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Trailer Park Prince
A decade ago, a rift tore open the Kaydan sky, pulling twin princes, Noan and Jormon, plus thousands of their people, from their home world and dumping them in the American South. In the years since, they've grown used to the drones policing their every move and to hiding the magic-like abilities that set them apart. But they’ll never get used to the crosses burning outside their trailer—an occasional reminder that Kaydans don’t belong.Forced to attend a human high school in the name of integration, a band-aid on an increasingly fraught diplomatic situation, the brothers are hesitant but hopeful. Jormon is excited about pursuing the feelings he has for Dirk, a human-raised Kaydan, away from his traditional father’s watchful eye. And Noan, blamed for the Kaydans’ displacement, is looking for somewhere—anywhere—to fit in.But the halls of Toombs County High are as inhospitable as the rest of the country, and Jormon and Noan quickly find they’re as unwanted in class as they are on this planet. When tragedy strikes and violence breaks out, Jormon and Noan find themselves at the forefront of a battle for the existence of their people. Their bonds tested, the twins face gut-wrenching choices, forcing them to confront who they really are, what they truly want, and what it takes to survive.When asked to lead in the face of oppression, will they walk away or fight fire with fire?A thought provoking and unflinching depiction of prejudice, racial oppression, and the need to define oneself in the face of adversary, Trailer Park Prince is a timely allegory unafraid of addressing the divides facing our society. Full of magic, queer identities, action, and social commentary is an urgent and biting contemporary sci-fi fantasy.
298 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2024
17 people are currently reading
501 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 9, 2024
I was given this as a physical ARC by my friends at Tiny Ghost Press.
I absolutely loved this book. The magical world was developed so nicely and I think the alternating perspective was a good way to tell the story as it progressed. This fantasy magical story is filled with eerily similar social issues (racism, anti-immigrant, American supremacy, hatred and bigotry disguised as patriotism, other similar socio-political issues that plague America and specifically the American South.
This story was also extremely heartbreaking but powerful - a force to show that being othered and the target of so much hatred and bigotry begets a powerful community of people especially for the Kaydans in this story.
I fell in love with Dirk and Noan, but also found myself warring with whether Jormon was a product of his environment (the crown prince to be the king of the Kaydans stranded on earth) or just simply a teen who didn’t know any better. Oftentimes I found myself uncomfortable with the parallels of the American South against the Kaydans and our true American South against people of color, people of different faith, and other diverse identities.
The representation in this book was thoughtful and beautiful. I loved that our twin MCs, Prince Noan and Prince Jormon, were both gay and we got to see how their identities were multifaceted as it relates to the overall themes of the story.
Truly a great read overall and another impressive publishing from Tiny Ghost Press.
I absolutely loved this book. The magical world was developed so nicely and I think the alternating perspective was a good way to tell the story as it progressed. This fantasy magical story is filled with eerily similar social issues (racism, anti-immigrant, American supremacy, hatred and bigotry disguised as patriotism, other similar socio-political issues that plague America and specifically the American South.
This story was also extremely heartbreaking but powerful - a force to show that being othered and the target of so much hatred and bigotry begets a powerful community of people especially for the Kaydans in this story.
I fell in love with Dirk and Noan, but also found myself warring with whether Jormon was a product of his environment (the crown prince to be the king of the Kaydans stranded on earth) or just simply a teen who didn’t know any better. Oftentimes I found myself uncomfortable with the parallels of the American South against the Kaydans and our true American South against people of color, people of different faith, and other diverse identities.
The representation in this book was thoughtful and beautiful. I loved that our twin MCs, Prince Noan and Prince Jormon, were both gay and we got to see how their identities were multifaceted as it relates to the overall themes of the story.
Truly a great read overall and another impressive publishing from Tiny Ghost Press.
June 20, 2024
Complex, compelling characters in a richly detailed, alternate Earth where a refugee population of aliens have settled. Brothers Jormon and Noan navigate life in the human world as gay teens while also having to contend with the politics of their home world.
Bradley has crafted a tale of grief, guilt, and finding a place to belong in effortlessly readable prose. The relationship between the brothers was a major highlight for me, and I appreciate that Bradley was willing to explore both the heroic and the murkier sides of their characters.
Bradley has crafted a tale of grief, guilt, and finding a place to belong in effortlessly readable prose. The relationship between the brothers was a major highlight for me, and I appreciate that Bradley was willing to explore both the heroic and the murkier sides of their characters.
June 21, 2024
This book is like a dark version of the movie Home, complete with an alien “invasion,” drones, and an extra dose of political intrigue.
I think this book is perfect for people who want to read fantasy that’s a little more realistic, where things don’t always work out perfectly for the characters. It also doesn’t shy away from how messy and complicated life, people, relationships, and morals can be. There’s a lot of character development throughout this book and it’s not always positive, much like how people change and grow through life.
The plot itself and the complexity within the world was very interesting to me, and while some things were a tad predictable, there were certainly some plot twists that had me reeling. It’s a pretty fast-paced book so once things get rolling, a LOT goes down.
I definitely recommend checking this one out if you’ve ever been curious to see what might happen if aliens one day fall from the sky 🤔
Thank you to Tiny Ghost Press for sending me an eARC for an honest review.
I think this book is perfect for people who want to read fantasy that’s a little more realistic, where things don’t always work out perfectly for the characters. It also doesn’t shy away from how messy and complicated life, people, relationships, and morals can be. There’s a lot of character development throughout this book and it’s not always positive, much like how people change and grow through life.
The plot itself and the complexity within the world was very interesting to me, and while some things were a tad predictable, there were certainly some plot twists that had me reeling. It’s a pretty fast-paced book so once things get rolling, a LOT goes down.
I definitely recommend checking this one out if you’ve ever been curious to see what might happen if aliens one day fall from the sky 🤔
Thank you to Tiny Ghost Press for sending me an eARC for an honest review.
June 30, 2024
Info dumpy at times but solid overall story. Sometimes I had trouble distinguishing between the different POV because the brother's voices were so similar. Plot was imaginative and engaging. Lots of political and racial commentary which I liked.
June 15, 2025
Well I had a horrible time thanks for asking.
Above all else, to me, this book just feels amateurish—and I don't mean that in a "promising debut" way but in a "how dare you ask people for money for this" way. I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to hit all of my complaints because it's so much that I fear I'll lose track of it all. But I'll try anyway.
- This book is just too much. There's enough plot to fill three or four entire novels here, and as a result, none of them are being fleshed out to make them feel consequent. We're constantly skipping forward in time by what is both a huge swath of time (a rift opens in the skies! oh anyway nothing notable happens for a month, I guess) yet also painfully short (we start in August and end in February of the next year, which considering what the characters go through, seems absurd, especially for the one who has to learn a new language, figure out a magic system, discover an entire culture, and suddenly deal with racially-based oppression).
You might notice I just dropped some pretty big ideas in there. Well, it's worse than that. The book starts being about desegregation with a hints of coming of age in the face of homophobia (both societal and familial, the protagonists' dad is literally overheard talking about not wanting his son to be gay). Completely with an allusion to the Little Rock Nine in the way the protagonists are sent to human school. Then after like two months in universe that's just dropped. There are mentions of the end of the fall semester, but from a story standpoint the school basically ceases to exist.
Then we're worrying about the election of a Trumpian figure as US president, who would be so much worse than the current, nice lady president who is in favor of Kaydan integration, but like, not doing anything to ensure their safety, or to improve their economic circumstances, or anything else. So a perfect representation of US politics, complete with the extreme blinders that Democrats have on at all times preventing them from seeing their own flaws.
But wait! That's not all! Because the election hasn't even happened yet that the aforementioned rift happens! And that somehow wins over the election, which is bad enough that the characters keep saying things are bad now that the president-elect is a bigot, but like, not in a way that seems significantly worse than we saw so far. Which, well, also a pretty good representation of Democrat myopia, I suppose, though I doubt it's on purpose.
[side note: the book doesn't actually refer to the parties by name here, but I think it'd be naive to act like that isn't the analogy at play here]
Now you might be wonder what happened with the rift, right? Well, tough luck. Uncle Tobin briefly tasks one of the protagonists with retrieving the artefact that opened it, and it's treated as a big deal (and mistake?) in the moment that Noan didn't do it to save Tobin from police brutality instead, leading to the rift opening as I mentioned. But then…Tobin gets the artefact off-screen anyway, and hides it somewhere so Noan can find it at the end of the book through no effort of his own. How did Tobin get it back? Who used it in the first place? Maybe book 2 will answer that. Lol.
Anyway, so things are going worse (but not in a describable, tangible way) leading up to the inauguration of Evil President Thorne Blackwell. There, the protagonists' dad, who is also king of their people, gets assassinated. And suddenly the titular trailer park turns into what I can only describe as a thinly-veiled metaphor for the occupation of Gaza. Like I can't prove that part of the book was written post-October 2023 but I would be highly skeptical of any claims that it's older. And yes, of course the book says the Kaydans should still not retaliate because ~it'll make them look bad and make their genocide look justified~. At a point where, y'know, they already have no electricity, running water, or access to food without getting potentially shot on the streets. Sure.
Oh but don't worry. See, when we got world building, the book told us that the Kaydans initially went to war with America for their right to be here, but were stopped because American military trumps fucking magic or something. Sure. That's not an expression of American exceptionalism coming from an admitted veteran, even though the American military can't even trump your average guerilla fighters. Anyway, wonder why I'm bringing it up? Because in a single battle scene, the Kaydans (who at this point have been reduced to ten thousand who initially crossed over to three hundred still living in the trailer park) just… capture the county. Raze the nearby town. And they do it all off page, too.
Oh, and somewhere in the middle of that we also uncover an evil plot by the richest Kaydan to, I don't know, organize the genocide of his own people I guess? That guy is named Issek, which is in contention with Normally Named President Thorne Blackwell for most absurdly evil name. His betrayal is technically set up, in that we see him being shady in the very first chapters of the book, which is then never brought up again or followed up on despite the fact that, you know, humans have that anti-magic technology that has to have come from one of the Kaydans. Instead our protagonist just has an epiphany at one point that hey, he's probably evil. Okay.
It's just. So much. I don't know if my summary conveys it, but the problem is, well, this is one book. A pretty short one too! You need room for these plots to breathe and develop but instead we're just skipping only to, or sometimes over, key plot scenes, with nothing in between! Did a single editor see this book? I'm still unconvinced.
Shit, I just realized I forgot: this book is also, through its third point of view Dirk, a harry potter (🤢)-esque coming of age story of finding your people after being orphaned and adopted. Allegedly, anyway. Most of that character's time is spent being the boyfriend of other protagonist Jormon, then at one point his adopted mom shows up and goes "oh yeah we adopted you after your sister found your family slaughtered" before fucking off from the book again. And then at the end his biological uncle's ghost shows up to tell him the name of his biological parents, and I had to check if they were names we had heard before but as far as I can tell the answer is no. You could cut Dirk out of the book altogether, or at least cut his POVs out of the book, and lose essentially nothing.
- I'm mentioning all these plot concepts, but just to reiterate: most of them go fucking nowhere. The homophobia Jormon is afraid he'll have to face as crown prince? After the first few chapters it's only a mild concern in the sense that he might have to have an arranged marriage and that could come between him and his new boyfriend and that's all. By the end of the book, Jormon is kissing Dirk at his own coronation and nobody bats an eye. Great.
The desegregation? Like I said, the school just stops existing as far as the story's concerned.
The siege of the trailer park? Nah Jormon just conquers the whole county between two chapters.
The best way I can sum it up is that structurally, this book reads like a fanfiction that updates serially. You know, one chapter is written, then the next, etc., without ever being able to go back and edit things to make the whole story feel more cohesive because well, it's already published. And as the story evolves over years of updates, the author's interests change, and instead of abandoning or concluding this story and starting a new one, they just swerve dramatically? That's what this feels like. But this isn't a fanfiction. It's a book.
- The writing style is not something I comment often on books. I can be pretty flexible with prose. But if you're going to have shifting POVs that are all in first person, you'd better goddamn give these points of view different voices, and this book does not. The narration sounds interchangeable, and there's not much in the way of interiority regardless of whose head we're in. And, well, that narration just plain isn't good. It feels like the author heard about writing "good" descriptions in theory and decided to do that at the start of every chapter or every scene, because we get a lot of what I can only describe as purple prose, without ever delving into why the narrator would presently focus on that aspect of their surroundings or how they, as a character, would think of these things.
- The characters range from kind of bland to utterly despicable (but we're expected to sympathize). Worst offender is Jormon, golden boy who repeatedly makes his twin Noan suffer the consequences of his actions, up to and including murder, then decides he hates him because his dad (who also hated said twin openly, complete with physical abuse) reveals that Noan was responsible for them being brought to Earth. And by "responsible" I mean he was seven and left unsupervised with a magical artefact. Because his dad was going to kill him. And Jormon decides to sympathize with his dad and not his mother and uncle who decided to save Noan instead. Oh, and also by "reveals" I mean it sounded like something people already knew? The only new part in the dad's explanation is that he was going to kill Noan when previously we thought the whole family worked together to save him. And like, I can get how grief alters someone's perceptions, and he somehow still trusts his abusive dad, but you'd still expect some consequences to come out of him believing what is very obviously a lie, but no.
Instead, after all that, Jormon makes multiple attempts to kill Noan, because Noan, who I'll remind you has taken the blame for a murder Jormon committed, is now in hiding and therefore wasn't here when their dad gets assassinated. A thing which there's no demonstrable way to prove he could have averted considering the assassins have technology to block their magical powers anyway.
And after all that, we get Jormon's boyfriend telling him he's "the best man [he] knows" and Jormon and Noan reunite in a time of crisis with a big hug? And I'm supposed to think any of this is okay?
I already mentioned their dad is also a horrendous piece of shit. Uncle Tobin is presented (from Noan' and Dirk's pov anyway) as a good mentor/father figure but the guy is advocating inaction both when his nephews (one of whom he actually raised himself) are being abused by their dad and also when his people are dying and I'm supposed to think he was correct in that, so, fuck him actually.
The rest of the cast dodges being bad people and instead are just kinda bland and interchangeable. There are attempts at giving them more, I just didn't find them successful. Like…Dirk pees the bed one time, and you might think this is gonna be a part of his character—anxiety, or something? I'm not a psychiatrist—but then it just doesn't come up again.
And well, with bland characters come bland romances. For two of the three POVs, man is Jormon and Dirk's romance a whole lot of nothing. It's like…the homeopathic version of a teenage romance. There's some blushing, some longing looks, a first kiss, and then the rest of their relationship happens off the page. At one point Noan asks Jormon if they're having sex yet and I was like, well, are they, because I certainly haven't been informed despite bouncing between their minds. But then also even in that scene we don't get an answer, and I think it was a Jormon POV! I know "show, don't tell" is good advice (and this book definitely could benefit from it) but at this point I'd settle on just telling! Just give me some information!
Meanwhile, Noan gets two love interests, though he only shows interest in one of them (until the very end where it's hinted he might be catching feelings for the other too?) and none of that also comes to anything. We get some characters commenting on how he shouldn't break Taavi's heart or that he shouldn't mingle with the human Sean, but nothing really happens. Sean is also just wasted, as the stepson of a leader of the KKK analogue who doesn't share the family bigotry. There's some forced conflict when his family's identity is revealed (and yes, it was obvious from his first scene) that goes nowhere. Then he's like "I'm torn between the two sides of this war" because he tried to save his dad from an attack by Jormon, and I'm over here like…your stepdad? Who you're afraid of for homophobia reasons? Who institutionalized your mom? He's the one you're morally torn up about? Okay. Sure.
By the time Sean and Noan have their second kiss (because the first one didn't count I guess?) and they're official I'm so bored. And meanwhile Taavi's like "I will save Sean's life because you care about him and I care about you, Noan" and it is cute but again, nothing about this has had then proper room to breathe and set up. Not to mention, you were all part of the same friend group, am I really supposed to believe Taavi would have let Sean die if Noan hadn't been romantically interested? Come on now.
- None of the cast feel like transplanted aliens. You could make a case for the core teen cast, although given that they were 6-7 when they came to Earth, you'd think they still already have an ingrown sense of culture, of language (how did they learn English when they were at war and then segregated?), of morals and values? The closest I can name is that they seem to be less shy about nudity than Americans, and I'm not even sure if that's actually a cultural trait or just that the characters who get (casually, non-sexually) naked around each other are either love interests or the twins. Otherwise, they just read like regular American teens, and even their pop culture references are to American media.
There is, however, no excuse for the adults, who also don't really feel alien at all. And at that point I just have to assume that, you know, it's because there is no Maerinese culture to speak of. I mean, at least it's good that there are multiple countries on Kayda so they're not just a monoculture, but I know nothing about the one the main cast is from (bar Dirk, sort of, it's complicated) and I certainly couldn't tell you anything about the other countries.
I will note that if the sequel happens, it will necessarily have to change that, since half of the cast is going back to Kayda. I remain dubious as to what the results will look like, and in case it wasn't clear, I'm not gonna check it out for myself lol.
- I guess this is as good a place as any to point out this commits the fantasy cardinal sins of New Magical Power As The Plot Demands! Jormon suddenly tells us of an ability he's supposedly always had when we're 70% through the book and that ability would definitely have been useful earlier. Noan can randomly scry at one point. Phae becomes a witch(? the book states earlier that witch is appropriative of human witches but then keeps calling her a witch anyway) and it's basically off the page and now she can do all sorts of stuff that are not meaningfully different from everyone else but also we're told that it's totally different. Dirk suddenly decides he's able to ride thunderstorms, which at least was introduced as a concept but never really tied to him specifically. If the plot needs an ability to exist someone has it.
What doesn't help is that for a book where the characters are supposedly spending a lot of time training their magic under the tutelage of two of our POVs, we get exactly zero class time to explain the magic system. Mostly because I don't think the magic system has any rules, and I don't mean that in the sense that it's a soft magic system (which, tbh, still has rules) but in the sense that I don't think the author really sat down and figured it out. Just a hunch, though.
- I've already mentioned it, but it bears repeating: the allegory of racial injustice (which is the main throughline of the book) is handled absolutely terribly. I don't know if you can just take magical aliens and put them in the Little Rock Nine story and make it work, but I know this book sure shouldn't have. Their king has diplomatic relations with the US President. He's able to pull rank on the racist school staff. Other human diplomats are also sent that school as part of the integration process and proceed to vanish off the page instantly! We never even meet one or learn their names, they're just mentioned once then vanish, probably because it would defuse a lot of conflict if diplomats were also involved on the pro-integration side.
And that's on top of the general pitfalls that magical people as oppressed group presents to a fantasy story, which this falls for hard. (I'm not ragging on the concept! I have a wip that uses that same premise!) But man, does this fail hard at portraying this as an even fight. It sounds like, mostly, the Kaydans accepted their oppression because the King wanted to work for peace. Doesn't help that the book ends on a "MLK versus Malcolm X" comparison, which to me is just shorthand for anyone who comments on politics of racial liberation without actually doing any research on the topic of what these two men actually believed in.
Oh, and it has to be stated: it's very strange, in a story that starts out being about desegregation, to end the book with the characters finding a way back to their home planet. Like…when Noan says "it means we're free" about that, it definitely creates an unfortunate implication that the solution to segregation is either to go back to separate ethnostates (like Noan) or go to war against the entire American military with less than 300 people (like Jormon). I do not believe this is the intent, it's just the message created by the book. One more thing that could have been caught if this book had to a single round of editing, which I remain convinced that it hasn't.
Another thing that irks me is that there is basically only one human character in the form of Sean. There are other human people who get named, but like…they're not actual characters, they're tropes given a name. The school bully. The KKK sheriff. The pastor. The Trumpian president. But none of them are characters, I'm pretty sure most of them don't even interact directly with the main cast. Which seems like an insane choice! At least have some proper villains or something! But no.
Well, anyway, I just found out Goodreads has a character limit. So I'll end it here. Hopefully this makes some sense, it has taken me a couple hours to write down. I will not be back for more.
Above all else, to me, this book just feels amateurish—and I don't mean that in a "promising debut" way but in a "how dare you ask people for money for this" way. I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to hit all of my complaints because it's so much that I fear I'll lose track of it all. But I'll try anyway.
- This book is just too much. There's enough plot to fill three or four entire novels here, and as a result, none of them are being fleshed out to make them feel consequent. We're constantly skipping forward in time by what is both a huge swath of time (a rift opens in the skies! oh anyway nothing notable happens for a month, I guess) yet also painfully short (we start in August and end in February of the next year, which considering what the characters go through, seems absurd, especially for the one who has to learn a new language, figure out a magic system, discover an entire culture, and suddenly deal with racially-based oppression).
You might notice I just dropped some pretty big ideas in there. Well, it's worse than that. The book starts being about desegregation with a hints of coming of age in the face of homophobia (both societal and familial, the protagonists' dad is literally overheard talking about not wanting his son to be gay). Completely with an allusion to the Little Rock Nine in the way the protagonists are sent to human school. Then after like two months in universe that's just dropped. There are mentions of the end of the fall semester, but from a story standpoint the school basically ceases to exist.
Then we're worrying about the election of a Trumpian figure as US president, who would be so much worse than the current, nice lady president who is in favor of Kaydan integration, but like, not doing anything to ensure their safety, or to improve their economic circumstances, or anything else. So a perfect representation of US politics, complete with the extreme blinders that Democrats have on at all times preventing them from seeing their own flaws.
But wait! That's not all! Because the election hasn't even happened yet that the aforementioned rift happens! And that somehow wins over the election, which is bad enough that the characters keep saying things are bad now that the president-elect is a bigot, but like, not in a way that seems significantly worse than we saw so far. Which, well, also a pretty good representation of Democrat myopia, I suppose, though I doubt it's on purpose.
[side note: the book doesn't actually refer to the parties by name here, but I think it'd be naive to act like that isn't the analogy at play here]
Now you might be wonder what happened with the rift, right? Well, tough luck. Uncle Tobin briefly tasks one of the protagonists with retrieving the artefact that opened it, and it's treated as a big deal (and mistake?) in the moment that Noan didn't do it to save Tobin from police brutality instead, leading to the rift opening as I mentioned. But then…Tobin gets the artefact off-screen anyway, and hides it somewhere so Noan can find it at the end of the book through no effort of his own. How did Tobin get it back? Who used it in the first place? Maybe book 2 will answer that. Lol.
Anyway, so things are going worse (but not in a describable, tangible way) leading up to the inauguration of Evil President Thorne Blackwell. There, the protagonists' dad, who is also king of their people, gets assassinated. And suddenly the titular trailer park turns into what I can only describe as a thinly-veiled metaphor for the occupation of Gaza. Like I can't prove that part of the book was written post-October 2023 but I would be highly skeptical of any claims that it's older. And yes, of course the book says the Kaydans should still not retaliate because ~it'll make them look bad and make their genocide look justified~. At a point where, y'know, they already have no electricity, running water, or access to food without getting potentially shot on the streets. Sure.
Oh but don't worry. See, when we got world building, the book told us that the Kaydans initially went to war with America for their right to be here, but were stopped because American military trumps fucking magic or something. Sure. That's not an expression of American exceptionalism coming from an admitted veteran, even though the American military can't even trump your average guerilla fighters. Anyway, wonder why I'm bringing it up? Because in a single battle scene, the Kaydans (who at this point have been reduced to ten thousand who initially crossed over to three hundred still living in the trailer park) just… capture the county. Raze the nearby town. And they do it all off page, too.
Oh, and somewhere in the middle of that we also uncover an evil plot by the richest Kaydan to, I don't know, organize the genocide of his own people I guess? That guy is named Issek, which is in contention with Normally Named President Thorne Blackwell for most absurdly evil name. His betrayal is technically set up, in that we see him being shady in the very first chapters of the book, which is then never brought up again or followed up on despite the fact that, you know, humans have that anti-magic technology that has to have come from one of the Kaydans. Instead our protagonist just has an epiphany at one point that hey, he's probably evil. Okay.
It's just. So much. I don't know if my summary conveys it, but the problem is, well, this is one book. A pretty short one too! You need room for these plots to breathe and develop but instead we're just skipping only to, or sometimes over, key plot scenes, with nothing in between! Did a single editor see this book? I'm still unconvinced.
Shit, I just realized I forgot: this book is also, through its third point of view Dirk, a harry potter (🤢)-esque coming of age story of finding your people after being orphaned and adopted. Allegedly, anyway. Most of that character's time is spent being the boyfriend of other protagonist Jormon, then at one point his adopted mom shows up and goes "oh yeah we adopted you after your sister found your family slaughtered" before fucking off from the book again. And then at the end his biological uncle's ghost shows up to tell him the name of his biological parents, and I had to check if they were names we had heard before but as far as I can tell the answer is no. You could cut Dirk out of the book altogether, or at least cut his POVs out of the book, and lose essentially nothing.
- I'm mentioning all these plot concepts, but just to reiterate: most of them go fucking nowhere. The homophobia Jormon is afraid he'll have to face as crown prince? After the first few chapters it's only a mild concern in the sense that he might have to have an arranged marriage and that could come between him and his new boyfriend and that's all. By the end of the book, Jormon is kissing Dirk at his own coronation and nobody bats an eye. Great.
The desegregation? Like I said, the school just stops existing as far as the story's concerned.
The siege of the trailer park? Nah Jormon just conquers the whole county between two chapters.
The best way I can sum it up is that structurally, this book reads like a fanfiction that updates serially. You know, one chapter is written, then the next, etc., without ever being able to go back and edit things to make the whole story feel more cohesive because well, it's already published. And as the story evolves over years of updates, the author's interests change, and instead of abandoning or concluding this story and starting a new one, they just swerve dramatically? That's what this feels like. But this isn't a fanfiction. It's a book.
- The writing style is not something I comment often on books. I can be pretty flexible with prose. But if you're going to have shifting POVs that are all in first person, you'd better goddamn give these points of view different voices, and this book does not. The narration sounds interchangeable, and there's not much in the way of interiority regardless of whose head we're in. And, well, that narration just plain isn't good. It feels like the author heard about writing "good" descriptions in theory and decided to do that at the start of every chapter or every scene, because we get a lot of what I can only describe as purple prose, without ever delving into why the narrator would presently focus on that aspect of their surroundings or how they, as a character, would think of these things.
- The characters range from kind of bland to utterly despicable (but we're expected to sympathize). Worst offender is Jormon, golden boy who repeatedly makes his twin Noan suffer the consequences of his actions, up to and including murder, then decides he hates him because his dad (who also hated said twin openly, complete with physical abuse) reveals that Noan was responsible for them being brought to Earth. And by "responsible" I mean he was seven and left unsupervised with a magical artefact. Because his dad was going to kill him. And Jormon decides to sympathize with his dad and not his mother and uncle who decided to save Noan instead. Oh, and also by "reveals" I mean it sounded like something people already knew? The only new part in the dad's explanation is that he was going to kill Noan when previously we thought the whole family worked together to save him. And like, I can get how grief alters someone's perceptions, and he somehow still trusts his abusive dad, but you'd still expect some consequences to come out of him believing what is very obviously a lie, but no.
Instead, after all that, Jormon makes multiple attempts to kill Noan, because Noan, who I'll remind you has taken the blame for a murder Jormon committed, is now in hiding and therefore wasn't here when their dad gets assassinated. A thing which there's no demonstrable way to prove he could have averted considering the assassins have technology to block their magical powers anyway.
And after all that, we get Jormon's boyfriend telling him he's "the best man [he] knows" and Jormon and Noan reunite in a time of crisis with a big hug? And I'm supposed to think any of this is okay?
I already mentioned their dad is also a horrendous piece of shit. Uncle Tobin is presented (from Noan' and Dirk's pov anyway) as a good mentor/father figure but the guy is advocating inaction both when his nephews (one of whom he actually raised himself) are being abused by their dad and also when his people are dying and I'm supposed to think he was correct in that, so, fuck him actually.
The rest of the cast dodges being bad people and instead are just kinda bland and interchangeable. There are attempts at giving them more, I just didn't find them successful. Like…Dirk pees the bed one time, and you might think this is gonna be a part of his character—anxiety, or something? I'm not a psychiatrist—but then it just doesn't come up again.
And well, with bland characters come bland romances. For two of the three POVs, man is Jormon and Dirk's romance a whole lot of nothing. It's like…the homeopathic version of a teenage romance. There's some blushing, some longing looks, a first kiss, and then the rest of their relationship happens off the page. At one point Noan asks Jormon if they're having sex yet and I was like, well, are they, because I certainly haven't been informed despite bouncing between their minds. But then also even in that scene we don't get an answer, and I think it was a Jormon POV! I know "show, don't tell" is good advice (and this book definitely could benefit from it) but at this point I'd settle on just telling! Just give me some information!
Meanwhile, Noan gets two love interests, though he only shows interest in one of them (until the very end where it's hinted he might be catching feelings for the other too?) and none of that also comes to anything. We get some characters commenting on how he shouldn't break Taavi's heart or that he shouldn't mingle with the human Sean, but nothing really happens. Sean is also just wasted, as the stepson of a leader of the KKK analogue who doesn't share the family bigotry. There's some forced conflict when his family's identity is revealed (and yes, it was obvious from his first scene) that goes nowhere. Then he's like "I'm torn between the two sides of this war" because he tried to save his dad from an attack by Jormon, and I'm over here like…your stepdad? Who you're afraid of for homophobia reasons? Who institutionalized your mom? He's the one you're morally torn up about? Okay. Sure.
By the time Sean and Noan have their second kiss (because the first one didn't count I guess?) and they're official I'm so bored. And meanwhile Taavi's like "I will save Sean's life because you care about him and I care about you, Noan" and it is cute but again, nothing about this has had then proper room to breathe and set up. Not to mention, you were all part of the same friend group, am I really supposed to believe Taavi would have let Sean die if Noan hadn't been romantically interested? Come on now.
- None of the cast feel like transplanted aliens. You could make a case for the core teen cast, although given that they were 6-7 when they came to Earth, you'd think they still already have an ingrown sense of culture, of language (how did they learn English when they were at war and then segregated?), of morals and values? The closest I can name is that they seem to be less shy about nudity than Americans, and I'm not even sure if that's actually a cultural trait or just that the characters who get (casually, non-sexually) naked around each other are either love interests or the twins. Otherwise, they just read like regular American teens, and even their pop culture references are to American media.
There is, however, no excuse for the adults, who also don't really feel alien at all. And at that point I just have to assume that, you know, it's because there is no Maerinese culture to speak of. I mean, at least it's good that there are multiple countries on Kayda so they're not just a monoculture, but I know nothing about the one the main cast is from (bar Dirk, sort of, it's complicated) and I certainly couldn't tell you anything about the other countries.
I will note that if the sequel happens, it will necessarily have to change that, since half of the cast is going back to Kayda. I remain dubious as to what the results will look like, and in case it wasn't clear, I'm not gonna check it out for myself lol.
- I guess this is as good a place as any to point out this commits the fantasy cardinal sins of New Magical Power As The Plot Demands! Jormon suddenly tells us of an ability he's supposedly always had when we're 70% through the book and that ability would definitely have been useful earlier. Noan can randomly scry at one point. Phae becomes a witch(? the book states earlier that witch is appropriative of human witches but then keeps calling her a witch anyway) and it's basically off the page and now she can do all sorts of stuff that are not meaningfully different from everyone else but also we're told that it's totally different. Dirk suddenly decides he's able to ride thunderstorms, which at least was introduced as a concept but never really tied to him specifically. If the plot needs an ability to exist someone has it.
What doesn't help is that for a book where the characters are supposedly spending a lot of time training their magic under the tutelage of two of our POVs, we get exactly zero class time to explain the magic system. Mostly because I don't think the magic system has any rules, and I don't mean that in the sense that it's a soft magic system (which, tbh, still has rules) but in the sense that I don't think the author really sat down and figured it out. Just a hunch, though.
- I've already mentioned it, but it bears repeating: the allegory of racial injustice (which is the main throughline of the book) is handled absolutely terribly. I don't know if you can just take magical aliens and put them in the Little Rock Nine story and make it work, but I know this book sure shouldn't have. Their king has diplomatic relations with the US President. He's able to pull rank on the racist school staff. Other human diplomats are also sent that school as part of the integration process and proceed to vanish off the page instantly! We never even meet one or learn their names, they're just mentioned once then vanish, probably because it would defuse a lot of conflict if diplomats were also involved on the pro-integration side.
And that's on top of the general pitfalls that magical people as oppressed group presents to a fantasy story, which this falls for hard. (I'm not ragging on the concept! I have a wip that uses that same premise!) But man, does this fail hard at portraying this as an even fight. It sounds like, mostly, the Kaydans accepted their oppression because the King wanted to work for peace. Doesn't help that the book ends on a "MLK versus Malcolm X" comparison, which to me is just shorthand for anyone who comments on politics of racial liberation without actually doing any research on the topic of what these two men actually believed in.
Oh, and it has to be stated: it's very strange, in a story that starts out being about desegregation, to end the book with the characters finding a way back to their home planet. Like…when Noan says "it means we're free" about that, it definitely creates an unfortunate implication that the solution to segregation is either to go back to separate ethnostates (like Noan) or go to war against the entire American military with less than 300 people (like Jormon). I do not believe this is the intent, it's just the message created by the book. One more thing that could have been caught if this book had to a single round of editing, which I remain convinced that it hasn't.
Another thing that irks me is that there is basically only one human character in the form of Sean. There are other human people who get named, but like…they're not actual characters, they're tropes given a name. The school bully. The KKK sheriff. The pastor. The Trumpian president. But none of them are characters, I'm pretty sure most of them don't even interact directly with the main cast. Which seems like an insane choice! At least have some proper villains or something! But no.
Well, anyway, I just found out Goodreads has a character limit. So I'll end it here. Hopefully this makes some sense, it has taken me a couple hours to write down. I will not be back for more.
July 9, 2024
“Trailer Park Prince” is a captivating and emotionally charged read that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The author’s writing style is excellent, demonstrating careful research and thoughtful storytelling. The book explores complex themes, including the relationship between two brothers and their journey of self-discovery. It tackles challenging topics with nuance, providing insights into different perspectives and experiences. What sets this book apart is its ability to evoke a wide range of emotions. From anger to excitement, the story takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster that keeps them fully engaged. The characters are well-developed, with standout performances from the twin protagonists and supporting characters like Sean. While the plot is intense and, at times, electrifying, it’s the underlying exploration of human nature and relationships that truly resonates. The author doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects, including issues of race and identity, but handles them with sensitivity and depth. I found myself so engrossed in the story that I’m already planning to read it a second time to catch any details I might have missed. This book is more than just entertainment - it offers a thought-provoking look at reality and the complexities of human experiences. I highly recommend “Trailer Park Prince” to anyone looking for a gripping, emotionally rich read that will keep them thinking long after they’ve turned the last page.
June 11, 2024
A story about Kaydan people, who arrived on Earth, and how they have to deal with people hunting them, while trying to survive.
The story is told from the POV of two princes - Jormon and Noan, and Dirk, who is later saved by these two. Noan, as a shadow child, should have been killed after his birt as the younger twin, but his mother refused to do it, so they hide him, but he was eventually discovered.
Now, in the American South, he tries to live a normal live with his family, and his people, but it’s not easy.
I like the theme of the book - a mother’s love for her sons, hate for refugees, who are “different”. I think this is an interesting book, and it’s definily thought-provoking, especially now.
What I liked less was Jormon, as a heir to the king title, he never really faced his decisions, and always let his younger brother took the blame (cause everyone already hates him so why not?). I don’t know, if there will be a sequel, but at the end of this book, Jormon could make a better decision. Honestly, he was so annoying, it was painful to read.
I wasn’t that much of a fan of the love story between Jormon and Dirk, it was an insta love, and the writing never really went deeper into their relationship, so I didn’t care that much about that part (also Dirk deserved better).
Noan, uncle Tobin, and Phae were the MVPs of this story.
I would rate this 3.5*.
The story is told from the POV of two princes - Jormon and Noan, and Dirk, who is later saved by these two. Noan, as a shadow child, should have been killed after his birt as the younger twin, but his mother refused to do it, so they hide him, but he was eventually discovered.
Now, in the American South, he tries to live a normal live with his family, and his people, but it’s not easy.
I like the theme of the book - a mother’s love for her sons, hate for refugees, who are “different”. I think this is an interesting book, and it’s definily thought-provoking, especially now.
What I liked less was Jormon, as a heir to the king title, he never really faced his decisions, and always let his younger brother took the blame (cause everyone already hates him so why not?). I don’t know, if there will be a sequel, but at the end of this book, Jormon could make a better decision. Honestly, he was so annoying, it was painful to read.
I wasn’t that much of a fan of the love story between Jormon and Dirk, it was an insta love, and the writing never really went deeper into their relationship, so I didn’t care that much about that part (also Dirk deserved better).
Noan, uncle Tobin, and Phae were the MVPs of this story.
I would rate this 3.5*.
April 22, 2025
I would definitely recommend this book to the right reader. A curious blend of sci-fi and and urban fantasy, this book powerfully explores the themes of oppression and racism in a way that feels accessible. We're gifted with multiple POVs as well, which I personally love. I was a bit disappointed by the ending, as it didn't feel the story had come to a good conclusion and resolution, especially with a couple of the character arcs. At the same time, it feels right to the story that with such themes of oppression it would remain 'unfinished'. This book is definitely powerful for the right reader. Additionally, if you're looking for a love story to go along with these powerful themes, it really doesn't get much spotlight at all, so be advised.
Knowing what I know now about this book, would I still read it if I went back in time?
Possibly. I think I'd need to be in the right frame of mind to read a book that doesn't have a fulfilling conclusion.
See below for the four criteria I use to decide whether and when to read a book
CHARACTERS: We follow three characters: twin brothers Jormon and Noan, and Dirk. All three are Kaydan's--aliens-- from a different world living in Georgia under the oppression of an America afraid of their being the 'other'. We also meet Taavi, Phae, and Sean. All of them have their own foibles, but I do think that each of the characters could have been fleshed out further. I could see the toll that oppression took on them, as it left their characters subdued even when they were in the safety of their own homes. (If you could say they had that safety.) Jormon is struggling with being the older brother and heir to the thone, whereas his brother is a shadow child, and by the rules of their people, should have been killed at birth. The two of them balance each other out as well as bring out the worst qualities in each other, which becomes glaringly obvious when they're separated. I personally found that dichotomy to be impressively written, even though I'd hoped for a more fulfilling ending for the two of them.
PLOT: Per the act of King Rosh, Jormon and Noan's father, they're going to spearhead an integration campaign into studying at the human high school in town. The majority of the beginning deals with the constant oppression and outright hatred they face, as well as how they attempt to navigate it the best they can. By the middle of the book, it's more than just hatred, but open war is looming on the horizon with the election of a horrifically hate-filled President. As their lives are at stake, the twins and their small circle needs to decide how they're going to fight back, or if they'll even fight back at all.
EMOTIONAL INTENSITY: There is no good/bad here. Sometimes I just want a low-investment entertainment read whereas other times a high-stakes 'I need a therapist to recover' is what I need.
4:5/high. A lot of these forms of hatred and oppression will feel incredibly realistic to readers and may possibly be a triggering topic.
CATHARTIC FULFILLMENT: Is the emotional journey worth it? Do I finish this book feeling that I've crested the wave of the climactic moment and everything has been settled, leaving me settled and fulfilled?
50%. That being said, I don't think this book is meant to have a catharsis in the way I'd like. As a commentary on society told through the lens of fantasy, it makes sense that the topic is left open and 'unfinished'. Mostly I wished to see a different ending in terms of certain relationships in the group.
Knowing what I know now about this book, would I still read it if I went back in time?
Possibly. I think I'd need to be in the right frame of mind to read a book that doesn't have a fulfilling conclusion.
See below for the four criteria I use to decide whether and when to read a book
CHARACTERS: We follow three characters: twin brothers Jormon and Noan, and Dirk. All three are Kaydan's--aliens-- from a different world living in Georgia under the oppression of an America afraid of their being the 'other'. We also meet Taavi, Phae, and Sean. All of them have their own foibles, but I do think that each of the characters could have been fleshed out further. I could see the toll that oppression took on them, as it left their characters subdued even when they were in the safety of their own homes. (If you could say they had that safety.) Jormon is struggling with being the older brother and heir to the thone, whereas his brother is a shadow child, and by the rules of their people, should have been killed at birth. The two of them balance each other out as well as bring out the worst qualities in each other, which becomes glaringly obvious when they're separated. I personally found that dichotomy to be impressively written, even though I'd hoped for a more fulfilling ending for the two of them.
PLOT: Per the act of King Rosh, Jormon and Noan's father, they're going to spearhead an integration campaign into studying at the human high school in town. The majority of the beginning deals with the constant oppression and outright hatred they face, as well as how they attempt to navigate it the best they can. By the middle of the book, it's more than just hatred, but open war is looming on the horizon with the election of a horrifically hate-filled President. As their lives are at stake, the twins and their small circle needs to decide how they're going to fight back, or if they'll even fight back at all.
EMOTIONAL INTENSITY: There is no good/bad here. Sometimes I just want a low-investment entertainment read whereas other times a high-stakes 'I need a therapist to recover' is what I need.
4:5/high. A lot of these forms of hatred and oppression will feel incredibly realistic to readers and may possibly be a triggering topic.
CATHARTIC FULFILLMENT: Is the emotional journey worth it? Do I finish this book feeling that I've crested the wave of the climactic moment and everything has been settled, leaving me settled and fulfilled?
50%. That being said, I don't think this book is meant to have a catharsis in the way I'd like. As a commentary on society told through the lens of fantasy, it makes sense that the topic is left open and 'unfinished'. Mostly I wished to see a different ending in terms of certain relationships in the group.
June 19, 2024
This recently released sci-fi book explores the experiences of the members of an alien race, called Kaydans, who were mistakenly dragged through a portal to Earth ten years ago. First attacked as enemies, then segregated from human society, their king has worked to secure a program of integration at a time where anti-Kaydan sentiments have been whipped into a frenzy. Think the African American civil rights movement, but with aliens that have superpowers, a lot of queerness and some complicated internal politics.
There's enough going on in this book that my main complaint about it can be boiled down to: this is two books worth of content struggling to be one book. This leaves some plot points - and, more importantly, important elements of character development - underdeveloped. Not enough to be a dealbreaker, but enough to feel unnecessary, given the way to address these issues pretty much comes down to wrapping up the plot roughly 100 pages early and using the newly freed up pages to, I dunno, give us some chapters from the single female character who served a narrative purpose? Flesh out a bit more of the internal politics of the Kaydans? Finally finish telling us the full story about the much-hinted-at reason the Kaydans ended up on Earth? There were options, is what I'm getting at.
If this is starting to sound like I didn't like 'Trailer Park Prince,' that's far from being true. The only thing I didn't like is that what started off as a power/magic system with some structure to it, quickly devolved into a matter of "it'll do what it needs to do, when it needs to do it." Otherwise, I was invested enough that I wanted it to be a book I could give a 5/5 to.
As it stands, though, my rating is going to be: 4/5.
It's a solid, if not amazing, book, whose sequel I will definitely be keeping an eye out for.
There's enough going on in this book that my main complaint about it can be boiled down to: this is two books worth of content struggling to be one book. This leaves some plot points - and, more importantly, important elements of character development - underdeveloped. Not enough to be a dealbreaker, but enough to feel unnecessary, given the way to address these issues pretty much comes down to wrapping up the plot roughly 100 pages early and using the newly freed up pages to, I dunno, give us some chapters from the single female character who served a narrative purpose? Flesh out a bit more of the internal politics of the Kaydans? Finally finish telling us the full story about the much-hinted-at reason the Kaydans ended up on Earth? There were options, is what I'm getting at.
If this is starting to sound like I didn't like 'Trailer Park Prince,' that's far from being true. The only thing I didn't like is that what started off as a power/magic system with some structure to it, quickly devolved into a matter of "it'll do what it needs to do, when it needs to do it." Otherwise, I was invested enough that I wanted it to be a book I could give a 5/5 to.
As it stands, though, my rating is going to be: 4/5.
It's a solid, if not amazing, book, whose sequel I will definitely be keeping an eye out for.
May 17, 2024
Thank you Tiny Ghost Press for the eARC, these opinions are my own. So intense and had me on edge the whole time! Jormon and Noan are from a different planet. A planet where it’s illegal to have twins. Since Jormon was born first his is the crown prince, Noan should have been killed at birth. But the Queen wouldn’t hear of it and the King gave in to her. Unfortunately their kingdom finds out and forces them to flee. They open a rift and find themselves along with many of their people on Earth. The people of Earth are unkind and the wars begin. After the war the hunts begin. Now Noan and Jormon’s people live in a trailer park and are constantly oppressed. They’re not allowed to use their magic and many laws are in place to make things horrific for them. Now their father, the King, has a plan to integrate them with the humans. Will this be successful? Are there bigger things at play than either Noan and Jormon know? Can their bond maintain or will all the pressure fracture their relationship? Such a good read but be prepared to find yourself enraged by the way Noan, Jormon, and their people are treated! Many similarities to things that have actually happened. Jormon pissed me off a lot I agreed with his decisions toward the end! A story about surviving, standing up for your people, fighting back, finding yourself, and first loves! Also super queer!
July 22, 2024
It started with premise. I was intrigued. A stark view on how rampant specieism is in this world and how it contrasts currenr societal ossues being something akin to racism and social divide. It's pretty rough at points with hoe unfair things are (it's giving district 9 which just made me feel sad for the prawn) and these alien species which I'm assuming look just like homosapiens - albeit pre tattooed, get absolutely raw dogged constantly by the humans (typical, we are pretty disgusting as a species).
It also has some "magic" which the alien race has captured amd are selling to the humans l, and ofcourse, humans are great at making this a new advantage to them, but something happens in the middle that just really slows the cadence and interest in the story. It is multi POV which i typically love, I just felt like a big chunk of the book was confused in what it was tryig to do, so when the ending finally hit it was good, but missed continuity. It looks like the ending is open ended for a potential sequel or even more. Will I read it? Probably. Very much a new new adult audience, more so 16+ but nothing below.
It also has some "magic" which the alien race has captured amd are selling to the humans l, and ofcourse, humans are great at making this a new advantage to them, but something happens in the middle that just really slows the cadence and interest in the story. It is multi POV which i typically love, I just felt like a big chunk of the book was confused in what it was tryig to do, so when the ending finally hit it was good, but missed continuity. It looks like the ending is open ended for a potential sequel or even more. Will I read it? Probably. Very much a new new adult audience, more so 16+ but nothing below.
February 15, 2025
2.75*
This was OK. There are 3 POVs (Noan, Jorman, and Dirk) to be perfectly honest, I didn't feel the connection between the love interests of either prince. I wanted Taavi to get his HEA, and he was sweet and kind and a protector and supported Noan. He would stand up for him and always out him first, so that was throughly disappointing. I didn't really like being in Jormans mind the li ger we were there, and I grew to dislike him quite a bit by the end. Dirk was fine.
I felt betrayed by the king and the way he treated Noan, by Torbin and the way he didn't stand up for Noan in multiple cases and defended his brother (where was the man that risked everything for him?) and betrayed by Jorman and his mental gymnastics to not blame himself.
Having said that the emotions felt were very deep and I didn't really care? Probably because I didn't get the emotional connection I was hoping for. I liked Noan though.
This was OK. There are 3 POVs (Noan, Jorman, and Dirk) to be perfectly honest, I didn't feel the connection between the love interests of either prince. I wanted Taavi to get his HEA, and he was sweet and kind and a protector and supported Noan. He would stand up for him and always out him first, so that was throughly disappointing. I didn't really like being in Jormans mind the li ger we were there, and I grew to dislike him quite a bit by the end. Dirk was fine.
I felt betrayed by the king and the way he treated Noan, by Torbin and the way he didn't stand up for Noan in multiple cases and defended his brother (where was the man that risked everything for him?) and betrayed by Jorman and his mental gymnastics to not blame himself.
Having said that the emotions felt were very deep and I didn't really care? Probably because I didn't get the emotional connection I was hoping for. I liked Noan though.
June 28, 2025
The concept of this book was really interesting and seemed to have a lot of potential. Literally none of it was utilized.
This book struggles to find any balance between the sci-fi story it wants to tell and the story of segregation that it's reenacting. It has no tonal consistency, often swinging between hard anger and light hearted shenanigans. I don't believe any of the character relationships, specifically the two romances happening between are main characters.
It also suffers horribly from telling and not showing. Things happen off screen that were told about and we just have to run with, especially for the interesting stuff. Every character talks like they've simultaneously had five years of intensive therapy and have never spoken to another person. I kind of wonder if the author knows how to speak to people.
Honestly, I should have just dnf'd it.
This book struggles to find any balance between the sci-fi story it wants to tell and the story of segregation that it's reenacting. It has no tonal consistency, often swinging between hard anger and light hearted shenanigans. I don't believe any of the character relationships, specifically the two romances happening between are main characters.
It also suffers horribly from telling and not showing. Things happen off screen that were told about and we just have to run with, especially for the interesting stuff. Every character talks like they've simultaneously had five years of intensive therapy and have never spoken to another person. I kind of wonder if the author knows how to speak to people.
Honestly, I should have just dnf'd it.
August 25, 2024
Fabulous! A modern parable that speaks truth through fiction, allowing readers to absorb some pretty tough realities of life in the USA for those deemed outsiders but through the lens of fantasy. I really appreciated the rich, magical life the characters had that was hidden from mainstream Americans. It was a generous read and as the book progressed, it was hard to put it down. I found myself cheering on (and sometimes yelling at!) the two main characters as they navigated life and love in an often deeply unwelcoming environment.
The book's ending was also a beginning, so I am looking forward to reading the sequel!
The book's ending was also a beginning, so I am looking forward to reading the sequel!
June 17, 2024
Thanks to Tiny Ghost Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the world and the magic system built here as well as the wide cast of characters. There’s so much to sink your teeth into and I feel like this is a fresh take on YA sci-fi/fantasy. I do feel like it’s a bit rushed and some big themes get glossed over and we just breeze through chances to really marinate in the world and the characters’ journeys. Overall though really fun, interesting, refreshing, and feels like something essential for young audiences!
I loved the world and the magic system built here as well as the wide cast of characters. There’s so much to sink your teeth into and I feel like this is a fresh take on YA sci-fi/fantasy. I do feel like it’s a bit rushed and some big themes get glossed over and we just breeze through chances to really marinate in the world and the characters’ journeys. Overall though really fun, interesting, refreshing, and feels like something essential for young audiences!
June 3, 2024
Wow what an allegory! The whole time I would find the snippets of modern American South and it hurt my heart because we know it to be true for all Kaydans. Those who are different or other will always be at battle for acceptance from the majority, from their own people, from everyone. We just want a place to belong.
Thank you Tiny Ghost Press and Andre Bradley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!
Trailer Park Prince by Andre L Bradley release June 11, 2024!
Thank you Tiny Ghost Press and Andre Bradley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!
Trailer Park Prince by Andre L Bradley release June 11, 2024!
June 6, 2024
Trailer Park Prince
Andre L. Bradley
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Jormon and Noan are both princes from another world, but the two couldn’t be more different. One is heir to the throne and the other should have never been born.
Trailer Park Prince was such a good book. There were magic powers, dimensional travel, a little mystery, a little romance, and a whole bunch of twists keeping you on the edge of your seat.
The brothers were so different I love Noan, but Jormon was problematic at best. Jormon was an entitled brat that continuously sacrificed his brother to protect himself. Noan while always taking the fall kept trying to prove himself to his father and his people.
There was so much their story covered displaced from their home, strangers in a new world, being harassed, hunted and treated like less than. The Kaydans were like so many groups throughout our history, including current events.
My only complaint, if you can even call it that, was the ending. I’m not sure if we will get a book two, but I’d really like to know what happens next.
Andre L. Bradley
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Jormon and Noan are both princes from another world, but the two couldn’t be more different. One is heir to the throne and the other should have never been born.
Trailer Park Prince was such a good book. There were magic powers, dimensional travel, a little mystery, a little romance, and a whole bunch of twists keeping you on the edge of your seat.
The brothers were so different I love Noan, but Jormon was problematic at best. Jormon was an entitled brat that continuously sacrificed his brother to protect himself. Noan while always taking the fall kept trying to prove himself to his father and his people.
There was so much their story covered displaced from their home, strangers in a new world, being harassed, hunted and treated like less than. The Kaydans were like so many groups throughout our history, including current events.
My only complaint, if you can even call it that, was the ending. I’m not sure if we will get a book two, but I’d really like to know what happens next.
February 28, 2024
I wasn't sure at first, but once I got in, I was invested and I could not put this down!
July 12, 2024
4.5
This was a really heavy read, a book that should honestly make you feel uncomfortable at times (and if you don’t feel uncomfortable, you should be asking yourself why that is).
This was a really heavy read, a book that should honestly make you feel uncomfortable at times (and if you don’t feel uncomfortable, you should be asking yourself why that is).
July 30, 2024
Rainbow Crate book box edition
August 1, 2024
*Review to come*
August 11, 2024
The story is original and there is a lot of commentary about racism and homophobia which I enjoyed for a YA.
There were some issues I had with the book. It's extremely heavy in places then jumps to light, childish moments. The book had trouble finding its overall tone. Same with its pacing. The multi pov was also confusing at times and a bit messy. I enjoyed the first half more than the second half but I did like the ending. Really started to dislike Jormon. It feels like he's going for his villain arc for book two.
There were some issues I had with the book. It's extremely heavy in places then jumps to light, childish moments. The book had trouble finding its overall tone. Same with its pacing. The multi pov was also confusing at times and a bit messy. I enjoyed the first half more than the second half but I did like the ending. Really started to dislike Jormon. It feels like he's going for his villain arc for book two.
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