[ 344 ]

[katara]

Title: The Unseelie Prince

Series: Maze of Shadows #1

Author: Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Genre: Dark, Romance, Witches, Fae, Unseeling, Fantasy, Magic, Paranormal

Status: Finished

Rating: 3.75/5

Sypnosis: The throne is Valroy’s for the taking…but first, he needs a queen.

As the son of the Morrigan and heir to the vacant Unseelie throne, Valroy itches to shed the mantle of prince and take his place as King. To his great regret one ancient tradition stands in his way, demanding he first take a bride. With all the members of the Unseelie court proving to be insufferable, what is a prince to do?

Steal a human, of course.

Abigail often wonders if the townsfolk aren’t right in calling her cursed. Abandoned by her husband and with no family to call her own, everything in her life hangs by a thread. Never did she expect her downfall would come by taking pity on an old hermit. Abducted into the dangerous world of Tir n’Aill, Abigail is thrust into a terrifying Maze that defies all logic. There, she finds herself at the mercy of an Unseelie prince with a strange offer—solve his Maze and he'll grant her deepest wish…

If she can live that long.

From author Kathryn Ann Kingsley comes this tantalizing, slow burn dark fantasy that proves sometimes the line between love and hate is razor thin.

Please note: This is a dark fantasy horror series with a love story. This series contains scenes of graphic violence. It is a slow-burn romance between the monstrous villain and the main character over the course of four books. My fae do not pull punches, and my Unseelie are not kind.

Review: I would have done a review for this much earlier but I had to give myself a chance to weigh the pros and cons of this story. I am not a fan of forced relationships but I also see that this is an Unseelie Prince and Unseelies are notorious for being dark and evil creatures. Some of them may be capable of love, but that does not necessarily mean the romantic kind that we humans take for granted. They see love as something meant to possess and not feel and even the humans or other fae they take are mere possessions to them.

Valroy is no different from any of the Unseelie fae that I have read both in fantasy fiction and mythology. He is greedy and what he wants is the throne so that he can burn an entire world and crush it at his feet. Unfortunately for him, he has to marry first and he sets his sights on a human witch named Abigail.

Abigail lives in a little house that is somewhat falling apart. Her husband has left her to go to America and score his own wealth. She, meanwhile, has taken it upon herself to wait for him. But the fates have other plans for her when Valroy decides that she is his best choice in brides, but Abigail is not going down without a fight and she is willing to run his labyrinth to free herself.

This story has a bit of Jim Henson's The Labyrinth and the Hades and Persephone mythology to it - two of my favorites in the world.

The thing is that you are not going to like Valroy. He is not the hero you are wanting, but he is a dark character that is from the Unseelie world. He is a creature of unfeeling and the need to control everything. This is not to excuse for him but you must understand that Unseelie is not meant to be sunshine and roses like their counterparts, the Seelies.

Still, this book was a nice page-turning read. I am planning to read the other books in the series so that I may have full knowledge of the characters before I draw a conclusion to the storyline and characters.