⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ARC Review

Debut fantasy novel incoming!! The Prince Without Sorrow is easily my current top read for January. The world building and character development in just this first book has me so excited to see where Maithree continues to take this series.

Shakti is a mayakari (a witch) in an empire where the ruling family has decreed them a threat to the humans and needs to be eradicated. The mayakari are pacifists, yet Shakti finds pleasure in learning weaponry despite her aunt’s wishes.

Ashoka is the youngest prince of the Emperor, teased by his family for his gentle nature as he can’t even kill a deer, let alone make the call to kill someone if necessary for the empire.

The two find their paths crossed when Emperor Adil, Ashoka’s father, dies a sudden death after burning Shakti’s village. Ashoka and Shakti must now try to solve their own problems following the death, both trying to get the same goal: to stop the burnings and death of the mayakari.

Maithree created a FANTASTIC realm in this book while pulling inspiration from the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India. Ashoka and Shakti feel very yin/yang in their opposing positions among their people. The side characters are also absolutely lovely (I adore Sau and Rahil for what they do for Ashoka 🥹).

The Prince Without Sorrow by Maithree Wijesekara comes out March 18! Thank you to Harper Collins for the early read through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was very readable, and I didn't want to put it down. I really liked both Ashoka and Shakti and thought they were very interesting foils to each other. The ending of this was also very exciting, and I can't wait to read more in this series.

I came for the title and cover but stayed the the unique concept, world, and magic. But there was also interesting animals in this story I don't usually see and I loved that.

The Prince Without Sorrow takes place in a South Asian-inspired fantasy world in which the emperor is hell-bent on eradicating witches. The two main characters are Shakti and Ashoka. Ashoka is the emperor's son and a pacifist who believes in ending the persecution of witches, while Shakti is a witch with incredible powers.

The setup is really compelling, but the book unfortunately does not deliver on the plot, world, or characters the way I'd hoped, and I struggled heavily to finish this book. The world-building is not entirely coherent logic-wise, and it left me confused. The witches are being eradicated, and they have immense power, but they are reacting with nonviolence? I do understand the interesting moral implications of nonviolence or ahimsa, a defining principle of the Indian Independence Movement. That being said, there has to be logic to it. The witches are not fleeing, are not fighting, so how do they expect to survive?

In addition, the plot doesn't seem to have a proper structure of building stakes and conflicts. It feels like the stakes/conflicts/plot direction are a little all over the place, and when problems are solved, they're done by deus ex machina or some other solution that didn't feel earned. This is unfortunately a problem I've seen in a lot of recent romantasy books - the concepts are all there, but the plotting lacks any sophistication.

The book is also written in a very YA way, like it can't decide if it wants to be YA or adult, with too much dialogue that feels totally out of place for the setting and time period.

I was initially drawn to this book because of the way it was marketed and compared to The Burning Kingdoms trilogy by Tasha Suri, which is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time, which I think pulls off plot structure and progression, world building, societal commentary, romance, and character growth near flawlessly. However, the only similarities I see are that this is a South Asian inspired world, there's burning involved (though, of witches specifically), and there's a romance and a revolution. The similarities stop there. I wish books weren't marketed in this way, as it sets up false expectations.

Overall, I'm giving this book 3 stars mostly because it's by a South Asian author and features a South Asian inspired world, which I long to see more of in fantasy and romantasy, but it was not the read for me. I think it should have been marketed more accurately and for a YA audience, perhaps.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and Maithree Wijesekara for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own!

DNF - 12%

The cover is absolutely gorgeous. That's about the only thing I liked about this book. The beginning of this was not terrible. However, the writing and plot just became confusing. I could not connect with the characters. I tried many times to pick it up, but I just gave up in the end. The summary sounded promising, but it was not for me.

I am so eternally grateful to have been given the opportunity to read this book. I first saw it on a Goodreads giveaway, and I have been *obsessed* with it since. Something in my heart told me this was a solid winner and I knew I had to read this book. So I am so happy to have found it on NetGalley because I was right. I loved this book. I adored it. I couldn’t get enough Once I hit 80% it took me forever to finish the book, not because of the book itself, but because I did not want the story to end. I have the release date saved in my calendar, which is something I haven’t done since the early 2000s.

The author does use a lot of metaphors to get their point across, I loved it, but in case it isn’t your cup of tea, I wanted to point that out. A quote that is stuck in my head is “To achieve peace, you must accept violence.” I feel like this book fits America’s political setting right now, and this book was a cathartic read that really helped me and made me feel like, as a lesbian, there is still hope.

SPEAKING OF!! I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned yet - The Inclusivity?!?!?! We have your gays, your bis, your People of Colour! The diversity is everywhere and I simply cannot get enough of it. I squealed every time someone was revealed to be NOT a white straight person.

Aarya?!?!?! She’s giving Princess Azula vibes, not in a copycat way, but in a “this character is written as well as Azula was” way. Every time I read her voice it was in Grey DeLisle’s voice in my head. I might have a thing for this type of character!!

I can’t recommend this book enough!!!

Here are some notes, I meant to write notes every quarter of the book, but I got so wrapped up in it that I forgot:

25% check in: Women are being persecuted and one has decided to fight back! “I like my men docile and my women hyper aggressive!” Ashoka is the third in line for the crown behind a cruel king named Adil who has massacred and continues a genocide of the Mayakari, a race of witches. Eventually he’s killed the wrong one and he got his dues. This book has been so action packed. We aren’t just staying stagnant here like a lot of other books I’ve read and I am loving it!!
80% Check-in - I am now in love with this book, to the point that I forgot to do quarterly check-ins. The characters have depth! The storyline and writing is intoxicating, I need the next book to be out now so that I can continue this series.
I have 20% left in this book and I don’t know what I’m going to d0 when it’s over. Everything is beautifully spread out, the characters’ have conflicting thoughts and emotion and depth to them. I love Shakti’s abilities and I LOVE how she uses them. I LOVE her rage, and I LOVE Ashoka’s struggles with pacifism. I need to see what happens, but I had to stop and write this before I forgot.

Last but not least, I did notice a few errors, I was reading an ebook so at location 5128 the name “Kaylani” was spelled “Kalyani” or the other way around I think. And then.. Just kidding that was the only error I found.

The Prince Without Sorrow by Maithree Wijesekara is the first book in her debut series 'The Obsidian Throne' trilogy! As someone who enjoys reading and learning about history, this one hit me hard. Loosely inspired by the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India, I enjoyed it very much! The subtle hints, the world-building, the characters and the nods to historical locations was wonderful! I had an amazing time reading this! Shakti and Ashoka have a place in my heart and I know it's too early but I can't wait for the sequel already!

Sadly this wasn't for me, I felt the prose was clunky and I found myself quite confused at the plot, the concept is great but the execution didn't work for me

An absolutely enchanting read that had me on the edge of my seat and it’s just the first book! I will absolutely be continuing this series. I have to see what happens to the prince and the witch, as I’ve been calling them in my head. Absolutely dazzling, and great fairy tale vibes.

I was pretty hooked on this story from the start - I liked the concept, the immediate action, and the prose was pretty. Fairly quickly though the prose got clunky and the plot felt a but confusing. I wasn’t sure where this book was headed and most of the time I felt pretty lost. I really wanted to love this one but it just didn’t hit the mark for me.

What I did love…
- interesting concept
- unique world and magic
- winged serpents
- giant leopards for riding!

Overall this was a decent enough read, and I'm curious to see where the story goes from here.

Thank you to Net Galley and Harper Voyager for the ARC. I was so excited to be approved for this because I am a huge fan of fantasy books inspired by South Asian culture, and Ashoka's story is one that I loved hearing while I was younger. Alas, I was most disappointed while reading this book. Pacifism and nonviolence are important parts of many South Asian religions and philosophies so I expected an interesting thematic exploration of pacifism versus violence. Alas, there was barely any thematic depth to this story due to the characters being pretty one dimensional. Beyond pacifism being Ashoka's character trait, and revenge being Shakti's motivation, the two main characters had no personality, depth, or complexity. There was barely any moral grey, we just get bare crumbs. The world building is pretty shallow, there were some hints of the original tale of Ashoka with the stupas and a single reference to the middle way, annoyingly simplistic views of what karma is, and a lot of missed potential with the nature spirits. There was barely any tension or conflict, everything worked out in a convenient fashion for the characters. The villain, Emperor Adil, is so unnaturally helpful to his enemy Shakti, which reduces the weight of the tension between the Mauryas and the mayakaris. The dialogue was also lacking and unnatural due to none of the characters trying to hide their thoughts from their enemies. Also I don't know where the political intrigue and romantic angst are supposed to be.

This was a fun book if you sit back and enjoy the pure chaos. The characters operated on dreams and vibes alone, nary a thought in their brains. There was scant worldbuilding. Truly, the magic system and rules for everything were quite skeletal. Will I read book 2? Absolutely. But I hope the author spends more time developing the world and providing context.

This book was a very interesting and very fun read. I had a cursory understanding that Chandragupta founded the Mauryan empire, and vague knowledge of the fact that there was an Emperor Ashoka who was important enough to have one of his emblems on the Indian flag, so immediately Ashoka’s name piqued my interest once I began reading the book. The seems to be set in a fantastical version of this part of history, and while I don’t understand it well enough to understand the nuances that I’m sure exist, it didn’t impact my enjoyment whatsoever to not have all of the background knowledge.

The two main protagonists were both pretty interesting, though I’ll say I think Shakti outshines Ashoka in the narrative, especially with how interesting her dynamic with Aarya is. I’ve generally soured on books with multiple protagonists, but it was much more bearable in the book since the author did the narrative a big favor by letting Shakti keep the perspective when she’s doing important stuff and vice versa. A lot of other books I’ve read lately have suffered from strictly alternating perspectives every single chapter.

This book could’ve honestly been five stars if it was a little longer. Instead, certain parts with Ashoka felt very anticlimactic and rushed, which in turn leads the book to feel less like a self-contained story and instead feel like the rising action for the rest of the series. Despite this, I still think it was really good and I’m planning on picking up a physical copy once I see it in stores. Looking forward to the sequel!

The Prince Without Sorrow is Maithree's debut novel inspired by Indian mythology and storytelling, following two POVs from . For a debut, this was incredibly impressive with intelligent prose and complex characters. The author has set off a complicated world of power dynamics, right vs wrong, evil vs good. There's a lot for a reader to reflect on and I think the author has done a good job in this first instalment laying out all the rules and structures of the world. It's an interesting world and the overall narrative arc of the story is fast-paced while still having some time for the reader to sit with the characters and watch their character arcs evolve and grow. I believe the author has set out the stakes for the next book and I would be excited to see where Shakti and Ashoka are headed from here.

I really enjoyed reading along o the separate stories. As soon as you think you may know what comes next, a spin comes around the corner and knocks you off your feet. I really really cannot wait until Wijesekara shares the next storyline.

This book laid a lot of groundwork for the continuing story. Between the political intrigue, palace subterfuge, shifting royal sibling dyanimcs, learning new powerful magical abilities, military operations, persecution against Witches--it had a lot it was trying to establish. Plot and actions were resolved quickly as it moved along.

While it struggled as a stand-alone, now that the pieces have been set, I am excited to see where it is going next and look forward to the next book!

The magic system is interesting and I love that there are consequences to certain spells in tandem with lost knowledge. That combination has so much potential, especially with both MCs leaning heavily into magic to solve their problems.

Always excited to stumble upon a queer normative world! Queer background and side characters, and one MC. No romance in this book but I could see a relationship subplot happen in the next book.

Took me a bit to get into this book. I enjoyed the ancient India inspiration and references to culture and religion. Could have had more romantic angst, but overall the book kept my interest and was enjoyable to read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Maithree Wijesekara, and the publisher for allowing access to the e-Arc.

The premise of this story was interesting to me. However, it just did not deliver for me. This book had the potential to get a higher rating but a few things were preventing that. I understand that some of the themes are more adult but this book felt like a YA story. When I say YA story I mean the characters are immature and not a complex word building. I want to understand why there is prejudice against the Mayakari. I would have loved more world-building to get me more into the environment of the characters. I immediately loved Shakti but she became an unlikable character to me by halfway through. I honestly felt like most of the characters are unlikable which makes it hard to root for them.

In a world where magic is real, but witches are persecuted by the Emperor, one Prince and one witch stand in defiance. The Prince refuses violence, while the witch embraces it--both dangerously rejecting their heritage.

There's a lot to like here, but I don't think I was the best reader for it. I frequently found it tedious and without trust in the reader. Often, I wanted deeper information about the really cool world and premise, but instead Wijesekara kept telling me the same motivations and foreshadowing repeated over and over. This took up the first half of the book when I felt like much more should have happened by that point to keep me engaged. Overall, the whole came off as shallow, and sadly, I put it down before the end.

I think a younger reader would love this book. I just didn't click with it.

Thank you to Avon, Harper-Voyager, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Hard nope, no thank you, not even maybe.

Reader, the following quotes are all taken from the prologue + first two chapters.

<They were women who used their power to maintain peace, not sow seeds of destruction, it was their code, a mark of their livelihood.>

A mark of their livelihood? A livelihood is a job. But you’re talking about witches, and in this story, being a witch is not a job, it’s just something you are. What is meant here is something like ‘philosophy’ or maybe ‘calling’, not ‘job’.

<powers humans were wary of, and had kept an uneasy balance between fear and respect when it came to the mayakari.>

What does this sentence mean? What are you saying? The powers of the mayakari (witches) keep an uneasy balance between fear and respect…when it comes to the mayakari? What are you talking about? I think you’re trying to say that the humans feel respect and fear, but the actual sentence you have written is nonsensical.

<A round pink body atop a round head>

…so it’s upside down? The body is on top of the head. That’s not how humanoids work. What is happening?

<performing a simple kill equated to having the aptitude to conduct a complex one.>

Sorry, a complex what? A complex kill? Does one ‘conduct’ a kill now? I’m deeply sceptical that one ‘performs’ a kill, but I’m willing to let that one go. But ‘conduct’? Also what do you mean, doing a simple version of a thing means you can do a complex version of it? What?

<It didn’t stop Ashoka from viewing his father with contemptuousness.>

Contempt. You can just say ‘contempt’.

<To Emperor Adil, more power meant expansion.>

I think you mean, expansion equals more power. More power equalling expansion doesn’t make sense without more of an explanation.

<scores of iron ore>

Scores of what? That’s not a thing. You can’t say ‘scores of ore’ for the same reason you can’t say ‘hundreds of ore’. An ore is not a unit of measurement!

<minor disturbances where little was harmed as humanly possible.>

‘As little’ was harmed as humanly possible.

<Clearly his age was just an excuse. What a privilege to be father’s favourite.>

Okay, I think the favourite comment is meant about Ashoka’s sibling, but it sounds like you’re saying Ashoka is the favourite and because of that his age is an excuse for something. ?

<Once he was of age, his father would not be able to argue against royal decrees.>

What royal decrees? Is there a law saying when he’s of age he can enter the councils? No? Then what are you talking about?

<An innocent requires a cremation it didn’t deserve.>

What you mean is: this innocent didn’t deserve to die.

What you’ve said is: this innocent didn’t deserve to be honoured for its death.

<the scent of water buffalo lingered even after they had been taken in for the night by the farmers. Or perhaps it was their droppings; Shakti couldn’t tell. They smelled the same.>

Tell me you’ve never been around livestock without telling me you’ve never been around livestock.

<‘Slip, and you’ll be helping smelt my weapons this entire week.’>

I’m pretty sure no one has ever said ‘this entire week’ this way. ‘You’re going to be doing chores for this entire week!’ No? No, because it sounds deeply incorrect, that’s not how people speak.

<her penchant for explosiveness was difficult to set aside.>

This is trying to talk about the character’s explosive temper, but that’s not what ‘penchant’ means. This makes it sound like she just likes exploding. Also, ‘explosiveness’ is deeply awful.

Also Ashoka’s a stuck-up twit and Shakti is unlikeable in a very boring way. Winged snakes can’t save this story, not for me! DNF.