What do you think?
Rate this book
The Purple Prince
The opening chapter in a thrilling new fantasy series.
A thousand years have passed since the fall of the gods. Those who remain faithful to them are hunted down and killed by the tyrannical Kildarion Empire. Meanwhile, the dead are brought back in untold numbers, and anyone who dreams goes mad...
The Purple Prince follows the lives of four extraordinary people, bound together by destiny.
Mila, a loyal follower of the gods, who has sworn to bring them back to life.
Benedict, son of the Emperor, and next in line to the Kildarion throne.
Angelo, a master assassin, who has been given his greatest assignment yet.
And Raewyn, heir to Earth's End, who alone knows the whereabouts of the infamous Purple Prince.
"When the flames of heaven are rekindled, the fallen shall rise again..."
A thousand years have passed since the fall of the gods. Those who remain faithful to them are hunted down and killed by the tyrannical Kildarion Empire. Meanwhile, the dead are brought back in untold numbers, and anyone who dreams goes mad...
The Purple Prince follows the lives of four extraordinary people, bound together by destiny.
Mila, a loyal follower of the gods, who has sworn to bring them back to life.
Benedict, son of the Emperor, and next in line to the Kildarion throne.
Angelo, a master assassin, who has been given his greatest assignment yet.
And Raewyn, heir to Earth's End, who alone knows the whereabouts of the infamous Purple Prince.
"When the flames of heaven are rekindled, the fallen shall rise again..."
600 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2022
36 people are currently reading
6345 people want to read
About the author
Sebastien Menkes
1 book76 followersBuy a signed copy of the book below!
https://theriverdream.myshopify.com/p...
https://www.instagram.com/theriverdre...
https://theriverdream.myshopify.com/p...
https://www.instagram.com/theriverdre...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
October 14, 2022
4.5
This is a self pub and my oh my is it ambitious. I really enjoyed the mythology created for this world!
This is a self pub and my oh my is it ambitious. I really enjoyed the mythology created for this world!
August 9, 2022
5 stars. This book checked so many boxes for me.
Worldbuilding: amazing. Interesting world, interesting races (subraces?), interesting religion, interesting magic.
Characters: 4 main POVs. Each distinct, each intriguing. Raewyn > Benedict > Angelo > Mila
Plot: story was fun. First half was slower and worldbuilding heavy, second half was a high octane thrill ride. Some fun twists and turns too
Prose: author's skill with pen and word is at a high level.
Can I have book 2 now, please?
Worldbuilding: amazing. Interesting world, interesting races (subraces?), interesting religion, interesting magic.
Characters: 4 main POVs. Each distinct, each intriguing. Raewyn > Benedict > Angelo > Mila
Plot: story was fun. First half was slower and worldbuilding heavy, second half was a high octane thrill ride. Some fun twists and turns too
Prose: author's skill with pen and word is at a high level.
Can I have book 2 now, please?
February 4, 2023
This is the start of a new epic fantasy series which combines a complex mythology with political intrigue. The story is primarily told through four points of view, each highlighting a distinct perspective on the current situation and having different aims for the future of the world.
The story itself is incredibly unique and immersive. Each character feels distinct and well-realised, and over the course of this first instalment their tales slowly intertwine to give a larger overall picture. We spend enough time with each character to get to know them and be invested in their individual stories, and this makes the overall narrative come together well. This is an easy book to sit and read for hours at a time. The page count is high, but don’t let that intimidate - the plot is truly engrossing and is definitely no slog.
So why am I giving it 4 stars instead of 5? Around the 70% mark, some of the character motivations lost me, and their actions felt more rushed and less believable for a spell. This somewhat pulled me out of the story, but this feeling was short-lived. I was also hoping to get more information about one particular group, which is introduced relatively late in the story, but this might be elaborated on in a subsequent entry. The ending of this first instalment was action-packed and hard to put down. There were some great reveals and I am excited to continue with this series!
If you’re looking for an inventive new epic fantasy series that has a strong, established in-world mythology, I highly recommend picking this one up.
As an additional note, the deluxe hardcover edition is absolutely stunning. Really high paper quality and the artwork in the book (which is also in the kindle edition, with occasional rendering issues for me at least) is impressive.
The story itself is incredibly unique and immersive. Each character feels distinct and well-realised, and over the course of this first instalment their tales slowly intertwine to give a larger overall picture. We spend enough time with each character to get to know them and be invested in their individual stories, and this makes the overall narrative come together well. This is an easy book to sit and read for hours at a time. The page count is high, but don’t let that intimidate - the plot is truly engrossing and is definitely no slog.
So why am I giving it 4 stars instead of 5? Around the 70% mark, some of the character motivations lost me, and their actions felt more rushed and less believable for a spell. This somewhat pulled me out of the story, but this feeling was short-lived. I was also hoping to get more information about one particular group, which is introduced relatively late in the story, but this might be elaborated on in a subsequent entry. The ending of this first instalment was action-packed and hard to put down. There were some great reveals and I am excited to continue with this series!
If you’re looking for an inventive new epic fantasy series that has a strong, established in-world mythology, I highly recommend picking this one up.
As an additional note, the deluxe hardcover edition is absolutely stunning. Really high paper quality and the artwork in the book (which is also in the kindle edition, with occasional rendering issues for me at least) is impressive.
August 16, 2022
Wow!
Raising the bar on self-published fantasy debut novels. The Purple Prince was fantastic the whole way through. The first half is full of beautifully wrought worldbuilding (and what a world it is - colorful, distinct, and unique) and introductions of characters that will spend the rest of the novel growing and changing, with believable motivations the whole time.
Shocking events and twists of the best kind - the kind you SHOULD have seen coming because everything has been so meticulously set up. The payoffs in this novel are fantastic, and getting to them is no chore: the pacing is great and at no point is there a 'lull'. I tore through all 600 pages at a rapid rate.
So many mysteries yet to be uncovered in future installments. I'll be looking forward to the second book.
4.5 stars - with 5 stars easily in sight for this author as he settles more into his voice and improves dialogue and exposition (which were by no means lacking, but I can see how much better he'll get).
Incredible debut.
Raising the bar on self-published fantasy debut novels. The Purple Prince was fantastic the whole way through. The first half is full of beautifully wrought worldbuilding (and what a world it is - colorful, distinct, and unique) and introductions of characters that will spend the rest of the novel growing and changing, with believable motivations the whole time.
Shocking events and twists of the best kind - the kind you SHOULD have seen coming because everything has been so meticulously set up. The payoffs in this novel are fantastic, and getting to them is no chore: the pacing is great and at no point is there a 'lull'. I tore through all 600 pages at a rapid rate.
So many mysteries yet to be uncovered in future installments. I'll be looking forward to the second book.
4.5 stars - with 5 stars easily in sight for this author as he settles more into his voice and improves dialogue and exposition (which were by no means lacking, but I can see how much better he'll get).
Incredible debut.
February 15, 2023
The Purple Prince by Sebastien Menkes - 80
This is one of the more intriguing book ones I have ever read. The setting Seb has crafted is impressive and ambitious. The amount of backstory and worldbuilding to this world is very interesting and enriching to the story. The characters all have personality to them and as the book goes they develop distinct voices. This is my main complaint about the book as well though, that almost every positive I have for the book takes 2-300 pages to become a positive. The beginning is slower, has less personality, and has a lot of daydreaming backstories (characters seeing something that reminds them of a time this soon to be relevant thing happened). As the book goes on all of this improves and by the end there are sections that are genuinely beautiful. An incredible debut and a foundation a future favorite series can be built on for sure. Also my POV ranking is Mila, Raewyn, Ben, Angelo (I read all his cringe assassin lines in a batman voice)
This is one of the more intriguing book ones I have ever read. The setting Seb has crafted is impressive and ambitious. The amount of backstory and worldbuilding to this world is very interesting and enriching to the story. The characters all have personality to them and as the book goes they develop distinct voices. This is my main complaint about the book as well though, that almost every positive I have for the book takes 2-300 pages to become a positive. The beginning is slower, has less personality, and has a lot of daydreaming backstories (characters seeing something that reminds them of a time this soon to be relevant thing happened). As the book goes on all of this improves and by the end there are sections that are genuinely beautiful. An incredible debut and a foundation a future favorite series can be built on for sure. Also my POV ranking is Mila, Raewyn, Ben, Angelo (I read all his cringe assassin lines in a batman voice)
April 21, 2022
This was heartbreakingly beautiful to me. I loved each of these characters and hoped for the best for them. That was not meant to be as tragedy has struck every one of them in some way. Endymion was perhaps the absolute star of the book. He’s also the purple prince and he will be known by another name as well. I highly recommend this brilliant book to everyone. I loved it so much more than I thought I would.
April 26, 2024
I need the next one!!!!
January 13, 2023
3.5
The Purple Prince is an exciting debut, and serves as a solid beginning to what could become quite the series in the future. We follow the journey of four characters as their disparate lives weave in and out - Through their stories we're brought into Menkes' world, this strange amalgamation of more typical pseudo-medieval fantasy with many other elements - elemental and dream magic, high-romantic epic fantasy, as well as a splendid dash of Lovecraftian horror... the mix here is one of the standouts. There's clearly always more to introduce, more to learn.
Introduction is the key word here, as through the book there's a substantial amount of information and detail thrown at you. The author's clearly done a lot of world-building work, but the insistence that we get all that detail somewhat gets in the way. At times we get lists of facts, exposition it's not clear the characters would know, or other stumbles that.... aren't necessarily unhelpful, but I'd like to see the characters inhabit the world a bit more, even if that means I don't know some of the secrets.
Each of the four perspectives themselves however are very well balanced, both in terms of plot structure and character - there are one or two similarities that cross each of them, and probably some more nuance in the characters in general would be nice - but on the whole they all feel distinct, giving you a nice variety of insights into this world. In fact, they're also balanced pretty well... likably? None of the four was a clear standout, and any of them I would've been happy to see them either succeed or fail - just watching the twisting plot unfold was the most exciting part.
All of this, the good and bad, is brought together into a heck of a finale that leaves you wanting more. - in fact, it somewhat seems like this is the case for the author too, that 'the good stuff' isn't here quiiiiite yet. The epilogues stand out here as promising a heck of a round two.
Summing it all up, this isn't a perfect book, but even if flawed, it's an exciting, page turning debut - it demonstrates a passion for this world, characters, and a deft hand at a fun plot, leaving you wanting more. I'm excited to see how Menkes' abilities grow as we continue on in the series.
The Purple Prince is an exciting debut, and serves as a solid beginning to what could become quite the series in the future. We follow the journey of four characters as their disparate lives weave in and out - Through their stories we're brought into Menkes' world, this strange amalgamation of more typical pseudo-medieval fantasy with many other elements - elemental and dream magic, high-romantic epic fantasy, as well as a splendid dash of Lovecraftian horror... the mix here is one of the standouts. There's clearly always more to introduce, more to learn.
Introduction is the key word here, as through the book there's a substantial amount of information and detail thrown at you. The author's clearly done a lot of world-building work, but the insistence that we get all that detail somewhat gets in the way. At times we get lists of facts, exposition it's not clear the characters would know, or other stumbles that.... aren't necessarily unhelpful, but I'd like to see the characters inhabit the world a bit more, even if that means I don't know some of the secrets.
Each of the four perspectives themselves however are very well balanced, both in terms of plot structure and character - there are one or two similarities that cross each of them, and probably some more nuance in the characters in general would be nice - but on the whole they all feel distinct, giving you a nice variety of insights into this world. In fact, they're also balanced pretty well... likably? None of the four was a clear standout, and any of them I would've been happy to see them either succeed or fail - just watching the twisting plot unfold was the most exciting part.
All of this, the good and bad, is brought together into a heck of a finale that leaves you wanting more. - in fact, it somewhat seems like this is the case for the author too, that 'the good stuff' isn't here quiiiiite yet. The epilogues stand out here as promising a heck of a round two.
Summing it all up, this isn't a perfect book, but even if flawed, it's an exciting, page turning debut - it demonstrates a passion for this world, characters, and a deft hand at a fun plot, leaving you wanting more. I'm excited to see how Menkes' abilities grow as we continue on in the series.
January 24, 2024
This was an absolutely incredible read! The world building is so detailed and enthralling without being overwhelming and detracting from the storyline. I loved the multiple character perspectives throughout this book and the way the layers built up the central plot. A beautifully devastating read! Can't wait for more!
July 8, 2022
This book is EPIC! It has you enthralled the minute you start the first sentence. Definitely a book that you won’t want to put down, and will want to finish in one setting. The characters are amazing; some you HATE with a passion, and then others that you fall in love with and can sympathize. And the author really makes you feel like you’re seeing everything laid out on the page. He takes you to the top of buildings to fight along with the characters or places you right in the dungeons to be interrogated. It will have you rooting for the good guys and cringing at the bad. I had so much fun reading this book that I have read it twice already and would again! If you read anything this summer, PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND READ THIS BOOK! You won’t be disappointed.
December 19, 2022
Very solid debut self published fantasy novel!
The prose is extremely impresive for an first time author, every single character is distinct, story flows very well, the worldbuilding feels natural and the book is pretty self contained, yet manages to hook the reader to want more.
I hope this book is going to get more attention, because it deserves it. It is not the most original story in the world, in fact that is the book's biggest negative, but if Sebastien Menkes keeps growing as an author, I believe we can expect great things from him. 7,5/10.
The prose is extremely impresive for an first time author, every single character is distinct, story flows very well, the worldbuilding feels natural and the book is pretty self contained, yet manages to hook the reader to want more.
I hope this book is going to get more attention, because it deserves it. It is not the most original story in the world, in fact that is the book's biggest negative, but if Sebastien Menkes keeps growing as an author, I believe we can expect great things from him. 7,5/10.
February 28, 2024
🗡 The Purple Prince 🗡
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Finished: 02/24/24
"Whether joined by merry folk
Or whether I wander alone,
May the stars forever guide me
Over moss and broken stone."
I just want to thank the author for a signed copy, and that was so sweet of him! Thank you for getting The Purple Prince on my radar!
✨️ Synopsis ✨️
The opening chapter in a thrilling new fantasy series.
A thousand years have passed since the fall of the gods. Those who remain faithful to them are hunted down and killed by the tyrannical Kildarion Empire. Meanwhile, the dead are brought back in untold numbers, and anyone who dreams goes mad...
The Purple Prince follows the lives of four extraordinary people, bound together by destiny.
Mila, a loyal follower of the gods, who has sworn to bring them back to life.
Benedict, son of the Emperor, and next in line to the Kildarion throne.
Angelo, a master assassin, who has been given his greatest assignment yet.
And Raewyn, heir to Earth's End, who alone knows the whereabouts of the infamous Purple Prince.
"When the flames of heaven are rekindled, the fallen shall rise again..."
I really enjoyed this one! All four POVs we get in this book, they are from all different types of backgrounds that give us a well-rounded view of what is going on. My favorite chapters were Angelo's POV! Who doesn't love to read about an assassin but still somehow has his own set of rules to try and keep a moral code.
I will say that I wish we got more of The Purple Prince! But it makes sense to make him more of an enigma, but I did enjoy it when he popped up in the story.
There were many unanswered questions that will make the readers yearn for book 2!
You can read this on KU for free, or you can buy the ebook for $4.99! With only 57 ratings on goodreads, this is an underhyped book that I would definitely recommend for my fantasy lover friends who enjoy political intrigue being a main focus with elemental magic mixed in.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Finished: 02/24/24
"Whether joined by merry folk
Or whether I wander alone,
May the stars forever guide me
Over moss and broken stone."
I just want to thank the author for a signed copy, and that was so sweet of him! Thank you for getting The Purple Prince on my radar!
✨️ Synopsis ✨️
The opening chapter in a thrilling new fantasy series.
A thousand years have passed since the fall of the gods. Those who remain faithful to them are hunted down and killed by the tyrannical Kildarion Empire. Meanwhile, the dead are brought back in untold numbers, and anyone who dreams goes mad...
The Purple Prince follows the lives of four extraordinary people, bound together by destiny.
Mila, a loyal follower of the gods, who has sworn to bring them back to life.
Benedict, son of the Emperor, and next in line to the Kildarion throne.
Angelo, a master assassin, who has been given his greatest assignment yet.
And Raewyn, heir to Earth's End, who alone knows the whereabouts of the infamous Purple Prince.
"When the flames of heaven are rekindled, the fallen shall rise again..."
I really enjoyed this one! All four POVs we get in this book, they are from all different types of backgrounds that give us a well-rounded view of what is going on. My favorite chapters were Angelo's POV! Who doesn't love to read about an assassin but still somehow has his own set of rules to try and keep a moral code.
I will say that I wish we got more of The Purple Prince! But it makes sense to make him more of an enigma, but I did enjoy it when he popped up in the story.
There were many unanswered questions that will make the readers yearn for book 2!
You can read this on KU for free, or you can buy the ebook for $4.99! With only 57 ratings on goodreads, this is an underhyped book that I would definitely recommend for my fantasy lover friends who enjoy political intrigue being a main focus with elemental magic mixed in.
February 20, 2023
So good! I wish this high fantasy self pub had more reads, as it does such a good job of creating a new yet familiar world with many POVs.
There are 5 main characters as well as a few frequent secondary characters, but all have a very distinct tone and storyline so I could easily distinguish between them. The writer creates the flawed characters so that you can still commiserate with, as well as a few vilians that are easy to hate.
The world is similar enough to our own with separate "states" of a United country who deal with common prejudices, but the world is unique with the sub-species of "humans" that live there. I always love a series that involves gids and there downfall/rise with relation to the common people and this series seems to be leading to much bigger things in future books.
I hope the author is able to continue producing books and can't wait for the next!
There are 5 main characters as well as a few frequent secondary characters, but all have a very distinct tone and storyline so I could easily distinguish between them. The writer creates the flawed characters so that you can still commiserate with, as well as a few vilians that are easy to hate.
The world is similar enough to our own with separate "states" of a United country who deal with common prejudices, but the world is unique with the sub-species of "humans" that live there. I always love a series that involves gids and there downfall/rise with relation to the common people and this series seems to be leading to much bigger things in future books.
I hope the author is able to continue producing books and can't wait for the next!
February 15, 2024
I got this book from a giveaway! (To make it even better, the author signed it and handwrote a note.)
Oh my god. I don't know where to begin or where to end, so I'll make this review as short as possible.
Physically, the book was amazing. The pages were thick, white, and I found it was something I wish more publishers would do. The pages were smooth on my fingers and weren't nearly as flimsy as other books.
Now, story-wise, I love it. Interesting characters, creative plot, and most importantly, the story was structured well. I stayed up past midnight and forgot to eat simply because I wanted to finish this book, and oh it was so worth it.
Final thought: Give this book a try, you will love it.
Oh my god. I don't know where to begin or where to end, so I'll make this review as short as possible.
Physically, the book was amazing. The pages were thick, white, and I found it was something I wish more publishers would do. The pages were smooth on my fingers and weren't nearly as flimsy as other books.
Now, story-wise, I love it. Interesting characters, creative plot, and most importantly, the story was structured well. I stayed up past midnight and forgot to eat simply because I wanted to finish this book, and oh it was so worth it.
Final thought: Give this book a try, you will love it.
May 14, 2024
Holy tragedies man that was not what I expected. This was super intriguing I’m very interested in where the story goes. Negatives are sometimes I was completely unaware of the character’s motivations, sometimes it seemed like they had character growth off page that we couldn’t see and suddenly they acted a way you wouldn’t expect them to. It might be personal preference but it kinda took me out of the narrative when it seemed like their values suddenly changed. The most interesting character wasn’t a POV character though and that was definitely a cool way to do it. Overall I enjoyed about 2/3rds of the book a lot and the rest of it… well I had some issues.
I was almost going to give this 4.5 or even 5 stars but I can’t help but be mad at the way Angelo was written. It just really bothered me. Many things in this book had incredible foreshadowing looking back, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where Angelo went wrong.
I was almost going to give this 4.5 or even 5 stars but I can’t help but be mad at the way Angelo was written. It just really bothered me. Many things in this book had incredible foreshadowing looking back, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where Angelo went wrong.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2022
What’s not to love about this self published fantasy? Characters you enjoy following that end up in a different place than they started, interesting works building filled with lord and histories, and engaging writing that left me wanting book two straight away. I loved this!
December 7, 2022
Thank you to the author and Goodreads for providing me with a copy of The Purple Prince!
First of all, this book rocks. If you like high stakes fantasies with rich worlds of political and religious conflict, this is for you. To start out, there are lovely illustrations of the four pov characters that work wonders to flesh out the worldbuilding. Once the book hits about the halfway point and the characters are in the same spaces I could hardly put the book down.
Ben and Raewyn were the standouts to me of the pov characters. The way their stories intertwined interested me in a way that many royal characters don’t in fantasy novels and I’m excited to see where they go next! I’m super excited about the second book in this series.
First of all, this book rocks. If you like high stakes fantasies with rich worlds of political and religious conflict, this is for you. To start out, there are lovely illustrations of the four pov characters that work wonders to flesh out the worldbuilding. Once the book hits about the halfway point and the characters are in the same spaces I could hardly put the book down.
Ben and Raewyn were the standouts to me of the pov characters. The way their stories intertwined interested me in a way that many royal characters don’t in fantasy novels and I’m excited to see where they go next! I’m super excited about the second book in this series.
July 19, 2022
The Purple Prince is unbelievably good. It's almost 700 pages long and reads like a short story, it's so tightly plotted and gripping. All of the characters, especially sweet Benjamin, were wonderful, three-dimensional people who felt extremely real. I was so disappointed when I got to the last page and realized there's no more in this series just yet.
December 29, 2022
In a word: impressive. An exercise in stellar worldbuilding and well plotted, deliberate storytelling. Offers enough answers to its many mysteries to reach a satisfying conclusion but leaves a myriad of threads and intrigues in order to set up the series as a whole. Can’t wait for Book 2, will easily be a day one read. One of the better polished fantasy debuts i’ve read and deserves to be seriously looked at by a traditional publisher.
August 15, 2022
Well met, my prince.
This book was epic, and I loved every second of it!!! I'm the sort of reader who will usually only envision fuzzy details of a book in my mind, like I can mentally picture the outline of a character but not the details of their face, that kind of thing. Few books have the kind of descriptions that really come to life for me, but this is a book that managed to do that. There are some very beautiful drawings of the main characters included in the book--which helped--but the descriptions are also very vivid and stand on their own. Even things like descriptions of the way music sounded. It's truly incredible.
The characters in the book were all created in the image of the gods who once walked the land, but were killed by the Kildarions 1000 years before the story begins. They are separate races, and may have golden skin (the spring realm), pale skin and antlers--yes, antlers--in the winter realm, grey skin like stone in the autumn realm, or dark skin from the summer realm. Worship of the gods is forbidden and punishable by death, and the Kildarion empire also forbids people to speak their native languages in favor of one common language. It was just barely touched upon in the book, but it was interesting to read about the characters feeling like they had lost their culture and sense of identity because of this.
As the story progresses you begin to see more and more horrifying instances of things the Kildarions have done over the years to cement their rule, and the consequences of it. To get cheap labor, they create revenants (yes, zombies), which causes people to lose their jobs. Any acts of rebellion are brutally destroyed. The emperor is an excellent villain, although there are hints that he was not always quite so evil.
The mythology was my favorite part of the story. The River Dream is a real place, sort of like a combination of the birth of creation and also the afterlife. You can catch glimpses of the dead and past events and also see the future, although you don't need to be dead to see it. The characters need to drink a medicine called Dreamless Sleep in order to keep from looking at the River Dream when they are asleep, because anyone who fails to take the Dreamless Sleep goes mad.
A lot of the worldbuilding had an eerie sense of foreshadowing to it. Nothing felt like unnecessary fluff. At one point Mila is walking through a temple and is looking at some artwork depicting the gods defeat of their own shadow-selves, and a few pages later she is warned of the dangers of invoking the power of the gods with malice in her heart:
Just as believing a great truth can grant command over light, so does believing a great untruth. Never use the language of heaven in this way. It is the greatest crime there is. Doing so will not draw upon the powers of the Aldareth, but of their shadow-selves, who lie in wait beyond the River Dream. The five lords of darkness.
This was especially creepy since Mila and so many other characters in the book were seething with rage towards the Empire. I kept reading fight scenes with magic use and waiting for everything to go sideways!
I think my favorite character is Ben, but I like all of them for different reasons. The events in the first book are major enough to change their natures by the time the second book starts--innocence lost, guilty consciences, trauma, and the need for revenge. And I'm here for it. I can't wait for the second book!
This book was epic, and I loved every second of it!!! I'm the sort of reader who will usually only envision fuzzy details of a book in my mind, like I can mentally picture the outline of a character but not the details of their face, that kind of thing. Few books have the kind of descriptions that really come to life for me, but this is a book that managed to do that. There are some very beautiful drawings of the main characters included in the book--which helped--but the descriptions are also very vivid and stand on their own. Even things like descriptions of the way music sounded. It's truly incredible.
The characters in the book were all created in the image of the gods who once walked the land, but were killed by the Kildarions 1000 years before the story begins. They are separate races, and may have golden skin (the spring realm), pale skin and antlers--yes, antlers--in the winter realm, grey skin like stone in the autumn realm, or dark skin from the summer realm. Worship of the gods is forbidden and punishable by death, and the Kildarion empire also forbids people to speak their native languages in favor of one common language. It was just barely touched upon in the book, but it was interesting to read about the characters feeling like they had lost their culture and sense of identity because of this.
As the story progresses you begin to see more and more horrifying instances of things the Kildarions have done over the years to cement their rule, and the consequences of it. To get cheap labor, they create revenants (yes, zombies), which causes people to lose their jobs. Any acts of rebellion are brutally destroyed. The emperor is an excellent villain, although there are hints that he was not always quite so evil.
The mythology was my favorite part of the story. The River Dream is a real place, sort of like a combination of the birth of creation and also the afterlife. You can catch glimpses of the dead and past events and also see the future, although you don't need to be dead to see it. The characters need to drink a medicine called Dreamless Sleep in order to keep from looking at the River Dream when they are asleep, because anyone who fails to take the Dreamless Sleep goes mad.
A lot of the worldbuilding had an eerie sense of foreshadowing to it. Nothing felt like unnecessary fluff. At one point Mila is walking through a temple and is looking at some artwork depicting the gods defeat of their own shadow-selves, and a few pages later she is warned of the dangers of invoking the power of the gods with malice in her heart:
Just as believing a great truth can grant command over light, so does believing a great untruth. Never use the language of heaven in this way. It is the greatest crime there is. Doing so will not draw upon the powers of the Aldareth, but of their shadow-selves, who lie in wait beyond the River Dream. The five lords of darkness.
This was especially creepy since Mila and so many other characters in the book were seething with rage towards the Empire. I kept reading fight scenes with magic use and waiting for everything to go sideways!
I think my favorite character is Ben, but I like all of them for different reasons. The events in the first book are major enough to change their natures by the time the second book starts--innocence lost, guilty consciences, trauma, and the need for revenge. And I'm here for it. I can't wait for the second book!
February 19, 2025
[3 1/2 stars rounded up]
I first want to say, this was impeccably written! To weave so many pieces together in distinct voices is a challenge. There was certainly characters I preferred over others, but that's more that I wasn't expecting so much religion. It had a similar voice to Strange the Dreamer.
That being said, this reminds me why I don't often read epic fantasy. I can recognize that this was so well written while also knowing that it was exhausting for me. I read so much quick fantasy, and this had no fluff, that it dragged. I don't think I have the braincells to even comment on much of the novel.
If you like epic fantasy- great read! If you can't get through LotR (like me)- perhaps either read this over a long period, by audiobook, or wait til you have the patience.
I first want to say, this was impeccably written! To weave so many pieces together in distinct voices is a challenge. There was certainly characters I preferred over others, but that's more that I wasn't expecting so much religion. It had a similar voice to Strange the Dreamer.
That being said, this reminds me why I don't often read epic fantasy. I can recognize that this was so well written while also knowing that it was exhausting for me. I read so much quick fantasy, and this had no fluff, that it dragged. I don't think I have the braincells to even comment on much of the novel.
If you like epic fantasy- great read! If you can't get through LotR (like me)- perhaps either read this over a long period, by audiobook, or wait til you have the patience.
May 21, 2025
Slow burn
This one starts out a little slow but once the action starts, it doesn't stop. The world building is incredible. The characters are well written and have depth. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Edit: it's now been 2 days and I can't stop thinking about this book.
This one starts out a little slow but once the action starts, it doesn't stop. The world building is incredible. The characters are well written and have depth. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Edit: it's now been 2 days and I can't stop thinking about this book.
April 28, 2025
This book established great detail to the plot, characters, and scenes. The storyline is excellent. I enjoyed reading this fantasy book.
A must read for any and all book lovers everywhere.
A must read for any and all book lovers everywhere.
June 12, 2022
DNF page 430
Reasons I didn’t finish this book:
- I didn’t care for any of the characters or the plot
- All the relationships felt really superficial. It wasn’t convincing at all
- This is a 600 page book but it feels like nothing important for the plot happens. From time to time there is a fight or a revelation, but it feels like it doesn’t tie up with everything. I felt the author kept adding events but didn’t go into them fully and mostly didn’t tie it to the plot in a deep rooted way.
- But the main problem was with the characters development. It made no sense at all. For example: the assassin one was introducing himself as the best one, feared by many, a blade of death but a few pages after he says he is sick of killing people and is not doing it for the money. Out of nowhere ! Raewyn decisions are deeply incoherent. She refuses to go with Endymion but after that she says she feels trapped in her role and wants to discover the world. Before the weddings she tells herself Endymion is a manipulative liar and literally a page after says she still wants to see him when she thinks he’s the one knocking on her door.
Overall it felt like a combination of overused fantasy tropes but badly executed. I really wanted to like this book and support a new author but it looks more like a draft than a finished work.
Reasons I didn’t finish this book:
- I didn’t care for any of the characters or the plot
- All the relationships felt really superficial. It wasn’t convincing at all
- This is a 600 page book but it feels like nothing important for the plot happens. From time to time there is a fight or a revelation, but it feels like it doesn’t tie up with everything. I felt the author kept adding events but didn’t go into them fully and mostly didn’t tie it to the plot in a deep rooted way.
- But the main problem was with the characters development. It made no sense at all. For example: the assassin one was introducing himself as the best one, feared by many, a blade of death but a few pages after he says he is sick of killing people and is not doing it for the money. Out of nowhere ! Raewyn decisions are deeply incoherent. She refuses to go with Endymion but after that she says she feels trapped in her role and wants to discover the world. Before the weddings she tells herself Endymion is a manipulative liar and literally a page after says she still wants to see him when she thinks he’s the one knocking on her door.
Overall it felt like a combination of overused fantasy tropes but badly executed. I really wanted to like this book and support a new author but it looks more like a draft than a finished work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 27, 2022
4.5 stars
The premise of this book sounded incredible. The gods have been murdered and an empire filled with necromancers animating the dead to fill out an army and the workforce stands in its wake. For a self-published debut novel, Menkes doesn't hold back and play it safe; instead, there is a lot of scope and some fairly substantial world-building on display.
This book was trending towards 4 stars for me for most of the read. It was a heavy on set-up and Menkes lulled me into thinking some of the main characters were on the verge of being Mary-Sue/ Gary-Stu like, but what a finale. About 4/5 of the way through, I was pretty sure I knew where Menkes was taking the story; however, he ended the book by pulling the rug out from under me and subverting my expectations.
For a self-published book, the physical hardback has very well made and comes with illustrations of
all the pov characters.
Menkes has laid the groundwork here for a potentially great series. I look forward to seeing how this series continues and watching Menkes grow as a writer.
The premise of this book sounded incredible. The gods have been murdered and an empire filled with necromancers animating the dead to fill out an army and the workforce stands in its wake. For a self-published debut novel, Menkes doesn't hold back and play it safe; instead, there is a lot of scope and some fairly substantial world-building on display.
This book was trending towards 4 stars for me for most of the read. It was a heavy on set-up and Menkes lulled me into thinking some of the main characters were on the verge of being Mary-Sue/ Gary-Stu like, but what a finale. About 4/5 of the way through, I was pretty sure I knew where Menkes was taking the story; however, he ended the book by pulling the rug out from under me and subverting my expectations.
For a self-published book, the physical hardback has very well made and comes with illustrations of
all the pov characters.
Menkes has laid the groundwork here for a potentially great series. I look forward to seeing how this series continues and watching Menkes grow as a writer.
November 22, 2022
'The Purple Prince' is 30% off for a limited time only. Discount automatically applied at checkout.
https://theriverdreamseries.myshopify...
https://theriverdreamseries.myshopify...
February 23, 2024
I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This book was a 3.5 ⭐ read for me. While I loved the world building and the magic system, the pacing felt somehow slow to me and I struggle a bit to finish it.
The narrative follows the lives of four very different people, and we get the POV of each. It was very interesting to read about the different life styles around that magical world, different beliefs and different goals. My favorite character was Raewyn because she was so strong and smart and I loved her character development. In the second half of the book, she is no longer afraid to speak up and make her own choices and I loved that.
I also loved the character art for this book, and overall it was an interesting and engaging read with a lot of plot twists. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy with a romantic subplot. I would definitely read the second installment.
October 22, 2022
Just started this and about half dozen chapters in. Characters are well written. The book has all my attention and is very engaging. I can't wait to see what happens with the characters I've met so far. Dialogue is also very well written and flows naturally. The names of the characters and places are well chosen. A lot of fantasy books have unnecessarily complex, difficult to pronounce character & place names (pet peeve of mine, I guess!), but these names fit very well with the story and the world. The book is beautifully published with graphics and mine included a world map that is gorgeous. Thinking of framing it. The map is also very useful to the narrative, helping me understand who comes from where and visualizing this strange new world! Well done so far!
September 4, 2023
This was so good! It had a lot of what I love in fantasy: interesting magic system, strong world-building, good characters, and an intriguing plot. I really liked how all 4 POVs were handled, it didn't feel like any overshadowed the others and I was equally interested in all 4. I really appreciated how all four POVs wove together to create a cohesive story, but each character remained distinct.
I am looking forward to book 2!
I am looking forward to book 2!
Want to read
April 7, 2023that cover….. I need it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews