The Desert Prince

This is gonna be unpopular, which is why I think this is more of a not for me kind of book, or more specifically, not for me at this very moment. Will I pick it up again in the future and attempt it, only to see if my rating changed? Maybe, but right now I just felt it was slow and a bit cliched, and I couldn't get through with as much fervor as I usually like.

“Hollow needed a healing hand fifteen years ago, but it's time that hand held a spear once more.”This is basically Disney's Descendants with demons.The kids of the main characters from the first series are confronted with the same evil that was never quite vanquished the first time. Olive Paper and Darin Bales are the main protagonists here, with a side cast of other kids from notable names from the first series. We get a whirlwind tour of a lot of the notable places from the first series, end up in the desert with a rapid-fire training montage reminiscent of [b:The Desert Spear 6736971 The Desert Spear (Demon Cycle, #2) Peter V. Brett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388219761l/6736971.SY75.jpg 6527274], and have a confrontation at the end that seems familiar as well.That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book. Quite the opposite, I liked the return to a series I loved the first time around. But I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that, at least this book, feels like an infodump of the first series intended to onboard new readers. There's lots of points when characters are meeting other characters that we get a “and here's what this character did in the first series” narration. Everything we see and everywhere we go gets another little “and here's the impact this had on the first series” byline. So, I guess what I'm saying is, there's a lot to love here if you loved the first series, but if you're looking for a different take or a different feel, I don't know if this is for you. I will say that if you're new to the world, this book does a good job of giving you the high level plot points, major players and conflicts, and a rudimentary introduction to terminology enough to at least get you oriented.So, in summary, read this if you liked the first series, I think is what it boils down to. It really hits all the right notes and feels from its origins.

Unfortunately, I DNF'd this book at 40%. I enjoyed the prose and the world building, but I didn't feel comfortable with the way other characters treated the Intersex main character. As someone who is not Intersex, I cannot say whether it was good representation, but I can say that a lot of the things characters said and did once they found out the main character's “secret” (that alone made me feel uncomfortable) they treated her very weird and always said and did things that didn't feel right.




Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, and NetGalley for providing me with an eBook copy to review.

DNF - PG 30 (ish, I think)

Why?

The first thing you need to know is that I refused to buy this book because I trusted neither the book or the author (who I'd never read anything from before) enough to spend money on it. I was waiting for my library to get it. They did, but it was the Graphic Audio which is a full cast, cinematic audiobook. Their tagline is ‘a movie in your mind'.

➤ So, first up, I had a major knee-jerk reaction to the accents of most of the characters and Olive specifically. It sounds very southern United States to me, which did nothing but throw me off. Olive's older sister (Mina?) has a completely different accent, which was much closer to what I was expecting.

➤ Then, the first twenty minutes of the audiobook is devoted to, first, copious talk/narration about hair and makeup, then a whole conversation plus (in that it's brought up again before I stopped) about kissing and how Olive's best friend kisses a lot of boys and some girls and Olive hasn't kissed anyone and kissing, kissing, kissing.

Honestly, I don't have ‘traditional' or stereotypical female interests. I have a quick rule about Netflix shows, my own Not-Bechdel Test, if you will: If the first conversation on a show is between two female characters about traditionally feminine things that I have absolutely no interest in, stop watching it. (I have stopped shows that talk about dating/marriage and back-to-school outfits.)

I am, honestly, shocked that this was written by a man. So...Not for me, but good on ya?

➤ Right after that, we are treated to a flashback (that it took me much longer than it should have to realize it was a flashback) where Olive is told that she was from two eggs fertilized at the same time, but ~magic~ and the twins (one boy and one girl) that were going to be born was combined into her and she ‘can bear children as well as father them'.



(But, don't worry, she seems to be raised as a girl and 100% wants to be a girl? I don't know. It's ~magic~.)

And don't forget the fact that Olive's stomach clenches at the prospect of a test like it does in the days before her ‘flow'. (Is it just me or is this a little misogynistic? I've known as many women that think things like that as I have ones that wax rhapsodic over the way their breasts feel in shirts. None.)

➤ Olive is quite determined, when she can find the time through the flashbacks and the prettifying and the talk of not being allowed to kiss boys, to tell you that everyone thinks she's a child, but she's not. She's not!



(And the more she claims she's not a child, the more I think she is.) (Partially (? Maybe?) my fault as I always approach fifteen year olds with caution, but I didn't know she was that young. Maybe the synopsis indicates it, but I didn't realize there was a direct correlational there.)

Very much not for me.