A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: The Unseelie Throne

Series: Maze of Shadows #3

Author: Kathryn Ann Kingsley

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

Status: Finished

Rating: 2.5/5

Sypnosis: When the prize is death, some games are better lost than won.
If she loses, she becomes his queen, and he unleashes war across Earth and Tir n’Aill alike. If she wins, he dies. The answer seems clear. But then why can’t she bring herself to want victory?

The longer Abigail wanders through his Maze of Shadows, the less sure she becomes of anything—allies, enemies, wrong, right, evil, good, hate…and love. With every twist and turn, her heart is more fully trapped in his snare.

Facing the choice of whether to win—and kill the Bloody Prince—or lose and become his queen, Abigail can’t decide which is worse. In fact, she is starting to think that she might no longer want to win at all.

No matter the cost.

Review: I am not even sure why I am bothering with this series. Maybe I have invested in the story and its characters and wish to see the full ending of their tale.

Or I am a masochist who enjoys torturing herself with a story that only frustrates her and ignites her anger toward the female lead.

Abigail was still annoying. Still an indecisive twit. I would have thought by the third book, she would have grown some balls on her and faced down our villainous Unseelie King, Valroy, but nope that did not happen. Instead, she freighted and bemoaned things that could have clearly made this novel a bit shorter.

And yet, here we are at a cliffhanger, and Abigail is still stupid.

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.