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A review by ninjabunneh
The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain
2.0
I'll just come right out and say it so you don't run after me with pitchforks later.
***Spoiler Fucking Alert***
Damn. This book started out so good. First chapter in gives us Haden, disgraced son of King Ren of the Underrealm. Haden gets chosen by the Oracle to complete a quest in the Overrealm, much to the disdain of his twin (asshole) brother as well as his father. His quest? To bring back a Boon, a girl. Not just any girl. A very important one. One that is the key to saving the Underrealm. A Cypher. In other words, the fate of Haden's world rests on his shoulders and if he cannot complete his task he's pretty much shit out of luck. Dear daddy will probably kill him and brother will take over the throne. Haden is somewhat egotistical, but at the same time vulnerable. I knew he'd be my cuppa.
How. Fucking. Awesome. Underlords and mythology? This was like book porn. Complete with unicorn rainbows.
Then I met Daphne and the book went to hell in a hand basket. Literally. Daphne is the chick that Haden is supposed to bring back to the Underrealm. She started out ok. Lives in a small town, mom is a bit overbearing and doesn't really allow her to leave the town. For anything. Ever.Red flag? No? Um, yeh.
Of course she isn't a happy camper about being stuck in this tiny town and wishes to venture out into the wild blue yonder. Why? Because she can sing. Not only can she sing, she is really really really really great at it. Really. Like American Idol great. Uh-huh. Fuck, yeh. She also had this slightly odd talent of reading people in tones. Yes, people give off musical tones only she can hear and that helps her learn what type of person that individual is. She can also do this with trees and animals.
Anywhoo, about five seconds after meeting Daphne, we learn what a moron and a half she is. Her dear old deadbeat dad whom she hasn't seen in years pops by. Not only does he pop by, but he says he now has custody of her! What?!?!! Oh yes. Some judge has given him custody of his daughter he hasn't given a shit about for the majority of her life. What does Daphne do? Does she:
A) Tell dad to fuck off.
B) Leave with her mom and get a good lawyer.
C) Both A&B
Or
D) Abandon her mom and go off with a man she doesn't even know.
The answer is............. D!!!!!
Why does she go? Well, dear old dad is a rock star and he has bought a rock star like house in a extremely wealthy area. This area is complete with a super wealthy private school that, guess what? Has a super wealthy music program! And he managed to get her in! The name of this utopia is Olympus Hills.Cue in Captain Obvious.
Off our super special singer goes and, in the meantime, Haden also magically appears in Olympus Hills because the gate to the Underrealm coincidentally exists there.
Now it's Haden's job to convince Daphne to go with him to the Underrealm. Not to go into long boring details (because then you may as well read the damn book), the whole relationship is just meh. The romance is non-existent. We have the typical electricity cracklings when they touch and such. Haden gets more and more like a puppy dog which was disappointing. Daphne is just like an emotionless vessel, and really boring. Maybe I've gotten spoiled lately with all the kick ass heroines I've been reading, but she's a snooze fest.
There's one action scene in the whole book pretty much. The rest is hearing about Daphne's musical talent and Haden swooning over her voice. If you know a bit about the mythology, it's easy to figure out the connections. The one thing that makes no sense at all is why Daphne's mom? We meet her for all of two minutes and are given no reasons why she bore this incredibly important child. It's spoon feeding and we should just swallow it. Nope. Not this chick. Sorry.
The book was also filled with incredibly obvious plot twists. I saw every single one of them coming. From Daphne's dad having made a deal with the devil so to speak, to the missing Boon aka sister of Daphne's friend. What started out as such a potentially awesome book, became YA predictability. I refuse to use the excuse that it's just YA and I should take it as such. No. I've read many YA books that are balls to the wall fucktabulous.
2 Ninja-Bunnehs-Throwing-Lightning-Bolts
(Arc was given to me in exchange for an honest review.)
***Spoiler Fucking Alert***
Damn. This book started out so good. First chapter in gives us Haden, disgraced son of King Ren of the Underrealm. Haden gets chosen by the Oracle to complete a quest in the Overrealm, much to the disdain of his twin (asshole) brother as well as his father. His quest? To bring back a Boon, a girl. Not just any girl. A very important one. One that is the key to saving the Underrealm. A Cypher. In other words, the fate of Haden's world rests on his shoulders and if he cannot complete his task he's pretty much shit out of luck. Dear daddy will probably kill him and brother will take over the throne. Haden is somewhat egotistical, but at the same time vulnerable. I knew he'd be my cuppa.
How. Fucking. Awesome. Underlords and mythology? This was like book porn. Complete with unicorn rainbows.
Then I met Daphne and the book went to hell in a hand basket. Literally. Daphne is the chick that Haden is supposed to bring back to the Underrealm. She started out ok. Lives in a small town, mom is a bit overbearing and doesn't really allow her to leave the town. For anything. Ever.
Of course she isn't a happy camper about being stuck in this tiny town and wishes to venture out into the wild blue yonder. Why? Because she can sing. Not only can she sing, she is really really really really great at it. Really. Like American Idol great. Uh-huh. Fuck, yeh. She also had this slightly odd talent of reading people in tones. Yes, people give off musical tones only she can hear and that helps her learn what type of person that individual is. She can also do this with trees and animals.
Anywhoo, about five seconds after meeting Daphne, we learn what a moron and a half she is. Her dear old deadbeat dad whom she hasn't seen in years pops by. Not only does he pop by, but he says he now has custody of her! What?!?!! Oh yes. Some judge has given him custody of his daughter he hasn't given a shit about for the majority of her life. What does Daphne do? Does she:
A) Tell dad to fuck off.
B) Leave with her mom and get a good lawyer.
C) Both A&B
Or
D) Abandon her mom and go off with a man she doesn't even know.
The answer is............. D!!!!!
Why does she go? Well, dear old dad is a rock star and he has bought a rock star like house in a extremely wealthy area. This area is complete with a super wealthy private school that, guess what? Has a super wealthy music program! And he managed to get her in! The name of this utopia is Olympus Hills.
Off our super special singer goes and, in the meantime, Haden also magically appears in Olympus Hills because the gate to the Underrealm coincidentally exists there.
Now it's Haden's job to convince Daphne to go with him to the Underrealm. Not to go into long boring details (because then you may as well read the damn book), the whole relationship is just meh. The romance is non-existent. We have the typical electricity cracklings when they touch and such. Haden gets more and more like a puppy dog which was disappointing. Daphne is just like an emotionless vessel, and really boring. Maybe I've gotten spoiled lately with all the kick ass heroines I've been reading, but she's a snooze fest.
There's one action scene in the whole book pretty much. The rest is hearing about Daphne's musical talent and Haden swooning over her voice. If you know a bit about the mythology, it's easy to figure out the connections. The one thing that makes no sense at all is why Daphne's mom? We meet her for all of two minutes and are given no reasons why she bore this incredibly important child. It's spoon feeding and we should just swallow it. Nope. Not this chick. Sorry.
The book was also filled with incredibly obvious plot twists. I saw every single one of them coming. From Daphne's dad having made a deal with the devil so to speak, to the missing Boon aka sister of Daphne's friend. What started out as such a potentially awesome book, became YA predictability. I refuse to use the excuse that it's just YA and I should take it as such. No. I've read many YA books that are balls to the wall fucktabulous.
2 Ninja-Bunnehs-Throwing-Lightning-Bolts
(Arc was given to me in exchange for an honest review.)