Prince of Ruin

The Wayward Sovereigns #2

by Maxine Rivers

CLAV
It’s not that I’m trying to fool anyone into believing I’m some naïve human with no memories of ruling a Fae world as an evil king who hated humans. It’s that I actually am a naïve human with no memories of ruling the Fae world. As an evil king. Who hated humans.
I mean, how could I even hate humans when I, myself, am human? But the prince regent, Tarsus, who claims to be my step-sibling-turned-lover-turned-enemy isn’t buying it. And I’m not sure how much time I have to convince them that I have no intentions of stabbing them in the back before they run me through with their terrifying antlers.

TARSUS
Clav has got to go.
Not only is he making old feelings for him resurface—feelings that I thought were long gone, you know, after he betrayed me all those years ago. But he is a threat to Aden, my human boyfriend. The goddess demanded a human sacrifice. Not just any human sacrifice, she wants Aden. She threatens to bury our continent in ash and lava if we don’t meet her deadline. And somehow Aden believes Clav is our key to making Mother Terra drop her demands. But then, Aden has always been one to see the good in others—even when that good is essentially non-existent.

ADEN
Tarsus wants Clav gone.
Clav wants Tarsus to calm the fuck down.
I just want some peace between the two hotties that I’ve been boning all week.
But how can I convince Tarsus that Clav truly has forgotten his past as a cruel Fae king? And how can I convince Clav to grow the balls to face our goddess and convince her to spare me—to spare all humans—from being thrown into the volcano?
Yeah, see, living as a human in a Fae world among sexy princes, witches, vampires, and giant bat warriors with massive cocks isn’t the hype it’s made out to be.
Well, maybe it is, but I’m not sure it’s worth risking my life for.

Genres: Polyamorous, Fae

524 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2024

About the author

Maxine Rivers (Max, they/them) is the author of spicy fantasy romance featuring queer characters. They live in the Midwest with their husband, two kids, and a beagle who considers herself a master explorer. When not getting off on--I mean lost in smutty books, Max can be found painting anatomical structures, bingeing The Vampire Diaries, or watching the sunset with an overstuffed pipe in hand. You can find them on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok at @AuthorMaxineRivers.

Reviews

[Bekka]

This book is 523 pages which I read in less than 24 hours yet I’m still torn on my rating. A lot of instances I enjoyed, others less so and I worry about the very niche amount of readership like there are so few instances I can see myself recommending this (just alone poly, mpreg and dubcon are often on the list
of things people go out of their way to exclude from their reading)

One MC is the human fae king. He was banished and has forgotten that he is in fact the fae king. If we hadn’t been told repeatedly that he’s supposed to have ADHD I wouldn’t have guessed it, I will look out for reviews to see if anyone has a take on this.

This human MC is joined by a second human MC who is a trans man (I guess we learn how he got involved in the whole fae realm in the previous books since there were mentions of this - at the beginning I didn’t feel like I was missing info but later on did but this character repeated stuff I did know multiple times instead of stuff I couldn’t know not having read book 1) and was kicked out of home as a teen. He’s a switch in the bedroom and these human men read super “self-inserty” for the intended reader. More on that shortly.

The stepbrother ex-lover fae MC has the fewest chapters from their POV and they also felt the least developed. Yes, they were pissed how they felt abandoned but we didn't see enough of their previous relationship that the fae king did so much to protect that it was hard to connect to their love line.

A quick excursion on the lecteur modèle from Umberto Eco:

When an author is creating a piece, they have a specific consumer in mind. For an author's message to be understood the way they want it to be understood it is easiest working within the dominant hegemonic code (see Hall 1999, 107). The author will use codes they know the consumer understands, being part of a certain group and discourse so that they subconsciously decode the message the author wants to be transmitted (Hall 1999, 107). In reality, everyone has a slightly different habitus so there is never one singular Truth, never only one meaning that can be decoded. So according to the semiotician Umberto Eco, a model reader is created who becomes part of the textual production of meaning. Meaning in a text is produced not exclusively when written, it is part of a process and only becomes complete when the codes and connotations therein are activated by a reader. This textual co-operation is a phenomenon that takes place between the discursive strategy of the author and that of the reader.

This book is written in first person present and for me personally there are two many references that read like the model reader is supposed to nod along, supposed to feel like they're not alone in their love for monster romance along the lines of "It's fine sweetie, everyone wants a monster book boyfriend and finds them 🥵🌶️"
This level of trying to "connect" to a model reader did not jibe with me (since I'm not that model reader) but I can see a lot of readers enjoying it. Some quotes to highlight what I mean:

- I mean, he looks like a book boyfriend who stepped right out of a romance novel. p. 12

- I look at the stack of books he swipes from the table, recognizing half of them as the gay monster romances I’ve read and re-read. Oh shit. I’m a goner now. p. 13

- That faerie wine must be making me beyond horny. Maybe I’ve watched Beauty and the Beast one too many times as a kid, maybe I’ve read too many monster romances as an adult, but with his massive, strong form standing this close to me, promising his protection, all I want is to let him throw me on the bed with those remarkable talons and fuck me the way the bats were fucking in the cavern. p. 148

- How can I find a bat humanoid attractive? Scratch that, I’ve jacked off to enough monster smut to answer that question. p. 149

- I’m living every monster smut reader’s fantasy, why squander it?  I’m feeling bold. It must be the wine. It has to be the wine. p. 149

- How often have I fantasized about being monster-fucked? How many gay monster-fucker books have I read and gotten off to? I might very well die tomorrow. Maybe…maybe getting fucked by this beast is exactly what I need right now. p. 150

- “He seemed…safe enough.” Clav’s smile fades into a frown, his gray eyes meeting mine. “And…I don’t know. Maybe it’s all the monster fucker books I read, but I wanted to live out that fantasy.” A laugh bubbles out of me. Books will always be our common ground, and apparently, our undoing. “Was it everything you hoped for?” p. 265

- “How many sovereigns have you fucked, Aden?” He snorts. “I mean, do you count? If so, then two. Then the prince regent, Tarsus. And I also have an ongoing, casual relationship with Ash, the vampire.” He winks. “No big deal.” “My. God.” I laugh and shake my head. “You are truly living the fantasy bookworm dream.” p. 315

- etc.

Tags: poly, fae king is in a human twink body with pink hair who doesn't remember anything about being the fae king, intrigue, dub con, TW oversized tarantula, patricide, trans MC (vaginal and anal sex and use of terms pussy, cunt, vagina, clit), seahorse pregnancy, big fae with antlers, second chance, MCS have sex with without romantic feelings, pinky promises should never be broken, spit roasting, fuck train, and a position I'd never seen before, all MCS fuck and be fucked

[Darrion Woulleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow....
This was an amazing second book to the series. There is so much going on but I'm definitely here for it.
This book follows Clav, Aden, Tarsus and I want to say Abaddon because believe it or not he is still a big part of this story. No pun intended. (maybe 😉)

There is spice, heartbreak, love and drama, between the human realm and Fae realm there is so much in this book that just hits the right spot.

[Cylvan "Mischief" · Rating 5 out of 5]

This voluntary review is based on a generously provided ARC
~The Prose~
Book 2 in the Wayward Sovereigns series hits so differently than King of Bastards Yes, we have strong themes of regaining betrayed trust and forming found family, but holy shit the mountain we climb to get there is fraught with angst and upheaval. The events of this book take place immediately after the conclusion of book 1 and we are once more thrown into the chaos at a breakneck pace. We get the POV of all three of our MMCs and get to witness the wildly differing levels of trust or lack there of. Seeing these characters make one flawed decision after another is infuriating in the best way. I've never wanted so badly to reach into a book and slap someone so badly and that drive kept me turning the page.
~The Cons~
Honestly, none. Every concern I would potentially point out is addressed in the content warnings.
~The Bon-Bons~
We are back on the queer-normative gender spectrum hype train with this book! Our cast of MMCs include an 8ft tall they/them with handle bars, oops I mean antlers, a scrawny pink haired twink and a power bottom trans guy just trying to get everyone to get along...by fucking. We are treated to a super sized order hate fucking with a side order of monster fuckery. There is several instances of dub-con varying in dubiousness. Also...stepbrothers <3

[Emily Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea how big this universe was when I started reading about Clav the human's surprise encounters with fae, and I was blown away by the expansive cast of characters and intricate lore building that Maxine Rivers crafted here. Clav's journey was a fascinating exploration of past reputations and present-day truths, all set against the backdrop of a faerie universe on the brink of disaster should Clav not be able to reason with Mother Terra. It was clear early on that everyone from Clav's past had expectations of him tied up in their memories of the power-hungry king he used to be before being cursed to mortality. That made it all the more captivating to see the world through Clav's eyes and realize how stacked the odds were against him, and I quickly began to root for him to somehow convince everyone else of his innocence. Tarsus in particular had scars from their shared past with Clav, and they were one of the fae who was most suspicious of his motives for the majority of the story. The only person who seemed inclined to give Clav a fair shot was Aden, and even his generosity wavered as more and more of Clav's past actions came to light.

What I appreciated about this book was how deeply layered each character was, and the further I got into the story the more I started to understand how all the different aspects of their personalities and backstories had shaped them into the individuals they were in the present day. The underlying urgency to get Mother Terra to stop destroying the lands drove everyone's actions in this book, and that led them down a variety of different paths. I'll admit that at times I had difficulty wrapping my head around the motivations of certain characters, and maybe some of that was intentional because I'm not sure if they really knew what they wanted from each other. Tarsus had especially conflicted emotions when it came to Clav, and I was never sure if they were going to fight or f*ck any time they were alone in a room together. As much as I enjoyed the steamy bits of this book--and there was a hefty helping of uniquely stimulating encounters--I felt like some of them pulled me out of the moment when the storyline was taking one of its many twists and turns. I blame myself for being too curious about how the journey was going to end, but I did get a little impatient at times to keep things moving forward.

The plotlines in this book were impossible to nail down, and each time I thought I was sure of the direction the characters were headed there would be a new wrinkle to force everyone to think on the fly once again. There were several times as I was reading that I had no clue if Clav, Aden, and Tarsus were going to get a happy ending, and they kept me on my toes all the way through the final couple of chapters. For me, the pacing towards the end of the book was a little off, as the story felt both really slow at times but also like it skipped through a lot of details in other instances. I feel like there was just so much stuff that the author was trying to cram in to tie up all the loose ends without making this book ridiculously long, and when multiple characters went through such an extensive self-growth journey it was a lot to keep track of and resolve satisfactorily. I was pleased by how things worked out for all three of the leads in this book, and though I can't say that I predicted what their HEA would look like I'm happy with the decisions they made. I definitely think I'll need to reread this one to fully digest everything that happened along the way, because Aden, Clav, and Tarsus came such a long way from where they started out that I can barely remember who they were at the beginning of the book.

**I voluntarily read an ARC of this book. This review expresses my honest thoughts and opinions.

[Katriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maxine is a new-to-me author, I've never read their work prior to this story and I'm impressed! While this is technically book two in this series, I didn't read book one and was able to fully enjoy this book as a standalone.

Now onto the characters! Clav has grown up in the human realm not knowing there are other realms that exist. He's a bookworm who loves fictional romance and dinosaurs. When he meets Aden his whole life changes in a way he could have never been prepared for... But will that change be for the better or for worse?

Clav's character is a sweetheart, he's awkward, shy, smart, and perceptive. I adored the fact that both him and Aden are book worms, it made me happy to read about two characters who love getting immersed into stories. I liked being able to see Clav grow and develop throughout this story, he made mistakes but learned from them and apologized for them.

Aden was sweet too in his own way, he sees the good in Clav and believes he isn't the horrible person Tarsus believed him once to be. Overtime Aden's beliefs switches and evolves as the story progressees and we get to see him think for himself and he took the time to truly listen to what Clav was telling him. I liked how he was so supportive of Tarsus, and even while he was weary of Clav, he still cared for his wellbeing.

Tarsus... Tarsus's character didn't win me over. They were very brash and harsh, quite cruel too. While I do understand there was a lot of bad history that occured between them and the person Clav once was, their behavior was very harsh. Even towards Aden they became quite rude and spiteful. Overtime I thought their character would give Clav a chance, and get to know who this version of Clav truly is... But they just held onto the person Clav was and hated him for it for almost the whole story...

I will say that I don't know if I would necessarily call this a romance book in the conventional sense... There doesn't really feel like much romance is occuring between these characters, yes there is lust and steamy times but there isn't much of a connection between them. I didn't feel as though they actually had romantic feelings for each other, it felt like they just lusted for one another.

Even though I didn't love Tarsus's character, the story itself I thought was good. The world building was detailed nicely, and I loved the variety of mythical creatures that got introduced. I liked reading about these characters figuring out a solution to stop the volcano from destroying their world, when one plan didn't work, they came up with something different. Clav embracing his past self and his present self was definitely the best part of the story in my opinion, it was what all the build up was leading up to. It was done so well! Overall a decent story that kept me intrigued the whole time, I'm looking forward to what's next.

[Megan Hull · Rating 3 out of 5]

MMM romance is a little misleading when there are more than 3 in the bed.

Honestly the story was pretty good, great world building and character development. Clav was by far my favorite. I just honestly don't care for Aden's character or really Tauras, not to mention as much as I enjoy reading all sorts of inclusive stories, giving some warning with trans or polyamorous relationships before hand might be a good idea. I was really not expecting all of that or the bed hoping so to speak for a supposed romance that had very little romance and more like lust. It's literally called A spicy MMM fantasy romance, but honestly not MMM as there were more people/monsters added in to the mix. I missed the romance part and think it would have taken this from 3 to 5 stars. Will definitely be willing to read more in this series.

[Arlene Igbinoba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m new to this author but am very impressed with their storytelling. We get the mmc’s point of view and get to see how they experience moments with each other. I felt like the characters lacked just a bit of more romance but the spice was there. I’m not big on MMM books because not everyone knows how to write them and this author knows what they are doing. Would definitely recommend this book.

[Ky Briscoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book right after the first and I really appreciated how easy the stories flowed into eachother. Unliked the first book this is a multi POV, which added some extra depth (hah) to the main characters.

[Rylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this duology!! Aden is a wonderful representation of everything you want to see in a fantasy hero, and also a great rep for Trans males