*3.5 stars*

I was really looking forward to Prince of Air and Darkness by M.A. Grant thanks to a ton of glowing reviews, and I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed. However, it killed me a little inside to know the potential of the story and that it was this close to being amazing.

I found the pacing and the plotting to be really compelling and I stayed up WAY past my bedtime to read. I finished the story in day, which is always a good sign for me. However, my niggles just kept on coming while I was reading. I kept finding things that bothered me.

I love a magick school storyline (duh) and an enemies-to-lovers story, and this book had both. The setting was fun, even though I was a little confused as to how all of these pantheons co-existed and how the class/collegey stuff worked. The story was actually really fuzzy on many details that I thought were quite pertinent, and I wish the author had taken the time to explain those things more. In fact, if I wasn't so up on my Dresden Files series (natch, the best series), I would have been really confused about what all of these seelie/unseelie and winter/summer fae even were. Dresden Files, FTW.

It was also weird that Phin was supposed to be protected on campus but in reality never was. I was also never even sure why he was attacked so frequently, even at the end of the story (was that tied into the bad guys??). I even ended the story confused!

Still, Phin's love/hate relationship with Roark was everything, but I wish we got even more of a sense of how they got paired up and how that played out for the past 6 (!) years. I got the basics, but how did they live and defend each other side by side for so many years and not discover their dynamic sooner? Strange. I loved Roark as a character, but he was such a martyr! Geez, that guy could not catch a break.

One detail that I hated was that these two used condoms when CLEARLY an unseelie fae prince who heals from mortal-ish wounds nearly immediately would NEVER be felled by an STD! This guy isn't catching (or spreading) herpes, dude. I'm a huge proponent of safer sex in romance, but my eyes practically rolled into my head.

I also really hated one aspect of the ending, which I will spoiler tag. (view spoiler)

Despite the fact that I seem like I'm harping on the negatives, Prince of Air and Darkness was a very solid story, and I was impressed by M.A. Grant a great deal. Almost awesome.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

I received an advanced reading copy of Prince of Air and Darkness from Carina Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Prince of Air and Darkness is a M/M romantic fantasy novel and for the most part a one I really enjoyed. Once I got past the authors spelling choices for some words the story was actually really good. The characters are well developed though I feel like the world building needed some more refining. Its definitely worth reading.

This book caught my eye first because I thought I recognized the author, and then because the blurb sounded interesting. I was wrong about the author, but cannot regret the case of mistaken identity. Rather than the fantasy novel I expected from the blurb, this turned out to be a fantasy gay romance with both strong emotional tension and fun wordplay.

I haven’t read a fantasy romance that I can think of so I can’t say whether the balance of romance to fantasy is standard. What I want to mention is how the romance is intimately woven into the fantasy plot of a brewing war between winter and summer sidhe. The romance is also interesting because we see both points of view, and each believes their feelings unrequited. Before you think this is a “why didn’t they just talk to each other” story, though, the reasons keeping them apart are much more complex. A simple discussion could not clear it up while acting on their feelings makes things worse instead of better.

The two main characters, Finn and Roark, share an apartment with several other students in a college for magic. There’s more behind that simple statement, which we learn as the story unfolds, but there is no question of the tug of war between hate and attraction on Finn’s side. Roark is a little more complicated despite knowing where his interest lies from the start.

As to the fantasy side, this is high fantasy, full of politics and intrigue, but without the focus on court procedure and dress, something that suits me well. The action happens on campus or in local student hangouts for the most part, and encompasses fighting off ancient monsters and negotiating delicate diplomatic situations.

The sidhe are on the edge of war, but Roark rejects his role to serve his own interests and protect Finn instead of bowing to his mother’s wishes. Queen Mab is none too pleased, as you might imagine, especially since Finn has the potential to turn the balance in their favor. Without him, sacrificing her son, Roark, is the only other possibility.

Both the sidhe situation and Finn’s concerns about his parents help build Roark and Finn into well-rounded characters with flaws, struggles, and desires. The relationship between Finn and Roark is complicated, full of misunderstandings, and rife with misguided attempts to protect Finn. You get to know the two leads, and their other roommates and friends, so that they become real.

There’s a lovely scene in the college bar where Roark chooses drinks for Finn’s friends (including some of their shared roommates). He’s challenged to do this by the others, revealing to Roark as much as the reader how much he’s failed to stay separate. Events like the drink choosing make their characters, and the rocky relationship powerful enough to bring tears to my eyes at one point. As I mentioned above, they do give in to their physical feelings (in an on-screen scene) but that is far from a solution to the story.

The magic, its costs, and how it works also form a strong element of the story. A mix of traditional myths of magic and magical creatures along with elements I didn’t recognize expand the world to make it feel much bigger than what we see. Nor is there an easy resolution or a clear path for the characters to follow, making this a strong, powerful read.

P.S. I received this title from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Unlike many books set in a fantasy world, Prince of Air and Darkness throws you right into the action. The prologue sets up a series of questions about Phineas and Roark's relationship that form the basis of the rest of the book. Although there were times when I was frustrated by not knowing exactly what was happening or why Roark did certain things he did, the worldbuilding and tension between Phineas and Roark continued to pull me in. By the end, all my questions were answered.

Although Phineas and Roark begin the book at odds, their relationship is built slowly and smoothly through a series of events that push them together in a way that doesn't seem forced. Rather, the political intrigue that underlies the romance serves to both highlight their relationship and deepen in. Though Roark can be kind of an ass at times, the dual narrative gives us glimpses into his POV that makes it clear why he's behaving the way he is. By the end, I was definitely rooting for Roark to win Phineas over!

Phineas Smith has a rare ability to tap into ley lines, but no ability to control that power. As the only human student at the Mathers School of Magick, he just wants to survive his final year of studies and learn enough control to use his magic to save the family farm. Unfortunately, being able to plug in to the best supernatural power sockets means that everyone and their brother is out to either kidnap or eat him.

Phineas’s roommate and archnemesis, the Unseelie Prince Roark Lyne, has problems of his own: a family betrayal has upset the delicate balance of power between the Seelie and Unseelie, bringing the Summer and Winter Courts to the brink of a devastating civil war.

Despite years of bad blood (and a fair amount of simmering, unresolved sexual tension), their survival and that of the entire Unseelie Court depends on Phineas and Roark’s ability to work together.

This was an engaging, well-written novel that had me hooked by the end of the first chapter. Grant takes your expectations and upends them by making you ask: who’s really the bad guy here, and what’s really going on? Her characterizations of her main characters are excellent, even if most of the secondary ones aren’t quite so memorable. I knew that I was probably going to fall in love with both characters the moment Phineas introduces Roark for the first time. Roark has just saved him from getting eaten by a hungry wraith, and Phineas describes him like this:
[Excerpt]
Grass shatters as a shining pair of Oxfords tromp across the lawn and come to a halt about a foot away from me.
My gaze travels up from the shoes to the straight, pressed lines of the wool slacks. The thin leather belt I could never afford. The buttons of the dress shirt. And there, like a freaking cherry on an evil sundae, the sharp twist of the lips that’s the closest he ever gets to smiling. Apparently, superpowered magickal villains don’t need to smile.
“Wool in this weather, Lyne? Isn’t that a bit douchey, even for you?” I snark. [pp. 18-19]

Phineas might be a bit hapless, and something of an unreliable narrator, but he’s the brave and determined Watson to Roark’s cool, analytical Holmes. Phineas and Roark each have distinctive voices, motivations, and responsibilities, which I appreciate. Many romance novels seem to lose all threads of plot when Feelings Happen, but both Phineas and Roark keep their wits about them. They complement each other rather than complete each other.

Another thing I loved was the total absence of what I personally call the Sex Predator Trope. You know the one. It’s when the “Alpha Male” character immediately objectifies the love interest, and the readers get treated to an unwelcome number of borderline-rapey references about Alpha Male’s overly interested dick and his waning control over it. I hate that trope. It’s lazy writing, and as someone who’s been on the receiving end of such gross attention, deeply uncomfortable.

Grant avoids that trope entirely, and I adore her for it. Both her characters might not think they like each (even while marinating in plenty of unresolved sexual tension), but there is a mutual, if grudging respect between them. For example, that Roark thinks this about Phineas:
[Excerpt]
In the bright glow of the electric lights, he looks worse than I expected. He’ll be a walking bruise by tomorrow morning.
“You look half-dead,” I say, striding past him.
He flips me off and trudges toward the bathroom, dragging off his shirt on the way. The movement makes the defined muscles of his abdomen flex and curl, drawing attention to the nearly invisible trail of hair leading down to the sharp V of his hips. It’s enough to stop me in my tracks and I draw up my glamour so fast it makes me dizzy. Or maybe that’s what happens when I steal the moment to gawk at him as he walks past me.
Faeries rarely scar. Our skin never tells a story of a life well-lived and hard-won. I’m torn between regret for his pain and jealousy at the proof of his strength, because Smith is a fucking masterpiece.
His body is functional, a marriage of brutal muscle earned from athletics and wiry strength gained from a lifetime of farm work. His skin is crisscrossed with scars, markers of the battles he’s survived, like the jagged zigzags of claw marks across his back from fighting hellhounds. As distracting as his back is, his hands and arms form the most diverse canvases of his body. [pp. 49]

Look! No creepiness! Just a healthy amount of snark and some honest appreciation from one half-besotted Unseelie Prince about his best frenemy. He might be superficially admiring the muscles and the scars, but he also deeply admires Phineas’s strength, courage, and honest work ethic. To the icy prince of the fae, Phineas is a “masterpiece.” He’s art. There’s something unexpectedly endearing about that.

That’s some good writing, right there.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and tore through it in two days. I think that fans of Rainbow Rowell’s novel Carry On, the SyFy show The Magicians, and grown up Potterheads would snap this up in a heartbeat.

Disclaimer: Received as an ARC from Netgalley

Publishing Info
Title: Prince of Air and Darkness
Series: The Darkest Court (#1)
Author: M.A. Grant
Publisher: Carina Press, imprint of Harlequin
Date: 2/25/2019
Pages: 310
ISBN: 1488051224
List Price: $3.99 (Kindle Ed.)
Genre/Keywords: LGBT Fantasy, Gay Romance, Mythology & Folklore

It is rare for me to find a book by a new to me author that I love this much. It might be because it hits all of my favorite categories. It has dark fantasy, angst, enemies to lovers and tons of other themes that I love. Normally I wouldn't read YA because it's very difficult for authors to get the tone right but this is firmly in the category of NA and doesn't suffer from any tone inconsistencies. It has enough satisfying heat which also sets it apart from YA. It also ends with what I would consider to be a complete HEA rather than an HFN, which I favor less. The setting is also very dramatic which would make for a great show, much like the Magician's or another fantasy set in college.

This story starts of with a bang, full of torture and mystery. That mystery is maintained through the majority of the book. The main character Phineas know that there is a a countdown clock ticking down on his life. He tries to not let it get him down but his constant bickering, inspired by UST, with the titular Prince of Air and Darkness is a source of further pain. Eventually everyone comes to realize that the only way for everyone to get what they want is for Finn and Roark to work together. I think the high octane action is what causes half of the UST and was fun to read.

This book is very dark. There are multiple torture scenes so I wouldn't recommend to those that don't like gory details. The torture occurs on page and in PTSD flashbacks so take that as a content warning. I would highly recommend this book to fantasy lovers, it does verge in Urban Fantasy but is closer to a normal fantasy I believe. It also looks to be the start to a new series that I'm looking forward to gobbling up.

3.5 stars
Phineas Smith is the only human at Mather’s School for Magick. He has the ability to tap into the most powerful raw magick, the ley line, but Finn cannot control the power. No one who has had his ability has survived as the power burns them out, and being in his last year of college, Finn is the oldest survivor of this power. Still, magickal beings of all kinds try to possess Finn for his ability and Finn has survived vicious attacks, as well as a kidnapping and torture. Finn just wants to live long enough to make sure his parents are secure. He doesn’t feel like he fits in anywhere, especially with his roommate Roark. Roark, who is the Prince of Air and Darkness. Roark, who is the son of the Queen of Air and Darkness, the same queen that kidnapped Finn and tortured him for his power.

Unseelie Prince Roark is centuries old. He is allowed to live at the college since he is the liaison to the unseelies on campus and he is in charge of their well-being. There is severe unrest in the fairie realm and there is a desperation to stop a seemingly inevitable war. Roark can’t let Finn see the truth as Roark has gone to great lengths to keep it from him. But Roark is the one person that can help Finn control his magick. Roark is the last person Finn wants to turn to, but the spark between them is way more than uncontrolled magick. As the men form a shaky alliance, true feelings surface. But it’s that one secret that could destroy any future for them both.

M.A. Grant puts us right into this world of fantasy from the first page. In the prologue, we quickly learn that Finn was tortured by the Queen, who is also Roark’s mother. Finn managed to escape, with scars to remind him, but all of the finer details of his escape remain lost to him. There isn’t a lot of world building here. Finn knows about the college for magickal beings because he has raw power, and a variety of different species are casually mentioned throughout the story, and it does take some time to get settled into this world.

Finn and Roark have been masquerading with dislike for each other for the past six years. They’re not exactly enemies, but Roark’s gruff exterior has Finn constantly on the alert. And, neither one of them will admit to any sexual tension, although that’s a big factor, a big flashing neon sign of a big factor. The relationship between the men was a great aspect to this book as there is almost a fated mates feel to their story and you can feel how they are meant to be together. But I would have liked more about Roark. He is centuries old, yet is still under the direct command of his mother, the queen, and he fell in love with a college student. I also needed more as to why Roark was still attending college classes after all these centuries. If it was just to keep an on-campus presence, that was never made clear. Roark also has several fairie tricks and there were things that had to be accepted at face value as a book set in a fantasy world.

There is a lot of story here. There is the relationship between the men, but also the fairie realm on the verge of war, Finn’s uncontrolled power, a controlling queen mother, and a devastating secret. And, when Finn starts a relationship with Roark, the queen who tortured Finn would casually appear in his living room, and there was so much going on that some of the necessary and finer details got lost for me. But given that it’s a fantasy setting that may be easier for some readers to roll with.

The end of the book moves fast and you have to constantly be processing what is going on from one scene to the next. This story is not finished as the ending is a new beginning of sorts and there is a war to fight and a lot more story to come for Finn and Roark. For readers looking for a fantasy setting with a destined relationship, as well as fairie politics and unrest, The Prince of Air and Darkness may turn your head.

I am always happy to come across new MM fantasy to read and this was a great one. As a series starter it already has me hooked with it's engaging characters and storyline, it has great world building also. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Prince of Air and Darkness is an incredible m/m fantasy filled with magic and mayhem. Unseelie Prince Roark Lyne is caught between politics and love and it takes our human hero Phineas Smith a long time to figure it out. But to be fair he is dealing with learning to control his incredible gift of magick. These two are ice and fire and totally combustible. I really enjoyed this book and its fantastic world. I look forward to the next installment.

"Bury me under the oak tree on the hill. Next to the dogs and roses and the six tiny crosses memorializing the brothers and sisters I never knew. I’ll be able to watch the fields turn gold. Watch the snow drift against the fence posts..."

I don't know why I waited so long to pick this up because it has the elements of my usual taste in modern fantasy (diverse cast, Fae-centered plot or characters, enemies growing to respect and support each other), but I'm glad I did. NetGalley approved this title for me about a month back, or longer but I'd been putting off reading it because, frankly, the cover isn't great and suggests a subgenre that I don't feel this book actually is?

While I had some immediate pet peeves with the book -- the quality of the writing fluctuated, it's generally a reading turn-off for me for a book to opened with a torture scene, and I wished it was just in Phineas's point of view rather than shifting between two characters -- I really enjoyed the tone between the characters themselves and the overall plot. Also, the quote above is one of my favorite passages in Phineas's POV from the entire book.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

I received this Advanced Reader Copy from Netgalley in exchange for an open and honest review.

My Raven Cycle obsessed soul is up for anything Ley Line related. Add faerie lore and magic school to the mix and I am such a sucker.

The beginning of this book immediately gave me very strong <i>Carry On</i> vibes - on top of a “magick” school there’s two boys hating each other, rooming near each other, constantly thinking about the other despite/because of the fact that they are “arch enemies”? This is a trope I’ve read before, BUT that doesn’t mean I’m not into it. Enemies to lovers is almost always incredibly satisfying thanks to moments filled with angst and smouldering will-they-won’t-they drama.

Continuously, here are some quick pros: monsters (very Percy-Jacksonish)! A gay all-American football playing farm tending protagonist! A brooding emo faerie prince! Accepting friends and parents who honestly just want Phineas to use protection and be careful out there!

Further, Mathers is actually a university which is refreshing, like with Lev Grossman’s <i>the Magicians</i>, to enter a world similar to those I loved so much as a kid, and be able to relate more to the characters as a 20-something adult.

Now for some quick cons: I would have loved a more detailed setting and atmosphere. While the relationship was intriguing, the world wasn’t very developed. What does the campus look like? Finn’s room? The Domovoi? Despite the fact that this was a “magick” university, if it weren’t for the monsters constantly pursuing Finn, and the mentions of Gorgons, muses, the Seelie and Unseelie courts etc, this world had a very mundane vibe.

Also, to continue with the <i>Carry On</i> reference, just like with Simon and Baz, much of the substance behind Phineas and Roark’s relationship was founded in a past we don’t get to see. As a result, all the anticipation which would have built from watching their relationship grow didn’t happen for me and so their declarations of love felt shallow.

Over-all I had a good time with <i>The Prince of Air and Darkness</i>, but it isn’t a book I’ll be picking up again.

A little side-note:
Since Phineas isn’t fresh out of highschool, but a man about to graduate from his masters, <i>The Prince of Air and Darkness</i> should be considered an Adult Fantasy/Fiction/Romance, not YA, which I have seen it marketed toward. Older readers might be used to blatant sex-scenes, but the younger YA scene might be shocked.

This book was great! I loved the dynamic between Finn and Roark.

We jump right into this story knowing that our two main characters have history, and not a very pleasant one from the little snippets we get. I was a bit confused at the start, but 20 pages in I really settled into the story. A really cool part of this story is the fae, and the twist Grant added to fae magic.

I am a sucker for enemies-to-lovers romance, and this book did such a good job, the angst between Finn and Roark was excellent.

Overall, a great first book in a new series, I will be definitely picking up the sequel.

If I hadn’t felt honor-bound to finish this book, I would’ve DNF-ed it. According to Goodreads, it’s only 310 pages long. It should’ve only taken me 1-3 days to finish. It took me over a week because I hated it so much.

Since I had so many problems with this novel, I kept a list. I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget a single talking point. Because, trust me, there’s a lot. Like, an absurd amount.

Let’s begin with the issue that inspired this review’s title: Prince of Air and Darkness is all tell and no show. Instead of building up the inner conflicts and characterizations naturally, we’re constantly told who we’re to believe they are and what problems they have.

Phineas is a good person who can’t control his magic. He’s worried about his parents losing the farm on which he grew up. He’s about to graduate with his Master’s (even though he’s never mastered his magic abilities, pun intended). He has confusing and conflicting feelings for Roark.

Roark is a faerie prince secretly in love with his roommate. He doesn’t want to become the Winter Knight, but he will so Phineas doesn’t have to. He needs to push Phineas away to protect him, but keeps ignoring those instincts. He does what he has to in order to protect his people.

And Phineas and Roark will tell the reader these things over and over. As if we can’t intuit any of it on our own or we’ve forgotten since they reminded us one page ago. Everything about who these people are is shoved down the reader’s throat. There is no wiggle room to interpret anything.

This makes the characters really annoying. But they also have other irritating quirks, like Phineas apropos of nothing will remind the reader that he’s a jock who likes sports or Roark will point out when he’s acting “royal.”

Their romance is given basically no opportunity to develop on its own. Instead, they are forced together with little to no chemistry because that’s the story Grant wanted to tell. Why try to figure out a way to make their romance work organically when you can just have them tell you about it? It makes the whole thing feel unnatural and weird, like a high school play. Except with explicit sex scenes. So maybe community theater?

During the rare scenes when Grant takes the time to describe Phineas and Roark’s feelings and connections rather than just telling the reader about it, it really works. So why couldn’t she stick with that kind of writing throughout the whole novel?

Or course, the way she sets up the relationship is glaringly problematic. No, not in the “woke” sense. I’m speaking from a storytelling perspective. Roark has spent roughly six years effectively convincing Phineas to hate him, thereby keeping him safe (it’s a long story). But then, out of nowhere, he starts dropping his too-good-for-you act and spending time with Phineas.

They train together. They hook up multiple times. He tells Phineas he loves him more than once. He makes this huge grand gesture for Phineas. And then he turns around and acts surprised and devastated when Phineas falls in love with him?

Roark, you knew damn well what you were doing. You would tell yourself to distance yourself from Phineas and then immediately start bonding and hooking up with him. You did this. You didn’t even try to stop this from happening. Well, you did for five years and then gave up. But, uh, yeah. You did everything to woo the man short of take him on an actual date and you have the audacity to act surprised that he’s in love with you? Miss me with that shit.

When she’s not writing Roark to act contrary to his motives, Grant is writing whatever nonsense she wants to get the two into the same scene. This often comes across incredibly contrived. For example, there’s a scene where Roark follows Phineas to a greenhouse and sees him attacked by a monster. The two men fight the beast off and Phineas winds up with a head injury. And then, for no reason, he just… stares at Roark for a whole page.

It’s not even like the accidentally falls on top of Roark or some other understandable cliché. They’re not talking. Phineas just straight up stares at Roark and then Roark says Phineas probably has a concussion, to which Phineas asserts that he played football so he knows what a concussion feels like. Which… thanks?

As for the rest of the characters, they might as well not even exist. Herman, Gumba, Sue, Sebastian, Lugh, and Keiran are pretty much all just names to make the world feel fuller. The only other significant character is Mab, Roark’s mother and the Unseelie Queen. She is remarkably confusing. I don’t know what her motives are. I don’t know if she’s terrifying or just a mom. Is she the villain? Is there a villain in this book? I’m not sure those are questions that have answers.

The plot is frustrating because a looming war between the Seelie and Unseelie could be really interesting. Too bad it doesn’t happen. In fact, anything resembling a faerie battle occurs off-page. Politics also happen off-page, unless there’s a chance for Roark to worry about his mother suspecting his disloyalty or for Phineas to misunderstand a situation.

Despite Roark and Phineas fretting about their duties and fates, the real plot of this story is the romance. Which doesn’t explain why all the relationship development happens during time-skips.

No, instead of letting the reader watch these two fall in love, we’re treated to the same plotline twice. Roark punishes a faerie. Phineas misunderstands and lashes out at Roark. Roark takes it because he thinks he deserves it and needs Phineas to hate him anyway. Phineas finds out he was wrong and makes up with Roark. They hook up and express their feelings. Yes, this happens twice.

The second time, however, is the one that really gets me. And, since I can’t thoroughly critique this plot without spoilers, I’m just going to drop some. Phineas calls Roark while his mother is torturing a Seelie for information. Mab once tortured Phineas so it’s a Sensitive Subject. But that’s not what really bothers Phineas. Phineas is upset because Roark was supposed to come with him to his parents’ farm to help with the harvest and he didn’t. He explicitly states multiple times that he’s heartbroken because Roark chose torture over him.

How petty can you get? I mean, priorities, my dude. But it’s okay in the end, because what happened to Phineas is different than what happened to the Seelie. You see, Phineas didn’t deserve it and Roark would never hurt him. So it’s fine.

In a similar vein, the narrative contradicts itself constantly. The reader can’t take anything for granted because every established fact is later stated to be false. For example, Roark says he is his mother’s favorite. Then a few pages later, he says she wouldn’t care if he died. A similar example is when Roark is injured and Mab visits him in his apartment. Many chapters later, the same thing happens but this time it’s surprising that she cares for some reason. As if she’s never done this before. Despite doing it earlier in the novel.

In the Seelie torture scene, Roark talks about how he can’t bear to use knives to torture anyone after Mab tortured Phineas. I guess the trauma of his roommate being tortured while he wasn’t even there was just too much. Anyway, now he can only use magic to torture. I don’t know if that counts as a contradiction, but it’s wild and thought it was worth noting.

Grant withholds information from the reader for no reason. Slaine, Roark’s elder brother, defected to the Summer Court prior to the start of the novel and the reader doesn’t find out why until 75% into the book. It’s not like it’s a plot twist. Grant just doesn’t tell the reader why Grant betrayed his family and Court.

Even worse, it isn’t until about halfway through the book that Roark finally shares with the reader why he’s protecting Phineas and why he needs Phineas to dislike him. There’s absolutely no reason for the reader not to know that. It doesn’t add tension to the relationship. It just makes Roark’s motives confusing.

This withholding of information extends to the world-building. Grant will suddenly throw new pieces of lore and mythos into the plot when she needs a new threat. I don’t even just mean physical threats. I mean “if you can’t do it, I’ll get this other tough being we never mentioned before to do it.”

Grant waits to explain how the world works until later in the novel. It seems like she’s trying to avoid info-dumping, but keeping your reader in the dark about how your world functions is not the way.

What’s more, even the characters don’t even seem to understand how their world works. When two Unseelie start a fight with some Seelie, Roark takes one’s eye and the other’s wing. The Seelie consider this retribution and Phineas considers it torture. Except the creature who lost his eye will grow it back and the faerie who lost his wings was about to shed them anyway. You expect me to believe no one outside the Unseelie Court knows that? I call bullshit.

The lore of faeries is quite muddled and confusing. They can be tricky and look for loopholes, but they have no apparent restrictions against lying. The two Courts seemingly have seasonal nature magic. Roark can do fire magic and apparently has auburn hair under his glamour, which is unique in his family. I thought Grant was gearing up for a plot twist where he’s actually from the summer Court, but nope. He’s just a special snowflake.

Moreover, there’s a lot of talk about the Pantheons. Apparently the main faerie courts are Summer and Winter, but there are others that are never explained. One Pantheon is briefly described as the Greek muses or something, so Grant is apparently muddling lore. And I just can’t stand it.

Earlier I mentioned time jumps. Well, they’re a bit of a problem in this book. Time jumps and pacing. It’s incredibly jarring when the characters decide to do something and then suddenly it’s a month later and all they have to report is that things are going well. As I said before, that’s where all the development is so it just comes as a disservice to the book to write it this way.

Besides, it removes so much story. A chapter will end on a cliffhanger and the next chapter will take place a week later and one of them will narrate “Well, we got out of that jam.” Yeah, but how? The pacing of this book almost gave me whiplash.

The most confusing scene is when Roark goes into a flashback with absolutely no indication. Based on the way time jumps functioned previously in this book, I thought that’s what had happened and was baffled. It took me several pages before I realized it was a flashback. It was, hands down, the worst execution of a flashback I’ve ever seen.

There are a couple funny lines that Grant ruins by explaining the joke. She also misuses words. Well, she misuses one word, but she does it twice. Phineas describes Roark’s relaxed, regal glamour as his “ennui.” I get what she’s going for, but she’s not getting the desired effect. Ennui isn’t just a synonym for bored, it’s just an utter and profound sense of boredom that mere “chillness” does not and cannot even begin to convey it. This isn’t a major issue, but it really grinds my gears. It’s the cherry on top of the shit sundae.

Why is it so hard to find a good faerie story? They’re such interesting creatures in theory. How come they always seem to falter in practice? You may wonder what I expected from a paranormal romance. I expect all books to be good, no matter their genre. I expect writers to try their best. And I just don’t believe that this is Grant’s best. Not after seeing the glimpses of something good in all this mess. But maybe I’m just being optimistic. Maybe this author, like her book, is just full of hot air.

Phineas is a mere human, the only one in a school of magick. He has enormous power at his fingertips, he just can’t control it. Roark is the Prince Of Air And Darkness. Very powerful in his own right but when he and Finn work together magick happens. Not as expected, totally out of control, but still Magick.

This was an interesting book to read. Because I like fantasy books and have become acquainted with the OTHER wizard (not the Potter variety) I am a little familiar with the different courts and their denizens. This story, while at times confusing, was a good one. The underlying feelings between Finn and Roark even when they claimed to hate each other, wove it’s way through the story.

The book was slow to start but once it kicked in I finished it in one sitting. While the ending wasn’t exactly what I wanted for them (a HFN), with the promise of a second book I’m hoping for more.

Finns mother told him a child isn’t indebted to their parents because they were born. I liked this sentiment and felt it was very important for the solution of their story.

Absolutely brilliant interpretation of the (mainly) Scottish/Irish folklore of the Seelie Court which focuses on the Winter Court in particular and the Prince of Air and Darkness - otherwise known as Roark Lyne - who might just be in love with the most powerful human in the world, Phineas Smith (or Finn as he calls him when he can't help himself).

This book has a superbly plotted narrative, fully multi-layered characters, a complex and compelling story arc, great secondary characters and an immersive world and, while the protagonists may be of Young Adult age, the story itself never feels like that.

Fantasy is my favourite genre of all and I love being able to add authors writing within the MM world onto my list of favourites and this one just did that.

The Fae Folk are often overlooked when it comes to sources for urban fantasy or paranormal romance, they're difficult to understand and the nuances of how their different Seelie and Unseelie Courts work isn't always easy to get right but M.A. Grant nailed it in this book.

I really enjoyed Prince Of Air And Darkness. It had a great, interesting story, and kept me wondering about the characters' history together. I absolutely love Fae stories and this was no exception. The angst was handled well, the chemistry between the characters was perfect.

I'll be honest, I pretty much only read this because I saw the summary and thought 'that sounds like a pretty good Draco/Harry AU'. Not that this book is in any way a rip-off of Harry Potter. I mean there's a magic school but it's a college so the characters are older and it has a bunch of different creatures in attendance from all kinds of world mythologies. But I do love the enemies to friends to lovers trope.

It was a decent book, but I found that the world building was a little lacking. I think I get the general idea of Phineas' powers now but for a lot of the book it seemed to just be 'whatever is most convenient to move the plot forward'. And I mean ...that's fair I guess, but it also made things confusing at times. I also didn't like that there was so much POV switching because I read with Word Runner and the two characters voices were not distinct enough for me to always notice the shift until I was [I assume] several paragraphs into the new section. Also none of the secondary characters felt very fleshed out and whenever one of Phineas' random friends or other roommate would show up I would have no idea which one they actually were or what they were supposed to be contributing to the plot.

Overall I liked Roark and Phineas' relationship and it definitely got very interesting towards the end, but this might be one of those rare books where I wish there was a bit less 'plot' and a few more sex scenes. It's not a mind-blowing book by any means but it is a decent enough read while we're all sitting here waiting for Wayward Son to come out ;)

*~~*ARC kindly provided to me for an honest review *~~*

- Review to come

Review originally posted on my blog with added content on Mikku-chan / A world full of words

This book is everything I wanted from Mark and Kieran in The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare. Since we never got to see that side of them, I'll have to imagine Prince of Air and Darkness as the bts we'll never get. Though, Finn and Roark's story is still a great story itself. 

I originally requested Prince of Air and Darkness because I was still in a Queen of Air and Darkness book hangover haze. Yes, I chose it for it's name. (Also.... my cat's name may or may not be Phineas. 🙀) But then I read the synopsis. Roomates, gay, magic. Hello. 💁🏼‍♀️


(Quote) Funny how such innocuous details— the red blip of a voicemail, the single-page letter from a bank requesting a meeting to discuss the foreclosure, the subtle appearance of moving boxes in the garage— can upend your world. Unlike monsters or faeries or kidnappers, you never see these details coming. They don’t draw blood or leave visible scars or bruises. You can’t fight against them or use magick to fix them. You can only wait to see if you survive them. (Quote)


Phineas (Finn) is a human with rare magic he can't control. Roark is the Unseelie Prince who is annoyed because he has to deal with said human. They have a somewhat complicated history that gets more complicated in the present piled on top of more complicated. It's a whole beautiful mess. If you love Fae and Fantasy then you need to read this book which releases this month. 💙💚 

***Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin - Carina Press for the opportunity to read Prince of Air and Darkness.***

This faerie fantasy novel left much to the imagination. If you are an active reader in faerie lore, you might have a better time following and pronouncing many of the terms. The setting was very vague and was quite distracting.