Heir to thorn and flame follows Max as he comes to terms with his abilities as a mage in a world full of liars and tricksters who only want to use him. I loved seeing max’s relationships evolve with Camron and Simion. (Is it wrong to say I have soft spot for Camron???)
I’m terms of the story itself, I thought it was a great intro into the Heir to thorn and flame series. I could see fans of zodiac academy and fourth wing enjoying this story a lot. Especially those who are looking for some refreshing LGBT stories. My only complaint is that I did feel that some conversations (especially all the promises) got repetitive and I yearned for Max to take back some of his agency, and I think I prefer the original title a bit more.
I look forward to reading more of Ben’s work in the near future.

I received this audiobook as an ARC.

The company for sure chose a very good narrator. I feel like he embodied the story on the characters that were portrayed. The storyline was a little bit rocky in terms of some of the dark things that are covered. But I for sure really got into it about a quarter of the way through. The character Maximus for sure is a complex character that had to go through a lot in his journey, and it for sure was enthralling one. His love interest Camron for sure had me halfway in love with him. Because the way that he was described was very solid, caring, and supportive man.
The narrator for sure kept my interest with his way of changing his voice to be able to tell the difference between each character. Even the creep Silas sounded creepy with his nasally voice.
The storyline was solid, the narrator was solid, character development was solid. Overall a pretty great start to series. 4 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley & Bookouture Audio for a ARC audio in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks NetGalley and publishers for the audio arc of Heir to thorn and flame by Ben Alderson.

I struggled to finish this as the dialogue was chaotic at times.

When Max kills Julian, the prince, he is forced to take his place as the King threatens to kill Max’s parents if he doesn’t play the game.

Max has to be Julian is all things, including marrying Cameron.

This was a confusing read since it was unclear who the audience is intended to be. The writing and internal dialogue of the characters seem VERY young but the trigger warnings are not for children.

The world building while not original did have interesting elements such as dragons.

If you want a YA M/M fantasy romance that feels young, this might be worth a read.