Hello, hello! It’s the last Wednesday in May, which means it’s time for another book review. This time, I decided to get into a fantasy novel to mix things up a bit. Cozies and thrillers are great, but sometimes you just need a break. So, I requested a copy of The Oddling Prince by Nancy Springer from NetGalley. It came out earlier this month from Tachyon Publications. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. With that out of the way, let’s get on with it!

The Oddling Prince opens with Aric’s father, the king of Calidon, on his deathbed. A ring of unknown origins is sucking the life from him, and no one can figure out how to remove it short of cutting off the appendage, which no one dares to do. At least not until a stranger arrives on a horse that disappears when he dismounts. The stranger saves the king without mutilating him and reveals a secret that only Aric immediately accepts as true. This leads to adventure and arguments and secrets and a level of brotherly love that verges on the incestuous at times.

I fully admit that this book caused my inner yaoi fangirl to come out. If you don’t know what yaoi is, the best way I’ve heard it described is that it’s beautiful boys kissing beautiful boys. Granted, it tends to go much farther than that, but I won’t go there because the book doesn’t. So, if you’re reading it and get some strange vibes that make you want to put it down, don’t worry. It’s really just creepy levels of brotherly love. For the yaoi fanpeople, you will be slightly disappointed. But hey! At least Aric and Albaric came together in the end. *winkwinknudgenudge* Just in a completely different, but equally satisfying way.

But seriously, I found this story quite enjoyable. The characters were relatable despite being royalty. The plot was fun and had a lot of twists. My only complaint with this one is that the pacing is awkward. It feels like everything happens over the course of a few days, maybe weeks, but there are lines that suggest months have passed by. Honestly, I wouldn’t be able make a timeline for it even after finishing it, because I’m still not entirely sure whether days or weeks or months passed. That issue screws with a couple of other things, such as the relationship arc between Aric and Marissa. There wasn’t a sense of love at first sight, so when it seemed like they randomly fell in love after a couple of days, it felt like an afterthought. But if months passed, it makes a bit more sense.

As far as the writing goes, be prepared for older language and a rhythm reminiscent of fairy tales. It’s a little jarring at first, but it’s interesting. I learned things like a believable difference between calling a king “Sire,” “Liege,” and other things. Whether the information is entirely correct, I don’t know. I haven’t researched it yet. But it made sense in the story. And the author made the information feel like a natural part of the story instead of an infodump. It was really interesting

Ultimately, The Oddling Prince was a fun read. It seems like it’s going to be a standalone, but on the off chance there are more, I’ll pick them up. I also plan on looking for other books by Springer.

Overall, I’d give it four out of five stars. It’s a quick and amusing read. If you’re into fantasy or fairy tales or just looking for something light to read between things, I’d definitely suggest giving it a shot.

I’m all for a bit of JRR Tolkien in my literary reading list, so when I came across The Oddling Prince I thought it’d fit the bill perfectly. It’s by Nancy Springer, a famed fantasy author, it has an epic quest and it has a battle between good and evil, framed by the relationship between two brothers. Hooray, I thought, dear reader, and picked up the book eagerly.

Straight off the bat: it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. The story opens with Aric, a prince whose father, Bardaric, is dying due to a mysterious fairy ring that appeared on his hand. But somebody comes to save him: a fairy prince, who is suddenly revealed to be Albaric, Aric’s half-brother, fathered when the king was snatched away to the land of the fairies one day when hunting. So far, so unusual. The two boys quickly strike up a deep friendship, and must work together to survive coups, plotting, jealousy, and most of all the wrath of the cured King, who grows stranger and crueller by the day.

That’s the brief outline, but a hell of a lot happens between the lines. I lost count of how many times the plot twisted and turned, leading us to expect one thing- like Aric and Albaric going on a quest to find Albaric a place where he could be happy and not shunned- and then hitting us with another, like the boys having to turn back because their father’s kingdom had been taken over (spoilers, sorry). Springer has a marvellous imagination, and devices like a coil of hair that functions like a rope you can climb up, or the fairy ring itself, make the world seem magic and exciting, adding to the sense that you’re reading an epic fantasy.

That impression is only reinforced by the language, which is Tolkien-esque in the extreme. Indeed, with kings and queens, struggles for power, the fairy world and the extreme bro-mance, it did feel like I’d taken a step back to the storywriting of the fifties- and that was no bad thing. It was well-written, and some of the characters, like the young (too young, really) love interest to Aric, Marissa, was everything you want in a female character: strong, interesting, supportive and independent. The same goes for Aric’s mother, who was a strong, welcome change from the helpless damsel in distress stereotype. Aric, too, was quite an unusual hero: lots was made of his pure, clear, honest nature and desire to love and support his brother no matter what.

That’s all well and good, but the depiction of Albaric was a little confusing to me. He’s described as tortured, lost and in desperate search of somebody to love him. That’s fine, but the ethereal way he was described didn’t really do a lot to endear him, with the end result being that I didn’t really much mind what happened to him. Likewise, the insta-love between him and Aric made me feel a touch uncomfortable, and was described sometimes in an almost erotic way- so much so that I was relieved when Marissa was introduced.

By the end of the book, I was left feeling very confused. The ending was very cleverly tied up, and the writing was very pretty, but some bits felt a little contrived and the villain of the piece was a bit pantomime for me. If you’re looking for something a little bit different from your fantasy this summer, I’d definitely recommend it: it’ll leave you thinking!

Three word review: ethereal, epic, mournful

Five stars are not enough. This is storyline is like nothing I have ever read before. The characters are well written, I love the period-style language the author used to write the entire book. This book had me hooked within the first few pages and ended by leaving me smiling. This could easily be a modern classic.

This was an arc that I received from Netgalley, but also a library book as well. I read the paperback edition instead of the PDF file version, but plan on reading that as well sometime in the future to build upon this review. This is my first read from Nancy Springer, a rather prolific author who generally writes fantasy and young adult. While I really enjoyed this, enough to give it five stars, I’m not entirely sure it’s my most favorite book of the year.

Let me explain.

This book was odd, in the fact that it had beautiful prose, epic battles, family in distress, fey, a magical ring that causes a lot of trouble, and brothers who love one another but are worlds apart. It’s a cleverly told fantasy story that builds up to a happy ending.

It comes from the title ‘odd’, due to the fey characters. The way the characters speak seems so strange sometimes, “Forsooth” and “Troth” are two of the many words throughout the book that seemed strange to me. I understand it comes from that time period, from the Scottish Highlands a place that I love to read about. Though it didn’t feel like it was of the scottish moors, rather it felt like an entirely different world that this book took place in, with a different language structure. While not at all unpleasant, it was definitely odd and unusual.

I did like all of the characters, aside from King Bardaric who seemed to be a bit of an ass for reasons unknown towards his two sons. While it was explained later on towards the end why he was so hateful and cruel towards them, I was still unsatisfied with those explanations. And his constant worry for others attempting to overthrow him to take the throne-what of it? It’s just a throne, it’s not like it’s the most important thing in your life, which is actually that of your wife and sons. You need to pay attention to them, not that chair that holds such power. Power isn’t the best thing ever, you know.

I did like how the women were represented in the book, though there was one instance where women who were close to thirty were represented as ‘old maids’ whereas it was perfectly logical to marry a 13/14 year old girl instead. I get that in that time period, people died closer to their 50’s, than they did nowadays towards their 70s/80s, but I still didn’t care for that at all.

The two main characters, Aric and Aldaric, were both interesting and unusual. I liked both well enough, but I felt that Aric could be a bit dense from time to time, while Aldaric was a bit strange, due to having been raised with the fey. I also liked their horse, Bluefire, who was pretty badass for a horse towards the end of the book.

The story was entertaining, and I definitely want to own my own copy eventually, preferably in a nice hardback edition that will sit with the rest of my favored fantasies. It’s a beautiful, unique, and gorgeous story that should be read by all ages. Nancy Springer has shot up high onto my list of favorites, and I am determined to go out and find more of her books, and devour them.

Final rating is 5/5 stars.

Until next time,
-Pass Me That Book.

I thought this book was kind of boring?!
All the action that happened was really short, or the tension was just building up and then the scene stopped..
I did enjoy the bond between the brothers!
A more extended review is on my blog.

I’m giving The Oddling Prince a 2/5 stars. I had many high hopes for this book. A premise about two brothers, one mortal and the other fae, uniting and crushing evil had me enticed. However, the actual book fell flat for me. The writing, an older form of technically modern English, was boring and very confusing. It was almost as if the author was trying to be someone they were not. It just didn’t feel genuine. The writing might have fit the story well, but it did not do the story justice. I also found the plot to be rather confusing, not well paced, and overall very boring. Things would happen out of the blue and hardly anything was properly explained. The only reason I gave this book two stars was because of the brothers’ relationship. It was clear that they cared very much for each other, but even that was not very fleshed out and at times was awkward. So much could have been done with the premise that the reality of the book has left me disappointed.

The fact that the protagonist is a guy is awesome... story was amazing. I couldn’t put this book down! I fell in love with the characters, all the attributes and hated others lol but that’s the beauty of books.. definitely connected with this one.

I really want to love this book, if you follow me for a while you know how much I love my fey books. However, this one just doesn't work for me. Despite the intriguing first chapter, the story then fell flat. The pacing just lags and nothing happened. It is written in old english, epic-poetic ways and while it helps at first, as the plot lags the writing dragged it even more. The relationship between Aric and Aldaric also really weird. It should be a bromance, but instead it felt like a romance. The way they touch, stare, even the weight of their words. And it's not my feeling only, a quick scroll will show you that other reviewers felt the same. Usually I'm all for queer romance but I don't know why, in this book it's putting me off.

It's just a really weird book overall, and not in a good way.

The King of Calidon, cursed by a ring which cannot be removed from his finger, lies dying, until a mysterious stranger appears to save him. But the young man may also be the catalyst responsible for bringing down the entire royal family and pitching Scotland into turmoil.

The “plight thee my troth” style of writing made it difficult to initially get into The Oddling Prince. There is a sense of a fantasy mashup of Ulysses and the Faerie Queen set in a Victorian romantic version of the Middle Ages (there are references to Vikings and King Arthur). Nancy Springer is using a style that can push the story away from the readers so they feel as if they are viewing the world from a distance. This has the potential to make connection with the characters’ inner emotional landscapes very difficult.

But hang in there with the story and acclimatise to this approach because, bit by bit, the author wins you over. There is a very skilled hand at work here. Springer does know what she is doing with this approach to storytelling.

This tale is told very simply, and the connections between the reader and the characters are made through their actions and the dialogue which carries more weight than is immediately obvious. Another interesting feature is that although the women are dependent on the men for protection and very much in the role of consorts, they managed to wield quite a considerable amount of authority through wise decisions and persuasion.

The half-brother Albaric, the product of Aric’s father the king and Albaric’s Faerie Queen mother,is presented to us in the same way as Aric sees him. There is an instant connection and understanding between them, allowed by Aric’s generous heart. What you see is writing which relates to two characters who have the same purity of heart as the knight in the Faerie Queen.

Aric’s mother, Queen Evalin, is a character I really warmed to because she was not only fair, but able to stand her ground with her husband and quick thinking when it comes to a crisis. The father behaves very much like a man caught out by the obvious result of an affair he is in denial of although, like Ulysses, he had been held captive and appears to have acted against his will. But there is more to his psychological turmoil than this and like peeling an onion there are many layers to this story.

The style of writing also takes into account its intended readers which is the young adult audience. Although given that many teenagers are happily consuming A Games of Thrones, today’s teenager might find this story a little tame particularly with regards to the sexual content. Personally, I found The Oddling Prince a refreshing take on fantasy writing and became quite taken up by the story and the eventual fate of its characters.

*looks left*
*looks right*
*whispers* If you're looking for a great fantasy where the central focus belongs to two brothers, look elsewhere.
I hate that I have to write this review, but quite simply put, this was a boring fantasy novel with little to no stakes, plot or point.
First off, I hesitate tremendously to call this a young adult novel. The flowery yet overly simple writing, with words like "perforce" and "whence" put me off right from the get-go. Thank god for the dictionary feature on my Kindle, but I shouldn't need one. Not to mention this reads far younger than you would expect. Like The Chronicles of Narnia, but without evoking any joy or magic.
The characters were ridiculous, with each one making me roll my eyes at some point. I thought the brother focus would be interesting, but it was without any merit. Aric, the prince, takes to the sudden appearance of a half-brother, who is half-elf by the way, like a six year old kid who decides the boy in the corner of the classroom with a red truck is his best friend. It was kind of sickening.
Likewise, the plot was non-existent. It was more of a bunch of sub-plots that really didn't do anything. Anytime something exciting happened, it was over within a paragraph, or was ruined by terrible dialogue. I pushed through this, just to move on to something else since I despise DNF'ing anything.
Considering this is from an author boasting of writing fifty novels, one I've never before read, I'm highly disappointed. As an amateur writer, this is not a story I would be proud of.

It just wasn't for me, when it sounded like it was.

I read some of Nancy Springer's works when I was younger, and adored her Enola Holmes series so much, so when I heard about The Oddling Prince, I was so excited to get my hands on it, especially since it was set in Scotland. Unfortunately, it didn't really click with me.

One of the things I enjoyed with this novel was how it focused on family dynamics : the entire plot is centered around the royal family, their complicated dynamics and yet how they loved each other. It could also be a flaw at times, because outside of the family, none of the secondary characters made a lasting impression on me, I felt like they weren't fleshed out at times. I really liked Marisa though, I was a bit sad she arrived so last, but her awesomeness made me revise my judgement a little on the fact that there were next to now female characters in this one (the first time we saw girls of Aric's age, they were shallow and were just there because they wanted to become his bride...... nope).

I was particularly excited to read about Aric and Aldaric's relationship, they're brothers who didn't know each other/they had a brother until they were seventeen, and while I loved that they would burn the world down to the ground for each other, their relationship made me uncomfortable at times. Other reviewers have pointed this out, but I totally agree, I had to go back to check they were actually brothers and not having a romantic relationship. The resolution of their storyline was also very weird, I don't understand why this happened... While I'm on the topic of relationships : The Oddling Prince kinda had a romance at some point, when they said multiple times that one of the characters involved was a child ? I dunno, maybe I would have been okay with it if it hadn't been about marrying and what it involved ??

However, I did really like the world it was set in, with the light faerie aspect and the atmosphere ! But for the rest, it felt rushed all the time, when it could have been so much more, because this novel isn't even 300 page long. It felt more like a middle grade novel and not like a young adult one, even though the main character was seventeen, which isn't a criticism per se, but it was labelled as YA and it didn't feel like YA that much, maybe it was marketed for the younger part of YA?

Overall, this is my second big disappointment of the year and I'm so sad about it, because I thought that I would love it! Alas, we can't love every book we read.

Initial thoughts:
So this book has VERY mixed reviews. I, on the unfortunate hand, did not enjoy this book. I don't doubt that this book will have it's appeals too other people, it just wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't enjoy the writing because it felt too awkward and repetitive to me. The plot took too long for me to understand what the point of the story was. And the magic, or more appropriately, lack of magic and lack of fey disappointed me. Altogether, very sad to say I didn't enjoy this one. 

Plot:
THE WRITING in this story took me by surprise. Generally when reading YA stories that take place in this time period, I’ve only experienced that the dialogue uses old language, but a majority of the rest of the writing is fairly modern still. This book however utilized old language throughout the entire book. This could just be me, because many seem to enjoy the writing in this book, but I found it often times difficult to get through. There were many times where I had to reread lines and passages to really understand what the author was trying to tell me. All in all, I felt like the writing was awkward read and repetitive. Repetitive because the author had a tendency to use the same words over and over to describe different things. For example) the word uncanny at first was used in a way I don’t see it generally used, so it stood out to me. Then I continued to see this word pop up a lot through the rest of the book.
THE BROMANCE was borderline lovers instead of brothers. At times, their brotherly love went a bit overboard, but nothing seemed to be truly incestual. Still, sometimes I had to remember that they were brothers and not romantically involved with one another. What really sucks though is how suddenly their brotherly relationship came to be. Literally Aric and Albaric meet and on the SAME day, maybe only a few hours later, they are already willing to die for one another (before Aric even finds out that Albaric is his brother). That did not make any sense to me, even if Aric can telepathically understand how Albaric feels. Which, by the way, was never truly explained, it was just… there. Not to mention, their relationship gets even weirder in the end.
THE STORYLINE was not gripping enough for me. Going back through my Goodreads updates, you can see that the entire time I was CONFUSED. I could not for the life of me figure out what the point of the story was. I felt like the entire time I was just reading about Aric’s life and how there’s a growing strain on his relationship with his father because of Albaric. The events that kept taking places all felt discombobulated or random. The one consistent problem was that King Bardaric did not love Albaric and appeared to be turning into a dark cruel man. The mention of the real conflict did not come until the very end and even then, didn’t mesh well with the rest of the plot.
THE ENDING was odd. First of all we have this romance that really really made me uncomfortable. The love interest is brought to the castle under the pretense that she’s “too young” for Aric and that she not “womanly enough” yet for him to really like her in a romantic way. And yet… he falls in love, almost instantly, in the short time she’s there. Secondly, there’s an introduction of a new character that both felt random and causes yet more strain on the royal family. Then the “resolution” that the author chose to go with was just plain WEIRD. And everybody just accepted it. And things kind of just went from completely bad, to all better in 1 page. Abruptly, if you will, like a majority of things in this book.
OTHER THINGS I did not like include the extreme lack of magic or magical elements except when it was convenient right in the end. I did not like how magic in this world and the ring remain completely unexplained and yet something magical was used to resolve the whole family feud and final conflict. Then there’s the fact that this story is being sold of the basis of “a tale of brothers whose love and loyalty to each other is such that it defies impending warfare, sundering seas, fated hatred, and the very course of time itself.” But I wasn’t delivered any scenes of war. There was only 1 short moment of being in the sea and it wasn’t particularly sundering. And there’s no mention of time being a player in this plot except for the fact that Albaric doesn’t understand what it is. Then there are the character names… C’mon… Aric, Albaric, Bardaric… I’ve got nothing else to say about that.
 
Characters:
I have no emotional attachment to any of these characters. Didn’t love em, didn’t hate em. Guess I’m glad Aric at least has somewhat of a character arc. That’s really all I have to say.
 
Overall:
Being completely honest, it’s not that I can’t see the appeal of this book. I can completely understand why some people love this book. It just really was not my cup of tea.

I was sure I would love this book. Sadly I was mistaken. This book and me ... we just didn't work out.

The Oddling Prince takes place in the ancient moors of Scotland (yes, please!) and starts with the King deathly ill. He has a ring on his finger that is of elfin origin an cannot be removed in any way. Then a handsome and mystical stranger appears to save King Bardaric. He has his very own reasons for doing so, and the secret he carries with him could very much destroy not only the royal family.
It is a tale of two brothers, fiercely loyal to each other and having to face, wrath, hatred, war and maybe even fate.

I loved the premise of two brothers finding each other and standing up against everyone else together, truly loyal to one another. But, I didn't click with the story and it was certainly not what I expected. Their relationship was too quick and their feelings sometimes bordering more on the romantic side than the brotherly type. But they never crossed the line, so it was all fine. Still, rubbed me the wrong way. Even so, that wasn't the main issue for me. The plot was basically non-existent for the first half, at least excitement-wise and after that, it felt a bit all over the place, too quick and predictable in certain plot points.

The writing style is very fairytale-like. And irked me so much! I couldn't stand it. It created a distance to the characters that prevented me from caring whatsoever what happened to them.
In the style of fairy tales, everything was quite simplistic. Their feelings very clear, the rage enormous, the sentences short and the plot .. well, not really that engaging tbh (not that that is the case in fairy tales. I usually adore them).

I debated dnf-ing this book at least three times, but as I hate to do that, I powered through. And that was a good thing as the last third of the book did pick up and was sometimes fairly entertaining.

The only two characters I liked even a bit were Marissa, with her honesty and innocent bravery, and wise Queen Evalyn. I disliked pure Aric, didn't care for Albaric or anyone else sadly. And since I prefer characters over plot ... well, you see my difficulty with enjoying this book.

I can certainly see why some people enjoy it so much. As I said, it read very much like a longer fairytale, a thing I always wanted to read. I liked the focus on the brotherly relationship (even though it was too quick, too pure for my liking) and the end was enjoyable too.

'Albaric came in the window, another sort of Elfin ring -- the glimmering red-gold coil of his mother's hair -- in his hands. He tucked back into his tunic and sat on the floor beside me, his silence asking many questions. As did mine. But before I could settle on one, Mother said simply, "It was like this," and she told her tale. Clash of metal on metal, sword upon sword. Screams of men in rage or mortally wounded. Those were the sounds that had awoken her and her handwomen from sleep two mornings ago.'

This is an example of the writing style. Which in theory, I quite like, just that it creates a distance to the story, the characters that made it hard for me to connect, to care. But if you don't think that will be an issue for you, go ahead and read this book. It does have a lot of potential. It might just be a case of: It's me, not you, book.

It was very disappointing as I thought I would fly through this book and love it. It was supposed to be my easy read and get me back into reading. It was quite the opposite. I had to force myself to pick it up for the first 60% of the book. As I already said, the part after that was better, easier to read and as Marissa came into the story a bit more enjoyable.

Aric is grieving for his ailing father who seems to be cursed by a ring that came out of nowhere when Albaric appears at the palace steps to save the King.

The story is told in Aric’s perspective and the language does need some getting used to since it is written in an older language. While reading I did see that some words that appear are from the Brittonic language and some words are Scottish. Nancy’s writing style is very poetic and beautiful, and this also took me a while to get used to. I typically do not have the best of luck with poetically written books because the words typically go over my head. There were times when I took the time to try and appreciate a song Albric sings, but I just couldn’t appreciate the meaning. I hate myself sometimes.

My mind was expecting two brothers and a grand adventure, but this is not what this book is about. There are no long action sequences or evil dictators needing to be overthrown. The only fantasy elements in the book are the Fae, magical artifacts, and magical creatures. Their presence is minimal too. The book is centered around a royal family learning to open up to each other so that they can love one another. Albaric’s presence really did shake the foundation of the love and fealty Aric and his parents held for one another.

I loved the instant bond between Aric and Albaric. They stick up for one another and give each other another perspective to consider. I grew frustrated at the actions of the King and I felt angry when there seemed to be no way to pacify the King’s fears. This story has a very slow pace as the story takes time to explore the family dynamics. While very different from what I was expecting I did enjoy the story enough to find out how everything would end.

From the premises, The Oddling Prince sounded like a great book but in the end I didn't like it very much. I was glad that one of the topics was the family and its relationship and I liked the worldbuilding, but what I didn't enjoy was the lack of development. Sometimes the story felt so rushed that I didn't understand what was going on. Also, I didn't get attached to any characters and the relationship between Aric and Aldaric was... weird. Sometimes it felt like a romantic relationship than a sibling one. I don't know, maybe it was me, maybe I expected too much from this book.

I didn’t have the patience for the flowery language, and I wish there had been better character development. It seems like she was going for a very specific style of storytelling, but it just didn’t work for me.

When I opened up this book I was delighted by the lyrical quality of the prose, then about five chapters in it began to annoy me, but I pushed through that to find a very strange tale, somewhat medievaloid. By the time I got to the end I really liked it. It certainly didn't go in the direction I expected. It's a book about unintended consequences, love and loyalty, and the darkness of the human soul. It's very fairy-tale like in feel.

Set in ancient Scotland, the king of Caledon lies on his deathbed, cursed by a ring that he can't remove. His life is saved by a mysterious fey stranger, Albaric, to whom the young prince Aric (age 17) is immediately drawn. It turns out that Albaric is also the king's son from a time-out-of-time spent in the Fey world as a captive lover of the fae queen. The king can't accept this forgotten time and will not accept Albaric. Aric and Albaric bond and from then on we see the king's descent into darkness, directed against not only Albaric, but against those he loves.

Aric is an honest and noble character, trying to balance his (deteriorating) relationship with his father and his loyalty towards Albaric. Part way through we meet Marissa, the daughter of an enemy who becomes Aric's intended, though she's actually a hostage for her father's good behaviour. She's a great character and although she doesn't get a lot of page-time, she makes the most of it.

There is an unexpected (magical) resolution which I didn't see coming, but which fitted the story perfectly.

I guess this is YA, but it crosses boundaries.

(This E-ARC is from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

The king of Calidon is dying, cursed by a ring that cannot be removed from his finger. The fey stranger that comes to the castle to save him has a major secret that could tear apart the royal family. The kingdom’s only hope lies with two young men raised in two entirely different worlds - Aric, the son of the king of Calidon, and Albaric, a mysterious person who is clearly a member of the nobility but is strangely out of place.

It's been a while since I've read a YA fantasy novel by Nancy Spinger, but when I was younger I loved I am Morgan le Fay and I am Mordred. I've read some of her other works that I've enjoyed, but just based on those fantasy books I was really looking forward to her newest outing in the genre. While I liked the story well enough with her interpretation of the fey, the setting of ancient Scotland, and the idea of ring which totally reminds me the One Ring of Lord of the Rings. I don't know about you, but I had issues with the writing style and language. To me it came across as little stilted, especially when it comes to the characters. I had a difficult time investing myself in the cast of characters. I don't know if it was just me, but I also had a hard time keeping the characters straight in my head. I mean with names like Aric, Albaric, and Bardaric, I had trouble remember who's who throughout. I have to admit, too, that names like Escobar and Garth were unexpected.

Overall, there are many elements I liked about this new story from Nancy Springer, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. My favorite aspect is definitely how the fey are portrayed, but unfortunately I didn't find myself invested in the either of the leading characters. If you're interested in the fey or any of this author's earlier YA fantasy novels, you may be interested in her newest outing.

This is quite an interesting little book. There is a very restrained, old-fashioned, almost innocent tone to the story. It's not a children's book, but doesn't fit the mould of current adult or even YA fantasy. In other hands it could have been easy to describe it as an "insta-love bromance", but it is much more classicly styled than that.
It is perhaps closest in tone to authors like Patricia Mckillop, or Juliet Marillier, with the reader having to work harder to see the layers beneath the seeming simplicity.

Warning: Minor Spoilers ahead (depends on how you take them)

I think this book isn't for me...

The Oddling Prince is no doubt brilliantly written. I love the author's style, and yes, the 2.5 stars are for it alone. It was worded using archaic language, almost like in King James version of the Bible, and thankfully, it's my favorite version so I find the writing of this book fascinating. The words are flowery, lyrical and poetic.

Now with the content, I have so many complains. It was boring. I was expecting this book to be high fantasy, with faes and elves, but what I got is a tale, though the words used were beautiful, it wasn't told properly. Maybe it has something to do with the narrator, Aric, that as a character, I dislike. I'll get to the characters later... Anyway, it started with the kingdom's misery with the King, King Bardaric, lain in bed dying because of some stupid ring. Then the arrival of Albaric. From then, Aric chose to narrate their everyday activities, worse, their everyday activities aren't that interesting. Such as how Albaric chose and tame a horse and how he sings to it. And Aric even narrated Albaric's bath because the aforementioned horse made him sore and bruised, aching all over. (And mind you, there are plenty of baths in the story.)

I do understand such scenes are necessary so the reader understand how new Albaric is in his new form but it gets boring. It takes at least 40% of the book, the introduction I mean, before they get into an adventure. And the said adventure isn't the kind of adventure I was expecting. It was lame.

The world, though seems fantastic isn't that amazing. It's also underwhelming. Just another kingdom and it's neighboring realms.

The characters... Aric and Albaric are the corniest characters I've ever encountered. And that twist in the ending didn't even made it better for me. Why? Because the twist just explained why they were so close though they were raised worlds apart. It didn't change the fact that their actions and words are too soft. Too feminine. It would've been so much better if this book turned out to be LGBTQ. It might have redeemed the characters for me. Ah!!! I would've loved them more if they were... And I almost think the story will turn into something taboo the way they interact with each other but it didn't. Though I wouldn't have mind if it came to that (I'm a GoT Fan). At least that would've explained so many things...

Obviously, I didn't like the ending though the twist might surprise others, I find it eeeewwww!!! Like I hate to imagine them now.

This book might not be a bad book for others, even I, won't call this like that. This isn't just for me and this is just a different-than-usual book...

Happy Reading guys and hope you like this more than I did. I mean look at how gorgeous the cover...