The first half of the book was a little hard to trudge through, but that is typical and a fantasy. I did enjoy the second half and did love the cultural spin on it. I will definitely be reading the next one. I also love the cover art so well done to the artist!

This book was a major disappointment. It had been on my TBR for a long time, so I was really excited to receive an ARC. Unfortunately, the wait wasn’t worth it. While the overall concept isn’t new, I was intrigued by the unique cultural twist, but even that couldn’t save it. Too many plot points were left unresolved, and the author didn’t seem to commit to any strong direction. It felt underdeveloped and unfinished. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.

Listen, I wanted to like this one so badly. I wanted to love it but the book made it so SO hard to do so.

The premise is interesting but the plotline is all over the place, as are the characters. I for one, love character driven books but the characters here are written to be really naive and no I don't mean it in a "They are innocent" way but rather a "They're hella dumb." way.

The characters have huge stakes. There's this character who if her secret is known could be killed but she KEEPS SHARING THE SECRET. Like in high school when someone spreads a rumor and tells it to 20 people but tells them all "Don't tell anyone else." Except their secret is probably about who broke up with who and not something that would get them painfully killed.

The characters' personalities are inconsistent. They keep doing things that make no sense to their personality and behaviour.

There was so much potential in the premise but it all falls flat and I am kind of mad about it because I was SO excited for this book!

This is the first book in a new series, and I’ll definitely be continuing. It took me a little while to get into—there’s a lot of world-building up front, and the action doesn’t really kick in until the second half. But once it did, I flew through it in one sitting.

Shakti is a mayakari—a witch who communes with nature spirits and follows a strict code of nonviolence. But as her people are mercilessly hunted by the emperor, her frustration grows, leading her to break their code and cast a powerful curse.

Ashoka is the emperor’s youngest son and a known mayakari sympathizer. He follows his own code of pacifism and wants nothing to do with his father’s legacy. But when the Obsidian Throne passes to one of his siblings, he begins to question whether violence can ever be justified in the name of justice.

Told in dual POV, the novel offers a rich setting, complex characters, and a compelling arc of power and morality. It’s also delightfully queer—Ashoka is in love with his best friend and personal guard, Rahil, though he struggles to admit it. The world itself seems queer-normative: there’s no angst around same-gender attraction, and his sister, the princess, is casually known to take both male and female lovers.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and can’t wait for the next installment!

Thank you Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the ARC!

I wasn't sure how I felt about this book in the first half, but the second half had me hooked. I liked the way in which the relationship between pacifism and violence is explored, and how fast people will cave in their beliefs if they believe it is for a good cause. Both main characters are two side of the same coin, desperate to push their beliefs onto others. Granted, the FMC just wants to not die, and honestly I think that's a more noble cause and understandable.

The only thing I wish this book had talked about more, but perhaps will be explored in later books, is how dangerous or evil the past emperor was beyond the murder of witches. Yes, that's enough to hate them, but I think it is weird how they are implied to be a good ruler otherwise. How can one be a good ruler if they murder their subjects? I also wish we got looks into the Empress, she is an interesting character that is pretty under appreciated.

I am excited for book 2!

The Prince Without Sorrow is a promising debut novel drawing inspiration from ancient India during the Maurya dynasty. It follows Shakti, a witch from a pacificst order, Ashoka, the sweet youngest prince of the Empire, and the way their lives change when the Emperor's witch hunts murder the last of Shakti's family. Shakti seeks revenge, invoking a curse on the Emperor Adil and posing as a maidservant in the palace to sow discord between Ashoka's older siblings. Ashoka is sent to a distant province terrorized by rampaging nature spirits and has to find a way to heal the land while being spied on and obstructed at every turn by the shadow of his father's deeds.

This was a very interesting debut novel, and I enjoyed the subversion of "goodness" offered in this first installment. That said, some of the character motives felt one dimensional - in taking revenge, Shakti negates the pacifism of her people and invokes dark powers; once or twice she seems to feel guilty, but is very fixed on keeping a hold on power regardless of its consequence.

3.5/5, but I do look forward to reading the next installment and seeing what growth these characters have to come.

An interesting first entry into a series! World building and characters were there, but not quite as cohesive as I would have wanted. However, it is an enjoyable read and I'll read the next entry in the series to see how the author and world progresses.

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me, with good bones but writing that ultimately didn't connect for me and that disconnect hindered my enjoyment of this book.

Let's start with the things I liked! The spirits and that form of magic was a great idea. The first page was excellent and captivating, with the witches - witches themselves are always a positive, honestly. And I do love a woman set on revenge, which was the heart of the arc for Shakti, one of the two POV characters.

So there were a lot of things that boded well for me! But it truly does sadden me to say: these things were let down by the clunky and often overwrought writing, along with the heavy-handed themes and character traits. For the latter, the idea of a witch set on revenge and a pacifist prince as your main characters is a great idea, especially with the questions of morality that each character will surely stumble across. But it felt like being hit upon the head with "ASHOKHA IS A PACIFIST, LOOK HOW OSTRACIZED HE IS FOR IT" over and over, with very little else to his character or development for much of the book. The characters read very young as well, and I kept having to remind myself they were written to be adults.

I don't want to come across as I'm picking apart the writing, because overall, the writing was good! But when I did find it awkward, boy, did I ever find it awkward. And because that happened more than a few times, I unfortunately started to get distracted by it. Some examples below:

"She wasted no time helping Prince Ashoka saddle Sahry, though it took some time."
Did it take no time or some time?

"Hundreds of years ago, during the reign of his namesake, Ashoka the First, the mountain had been as natural as any other, until magic - either mayakari or Great Spirit, not even the empire’s greatest scholars could deduce - caused half to deteriorate like a necrotic limb. This reason was the most well-known, but later stories for the mountain’s current state often veered into downright fantasy."
1) What is the reason? No actual reason was stated, beyond "magic." 2) How is magic not fantasy??

"He recognized the clear and sharp handwriting in a heartbeat and, almost immediately, he noticed a glaring disparity in his father’s writing."
The disparity is in the content of the letter, not the handwriting, but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise with this sentence.

"Godlike fury spiralled into him, working its way into his head, twisting in the deep trenches of his heart."
While this isn't clunky writing, it is overwrought af, and also an odd choice of "godlike" when I don't believe any gods are mentioned in this book.

So again, not terrible and almost certainly not going to bother every reader, but just enough to worm into my brain as I read and take me out of the story itself.

I'll end with saying that I had made a list of a handful of quotes that just didn't quite sit right as I read, and in a couple of cases, had noted only the quote with no further notes or context. Such was the case with what is now my favourite quote: Shakti, please be serious.

Thank you to the publisher, Harper Voyager, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

If “don’t think, just do” was a book. The characters straight up vibe there way through this book. I enjoyed the story, I wish it would have stuck with me a bit longer. It reads as more of a young adult book than adult, which is fine with me. The villain in the story is a bit one dimensional, and could have been more developed. Overall a good easy-reading story, and the cover is beautiful! Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read this ARC, opinions are my own and given freely!

A world-building masterpiece, The Prince Without Sorrow was an incredible read filled with whimsy and magic. While the characters are terribly flawed and a bit flighty, it made up for it with a really cool plot.

The world-building is vivid, featuring nature spirits, a structured magic system, and a society grappling with the consequences of power and pacifism. Ashoka's internal struggle between his ideals and the harsh realities of leadership is particularly compelling. But I sometimes feel like Shakti's rapid mastery of new abilities and the ease with which she infiltrates the palace stretches believability at times. While the novel offers a thoughtful exploration of its themes, the pacing can be uneven, and certain plot elements may benefit from further development in future installments. Nonetheless, it's a promising start to the Obsidian Throne series, especially for readers interested in character-driven fantasy with nuanced ethical dilemmas.

I quite enjoyed this book. I felt the pacing of the plot was well suited to the plot and how we got to know the characters. I felt like this book was building up to something more - more of an introduction to the world and the main characters, rather than a deep dive into the plot. It is definitely more character driven.
Shakti’s character is pure rage, as she is determine to seek out vengeance for the persecution of the witches. On the other side is Ashoka and his too nice demeanour. While Shahkti is very impulsive, Ashoka takes too much time to think things through and misses many opportunities to undermine his cruel siblings. This does change as the story progresses, as Ashoka grows more into his character, but I wanted it to happen sooner. In summary, it is a slow burn story. The main characters do not cross paths much, but they do have their separate roles to play.
I liked the world building and felt like I got a good sense for the atmosphere the story takes place in. I also found the magic system interesting.
I’d recommend this book to readers that enjoys books that explore different mythologies - the main draw for me in this one is the dive into mythology from ancient India and it delivered.
Many thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for digital advanced reader copy of the book. The opinions expressed are given freely and are honestly and my own.

3.5 rounded up. Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review (I’m a bit late). Lots of impulsive decision for the characters, but I was just along for the ride honestly. Our characters definitely acted without thinking for a lot of things. But, I still had some questions about the history between the empire and the mayakari that were really never answered. Writing seemed a little clunky and some metaphors were kind of ridiculous. Sometimes the prose and the words she chose just came of pretentious. The ending has left me intrigued enough for the next I think.

This is such an intriguing story and I can't wait to see how it goes. I really liked Shakti, but was not the biggest fan of Ashoka. His pacifism border lined naivety that I felt he should not have had. That along with how conveniently events happened made the book read more YA when I think it's supposed to be Adult. Despite all that I loved the story and I cannot wait to see what happens next! How are they going to deal with Ashoka's sister?

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harper Voyager, and Maithree Wijesekara for an advanced copy of this book.
DNF at chapter three.
There were some good ideas and I don't mind a rehashing of common tropes if a book does something interesting with them but I couldn't get far enough to say if it does. The writing is confusing, nonsensical, and feels unfinished. I like many types of prose but this was just not something I could get past.

The Prince without sorrow is an interesting debut. Set in an Indian inspired world we follow two protagonists Ashoka, the youngest son of the emperor, and Shakti, A young witch know as a Mayakari. The book starts with Shakti breaking mayakari codes and cursing and killing the emperor in revenge for his persecution and killing of her people. After doing so she is horrified to learn that brutal and cruel emperor Audil is now trapped in her head, after seeing another person in a vision where they tell her to seek out Ashoka so she travels to the capital. In the capital Ashoka has been dealing with a fraught relationship with both of his siblings and his father due to their frustration at his more peaceful tendencies and his desire to help the mayakari. The emperor dies he finds his place in succession in question, along with the impossible task of trying to get a territory back under control.

Overall I enjoyed the story, it was a very interesting debut if nothing else. While the pacing was off at points and the characters felt, and certain parts of the story where repetitive I Adam interested to see where the sequel goes.

This book was stunning to read. The world building and the careful way the author wove in folklore lead to a beautiful novel. I can't wait to read more.

I loved books inspired by ancient India or Indian mythology! I loved the world-building, the characters, the bickering between siblings, and the magical elements. That being said, I did find the writing to be more on the YA side versus an adult fantasy. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!

Prince Ashoka Maurya is the youngest son of the ruthless Emperor Adil. Raised under a regime of terror and conquest, Ashoka has always yearned for a different path, a kingdom defined by justice, not bloodshed. But when his father dies suddenly, leaving a fractured throne and a brewing rebellion, Ashoka is sent to govern an unstable, annexed region plagued by malevolent nature spirits. Surrounded by suspicion and desperation, Ashoka faces the impossible challenge of balancing his ideals with the harsh realities of his inheritance.

Shakti is a witch bound by a pacifist code, her spirit fractured by the massacre of her village and the murder of her beloved aunt. In her grief, she curses the imperial bloodline, only to find herself caught in a cycle of destruction she never intended. Disguised as a maidservant in the Maurya palace, Shakti seeks to unravel the monarchy from within, determined to watch the empire crumble.

As Ashoka and Shakti’s fates collide, they are forced to question their beliefs and confront the darkness within themselves. Will they destroy each other in their search for redemption, or will they find a new path that defies the legacy of violence they were born into?

The book blends lush, culturally rooted world-building with classic fantasy elements of power struggles, forbidden magic, and rebellion. The strength of the novel lies in its intricate exploration of identity, Ashoka's struggle to escape his father’s legacy and Shakti’s battle to reconcile her pacifist beliefs with her thirst for vengeance. Their contrasting perspectives creates a captivating push-and-pull dynamic, heightening the tension as they inch closer to each other's truths.

If you love morally gray characters, slow-burn romance, and a deep dive into cultural mythology with a political edge, The Prince Without Sorrow is for you. It’s a tale that explores the weight of legacy, the price of revenge, and the hope of redemption.

This isn't a bad novel, but it's not great, either. It started off well enough, but it meanders through its plotline, never quite finding its metaphorical feet. Shakti is a mayakari, a nature witch who draws her powers from her connection to earth spirits; the philosophy of such witches is pacifistic, although Shakti never quite buys into the paradigm taught to her by her aunt, who raised and trained her. Ashoka is a prince, the youngest of three children of the reigning emperor; unlike his father and siblings, he sees no reason to persecute the mayakari simply for existing. Their characters are interesting, but never quite coalesce into fully-fleshed individuals; they read like caricatures based on myth - which they may well be, as this novel draws its inspiration from the Mauryan Empire of ancient India.

Like too many novels that are written as the first book in a series - rather than as a complete novel in their own right - this book is incomplete. It ends, rather abruptly, not on a resolution with an epilogue leading into the next volume, but with an unanticipated and unexpected event much more akin to the cliffhanger at the end of an installment of a serial. It's not a bad novel; however, it was not to my taste - and this ending only solidified a nascent discomfort with the overall structure. I hope the planned sequel will address the issues with the characterization and completion.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.