have cared more about but didn't. This was frustrating to me because the POV character cared, the one who's head we were in - they cared very much, but I just didn't connect with them at all. Cast your wards. Embrace the darkness. And enter the world of @PVBrett's Demon Cycle once more https://smarturl.it/SignedDesertPrince... Speaking of, I should probably mention that it would be best to read the Demon Cycle novels before diving into The Desert Prince. Though it’s the beginning of a new story with it’s own protagonists and antagonists, and intended to be accessible to newcomers…it definitely benefits from the previous story. The Warded Man works not only as a great adventure novel, but as a reflection on the nature of heroism.” —Charlaine Harris, New York Times bestselling author