Prima

by Sherry Thomas

A handsome prince comes across a beautiful woman on the open sea. She is lying on a primitive-looking raft, almost entirely naked. What is he to do?

What he cannot recall, because of all the memories that have been stripped from him, is that this exact scenario has happened before, a decade earlier. That time, it was a chance encounter. This time, it’s a carefully engineered reunion.

But is she out to save him…or destroy him? Or both?

Genres: Romance, Dystopia, Novella, Fantasy, Adult, Audiobook, Ebooks

ebook

Published January 1, 2025

About the author

USA Today-bestselling author Sherry Thomas decided years ago that her goal in life is to write every kind of book she enjoys reading. Thus far she has published romance, fantasy, mystery, young adult, and three books inspired by the martial arts epics she grew up devouring. Her books regularly receive starred reviews and best-of-the-year honors from trade publications, including such outlets as the New York Times and National Public Radio.

A Study in Scarlet Women, A Conspiracy in Belgravia, and The Hollow of Fear, the first three entries in her gender-bending Lady Sherlock historical mystery series, are all NPR best books of the year. The Magnolia Sword, her 2019 release, is the first young adult retelling of the original Ballad of Mulan in the English language.

Sherry emigrated from China at age 13 and English is her second language.

“Sherry Thomas has done the impossible and crafted a fresh, exciting new version of Sherlock Holmes. From the carefully plotted twists to the elegant turns of phrase, A Study in Scarlet Women is a splendid addition to Holmes’s world. This book is everything I hoped it would be, and the next adventure cannot come too soon!” —Deanna Raybourn, New York Times bestselling author

“Thomas weaves a lush, intricate fantasy world around a gorgeous romance that kept me riveted until the very last page. What a breathtaking journey!” (Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the Legend series )

"Sherry Thomas is the most powerfully original historical romance author writing today."—Lisa Kleypas, New York Times bestselling author



Visit Sherry at her website

Follow Sherry on twitter

Find Sherry on Facebook

Reviews

[Flora (Helia's version) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope 🫤

[Stillbelieveinnightmares (busy) · Rating 2 out of 5]

so far they've eaten red snapper so naturally I've been thinking about animal crossing all day

_______

My bad for just assuming this would be more merfolk-esque than it was. The patriarchy thrives almost as much as the plants in this story.

I liked Rens character and how determined he was about saving his mom and sister. I didn't even hate the dual timelines, but I struggled with them telling each other I love you after meeting each other for the first time two days ago and then waiting for ten years.

In the end this story didn't work for me, just didn't click. I'm rating it the perfectly mediocre score of 2.5/5 ⭐

[charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it appears that few of the comments share my opinion, Prima is without a shred of doubt one of my favorite novellas in the After the End series. This comes from a very strong AH fan who enjoys… well, that type of novel and her writing style more than almost any other romance writer!
The story is slightly confusing in the face of the limited world building of the entirely new world we are thrown into, yes. But nevertheless I found it all at once charming, sad, poetic, and captivating.
I wanted to share my appreciation for this book because I found it so refreshing and so intricate. I think most of the other reviews come from readers who are used to having information handed to them, this novella leaves you guessing.
Though the notion of being left in the dark is scary I highly suggest that curious considering readers with an appreciation for a poetically confusing love story give it a try with a kind and welcoming heart.

[Katie Friday · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t make heads or tails of this. This is my only DNF of the whole series. I have to say, I totally understood the broad strokes of what was going on, I get they were separated, he doesn’t remember.
But holy cow, the writing was confusing, whose boat are they on? Who’s talking? She jumped off the boat, why? Then suddenly she’s on the boat again, his boat is next to hers but also far away. What the fuck is anyone talking about. Person place or thing? I have no clue. I give up.

[vaishnavi ☆ﾟ⁠.⁠* · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would've benefited a lot from being written as a full-length novel rather than a novella. Too many big ideas to fit into such a short space. I was honestly lost the first few chapters.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After the End collection:
⤹ first by ali hazelwood °‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡‎ [2.5 ⭐]
⤹ bait by adriana herrera .𖥔 ݁ ˖ִ ࣪⚝₊ ⊹˚ [1 ⭐] dnf
⤹ skyn by nikki payne ‧₊˚✧🪩✧˚₊‧ [2.5 ⭐]
⤹ m.a.y.a. by nina saxena ˙✧˖°🐺 ༘ ⋆｡˚ [0.5 ⭐]
⤹ brood by claire kent . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. [1 ⭐]
⤹ taken by elizabeth stephens .𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔. [0.5 ⭐] dnf
⤹ trade by cate c. wells ˚˖𓍢ִ໋`🌿:✧˚⋆𖧧 [3.5 ⭐]
⤹ prima by sherry thomas [2 ⭐]

[GigiReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second chance on a sort of water world dystopia. This one has a very unique world building but like some of the others it was just way too much plot for a novella length so the plot was impenetrable at times. I also dislike the dual past present timeline as a narrative device but gah Sherry Thomas can write good pining and some of the lines were downright poetic.

"I’ll be left with this ache where you used to be, wondering what happened and why there are pieces of myself missing.”

who's cutting onions? 😭

⭐⭐⭐.5/ Rounded off
🔥/5

Tropes:
Second Chance
Virgin MMC

[Christi (christireadsalot) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was already a little wary going into this novella as I haven’t enjoyed this author’s historical romances in the past. But being a dystopian novella I was more excited to give it a try since I purchased the After the End kickstarter collection (8 standalone dystopian novellas from multi-authors). And this was such a miss, I didn’t enjoy anything about it from the writing to the plot to the trying to figure out what was even going on.

The tropes sounded good but the story was just a miss overall and never delivered for me. Tropes: magical amnesia, reunited lovers, star crossed lovers.

[rina · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a slow build but well-written and poetic.

[Talia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dual timeline, star crossed lovers. It was too tall of task to build this world, have two timelines, and have a love story. Because of that I was constantly confused by what was going on. We get very little information until the very end of the novella. Even then they are separated for 10 years, and there is nothing to show for it tbh. I expect this to be my least favorite of the grouping.

[Kareena · Rating 3 out of 5]

My least favorite of the After the End collection. I love the premise and the world, but it felt like too big a scope for a novella. I wish it had been a full novel. I spent too much time trying to figure out what was happening. Very little spice if that matters to you.

[Brooklyn Ramsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was magic. kudos to the author for managing to put a relatively cohesive timeline shift story in a novella. absolutely adored

Audio: 3 ⭐️
wayyyyyyyy more choppy and difficult to follow in this form.

[Rhi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was wayyyy too short for the kind of complex political worldbuilding it thought it was doing. Am I stupid, or did this writing make absolutely zero sense? Don’t ask me to explain the plot because I genuinely cannot. I spent the entire book confused. Whose boat are we on? Who is talking? She jumps off the boat… WHY? Then suddenly she’s back on the boat? His boat is next to hers but also far away?? What the fuck is anyone talking about.

And the romance? Please 🫩🫩🫩 Look at how uninterested she is in the kiss on the cover. That is exactly how uninterested I was when they started tossing around love declarations after like one or two days. Zero buildup, zero chemistry. I just wished for them to already get it over with…

Also, I hoped for this to be mermaidy🧜‍♀️✨ It chose not to be. That is on the book. Absolute missed opportunity.

Not gonna lie, this felt like a draft. Or notes. Or a very confusing fever dream involving boats and patriarchy. Not for me. Not ever for me. One star, and honestly that’s generous.

[Kaity · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Prima not expecting to enjoy it, I haven’t loved Sherry Thomas’ storytelling in the past. She tends to write with a fair amount of purple prose and unlikable/irredeemable (in my opinion) characters. Prima is very flowery and way too ambitious for a novella. But it’s an incredibly sweet yet poignant romance. Once I got over my initial confusion (the prose with the worldbuilding at the start are rouuughh), I found myself enjoying this novella a lot more than I expected. The audiobook on the other hand was possibly the worst I’ve ever listened to. The male narrator was too quiet, mumbled, didn’t speak at the same speed as the female narrator and just honestly wtf. The kickstarter raised SO much money and THIS is the quality we got?! Actual garbage. I had to have the ebook open while I listened to understand.

MF, dual timeline, royal mmc, second chance, amnesia, steampunk vibes at sea, post-climate disaster

“You never need to smile for me. But when you smile for yourself, I would like to be there. Always.”

[Liz | lizzuplans · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no idea what is going on. The writing style and story are not making any sense and I am not connecting to the story nor the world. I unfortunately do not want to know what is going on.

I liked the expanses of water and the East Asian representation.

(Guess I am too stupid to understand this book, according to some reviews. Loving that.)

DNF @ 11%.

[Caiti · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really struggled to connect with the characters in this story. I really liked the premise of two lost lovers being separated by time and circumstance, but it took far too long to get there.

The author also used a lot of 'strange' language - it's all entirely valid and the big words are in the right places, but it reminded me of the high school kid using mums thesaurus - for such a short story, this really detracted from the plot and didn't help any of the world building at all. It just made everything more confusing than it needed to be, especially when such a large and entirely undeveloped world was stuffed into *checks notes* 137 pages. There were different nations, each with their own military and political backgrounds, characters with strange powers, magic orcas and advanced weaponry and I got realllyy lost.

I did however enjoy the dual timeline and how everything was revealed through this medium. The ending was perfectly satisfactory, even if I'm not sure how we got there.

[aromanticshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

INCLUDES SOME SPOILERS

i love the memory loss trope, always will. and Prima did it beautifully. the fact that Ren continued to make and do things that were connected to his lover without remembering it, alternating between present and past chapters and seeing connections being made, feeling the fmc’s yearning for Ren to remember her, the way she looked at him, the way she spoke of things. all of it had me emotional, i sobbed. it’s why i love this trope so much.

however, the the reason this book lacked so much for me is the writing. the first 15-20% are written so confusingly that i genuinely considered dnf-ing. but i powered through bc of the memory loss trope. throughout the book, the interactions between the MC’s, their relationship, their emotions, their dialogues of each other, all that was great. but when it came to describing the world and things happening around? it was horrible. i could not keep up and eventually started skimming through anything to do with the world. i blame it on this being a novella bc the world this is set in clearly needs a lot more time to be built and understood. but even then, some things were just bad writing. for example, i was constantly confused on where we were, they would be on a boat and suddenly there’s sand and a beach? when did we move?!?!

so overall, the memory loss trope was done beautifully, i liked the MC’s and their relationship, the storyline, plots, twists, all that seemed so so lovely and i was genuinely so excited, but the writing needs a lot of work to bring this all together smoothly. it was hard to keep up with the world, layout of things, side characters, and anything else that was not direct interaction between the MC’s.

[Ana Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

this one was really good and it's actually criminal that it's one of the lowest rated ones in this collection
it's basically a closed-door book, so is the lack of smut deterring people from appreciating actual story-telling??? because this was MILESSSS better than first and brood, which were just glorified tws

[Shira · Rating 3 out of 5]

The world building was confusing but the writing and romance were so good!

[Olivia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasted my first read of 2026 on this… am I stupid or did this writing make zero sense? don’t ask me to share the plot. First and Brood are still the best of the series so far 🙏

[Samantha Ridenour]

i fear i must dnf at pg 125. i simply cannot go on, even for only 50 more pages.

[Gretzala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a real sucker for stories like these

[Savvy Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5/5⭐️ 1.5/5🌶️🎧
This audiobook was a no. Maybe read it with your eyeballs? Idk.

[bec]

Dnf’ed a few chapters in. I was quite confused/bored & it just felt overwhelming for a novella. While the writing was beautiful, I felt it was a bit inaccessible given the greater set of novellas. Just not for me, particularly in this instance.

[meredithandbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I still don’t know if I really understood this book. I think the only thing I know for sure is that, most of the time, they were on some kind of boat.

I didn’t really understand the setting of this story and anything that had to do with the hierarchy. I honestly am still confused.

I felt like the way the story was told confused me even more. Couldn’t the 10 years before be told once? The back and forth confused me a lot and I got lost in the story because of it. I didn’t know what was happening in the present most of the time because of the chapters in the past.

I was also lost as to how he regained his memories. Why did she say she kicked him and then that was it for the explanation? I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW IT WORKED. Anyway I felt confused most of the time.

But it was still a very touching story and if I didn’t focus on the specifics, then I could really enjoy it. Their story was incredible and I loved the fact that she spent 10 years thinking of him as he did without really knowing. Anyway, I just wish it would’ve been longer so I could’ve understood the setting, the hierarchy and the specifics better.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re patient enough to get through the first quarter, it’s a beautiful story.

One of the later chapters specifically - but not only - has some of the most beautiful quotes in a romance I’ve ever read. The whole story itself - as a whole - is beautiful and feels like a fable or a fairytale from a different culture than mine. Reminds me of the books my mom read to me when I was a child.

Unfortunately, the first quarter is difficult to get through and the writing style as well as the world-building is very confusing before you get used to it, so I’m not surprised many people DNF-ed it or were simply not happy with it. Definitely not for readers with short attention spans who want things simple (there’s nothing wrong with that, just FYI).

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the romance, I don’t feel like the world building was fully developed though. It’s not a huge deal, especially because the entire book took place mostly at sea, but the author did try to incorporate some political issues and intrigue which was a little difficult for me to fully understand.

I do appreciate that so far this novella has been the most romantic. Still Insta-love but it wasn’t just sexual.

[Elise Rodich · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

This was actually a beautiful novella, it’s just that it was quite hard to follow and piece together for the first 70% of the book. I had to just read and trust the process and hope that it would make sense eventually, and it did, but it was hard to read for a long portion of the book. However, the prose was beautiful and I loved Ren and Lanzhou, and I thought the premise was really interesting and wrapped up well (once I finally understood what was happening).

[Maddy Didjurgies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was SUCH an interesting world developed for this story, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did have to really slow down and think about what I was reading, due in part to the tenses, the alternating timelines, the mystery and the complex political landscape - all fit in a 168 page package- but I didn’t mind that. The prose was lyrical, magical and romantic. Absolutely lovely.

[Luce · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF... extremely disappointed with this one. Incredibly boring!

Book Ranking
1. Trade by Cate C. Wells - 4 stars
2. Brood by Claire Kent - 4 stars
3. First by Ali Hazelwood - 3.5 stars
4. Skin by Nikki Payne - 3 stars
5. M.A.Y.A by Nina Saxena - 2.5 stars
6. Bait by Adriana Herrera - 1.5 stars
7. Taken by Elizabeth Stephens - 1 star
8. Prima by Sherry Thomas - 0.5 stars