What do you think?
Rate this book
Children of the Sun #2
Prince of Fire
An evil has risen in Columbyana, and according to The Prophesy of the Firstborn only the eldest children of three Fyne women can defeat it.
Keelia, Red Queen of the Anwyn, is a powerful psychic whose gifts have been dampened for months. It should be impossible for anyone to sneak up on her in her own palace and spirit her away, but she finds herself in a cave prison, a Caradon kidnapper her keeper.
Joryn is determined to force the Anwyn Queen to undo the curse she’s cast upon his people, a curse she swears is not her doing. He quickly rejects her ridiculous suggestion that they might be mated. His dreams of her are nothing more than yet another manipulation of her magic. He will be mated to no one woman.
Though they got off to a rocky start, Keelia and Joryn must join forces to fight the evil that is infecting their mountain home. They find themselves in a race against time. If they don’t prevail they will both be lost.
Keelia, Red Queen of the Anwyn, is a powerful psychic whose gifts have been dampened for months. It should be impossible for anyone to sneak up on her in her own palace and spirit her away, but she finds herself in a cave prison, a Caradon kidnapper her keeper.
Joryn is determined to force the Anwyn Queen to undo the curse she’s cast upon his people, a curse she swears is not her doing. He quickly rejects her ridiculous suggestion that they might be mated. His dreams of her are nothing more than yet another manipulation of her magic. He will be mated to no one woman.
Though they got off to a rocky start, Keelia and Joryn must join forces to fight the evil that is infecting their mountain home. They find themselves in a race against time. If they don’t prevail they will both be lost.
ebook
First published April 3, 2007
20 people are currently reading
379 people want to read
About the author
Linda Winstead Jones
184 books378 followersLinda Winstead Jones is the bestselling author of more than eighty romance novels and novellas across several sub-genres. She’s easily distracted (Look! A squirrel!) and writes the stories that speak to her in the moment. Paranormal. Romantic Suspense. Twisted Fairy Tales. Cowboys. Her books are for readers who want to escape from reality for a while, who don’t mind the occasional trip into another world for a laugh, a chill, the occasional heartwarming tear. Where will we go next?
More information can be found at lindawinsteadjones.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter, and at www.facebook.com/LindaWinsteadJones or www.facebook.com/LindaHowardLindaJones.
More information can be found at lindawinsteadjones.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter, and at www.facebook.com/LindaWinsteadJones or www.facebook.com/LindaHowardLindaJones.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 22, 2019
(spoiler alert. By the end of this review you’ll know more about the story than you probably wanted to)
From the very first paragraph, our heroine Keelia is a big disappointment. She’s been built up as this powerful psychic and queen, and here she is, trembling like a child over nothing more than being kidnapped by some guy. She manages to pull herself together, sort of, but doesn’t make a good first impression. And then she pouts and demands to be released like a child, complete with stomping foot and ludicrous, demanding belief that she can simply command and it will be done. The love interest, Joryn, also seems a bit young. I wasn’t sure if that was deliberate or not.
The instant possessiveness on Joryn’s part is incomprehensible, and quite frankly an insult to his people. There is nothing admirable or attractive about her personality, and he seems a very shallow person to fall head over lust for her just because she is pretty.
Stripped of all her supposedly formidable psychic powers, there appears to be nothing more to Keelia than you would find in any teenager obsessed with the drama of her own life. When it looks like her captor and enemy is about to burn her with fire, does she grab whatever is available and attempt to protect herself? No, she just wilts like a plucked daisy and waits to be killed. When nothing comes of that, she turns herself into a wolf and throws herself against the bars again and again, without apparent effect. Expecting…what, exactly?
It isn’t until later, when we are back on Joryn’s head and we need a reason to make him admire her that we find out she has managed to loosen a couple of the bars, but by then it’s too late. She has already cemented the initial bad impression.
Her questions and actions show nothing of any particular intelligence or common sense. There isn’t enough chemistry between the two of them to stick two pages together, and slapping on an artificial lust in the form of dreams (and, of course, her approaching heat) just didn’t do it for me. And he’s not much better; as far as he knows she is an alternately whiny and arrogant enemy child in a woman’s body, a person who he thinks has done a terrible evil, and still he can’t help drooling over her naked body.
Intellectual, this book ain’t.
Although, I was glad that he immediately thought the dreams were an evil seduction when he recognized the mark on her body. It showed that he had at least a little common sense.
So we spend four chapters on absolutely nothing that advances the plot in any way. The romance, if you could call it that, is more flaccid than turgid despite all the time they spend thinking about lust, and it suffers from an excess of romance clichés. Oh, evil seductress with your pale, perfect skin, your soft delicate hands…see how manfully I resist the urge to thrown myself upon your delicious, willing, yielding body. What? You’re a virgin? Well then, I’ll just stand here, fascinated and erect, watching you monologue in your cell some more.
I’m not sure where this book came from. I know Ms. Jones can do better. The MCs of Prince of Magic were both interesting, believable and sensible people who made good decisions. As opposed to Mr. “I know that Grandmother told me never to do this without her being there but I must do it anyway because the plot needs to send us to infodump land."
Having an afterlife full of helpful ghosts worked in POM because there was the shock value of the MCs death, and because it was new information that needed to come out. But here it felt like a hack. By this point I was beginning to suspect that #1 and #3 of the series had been written and #2 was just filler to connect the two, because prophesies are better with three parts than two.
So then, having been set straight in spiritland by Casper the Informative Ghost, our MC lets his captive out of the cage (because the author couldn’t have been bothered to find a way to have them work something out through normal interaction) and off they go, la-la-la, with such scintillating conversation as
“You carried me all that way”, she said.
“You are very small, and I am very strong.”
Their interactions are mechanical and banal. Nothing that they say or do seems “real”. I couldn’t imagine any real person saying the words that come out of their mouths. It’s like the author is just looking for things to have them say and is pulling suggestions out of anything available.
And then another POV pops in; it's a wizard lusting after the female MC and thinking, yeah, so the demon is taking me over and I’m going to lose my soul but it’s totally worth it…
Scarcely a page goes by in which Keelia doesn’t sigh or whisper, neither of which seem a tag appropriate to the current situation. And we get page after page of “here we are, walking to Grandmother’s house and talking about all the things we need to tell the readers in case they didn’t already hear about them from the last book…”
When, on page 70, we finally got an Ariana POV I had a leap of hope, but alas, it was cruelly dashed. Everything that had made her and Siam interesting is gone and they are just here as talking heads to do a 3-1/2 page infodump. It felt like they were just actors playing themselves.
Then back to our main MCs, who proceed to have probably the dumbest disagreement I can recall in a non-comedic book. When that is finished they are back to more childish bickering on the way to Grandmother’s, and more infodump. Next, a little dream masturbation, which seems to be just an excuse for a gratuitous sex scene when a real sex scene won’t fit into the plot.
On page 92, we have an actual plot event, which doesn’t last long and goes nowhere except into the much recycled (yes, we had it back in POM) “promise me you’ll kill me when this Terrible Fate overtakes me…”
By the time I reached page 150 and nothing had happened to the MCs other than some fairly canned romance interaction (excepting a couple of pages of actual plot movement that ended in Joryn being bitten) I decided to fast forward. I paged through sex, bickering, some fairly lukewarm angsting. Really, the villains in the book, Ciro and Diella were the only ones who seemed to actually be making progress towards anything. I found it impossible to care what happened to the two MCs. If Ciro had showed up and sucked out their souls I wouldn’t have missed them at all. All they do is walk places and never accomplish anything. Every significant thing that happens, happens to the supporting characters, or is done by them.
Then, on page 185 Joryn finally does something at least mildly effective, but it goes nowhere. They’re back on the road trip, complete with page long discussions on nothing of any importance. Oh no, he doesn’t want her to get pregnant. She doesn’t like fried tubers. He thinks she’s remarkable but he can never tell her so. Her dress is stained. And on. And on.
Things start to get interesting once they are separated. Forced to be on his own, Joryn finally develops a little common sense. Keelia, unfortunately, sinks into a plot induced stupor and does pretty much nothing but be victimized in a powder puff sort of way and be simultaneously confused and conflicted and complaisant as we all wait for the final scene. Back to the supporting characters, where some interesting things happen, though none of them related except incidentally to our MCs, who don’t seem to matter for anything but getting through the second part of the Prophesy.
Then back to the MCs. Oh no, I’m going to have to marry the evil mage. Alas, if only the guy who kidnapped me earlier loved me. He says he does but I know he doesn’t, I’m going to kill him and bathe in his blood and then go marry the nice Evil Mage but then things don’t go as planned...
Painfully predictable.
And then, just as it did in Prince of Magic, the story keeps going on into anticlimax and yet another Land of the Dead scene where All Is Explained so that the characters don’t have to waste time actually investigating or figuring anything out. And then on to the second climax of the night, wherein our heroine prevails because the villain is Terminally Dumb. Seriously. A five year old could have outsmarted him, apparently. It caught even me by surprise because he hadn’t previously exhibited the potential for such abject stupidity. Whatever the plot wants, the plot gets, I guess.
Maybe it was for the best that I read the third book first. If I had read them in order I’m not sure I would have read the last one at all.
From the very first paragraph, our heroine Keelia is a big disappointment. She’s been built up as this powerful psychic and queen, and here she is, trembling like a child over nothing more than being kidnapped by some guy. She manages to pull herself together, sort of, but doesn’t make a good first impression. And then she pouts and demands to be released like a child, complete with stomping foot and ludicrous, demanding belief that she can simply command and it will be done. The love interest, Joryn, also seems a bit young. I wasn’t sure if that was deliberate or not.
The instant possessiveness on Joryn’s part is incomprehensible, and quite frankly an insult to his people. There is nothing admirable or attractive about her personality, and he seems a very shallow person to fall head over lust for her just because she is pretty.
Stripped of all her supposedly formidable psychic powers, there appears to be nothing more to Keelia than you would find in any teenager obsessed with the drama of her own life. When it looks like her captor and enemy is about to burn her with fire, does she grab whatever is available and attempt to protect herself? No, she just wilts like a plucked daisy and waits to be killed. When nothing comes of that, she turns herself into a wolf and throws herself against the bars again and again, without apparent effect. Expecting…what, exactly?
It isn’t until later, when we are back on Joryn’s head and we need a reason to make him admire her that we find out she has managed to loosen a couple of the bars, but by then it’s too late. She has already cemented the initial bad impression.
Her questions and actions show nothing of any particular intelligence or common sense. There isn’t enough chemistry between the two of them to stick two pages together, and slapping on an artificial lust in the form of dreams (and, of course, her approaching heat) just didn’t do it for me. And he’s not much better; as far as he knows she is an alternately whiny and arrogant enemy child in a woman’s body, a person who he thinks has done a terrible evil, and still he can’t help drooling over her naked body.
Intellectual, this book ain’t.
Although, I was glad that he immediately thought the dreams were an evil seduction when he recognized the mark on her body. It showed that he had at least a little common sense.
So we spend four chapters on absolutely nothing that advances the plot in any way. The romance, if you could call it that, is more flaccid than turgid despite all the time they spend thinking about lust, and it suffers from an excess of romance clichés. Oh, evil seductress with your pale, perfect skin, your soft delicate hands…see how manfully I resist the urge to thrown myself upon your delicious, willing, yielding body. What? You’re a virgin? Well then, I’ll just stand here, fascinated and erect, watching you monologue in your cell some more.
I’m not sure where this book came from. I know Ms. Jones can do better. The MCs of Prince of Magic were both interesting, believable and sensible people who made good decisions. As opposed to Mr. “I know that Grandmother told me never to do this without her being there but I must do it anyway because the plot needs to send us to infodump land."
Having an afterlife full of helpful ghosts worked in POM because there was the shock value of the MCs death, and because it was new information that needed to come out. But here it felt like a hack. By this point I was beginning to suspect that #1 and #3 of the series had been written and #2 was just filler to connect the two, because prophesies are better with three parts than two.
So then, having been set straight in spiritland by Casper the Informative Ghost, our MC lets his captive out of the cage (because the author couldn’t have been bothered to find a way to have them work something out through normal interaction) and off they go, la-la-la, with such scintillating conversation as
“You carried me all that way”, she said.
“You are very small, and I am very strong.”
Their interactions are mechanical and banal. Nothing that they say or do seems “real”. I couldn’t imagine any real person saying the words that come out of their mouths. It’s like the author is just looking for things to have them say and is pulling suggestions out of anything available.
And then another POV pops in; it's a wizard lusting after the female MC and thinking, yeah, so the demon is taking me over and I’m going to lose my soul but it’s totally worth it…
Scarcely a page goes by in which Keelia doesn’t sigh or whisper, neither of which seem a tag appropriate to the current situation. And we get page after page of “here we are, walking to Grandmother’s house and talking about all the things we need to tell the readers in case they didn’t already hear about them from the last book…”
When, on page 70, we finally got an Ariana POV I had a leap of hope, but alas, it was cruelly dashed. Everything that had made her and Siam interesting is gone and they are just here as talking heads to do a 3-1/2 page infodump. It felt like they were just actors playing themselves.
Then back to our main MCs, who proceed to have probably the dumbest disagreement I can recall in a non-comedic book. When that is finished they are back to more childish bickering on the way to Grandmother’s, and more infodump. Next, a little dream masturbation, which seems to be just an excuse for a gratuitous sex scene when a real sex scene won’t fit into the plot.
On page 92, we have an actual plot event, which doesn’t last long and goes nowhere except into the much recycled (yes, we had it back in POM) “promise me you’ll kill me when this Terrible Fate overtakes me…”
By the time I reached page 150 and nothing had happened to the MCs other than some fairly canned romance interaction (excepting a couple of pages of actual plot movement that ended in Joryn being bitten) I decided to fast forward. I paged through sex, bickering, some fairly lukewarm angsting. Really, the villains in the book, Ciro and Diella were the only ones who seemed to actually be making progress towards anything. I found it impossible to care what happened to the two MCs. If Ciro had showed up and sucked out their souls I wouldn’t have missed them at all. All they do is walk places and never accomplish anything. Every significant thing that happens, happens to the supporting characters, or is done by them.
Then, on page 185 Joryn finally does something at least mildly effective, but it goes nowhere. They’re back on the road trip, complete with page long discussions on nothing of any importance. Oh no, he doesn’t want her to get pregnant. She doesn’t like fried tubers. He thinks she’s remarkable but he can never tell her so. Her dress is stained. And on. And on.
Things start to get interesting once they are separated. Forced to be on his own, Joryn finally develops a little common sense. Keelia, unfortunately, sinks into a plot induced stupor and does pretty much nothing but be victimized in a powder puff sort of way and be simultaneously confused and conflicted and complaisant as we all wait for the final scene. Back to the supporting characters, where some interesting things happen, though none of them related except incidentally to our MCs, who don’t seem to matter for anything but getting through the second part of the Prophesy.
Then back to the MCs. Oh no, I’m going to have to marry the evil mage. Alas, if only the guy who kidnapped me earlier loved me. He says he does but I know he doesn’t, I’m going to kill him and bathe in his blood and then go marry the nice Evil Mage but then things don’t go as planned...
Painfully predictable.
And then, just as it did in Prince of Magic, the story keeps going on into anticlimax and yet another Land of the Dead scene where All Is Explained so that the characters don’t have to waste time actually investigating or figuring anything out. And then on to the second climax of the night, wherein our heroine prevails because the villain is Terminally Dumb. Seriously. A five year old could have outsmarted him, apparently. It caught even me by surprise because he hadn’t previously exhibited the potential for such abject stupidity. Whatever the plot wants, the plot gets, I guess.
Maybe it was for the best that I read the third book first. If I had read them in order I’m not sure I would have read the last one at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2016
You know what? From the Fyne books this was probably my least favourite. I started the Original series out of order (I started with Juliet's book first) and I loved all three, now with the first born series I started them out of order (Starting with this one, Keelia's story) and I find that this one felt really rushed to me and really wishy-washy. More so than the other books. Maybe it's also because it's been over seven years and perhaps my tastes have changed, but it seemed rushed and the whole 'oh, you're not the one for me-no, wait, your my everything' desperation just kind of put me off.
I enjoyed the mentions of finding out about the other characters, but Joryn and Keelia just didn't do it for me. I now have the first book and the last book for the first born series and I am hoping they are better.
I enjoyed the mentions of finding out about the other characters, but Joryn and Keelia just didn't do it for me. I now have the first book and the last book for the first born series and I am hoping they are better.
July 23, 2009
And now we have book two of the second trilogy by the author, and I'm starting to get a little tired of it all. The female characters really are starting to be one and the same-- superpowerful but for some reason unable to USE their power against the big bad who really needs a snidely whiplash mustache to twirl as he sucks the blood and soul out of innocent women before dropping them at his feet.
Each book deals with yet another child from the three sisters of the first trilogy, and how they find their One True Love despite Great Evil in the Land and their Need to Vanquish it. One trilogy was really good-- this one is trailing off into serious meh.
Each book deals with yet another child from the three sisters of the first trilogy, and how they find their One True Love despite Great Evil in the Land and their Need to Vanquish it. One trilogy was really good-- this one is trailing off into serious meh.
February 17, 2008
Jorlyn is a Caradon, the ancient rivals of the Anwyn. He kidnaps Keelia, Juliet's daughter and current Queen of the Anwyn, in order to discover who is responsible for cursing his people. Keelia fights the prophecy that she will take a Caradon lover and that she wil betray love for victory.
Keelia is an interesting heroine, and her part of this story is filled with a lot of developments and twists. The evil wizard and Druin both felt unnecessary, and Jorlyn can be quite dense.
Keelia is an interesting heroine, and her part of this story is filled with a lot of developments and twists. The evil wizard and Druin both felt unnecessary, and Jorlyn can be quite dense.
May 15, 2019
Loved Keelys story.
July 14, 2024
This is my favorite author and book series
August 14, 2025
Keelia has always been different from her people. As a young child, she’s been raised to be Queen. But despite all her power and privilege, she’s never taken a lover. Instead, she dreams of her mate, a stranger in a foreign land who is destined to be her everything. She never imagined that her mate would kidnap her and worse, that he would be a Caradon.
Joryn takes great risk in kidnapping and imprisoning the Anwyn Queen but he is desperate. His people are living under a horrible curse, and he knows Keelia must be on responsible, after all, they’re people have been at war for lifetimes. He refuses to believe her claims of him being her mate, not only is she his enemy, but Caradon don’t mate for life.
It does become clear quite quickly that Keelia may not be his enemy. In fact, she might be the key to finally breaking the curse and defeating the threat that looms over both their people. That’s easier to believe then her being his fated mate. So much history and turmoil stands between them and happiness yet all signs point to a union of the 2 people being the only way to save the world.
I liked this book, but I wasn’t a massive fan. I found it quite boring and the only thing that helped me get through it was the fact that it’s awfully short. Short books mean not a lot of time spent on character development and while weeks past in the span of the novel, a lot was skimmed over and or diluted in favour of storyline. I didn’t feel any soul scorching love between the characters, but I believed they loved each other. I enjoy the dynasty of this book series though as characters from the first trilogy are now parents to the new characters in the second. I enjoy the history this author paints and hold to.
Joryn takes great risk in kidnapping and imprisoning the Anwyn Queen but he is desperate. His people are living under a horrible curse, and he knows Keelia must be on responsible, after all, they’re people have been at war for lifetimes. He refuses to believe her claims of him being her mate, not only is she his enemy, but Caradon don’t mate for life.
It does become clear quite quickly that Keelia may not be his enemy. In fact, she might be the key to finally breaking the curse and defeating the threat that looms over both their people. That’s easier to believe then her being his fated mate. So much history and turmoil stands between them and happiness yet all signs point to a union of the 2 people being the only way to save the world.
I liked this book, but I wasn’t a massive fan. I found it quite boring and the only thing that helped me get through it was the fact that it’s awfully short. Short books mean not a lot of time spent on character development and while weeks past in the span of the novel, a lot was skimmed over and or diluted in favour of storyline. I didn’t feel any soul scorching love between the characters, but I believed they loved each other. I enjoy the dynasty of this book series though as characters from the first trilogy are now parents to the new characters in the second. I enjoy the history this author paints and hold to.
June 4, 2013
Book 2 in the Children of the Sun series. I'd like to start off by saying that I HATED book one of this series and the only reason I read book 2 is that I already owned the book. My book-reading ethics forbid me from getting rid of a book that I haven't read. Well, I'm going to have to chalk up book one to the common "rocky start to a decent series" problem. This book was SO much better than the first one! I pretty much forgot that this book takes place in a technologically primitive time - the story didn't get bogged down in "olde timey" speak and all that other stuff. The story was good and it had a nice flow to it. It was a standard adult Fantasy Romance: drama, good fighting against evil, happy ending and all. I'm not bothering to read any more of this series, although I'll be reading the reviews for the other books just to find out what happens in the end.
November 7, 2010
Cheesy romance novel challenge #2. This one also has an excellent cover. A psychic queen, who also happens to be a werewolf (though they don't use that word) is kidnapped by a dude who turns into a mountain cat at the full moon. He can also produce fire in his hands (hence the cover), oh yeah and he can pop into the spirit world whenever. Spoiler alert - they end up together! Throw in an evil wizard, some half-men/half-animal monsters, a lot of the queen's relatives, a prophesy, plus a demon that's possessing a prince and masterminding all the chaos, and there's a lot going on in this book.
February 24, 2008
Although rating this book 5 out of 5, I must say that I was a little bored in the beginning. It did keep me guessing through it all and there were many twists and turns. Good but not as good as the first book.
December 18, 2011
Great follow up to the Prince of Magic. I enjoy this series almost as much as the Fyne Witches set. The mystery is great. And I love how they never quite say what the evil thing is. Im guessing a vampire of some sort.
December 21, 2014
Book 2 - tore through this one. Prince of Magic is the first book of a trilogy called The Children of the Sun. Lovers of paranormal romance won't want to miss this first installment. It was gripping, addictive, and stunning. I loved it. Hurry up with number 3!!!
Read
April 11, 2007Currently reading this one.
March 6, 2008
Good book
October 23, 2009
This was really good for me. A step up in the story and really interesting characters. Can't wait for the third!
December 28, 2010
love it!
March 21, 2011
Love this series!!!!
May 12, 2012
I really like this series and this author and am excited for the third book, but pacing myself. Perfect blend of fantasy and romance and anything involving shapeshifters is always fun.
December 20, 2014
Some frustrating moments with the villain but a pretty good read.
May 2, 2009
This book wasn't as good as Prince of magic. A little disappointing but it was still o.k.
June 3, 2015
Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews