Hello, book lover, it’s your girl, Gaby back it again with another review about another baddie. This time I’m diving into the recently published The Cursed Prince by C.N Crawford.
The Cursed Prince is a dystopian-fantasy-romance novel that sprinkles in Norse mythology and zombies. Yep, a lot is going on in this short book, but let’s dive into the review.
“My companions were the granite under my feet, the iron bar, and the rat who slept by my side. I’d named him Gormie, after the elf king who’d locked me away nearly a thousand years ago.”
The Cursed Prince C.N Crawford
Summary
- Marroc, is a cursed sorcerer and has been imprisoned for a thousand years in a dystopian version of the U.S. High Elves rule the earth, and the humans turned into zombies.
- Ali, a night elf and trained as an assassin, ends up imprisoned with Marroc when her bank heist/secret mission goes wrong.
- Ali ends up absorbing Marroc’s soul during the heist, and when she’s taken to be tossed into the void (yes that void we all love to scream into), Marroc has to break out of his cell and save her. Only to jump into the void with her a few chapters later.
- The Void turns out to be an entrance into the afterlife, but since all the gods are dead, the afterlife is lawless. Marroc and Ali go on a crazy adventure to find Loki’s sword, break Marroc’s curse, and avenge Ali’s people.
Thoughts
The Cursed Prince tackles so many different genres and does so without getting lost in the details. I didn’t think that a dystopian-elfin-fantasy novel could be well written, but this novel proved me wrong. The Cursed Prince is gripping, and it’s the uniqueness of this world that kept me entranced.
Additionally, reading Ali’s inner thoughts was a delightful experience. Ali’s a trained assassin and wields a magical sword and a teleporting crystal. Ali is fiercely protective of her brother and a lover of Rick Astley and his hit song “Never Gonna Give You Up.” To sum it all up, Ali is super awesome.
Meanwhile, Marroc mainly enjoys his existence in his small cell, lusting for blood staring at his pet rat. Is he a vampire in addition to a sorcerer? I don’t know it’s never explicitly stated if Marroc is a vampire, but shoot he might be.
“Nastrand, the shore of the Dead. Where murderers, adulterers, and oathbreakers go after they die. Don’t say I never took you anywhere nice.” p226
The Cursed prince c.n crawford
The romance in this story is light. There are some glances and longing between Marroc and Ali, but the two barely kiss. They might be soulmates, but don’t expect spicy sex scenes from this story.
When Marroc gains his memories again, I was ready to throw this book out. The hints of his identity were there, but I did not want them to be true.
Major Spoiler ahead.
Marroc is the wizard Ali has been after. The elf who had imprisoned the Night Elves and indirectly led to the death of many night elves in the caves. Additionally, Marroc’s transformation changes him from tall, dark, and handsome to a blonde, amber-eyed, Prince. The transformation is shocking, and I was ready to toss Marroc aside and ride hard for Ali. They may be soulmates but having a love interest who enslaved an entire race? That was too much. Although Marroc claims to have done so out of protection, I still have mixed feelings about it.
I’m still curious about the sequel, and I want to see how the rest of this story plays out, but it looks like I’ll have to wait for the second installment.
I give this story 4 stars for the fantastic plot, 5 for and the creative writing, 2 for romance, and a 0 for diversity. There’s potential to interweave BIPOC or even LGBTQ+ peoples in a fantasy novel, but they’re absent.
Do you have any good fantasy novels that you think I should read? Leave a rec in the comments but until then continue living in libros,
Gaby
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