I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this novella so much more than the first. I had problems with the first book because my expectations were wrong. I thought there would be more dragons. It was more of an adventure to the dragon. I went into this book not expecting anything, and that definitely upped my enjoyment.

I enjoyed the character development as well as the plot. The journey to and through the afterlife was very intersting.

I look forward to reading any additional books in this series.

This was a really unique sequel. It still had the same slower pace as The Fireborne Blade, but there was such a unique expansion to the world building. I especially loved the unique folklore we got showing the differences between dragon tales and troubadour that highlighted how history can differ based on the perspective. Plus the cat is the best.

I was unaware this was a sequel, so I feel I would have enjoyed it more had I read the first book before listening to this new one. That being said, I am excited to further explore the world built in this book. It is a refreshingly short read, which is a nice change for the fantasy genre.

The lore and creativity of this author continues to impress me. How they're able to make me feel so engrossed in the story and the lore of the world and within such a short amount of time is astounding.

I do hope to see them write a full length novel. I'd especially love to see them write an epic fantasy series, as they approach world building very differently--or at least, the end result feels different--than what I've seen from other fantasy works.

It wasn't quite as strong as the first, likely because the set up felt a bit rushed, and I felt a tad removed from the characters themselves, but I still greatly enjoyed the story overall.

Giving this one a neutral review because it didn’t really hold my interest and I did not get deeply into it. I admit to being intrigued by the winged cat familiar, but I do not think this will hold my interest.

This novella took me a little off guard. I wasn’t really into the beginning; because as a sequel, it seemed a bit all over the place. I assumed it would be a dud, but since it was short I kept reading. Less than halfway through this 176 page book, the story gelled and turned into a REALLY intriguing adventure story. The lore was interesting and the stakes were high. The romance was was also very sweet, but was not at all the main focus of the story (thank the gods). The story has dragon lore, portal adventure, life threatening bargains, underworld creatures AND actual dragons. I’m glad I decided to keep reading and give this book a real chance. I had such a good time with it.

Actual Rating 2.5

This work is set up the same as the previous, with close to every-other-chapter being excerpts from a book or essay, or some other way to provide lore and background information on the primary plot. While I did think this worked well in the previous book, in this one it felt like too much time was spent on the lore and background at the expense of the primary plot. It did add interesting information relating to the lore of the afterlife and kept it difficult to know what to expect, but I think it was a bit overdone. And the primary plot suffered – with how short this novella is and how much time was spent on lore, the time spent in the afterlife and the plot there was simplistic and underwhelming, which is not what anyone wants from a fantasy afterlife.

The character development was weaker in this book than the first. There was little-to-no new information provided or depth added to the characters. While they were still written well enough not to detract from the work, they weren’t as strong as they could have been.

While I do appreciate how creative the author is (especially relating to dragons), I think this work suffers from its brevity. If you read and liked the first work, you’ll probably still enjoy this one but I don’t believe this could be enjoyed as a standalone.

I thought that this book was well-written, but I wish that it had clarified in more places that this is the second book in a series. I spent much of the beginning of this book trying to understand the plot of a story that I had not read yet, but I was able to understand it after finding that it is a sequel when looking up the book online. I was pleased with the narrator and their use of voice, and I enjoyed the story itself.

This was an enjoyable read but it lacked the oomph of the first one. The first one had more worldbuilding and plot twists. This one had a more beginning to end story, but it left it feeling a bit simplistic overall. I enjoyed the story, especially the dragon who was by far the best character, but I was never really surprised or overly moved by events.

The audiobook was well done and enhanced the reading experience. The narrator did a good job with the different voices.

*Thanks to tordotcom and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

3.5*
The Fireborne Blade was one of the most pleasant book surprises of the year for me and while its sequel / conclusion The Bloodless Princes doesn't reach its excellence, this is a worthy contribution to the story and character development.

It expands on the dynamic and deepens the relationship between the two main characters though like its predecessor, I wish the book was longer to dedicate even more page time to this. Even so, the relationship doesn't feel insta-lovey but believable and quite endearing which I appreciated.

The highlight of this duology continues to be its innovative expansion of lore and twists on common tropes and myths, giving it almost a folktale like feel and atmosphere. I wish it had included more horror-tinged dragon lore, though this story partially takes place in the ‘Underworld’ which introduces new horror elements. The dragon turned cat was fun but I prefer my dragons scary and grandiose rather than cute and funny.

Unfortunately, the conflict felt slightly rushed and resolved too quickly which, once again, would have probably been helped with a higher page count.

Nonetheless, I highly recommend this duology and am looking forward to reading anything Charlotte Bond comes up with next.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an advanced audio copy.

While something about this lacked the oomph of the first book, at least for me, it was still compelling. Bond's prose is delicious, and the lovely audiobook narration swept me along - I was both surprised by how quickly it was over and impressed by how much had fit into a novella.

Both Fireborne Blade books work very well in audio form, in my opinion, particularly with such a well-produced audiobook, and this second one especially was interested in myth and storytelling in a way that I thought was wonderfully immersive as audio - I listened to the opening passages twice over.

At first I did not realize this was the second in a series, so I had to go back and listen to A FIREBORNE BLADE which set me on this path as a huge lover of Charlotte Bond! I loved it and recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley for this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Helen McAlpine once again knocks it out of the park. The quality of the voices done is incredible.

Taking place right after the first, Saralene has to deal with the curses of her predecessor in a trial that leads her to the underworld. As the blurb states this is a mix of Orpheus and A Natural History of Dragons, with a vivid and bustling depiction of life after death. For some reason, underworld scenes always bring to mind the number taking scene from Beetlejuice, and while this novella doesn’t depict the souls there as horrific/harmed beings, there still is that added layer where you know they’re dead in the back of your mind.

The biggest plot point that gets moved along here is the relationship budding between Saralene and her protector, Maddileh. As her champion, they shouldn’t be seen together in that light, but as they go through twists and turns in the underworld, literally fighting for survival, sometimes plans go belly up, and the only thing left to embrace is those you truly love.

The sequel also continued the trend of the first with epigraph-like chapters giving the world lore and background information for the story. While these worked a bit less for me this time around, as I felt like they take up just as much space as the actual story, I still found the novella to be enjoyable overall. I think the main thing that stood out to me is how straightforward everything is. With it being short, there’s little room for deliberation or thought, and everything happens in a sometimes too neat row, including the combat beats. However, if you found enjoyment in the first, you absolutely will enjoy the sequel.

There is no doubt that The Fireborne Blade is a superior novella this one, it’s sequel. It had more wit, sarcasm, plot twists, and overall allure than its sequel The Bloodless Princes. We still get snippets of tales, writings, history and lore of the realm woven into the story (which I also adored in book 1). The biggest difference here is the story feels a bit secondary to the acceptance or display of love between our two ladies. And yet there is very little romance overall. Certainly the morale of the story (which gives nothing away to its end) is that you should love who you love openly and fervently, regardless of what others say; and yet I wanted more to the overall plot than what I got.

This easily could have been a full length novel that delved into death, an afterlife (of any kind), resurrection, and the consequences of stories being twisted over time. How do we, as humans, hurt ourselves my allowing stories of history (or fiction) develop and no longer represent truth. After all the writers of history are always the ‘winners’ who rule in its aftermath. An interesting thought with Trump winning his second term a mere two days ago. How will history see this (frankly depressing era for a bisexual, female Canadian like myself) time that indicates the larger portion of the USA population would rather any president that is not a women (even a convicted felon who spouts nothing but lies)? Im disappointed we don’t get more from Charlotte Bond on this topic. A real miss in the grand scheme of this wonderful dragon world she had created. Perhaps she can revisit it in another story?

Overall I just didn’t feel the same endearment for our characters (except maybe our dragon) that I did in book 1. If you were to read this one first, which wouldn’t make any sense in terms of character and plot development; but say you did, you’d likely walk away wondering why anyone cared at all. There is just a lack of substance here to bring our love and support of these lovely ladies (and a cat dragon or is it dragon cat?) much further than we were from book 1.

Perhaps the story was rushed? A bit unfinished or underdeveloped in a hope to publish it quickly on the heels of the successful first story? I don’t know. What I do know is I am still hoping for more stories in this realm, with or without these ladies, and I also desire Bond to write us a more fulsome story next time. One that really bites into the sociopolitical world our ladies live in that is grounded, as our own world is, in misogyny and an unfair set of ‘rules’ that keeps women lower than everyone, just because they can. If there was ever a time we could use some desire and strength to fight back against the patriarchy it must be today after another shattering loss; one that is just stacked on top of so many in these early days of this millennium.

Finally, this story is still worth a read. It’s short and cute at times. It just doesn’t quite live up to what I loved about the first book. That doesn’t undercut its cute cat dragon, nor that it is still a decent novella for a quick read

The Bloodless Princes was a very quick listen. Helen McAlpine was a very pleasant narrator to follow Saralene and Maddileh through this adventure. The narration was a little slow for my preference, but bumping the tempo up took care of that.

YA
Dragons
Magic
Friendship
YA love story

It could easily be turned into a streaming service show or limited series.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC Audio Copy! 3.5 Stars

The conclusion to the Fireborn Blade Duology did not disappoint at all. A fantasy series with dragons, magic, and a dungeon crawler world building is taken to the next level when the characters are forced to journey into the underworld, and somehow find a way out. The Sapphic characters and the snarky dragon companion made me love every minute of this book, I just wish there was more.

The Bloodless Princes is book two in The Fireborne Blade series by Bond. Once again Bond is a master at packing a full length novel into a novella. There’s no unnecessary additions while also leaving readers fully satisfied. I loved how Bond approached the different lenses of stories and how they change based on who’s telling them. I’m also a sucker for dragons, so that already made the book a win for me. I felt that this story was well paced and kept my interest from start to finish. I combo read this between the audiobook and ebook, but there’s just something so satisfying about listening to Helen McAlpine narrate the adventure that should not be missed. I can’t recommend this fantasy duology enough for readers looking for shorter fantasy stories.

A heartfelt ending to a novella geology that takes us into the belly of a magical underworld.

I felt like the narrator for this audiobook did an excellent job. There was no background noise or anything that would draw me out of the novella as she read. I am really enjoyed the emotion and authenticity. She lent to the characters. Even when sped up her dictation was clear and concise..

When I read The Fireborn Blade earlier this year, I knew I was gonna want to read the impending sequel. I do love a wonderful novella series that can be quickly read and scratches a particular itch. This one gives folklore and dragons and interesting characters all wrapped up in one quick read.

The two plot lines of each novella were different enough that they kept me interested. We follow the same amazing characters from the first book into the second book, and we get even further character development and more of a relationship between the two characters. I feel like the sapphic romance that was embroiled throughout this plot line was very well done, and it was definitely a slow burn, even though it was still a novella. I do love the return of the white dragon. I thought that was very epic and very interesting how they were able to work that out. Going into the underworld in this novel was very fun. I liked all the inserted chapters that gave backstory and folklore into the princesses and the respective underworld that they rule. It definitely added an air of complexity to the world building that I appreciated.

I sincerely hope that this author releases more Novelas because I will absolutely read them.

What a surprise! This second story in “The Fireborne Blade” series was much more satisfying and interesting to me than book one. I think this is because instead of accounts of Knights slaying dragons, we get folktales and legends, which I far preferred, and we get, in addition to Maddileh's point of view, Saralene's also.

Just like book one, the author wove the legends and myths throughout the narrative; these stories provide some great background on the culture, beliefs and history of the land; they not only expand the world's lore, but are also important to the story's trajectory.

Saralene has been High Mage for three years, while Maddileh is her guard, which no one can object to as she holds the deadly Fireborne Blade. When the two women discover that the previous High Mage Hosh plagues Saralene during sleep, they decide to consult the White Lady, who has been speaking to Maddileh for some time.

The old dragon explains there is a way to deal conclusively with Hosh, but it will involve a little trip to the afterlife, which will of course be extremely dangerous. Once there, Saralene will have to petition the Bloodless Princes for help. The Bloodless Princes govern the realm, though each has a different vision for how spirits are treated once they arrive.

Saralene encounters a figure who featured in one of the stories, and learns she has a very short time to convince one of the princely brothers to help her return home. Maddileh must use a different method to get to the afterlife, and has a companion (super cute!) to guide her. Both Saralene and Maddileh have challenges to deal with separately, then later when reunited. Every obstacle is significant in some way, such as both women having to deal with their feelings for one another and how their positions complicate things between them.

Something that rubbed me the wrong way with book one was the whole "kill the dragons!" ethos, and was something I found unpalatable. Here, that very idea is confronted, and challenged, with Maddileh having to accept that this is one of several messed up beliefs her society is built on.

I'm not sure if I fully accept that three years have elapsed since the end of book one, particularly as Maddileh doesn't seem to have changed in all that time. She's a tiny more interesting this time around, but paled in relation to Saralene and the White Lady, who were the stars of this story.

And even though this felt like an acceptable place to wrap up both women's stories, I would be interested in getting to know other characters in the world after the events of this book.

Note that I listened to this instalment of the story. I greatly enjoyed Helen McAlpine's narration, particularly as the White Lady, whose age,wisdom and sly humour are perfectly captured by McAlpine. I felt more entertained by this novella, I think, because McAlpine had me, through her portrayals, more engaged in the action, the stakes, and the outcome.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Macmillan Audio for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This is a literary fantasy, meaning that the writing and story are quite sophisticated both in method and purpose. That said, it didn't work well for me. The author has done a fine job of world building and while the fact that a large proportion of the book is folk tales and history from the fantasy lands enhances the story, it also slowed down the plot to the point where it got rather boring. The points of view were distanced from the main characters, preventing close identification between the reader and those characters and their problems. While some reader reviewers wanted a longer work, I feel that as written, it's already too long for its plot. I still give it 4 stars for its imaginative qualities and beautiful prose.