Is it a dragon? Is it a cat? The answer is yes.

Charlotte Bond continues to impress with a tale full of bravado, adventure, and horror in The Bloodless Princes, a followup to The Fireborne Blade. Like its predecessor, this novel does not suffer at all from its brevity. I would enjoy more, but only because I enjoy what's there so much. The gravelands are sufficiently creepy and the dragon companion is sufficiently wise, powerful, and occasionally funny. Saralene and Maddileh continue to be interesting characters who must work together to outwit Death itself.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this book.

4.5 ⭐️

I loved this novella duology - It took some digging, but I did confirm this is book 2 out of 2. It truly packs an epic fantasy punch in novella form. It's really, really impressive how much Bond is able to accomplish in so few pages. No sentence is waisted. Following the quest in book 1, our heroines find themselves unsettled with how to move forward. Enter an ominous dragon voice to enlighten them - this sounds far campier than it is. I'm trying to keep spoilers at bay. Once again, the narration of the audiobook was solid with great character differentiation. The narrators voice was easy to listen to, and I still enjoyed their accent.

Thank you NetGalley, Charlotte Bond, and Macmillan audio for the audiobook ARC.

Much like the first book in this series (duology?), The Bloodless Prince is short and sweet. And, like its predecessor, there is limited "world-building" in this fantasy novella. We rejoin our two main characters, Sir Maddileh and Saralene whose latest adventure takes them to the underworld. There is a bit more attention to romance (not spicy) between the two as the knight ventures to save her lady fair. There is also a bit more dragon content in this book with a dragon in cat-form (see picture on cover for reference; and yes, now I want a cat/dragon). The story moves with a good pace and fun to follow to the end.
I enjoyed this book as an audiobook with great narration from Helen McAlpine. The brief length combined with the audio narration makes this the perfect company for an afternoon of chores or a longish drive. (3.5 up to 4* for the audio narration).
I received advanced access to this audiobook thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

I did a tandem read and listen, so I will start with the audiobook review.
I was thrilled to see the audiobook come up on here since I already had the ARC, and I listened to the audiobook of The Fireborne Blade.

Helen McAlpine is an excellent narrator! The different voices for characters, whether subtle or noticeable, take such talent and the way McAlpine flawlessly rotates through them in conversation is so impressive. Great quality all around!

Book review:
I thoroughly enjoyed this novella! We pick up 3 years after the events for the end of the first book, and things seem to be going well....until they're not.

Saralene and Maddileh have grown very close during their time in their new positions, and maybe harbor some even deeper feelings. Unable to ignore or hide the curse left on Saralene any longer, and with strange dreams plaguing Maddileh - the pieces fall together and send the Mage and her Champion on a quest.

Things move quickly as Saralene an Maddileh set off to try and get rid of the curse. Their journey takes them to the underworld with the help of a cat-dragon, which was totally unexpected and also sounded too cute.

I really enjoyed the asides of folklore and snapshots from history books and journals. The way Bond demonstrated how different the same story can look depending on perspective was powerful, and I also just generally found them stories enjoyable. I liked the underworld, though I'd have loved even further worldbuilding there. It was very interesting!

Thank you Macmillan audio and NetGalley for the ALC!

Short but so sweet. I loved this fun little adventure. My only issue was the end didn't feel wrapped up enough, like they pissed off death and were acting like it didn't matter. Otherwise I loved this I loved the lore and the cat dragon and the romance

Thank you Netgalley, publishers and the author for giving me a early copy for review.

The Bloodless Princes is the thrilling second novella in the Fireborne Blade series, an epic fantasy proposal written by Charlotte Bond, and published by TorDotCom. A sequel to the Fireborne Blade that explores the underworld of this universe created by Charlotte Bond, while developing the relationship between Saralene and Maddileh, in a plot that still has surprises for us, blending together Orpheus with A Natural History of Dragons.

Cursed by the previous practitioner in her role, High Mage Saralene visits the afterlife with a boon to beg of the Bloodless Princes, two entities that rule the underworld, all following the advice given by the White Lady. Separated from sir Maddileh, her protector, she will have to navigate the afterlife city, discovering that all research might be inaccurate; and that appearances and concepts such as justice can be difficult to apply if they are taken to the extreme.
On the other side, we have a sir Maddileh that will need to take an alternative route to reach the afterlife, together with a new companion (and I don't want to spoil this surprise, because I absolutely loved it) and armed with her Fireborne Blade; reuniting with Saralene will just be the first of the challenges she will have to face, and probably the easiest in comparison with how complicated are her feelings for Saralene.

In this sequel, Bond offers a unique vision of the afterlife, a complicated world ruled by two brothers and which represents opposite poles of the same vision; it is interesting how the concept of good and bad gets substituted by a big gray morality, symbolizing how things are not simple.
The lore of the world is expanded, including more stories that are introduced as interludes across our main plot; dragons are still relevant, but pass to play a secondary role.

We have a really intense sequel from the emotional standpoint, as the author explores the relationship between Saralene and Maddileh, how they are attracted and how their roles can be a barrier; not only that, but also the fear of being rejected by the other, choosing to stay in a middle situation that doesn't satisfy anybody. It also mimics that fear that queer people have of being discovered and deemed as weird, or being ostracised by those that they love.

The Bloodless Princes is an excellent second novella, the perfect close-up for this duology, and again shows Bond's talent to create a compelling story; if you want a great and feminist take-up on epic fantasy, I totally recommend you to read The Fireborne Blade duology.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a free advanced listener’s copy. I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a fantastic novella and a great addition to the series that really uses the expectations of the fantasy genre to its advantage. Bond uses the genre to help rather than hinder her world building which leads to the world feeling fleshed out and lush without bogging you down with exposition in the short time you’re with the story. I particularly love the exploration of death traditions and folk tales as a form of world building.

Helen McAlpine does a great job, I’m a big fan of her voice and her narration style. I highly recommend this series of novellas as something to get you out of a reading slump if you’re in that high fantasy mood but are intimidated by the idea of starting a tome.

This is a very solid continuation of the world that was built in the first book. Once again, we challenged Maddileh’s worldview and her understanding of her history (this is very much a case of paying attention to who it is recording the history and the legends, and who is benefiting from those records). This book was far less zoomed in on our characters and more a metaphor for larger society between the princes, the histories, and the legends.

Also very much did not feel like 3 whole years had passed since book one? We didn’t see enough of the impact of our main characters’ rise to power and the changes they made as part of that power.

Maddileh, the champion of the high mage Saralene, is worried about the health of her friend following the twist of The Fireborne Blade, the first in this duology. In order to remedy Saralene's situation, they have to journey to the underworld to seek permissions from the Bloodless Princes, who rule the dead. Travelling with them is an unlikely ally from the first book, in the shape of a winged cat. Can the trio escape the underworld alive?

This sequel follows the first closely in time, and reading the first is a must for all the worldbuilding and previous plot points. I liked the first, but I liked this sequel even better! I thought the characters and their relationships really shined in this one: I knew their backstories and appreciated their relationships more, so I felt more connected to and interested in the outcome of their journey. I loved the adventure of our trio in the later half of the book and I thought the pacing kept my attention better. Like the first, which contained chapters about the histories of dragon slayers, this book intersperses folklore throughout, which adds much background knowledge to the main storyline as a rather ingenius way of worldbuilding. The dragon twist in this sequel also added that touch of magic, alongside a bit of sassy humour.

Overall, this short duology is not to be missed for dragon fantasy fans, and I'd certainly read more if the series became longer!

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Novella length epic fantasy, with a sapphic romantic arc and the right touch of adventure. The sequel to The Fireborne Blade, Maddileh is concerned for how ragged High Mage Saralene is looking, and it turns out it has to do with a curse from the previous high mage. Another encounter with the dragon Maddileh thought she'd killed changes her entire perception on dragons. Rather than the beasts she'd assumed, Maddileh learns that they are intelligent and sensitive beasts, and that the one she knew as the White Lady is called Mienylyth. When Saralene ends up half alive in the Underworld, Maddileh and Mienylyth, in the guise of a cat with dragon tendencies, go to her rescue.

I've really enjoyed the Fireborne Blade novellas, and the world that Charlotte Bond has created. Longing and unrequited love between best friends, an Orpheus retelling, and a few bargains with the Bloodless Princes of the Underworld make for a perfect arc under 200 pages. For anyone interested in dabbling in high fantasy without wanting to commit to a lengthy series, I highly recommend these.

Like in the first book, Bond uses legends and folklore to do heavy worldbuilding in the background - those stories, rather than just descriptors, give us a strong sense of place and setting. Much of the other worldbuilding description is sparse enough that you can apply your own imagination to the realm.

Please please please tell me we'll get more novellas in this world!! 🙏🙏🙏

This was incredibly fun! I think that it had much better pacing and maintained my interest throughout, though less of a wow factor than the first one (the ending on that one gripped me by the collar and forced me to take note).

The setting was excellent, the continuing development of the sapphic relationship was very sweet, the dragon was delightfully sassy. But honestly I really loved the troubadour stories. Origin myths are always my favourite, and I loved how they were written and included in this.

If you like sapphics and swords and sword-wielding sapphics and daring quests-- do yourself a favor and pick these up!

Much like the first book in this series, Charlotte keeps The Bloodless Princes short, engaging, and full of twists! I've loved both of these stories so much, even with them being too short. I'd always take more of the intrepid knight and mage, but I never feel like I've been shorted on time with them