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goodreads - Ask the Author: Peter V. Brett: Peter V. Brett Aw, thank you so much! And yes! The Desert Prince will publish Spring 2021! What I appreciated most about the earlier books was the transformation of each of the characters. They matured emotionally, physically and intellectually. When characters fail to grow, I become frustrated in the reading. This book frustrated me with every passing hour. A brand-new epic fantasy adventure set in the beloved world of the Demon Cycle, following a new generation of heroes, from New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett I suppose this could be read without having read the first series beforehand, but I would strongly advise against it personally. Our story begins with Olive desperately wanting to be treated like everyone else but she's cosseted, protected and frankly stifled. Darin might have a more relaxed and normal life than Olive but he is full of self doubt and occasionally even self loathing. Yet Darin has amazing abilities that to be blunt took this reader a while to fully understand but when I did wow now thats someone who should proud. When Olive is kidnapped the story truly becomes something that is mind blowing with jealousy, greed and vile machinations in play. Forced to face her innermost fears Olive rises to become more than a pampered Princess but the deceit and lies that lie behind her are nothing compared to what she will now face !
The first half of the book is basically setting up the mystery of what is going on in this new kingdom, and the second half is much more fast paced with the villain finally revealing their true self. The Desert Prince is an epic tale centred around two teenagers. Darin Bales is the son of the legendary Arlen Bales, a great war hero, and the world expects similar greatness from him—though he isn’t confident he can live up to it. Olive Paper is a princess and heir of the Hollow, brought up to be a lady despite being intersex. Both Darin and Olive journey to discover who they are and who they want to be, despite expectations from those around them. While facing these internal struggles they also discover a danger lurking at the edge of their homes: the demons that once plagued their lands, thought to be defeated, are not all gone…I am a fan of the first series even with its ups and downs. The ending left me satisfied and I thought I was done with this world. When I saw this book I was hesitant because of the previously stated reasons. Immediately my hesitancy was cast aside and once again I was happy to be in this world. If you have read the previous novels you know what you are going to get. A world displaying different cultures and huge cast of characters. With this is plenty of battles with demons. The aspect that impressed me with this book over the previous series is the writing was so much more on point. I did think in the previous series the author tended to fall in love with his created world and would ramble on about superfluous characters or plots. Not in this book. Everything was on point while delivering a message of teenagers discovering themselves and escaping from their parent's shadow. I love it when fantasy novels copy the real world. We get to see new characters as well as established characters. I loved Darrin and Selen. Micha was a force of nature and I cannot decide who was my favorite. 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] Overall, I love Peter V. Brett’s writing style and approach to these stories. He manages to deliver exciting characters and bring thrilling action that feels ripped straight out of a movie. Combine that with an interesting world and unique magic system and there’s no wonder why his books have captivated so many. Here we see the next generation of our favourite heroes from The Demon Cycle series. The sons and daughters of Arlen Bales, Ahmann Jardir and even Rojer Halfgrip. All these young characters are struggling being in the shadow of their famous and heroic parents. There are high expectations for them and they have big shoes to fill, whether they want to fill them or not. On their own, none of these issues are anywhere near dealbreakers. The book does feel overlong, and as noted various aspects begin to become repetitive, but in isolation The Desert Prince is an enjoyable fantasy, with an interesting setting and conflict, some deep characterization, several moving moments, and good fight scenes.
A message he delivers with his works is that people and stories are never as simple as they may seem. Now, in The Desert Prince, Greathollow is bigger and better - the greatwards protecting it are stronger and more intricate... but we only ever see this through the eyes of a kid who doesn't appreciate it and wants to leave. Speaking as someone with the benefit of having the original series under my best, I actually thought The Desert Prince was quite good, the quality of the storytelling and writing even surpassing the previous books in a few cases. Peter V. Brett has certainly learned from his successes and mistakes, and as a result, here we have a tightly told plot which also highlights the importance of having well-developed characters. Of course, in this case having a memorable cast is important—they are the children of some larger-than-life heroes, after all. There’s a good balance between the POVs, with Olive’s probably being slightly more prominent (which makes sense, since her arc feels more consequential to the overall story, at least at this early point in the series) though both threads take on major coming-of-age themes like self-discovery or living up to parental expectations, etc., making these characters and their struggles feel more genuine and relatable.
I loved this gender bent retelling of Aladdin! It’s so different from what I was expecting of Melanie’s next book (hello new land that we didn’t know exists in this world! 👀) but it was awesome! This book has joined the ranks of my favorite Melanie Cellier retelling books (along with The Princess Game, The Princess Search, A Dream Of Ebony and White, A Crown Of Snow and White -which is where we first meet Cassie!-, and The Secret Princess). I loved the mysterious Zaid and how he cared for the orphans in Qalerim. I loved Cassie’s want to be a spy and her dedication to honing those skills. I also really liked how Melanie made the Aladdin story her own! With the different cave of wonders, swapping the genders of the princess and the street rat, adding in a new layer of characters, and other magical objects besides the lamp really made this a whole new world (see what I did there? 😉) to explore ❤️. An epic fantasy adventure set in the beloved world of the Demon Cycle, following a new generation of heroes, from New York Times best-selling author Peter V. Brett Thank you so much to Netgalley and the HarperCollins for providing me of an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review Ok I have to start by saying that I have not read the preceding trilogy the Demon Cycle but now I really want to ! This book is set fifteen years after the parents of Olive and her friend Darin succeeded in taking down the Demons that had plagued the world. Yes a few stragglers escaped but the legends of what these people achieved elevates them in everyone's eyes and indeed hearts. So you can imagine how difficult it is for their children to live within their shadows.
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