Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review!

I really loved the world-building and the magic inherent in Selestra and Nox's world. There were a few parts where I got a bit lost, as it is pretty complex, but the big picture was easier to grasp. Some of the aspects did give me pause like <spoiler> Selestra's death visions always coming true early when she's supposed to be able to predict down to the day and time. That was never really explained even with a "future is always in flux" kind of throwaway thing, it was just a weird thing that happened a few times and was never really brought up again. </spoiler>

My most favourite thing about the book was the impeccable banter between Nox and Selestra. It is quick, witty, funny, and genuinely unique. Although they fall into an enemies to friends to lovers trope, Christo makes it her own and feel new and exciting through her clever writing of their relationship. Plus who doesn't already love enemies to lovers?

I also really enjoyed the best friend characters, Micah and Irenya, especially their individual relationships with their bestie and each other. Truly a highlight of the book is the quick-witted humor.

I really, really ended up rooting for Selestra and Nox, and I loved watching them fight against Seryth. I really felt for them throughout their battles and losses. I also think this is actually a standalone fantasy which is so rare and welcome!

4.5 stars from me, rounded up to 5 for Goodreads.

Fantastic read. Love the writing style and the characters. Good plot and flow. The way you feel connected to the characters made it an easy read and one to enjoy.

The premise to Princess of Souls itself is interesting, about wishes and death trials and witches. The world building in that sense is done well. However, I wanted to give up on this book several times and I’ll go into my reasons below.

I don’t like Nox so the romance this book blatantly heads toward just wasn’t for me. He’s unnecessarily aggressive to Selestra, waking her up in the night to a knife at her in bed, demanding her time and assistance, insulting her, mistrusting her, judging her when he knows nothing about her. He even threatens violence on her and to betray her and all while looking down on her as being a heartless monster ironically void of emotion or kindness - despite her behaviour saying otherwise. I don’t know, he’s entitled and cocky, he wants to use a girl he makes clear he doesn’t respect (but fancies) and I just never warmed to him or thought he deserved Selestra. He needs help, he goes to Selestra to help, but he brings a knife, you have dialogue about him “enjoying the look of desperation she’s trying so hard to hide” when she needs help in return. What even is that?? It takes literally half the book before Nox treats Selestra like a human being and not a monster or a resource to use, which makes the romance void for me thanks. Later in the book he talks to Selestra about how other people have dictated and used her and yet, zero self awareness he was just the same in making her feel like she was a heartless witch because he was pig headed and prejudiced to someone who always showed otherwise. Then whiplash, he’s an ass again to her. He treats her like she’s worthless, he admits he was going to kill her for who she is, he takes his grief and anger and issues out in her (without apology) and then we have to hear him telling her to believe in herself. It’s pretty unhealthy how he doesn’t take real responsibility for how he demeans her and then the moment he shows kindness to her, he gets what he wants. Please stop with these kind of romances. Being stuck in the head of a teenage boy narrative is a frustrating experience at times.
Of course he’s the tortured boy with the sad past who hides it behind the smirk and a-hole bravado that’s typical YA boy candy, but there isn’t enough glimpses to see why people actually like him.

Nox is so blind in his revenge, to kill the King who killed his father, that it doesn’t leave much else. He is almost proud of how reckless and impulsive he is, he has a goal but he doesn’t plan and it risks and hurts those around him. You get in themes of grief and mourning and how pain turns into anger when not dealt with, but just not enough. Throw in constant petty swipes from the group such as how Irenya would throw up if Micah carried her. Or Nox’s insistent on calling Selestra princess because “she seems to hate the word, which only makes me want to say it more”. The word “princess” is then used like a comma throughout the book (so help me). These are, well, idiots trying to change the world, I know characters in YA can be young, 16 in this case (!!) but the dialogue here makes them juvenile and it’s annoying and ridiculous they’re supposed to be the heroes and Nox this deadly soldier. You’re reminded frequently that they’re children, maybe that’s the point (?) but then don’t call Nox one of the “King’s men” and have him actually fighting grown muscles soldiers and winning :/ Also slightly weird Nox refers to Selestra as “just a child” at 14 but lusts after her at 16…

Micah was a fun character who deserved better content. I did like Selestra but she’s nothing different; she’s defiant, misunderstood, she’s learning who she is and stepping outside the confines of her cage to find her purpose. I did like her, despite her being typical and not really developing, although she’s a strong female character who just lets herself be misused by Nox and the behaviour is forgotten because he has a dimple <3 so I dunno how inspiring that is. That said Nox is literally her first exposure to a guy and even being how he is, he’s nicer than most people have been to her, which is a low bar to be fair - again this doesn’t make this healthy though.
The character I found most interesting though was Theola, Selestra’s Mum, and I wish we had more of her complex relationship with her daughter and the King and the battle between love for her daughter and the blood oath that controls her.

There isn’t much similar in this book to To Kill A Kingdom in the sense that while it’s the same world, it doesn’t necessarily feel like it, beyond some references. That said, the characters themselves feel a continuation, you’ve got the girl who has the face and presence of a monster who actually can be good and wants to be more, and you have the swaggering hero who can be a bit of a ****, especially to a girl he wants to use to get something from, but they go on adventure and learn and love etc. It doesn’t feel different enough.
Also I know this is meant to be Rapunzel in nature but you just get some hair mentions really. That said every time Nox mentions his Dad and the sword and how his whole life has been about vengeance, training every day with his fathers sword, I heard in my head “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die!” :D
It doesn’t feel enemies to lovers, it’s just poorly developed, Selestra never sees Nox as her enemy and Nox more looks down on her than hates her in return. Besides you never see Selestra as a monster, in fact Nox has no reason to either. It’s just not developed enough.

Ultimately this book just wasn’t for me. It had potential with the premise but the characters and writing dragged it down. It’s just children playing at being adults and it’s a frustrating read, especially with a (literally) childish romance with toxic vibes. Nox in particular (who, from my review you can tell I really don’t like) highlights this immaturity, which may work for younger readers, but alas, I am not young, I am old and cranky. It’s petulant and juvenile at times and if you’re interested in the plot, you have a lot to endure to get to it and not much to show for it.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review

Unfortunately ran out of time with this book and didn't get to start it 😕. Will rate 3 stars for fairness.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

Don't you feel like three star books are the most difficult to talk about?! It's a "I didn't dislike it but I'm not sure I loved it either" kind of vibe.

Alexandra Christo writes in such a compelling, easy style - it's the quintessential YA style that just works, and this book is no exception. I really enjoyed some of the world building, the dialogue was just in that sweet spot most of the time, and the plot moved along quickly. But none of it was perfect, none of it was elevated past just being a compelling page-turner.

In this loose Rapunzel retelling, we are plunged back into the same world as To Kill a Kingdom. This time, corrupt King Seryth rules the land with an iron fist, quite literally gobbling souls to maintain his own life source. He does so with the help of his loyal witch servant - mother to Selestra, future witch in training and heir to the position of soul-sucking-witch when she comes of age. Bet she can't wait.

Every year the King holds a festival whereby people in the local towns can bargain with their souls. Selestra's mother shows them a vision of their death, and if they can outsmart that death and others for the month to pass, they keep their souls and have a better life because of it; in fact, they could even take the King's position for themselves. Of course, that's never happened - once your fate is sealed, there's very little you can do to escape death, but people are desperate and this is their only chance at a better life.

The concept is pretty good (although had a handful of holes you just had to overlook). Christo strikes the perfect balance here with the dialogue. Sometimes I fing her snarkiness a little too much, overused and therefore not funny anymore which was a struggle for me in her adult books, but she was absolutely on point this time with funny one-liners and genuinely likeable main characters. The characters are also really well developed, with believable bonds between Selestra and Nox - the soldier who believes he can beat the prediction she bestows upon him. Unfortunately, some of the secondary characters who you should be really invested in on behalf of Nox and Selestra don't land so well; I didn't feel any emotional connection to them at all really, which was a problem as the story progressed. Equally, Seryth is a cookie-cutter villain - there was nothing believable about his dastardly behaviour and instead he felt more of a background feature knocking at the door rather than a genuine threat. Whenever a villain relies solely on their grumpy army to do their dirty work instead of posing a real threat themselves, I'm immediately not intimidated by their presence. I want to understand the villain, their motives, their complexity. Seryth was flat as a pancake!

A little predictable and sometimes a bit cheesy with the romance, but compelling writing and an enjoyable book; I think we've seen better from Christo and from our hugely saturated YA fairytale retelling market, but it was a fun ride nonetheless.

3⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to Bonnier Books UK/Hot Key Books and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book.


This was a nice quick, enjoyable read. This isn’t anything groundbreaking or wildly new, but it is written well with an interesting world and magic system.

I did enjoy To Kill a Kingdom more, in that book I found the story more original and the characters more engaging. But if you enjoyed that book you will like this one too.

This book was a little slow to start off with but once Nox was introduced and we got the interactions between him and Selestra it started to pick up so much more.

The storyline was great and the characters were well developed and I liked how certain characters were revealed to me linked through out the story.

There were parts which I wish had more time to be explored and developed further but I throughly enjoyed it nonetheless.

Major enemies-to-lovers vibes.

I’m really hoping a sequel will be released for this book soon as I would love to know how the story continues. I do feel that the story has been left open and there is so much more to be explored with the characters and the storyline.

Overall a solid YA Fantasy book, would highly recommend!

A fantastic second book based on Rapunzel. I didn’t think I would love any book as much as to kill a kingdom but can honestly say I loved this one even more. From the moment I started reading it I didn’t want to put it down.

This was a fun, fast and just overall enjoyable read. It's action packed, with sass/snark and the best kind of trope - enemies to lovers. I will be checking out the authors other books!

I picked up To Kill a Kingdom on a whim when it first came out a few years ago and immediately fell in love with Lira and Elian. So naturally when I saw that Princess of Souls was set in the same world, I couldn't resist requesting it. Then upon reading the blurb I discovered Princess of Souls had Rapunzel vibes and I knew I was in for a treat.

Admittedly this story headed in a bit of a different direction to the classic Rapunzel tale, but I enjoyed the way it unfolded regardless and found this to be a nice, easy fantasy read. The snark between Selestra and Nox was top notch and incredibly entertaining (although, I will say that it wasn't quite as 'enemies-to-lovers' as I had expected.)

If you're looking for a bit of a slow-burn, fast-paced fantasy romance, with some great world building and (of course) witches, then this is definitely the book for you,

Thank you, NetGalley and Hot Key Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed To Kill A Kingdom and when I found out this book was set in the same world as the first I was intrigued.

I would like to say I assumed that this retelling of a fairytale would be similar to To Kill a Kingdom. Now where Selestra had long hair and was in a tower for a bit it was a loose retelling in my opinion. Where Selestra and Nox started out with a little animosity their witty back-and-forth banter kept me invested in them as a couple.

This book was fast-paced and an enjoyable read. It is one I would certainly come back to.

Wow what a fantastic book with twists and turns all over the place such a good book I would definitely recommend it

This was advertised as a Rapunzal retelling set in the same world as To Kill A Kingdom so I was really looking forward to reading this.
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Though I don’t think I would call this a retelling though I can see some elements of the story. It’s more loosely inspired by Rapunzal.
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The story was interesting and it was nice to see more of the world. The MC, Selestra, and the LI, Nox, had some fun banter and I also loved seeing them each have their own friendships and how they loved & protected their friend.
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I really enjoyed reading Selestra’s arc and how she learnt to be more self confident and trust in her abilities and become stronger. She goes from being afraid to upset the king to taking him on to protect those she loves.
Nox also has an interesting arc where he begins the story wanting revenge and is grieving the death of his father to learning to come to terms with his father no longer being here and not letting it consume him.
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I think my main issue withthe story was the pacing. It dragged at times and then everything would happen at once. But overall i did enjoy it.

I really enjoyed To Kill A Kingdom and the twist on the Little Mermaid story, particularly the references to the Disney version. I think anyone expecting similar references to Rapunzel may be disappointed: there's a tower, the heroine has long, but not crazy long, hair, and there's multiple mentions of climbing up her hair in a jokey way, but they felt more like the characters were mocking fairy tales in general, and the idea of the character being a trapped princess, than an actual reference to Rapunzel.

This is a standalone story, and, while the story is set in the same world as To Kill A Kingdom, the events and characters are separate, so this book can be read without having read To Kill A Kingdom first.

I had a good time reading this, and read it really quickly, but the enemy-to-lovers aspect didn't work as well for me in Princess of Souls as in to Kill A Kingdom, the enemies aspect wasn't that well established, and it really only took a conversation or two for the characters to realise that they were wrong, and that therefore romance would swiftly follow. Maybe I was suffering from YA fatigue at that point, but it fell a bit flat for me.

I still really enjoyed the world though, and loved the idea of the soul magic and foretelling of death, the sinister edge is what I really like in both To Kill A Kingdom and Princess of Souls, I kind of wish we could have a little more of that, and a little less of the characters wondering to themselves if or why they like the other.

I loved To Kill A Kingdom so I was so excited about this book and the fact that it's set in the same world as the first!

This story has a perfect balance of romance and adventure which keeps you interested throughout. Similarly to the first book the love interests have a love/hate relationship where there is clearly attraction there but they don't trust one another and I really like that dynamic.

The magic was fun and made sense, I hate when books make characters too over powered and everything is unbalanced, but this book was just right.

I really enjoyed reading this and was really satisfied with the way it ended.

I’ve been trying to read this for a while now. There’s nothing wrong with it at all! It’s beautifully written, the characters are great, the story is interesting… but it hasn’t really gripped me.

Sounds odd when I read the same types of books over and over again and they always have the same ending…

Maybe fantasy just isn’t for me?

I made it up to chapter 32. And even though I was enjoying the story… I don’t know how to explain it. I guess I just wasn’t that into the characters. There was nothing wrong with them in particular, I just wasn’t into them.

I feel bad when I don’t finish a book. Writers spend so long thinking of a story, planning out the plot, characters, scenes – the world if it’s a fantasy like this one – and so I always feel like I should finish it.

“‘I’m not a princess,’ I say to Irenya. I’m something far more deadly than that.”

I finished this… but I’m not sure if I enjoyed it. It felt like I only persisted with finishing it to get the review done, but I also didn’t hate it.
I didn’t love the plot of the story. It felt like nothing was happening until everything happened at once.
The characters were not good or even particularly interesting. I wasn’t invested in the romance.
I was kind of disappointed as I really enjoyed TKAK, but at least it was easy enough to read.

A wonderful, magical and dark retelling of Rapunzel. I think this has to be my favourite fairytale retell to date. I love Selestra and Nox, the chemistry between them is superb. I always like a dual point of view to get a better picture of both characters' thoughts and feelings. The world that the author describes is just magical. I loved every word of this!

We are back in the world of the six isles! having read and enjoyed the first in Alexandra Christo’s book, to kill a kingdom, I was happy to sit down with this YA adventure novel. This is cited as a retelling of Rapunzel, however, besides being a girl and having long hair, this has no other comparison, but this didn’t take away from the main story which was original and easy to read. I loved the protagonists and their found family, the characters had great chemistry together with duel POV, romance, and banter.