The Bookish Outsider: Blog Tour Review: The Sleeping Prince

Saturday, 6 February 2016

Blog Tour Review: The Sleeping Prince - Melinda Salisbury

Return to the darkly beautiful world of The Sin Eater's Daughter with a sequel that will leave you awed, terrified . . . and desperate for more.

Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin's life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep.

When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won't reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help her, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds shatters everything she believed about her world, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom.

Desperate for more is quite apt! I read The Sleeping Prince in one sitting and now I feel strangely bereft. Having read and enjoyed The Sin Eater's Daughter I wasn't sure what to expect from The Sleeping Prince, I certainly wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did. Rather than being a straight sequel it's a sort of companion/sequel hybrid so much of the action/storyline takes place at the same time as Twylla's story, coming together later in the book and then tying the two together.

We're introduced to new characters, Errin (Lief's sister) and a mysterious hooded stranger named Silas Kolby and of course the Sleeping Prince, Aurek. I found it much easier to warm to these characters than I did Twylla and Lief although I happily admit to being a Merek fan and wanting more of him. Errin is so different to Twylla, she's independent from the start, headstrong, loyal, stubborn and a dozen other things all of which get her into trouble. Silas is, well, Silas. He's nothing like Merek or Lief, he's mysterious and obviously very attached to Errin in ways which are difficult to read. It's so hard to gush about this book without being completely spoilery!!!

I loved the mythology of this book too, it was fascinating to hear more about the story of the Sleeping Prince, Aurek and his sister Aurelia and the origins of his myth. There was alchemy, healing, golems. mystery, romance, action which all created a fantastic second novel by Salisbury. The writing seemed much more mature and so detailed, especially the parts about the alchemists and the religions of the world, about the fairy tales and myths. It all felt so real and the characters were so well developed. I literally could not put the book down until it was finished.

With The Sleeping Prince we now have a much more solid setting, everything felt so authentic and rose off the page to completely entrance the reader and immerse you in Errin's world. I was for the most part completely spellbound! The only things I hated? There were a couple of events that I can't mention for fear of spoilers but one of them completely broke me. The other thing tied into this and was that ending... What a cliffhanger! I'm now off to stalk Melinda on Twitter and anywhere else she goes to ensure that she is writing my third book :)