I was very excited to start reading this book. The premise sounded absolutely amazing. Though for some reason I thought that Elician was going to find a dead enemy on the battlefield and bring them back to life.

I’ve read 10% of the book but unfortunately won’t be continuing. I really struggled to get to grips with the third person present tense (so much so that I began translating it from He to I to make it flow), it was an odd choice for pov and I found it very jarring.

I wasn’t really sure what the stakes were for Elician, which made me think, why do I keep reading? What does he have at stake and why do I care? I didn’t find his wants and needs clear which would have been useful so we know what kind of a journey we’re going on.

There was very little tension that made me wonder what’s going to happen next.

I didn’t find myself connecting with Elician, Lio and Cat. I found their personalities lacking, again maybe because we didn’t really know what was important to them. It would have been good to hear more thoughts and reflection from Elician about himself and the others.

This book was not entirely what I expected, but I quite liked it. It's marketed as romantasy, but I'd say it's more of a political fantasy with a romantic subplot. The MC and LI meet early on and develop feelings, but at some point they get seperated and don't meet for a long time.

This story is set in a world where two countries have been fighting and on and off war for most of their history about a river that separates their countries, as both belief this river is of cultural importance to their country and they are unwilling to share. Elician is a prince fighting in this war, and a Giver-he can heal people, bring back the dead, and he himself can't die unless the gods will it. One day, a Reaper-someone whose touch kills people and like a giver can't die-tries to kill him, but this fails. He is taken captive, and Elician decides to give him a chance of a life in their kingdom among the other reapers.

I found the magic system quite interesting. Givers and Reapers are both immortal and chosen by the gods, and a significant part of the book was dedicated to exploring this powers, especially within Fen's sections, Elician's adopted younger sister who is still learning to be a Giver. Meanwhile, Cat, the Reaper assassin, learns more about his abilities and be more than just a killer.

Most of this book focuses on the political plot, which centers around the war and the conflict between the two countries that's quite senseless, yet they've been at it for so long they can't really solve it, and neither can give in. Elician is an idealist, who believes he can achieve peace when he's king, and change the system surrounding how givers and reapers are treated in their society, but getting there is another matter, and there's multiple plots at play to determine who gets a throne and how this war will go, though some of these plots do unravel a bit passively without any of the MC's input.

I liked the exploration of what life and death means through the abilities of the givers and the reapers. Fen in one of her first chapters claim that in her perfect world, no one should have to die, and with their abilities this is theoretically possible, but has already gone wrong in the past. Meanwhile, death also has a place, because without death nothing can change.

The book has 3 main POV's. Elician, the idealistic prince who is stuck in a war he didn't want. Cat, the assassin turned prisoner who is trying to build a new life and learn more of his abilities, while also getting caught up in some of the political plotting. And the third is Fen, Elician's adopted teenage sister. I enjoyed all 3 POV's, even Fen's although she can be a bit of a difficult teenager, and I liked to see them develop over time.

I would recommend it to people who like queer fantasy with a little romance, some more politics, and an interesting magic system.

I just have one thing to say. Sometimes, a premise is so strong that a book immediately lands on my most anticipated list. And when the cover matches the premise, my excitement skyrockets. But sometimes, it also takes a nosedive and crashes to the ground. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened when I started reading this book. So, I decided to DNF.

Please, check out reviews from readers who enjoyed this story.

This is a bit of a tough one as I was so excited to receive this ARC, however I got to about 20% before needing to pop off to read an ARC for an imminent release. While I still have The Sun Blessed Prince on my TBR, I keep finding myself putting off picking it back up again.
I can’t offer a specific reason for this other than the fact that I didn’t feel gripped by the story, however I did really enjoy the dynamic between Cat & Elician.

I do not want to consider this as a DNF at this point, but I’m not sure when I will find the motivation to resume reading.
Thank you to Pan Macmillain/Tor and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Sun Blessed Prince prior to its release.

This was an extremely intriguing story and I found the characters engaging. The idea of Givers and Reapers (and being each others direct foil) was so interesting but unfortunately minimised the stakes as times as I didn’t fear for characters the way I might if there was no one who could bring them back.
Unfortunately, third person present tense is apparently not for me and I found it really hard to read. If it had been written in past tense I may have engaged more with it but that is just personal preference and I am sure a lot of people would have no issues. There’s also a lot of very similar names for people and places which left me confused at times.

2.5⭐️. We follow 3 POVs in this story:

1. Elician, Prince of Soleb, who is a Giver, which means he can heal and even bring people back to life.
2. Cat, who is Alelunen (the country with whom Soleb are warring) and a Reaper, able to kill people with one touch.
3. Fen, Elician’s adopted little sister, also a Giver, but one who struggles to heal but who, like Elician, can easily resurrect.

My feelings on this book were a bit of a rollercoaster. I liked the premise and was drawn in right at the start, where you’re thrust into war, as Elician fights alongside his best friend, Lio, against Alelune for control of the Bask River, which separates their countries. After an unsuccessful assassination, Elician and Lio take Cat captive and transport him to Kreuzfurt, a place in Soleb uniquely situated to cater to Givers and Reapers. We have a relatively short period where Elician and Cat become acquainted, where I enjoyed seeing more of their characters and the beginnings of their friendship, before Elician and Lio leave to return to the war. It then takes quite a meandering pace, as Fen’s POV enters and starts to feel like more of a character study, with little in the way of action. It didn’t help that I didn’t particularly enjoy being in Fen’s POV. The plot then picks up again right towards the end of the book, as events start to culminate.

I think my biggest issue is that I wasn’t sure what this book was trying to be. It didn’t feel like epic fantasy or fantasy romance, nor did it feel like a cosy fantasy. I also found the pacing a bit strange - there were several quite large jumps in time (periods of 3-6 months) without us knowing what was happening to some of the central characters. We also keep being told there are consequences to bringing people back from the dead yet we never see what those are. And lastly, as the story reaches its conclusion, we realise that the people masterminding the main events are characters we see very little of, which made the culmination of events at the end feel quite stilted and which I personally then felt disconnected from. So, overall, an interesting premise but not a story I was particularly excited by.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this book.

Thanks to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for this ARC.

This one had so much potential. I was ready to love this book based solely on the blurb alone. I was ready to fall in love with the romance, watching two characters forge peace between their warring countries. I loved the idea of givers and reapers, the sun and moon imagery, the life and death struggle.

Unfortunately, this book fell short of every expectation I had.

The pacing in this book was off. There was a lot of strange time skips, and it kept jumping all over the place. It was so hard to tell how much time had passed. There are long chapters where nothing happens, and then a sudden time skip.

This book had 37 chapters. 14 of them were dedicated to the POV of a teenage girl who is not mentioned in the blurb of this book. I was promised a queer romance book and instead I got almost half the chapters dedicated to a teenage girl who's chapters don't necessarily have anything to add to the story. In fact, I feel her chapters took time away from some of the more interesting plot points.

The two main characters, Cat and Elician, spent a few weeks together before being separated for at least a year if not more (again, it's hard to tell because of the bad pacing), before being reunited. Elician left Cat in chapter 11. In chapter 37 they reunite but don't speak. In chapter 38, the final chapter, they talk and essentially promise to support each other while trying to create peace. First, you cannot compare this book to some of the biggest queer books in this genre and then have the main characters be separated for most of the book with absolutely no development in their relationship. Second, we spent more time with the teenage girl than we did with the actual couple this book is supposed to be about!

Normally, the lack of romance wouldn't typically bother me, but this book has been compared to other queer fantasy which are heavy on the romance. I really would've preferred this book to focus on developing Cat and Elician's relationship, I think I read the blurb and was excited for a queer romance, and instead I got this. I think this book has been poorly marketed, as this book is not an adult book. It's young adult - again, almost half the chapters are from the POV of a teenage girl.

There were promising elements - the magic system. the moral dilemmas surrounding it. The worldbuilding was decent. I found Elician to be a kind sweet character. But ultimately I don't think this is the book for me.

I really liked this book! The world-building and magical healing system was really interesting and well-thought out. I loved the dynamic between givers and reapers and the cultural differences between the two kingdoms as a result. Elician and Cat were both really well fleshed out characters and both extremely likeable. I sort of guessed what the twist would be, which didn't diminish from the book at all, and it's a positive that I was able to pick up on the clues the author was hinting at throughout (and a miracle, because I can hardly ever pick up on subtext!). All of the characters I could empathise with, despite not agreeing with their actions, and none of them were truly unlikeable (unless intended to be). Overall a really solid read and I'm exceptionally glad to see there's a duology planned, because I had hoped their stories would continue!

This one is little hard to star. The concept are great. Drawing on a quite familiar imagination (death and life, sun and moon). I can see the inspiration for this book and what the author wanted to do with the story.
But if fell a bit short. The stakes fell short, meaning the tension also went a little slack. It's interesting because all the elements are there, they just needed a little tweeking to create the needed narrative.

We follow Elician, Prince of the a country organised around the God of Life, as he fight at the front against his country's long enemy : the country on the other side of a river, organised about the Goddess of Death. Both countries want the river, sacred to both of them. They can't find an agreement and go to war regularly.
Elician has a secret : he's a Giver, a person blessed by the God of Life, healer and able to ressurect people (but it's forbidden). Then Elician encounters a young man, who tries to kill him. This person is a Reaper : blessed by the Goddess of Death, able to kill just by touching. Elician is kind and decides to take the broken would-be-assassin to a safe-place. They bond, more or less, during the trip. It takes the whole first third of the book.
We learn more about both of them, and about Elician's sister too. But I couldn't see where the story was going, not until something else happens and we are thrown into a full political intrigue (it was already there but lurking at the back).

Like I said, there are good idea for a nice story. The prose is good, with a great sense of place, giving life to the descriptions. The worldbuilding is okay too. But if feels too slick. Like nothing much happened, at any point.
And it's not that nothing happens : the characters have growth and pieces are moved behind the curtains. But it felt more like a slice of life with a political background than a fantasy book centered around a political intrigue. I don't mind the romance being very at the background too, partly because of how the story's is structured, but I expected a little more actions or at least high tension moment. I couldn't feel any of it and questionned some of the secondary characters' decisions and plotting. The whole Reapers and Givers position in society is also something that I struggled a bit. For people blessed by gods, they are quite marginalised. Which make sort of sense but not enough.

Still, I enjoyed my read ! Hence my struggle and frustration to star it. I would have liked the story to have more tension so the ending could be more rewarding. With characters with more flaws too, to highlight their good side. Nonetheless, I read it start to finish and I will wait for the second book to see how things will play out.

I loved this book so much!!! I rated this book 5 stars because I couldn't put it down for a second. I recommend everyone to read this book because it's great!

The writing style and imagery used in the story was nothing short of magical. Fans of When The Moon Hatched will be familiar with the attentive language used to paint a scene.
I was invested in the plot and grew to like the characters, I thought the romance element would be more prominent but the storyline stood firmly without a huge need for it. The opposites attract/two sides of the same soul atmosphere was enjoyable for me.
The concept is what sold it for me and I’m looking forward to completing the duology.
I will update on more retail platforms upon publication.

2.5*. The concept of this book sounded incredible and I was so excited to read this. There were some promising elements including the magic system, Kreuzfurt, and the moral dilemmas surrounding these. Sadly, most of the book felt to me, for lack of a better term, rather dull. Definitely more YA than adult in my opinion.

Yes, I have no doubt the stakes were meant to be high, but it didn't come across in the writing at all. Deaths were meaningless because (minor spoiler) characters could be brought back, which had no emotional impact on me as a reader. The pacing felt off to me as there would be long chapters where basically nothing happened, then a time skip to several months later. Additionally, I felt that the culmination of the political motives at the end of the book made no sense, because in what was depicted as such a cutthroat political environment, there was absolutely no way anyone would support Elician being king.

Romance played a much smaller part in the book than I expected, which, under any other circumstance I would've enjoyed, but I wish more time had been spent on developing the romance instead of Fenlia's POV chapters, which were arbitrary with no payoff.

I will say, one of the plot points had me gagged, which might have been because I wasn't paying enough attention, but nevertheless was an enjoyable aspect of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

This is a fantasy novel with an intriguing magical base of Givers and Reapers, all with queer romance and royal politics sewn in. I loved the lyrical prose that Byrd writes with and the descriptions of the different settings gave me a vivid idea in my head.
I did feel that the last third dragged a little but overall the novel was beautiful.