The characters in this were so frustrating that I almost didn’t finish the book. I did like the nature spirits, and for me the best parts of the book was the encounters with them.
Since it is the start of a trilogy, we don’t really get any resolution in this book. I’m not sure if I am interested enough to continue, if the characters do a lot of growing it might be worth it see how things play out.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Maithree Wijesekara debuts with The Prince Without Sorrow, a high fantasy inspired by the Mauryan Empire of India. Readers follow dual perspectives. Prince Ashoka is a pacifist in constant power struggles with his family set on expansion of the empire. Shakti is a mayakari, a witch who can speak to nature spirits, but also has the power to curse and to raise the dead. Mayakari have oaths of peace, but when she is witness to Emperor Adil burning her aunt and entire village due to their mayakari affiliation, Shakti makes an oath toward vengeance.

The highlight of this story is in its varied lens. The culture of the Mauryan Empire is something refreshing in a sea of western-based fantasy stories. Unfortunately, this really is the main highlight as nothing else with this story is particularly groundbreaking or against genre norms.

Shakti's storyline reminds me quite a bit of vengeance-minded Tau in The Rage of Dragons. I found her perspective (and Tau's in all fairness), extremely frustrating to follow as she continuously behaves against her own best interest in the name of vengeance. But she does give us some asexual rep, which was nice to see acknowledged. Meanwhile, Ashoka and bodyguard Rahil are reminiscent of shy Kadou and competent Evemer of A Taste of Gold and Iron. I liked Ashoka's perspective as he does navigate arguably the most on-page growth.

There is a great deal of political maneuvering and setting up of the series continuation in this book, but I'm left feeling a bit like this first book is simply a prologue for what is to come. Ultimately, I am not certain if there was enough that stood out to me about this story as it stands to continue, though I didn't encounter anything to outright dislike about it.

I would still recommend this story to anyone interested as I hope it finds the audience for whom it can resonate best.

1.75⭐️2.75🌶️

Fantasy
Witches
Royalty
Morally Grey FMC
Mythical creatures
Rebellion
🏳️‍🌈 normative society



The Prince’s name, Ashoka, means “Without Sorrow,” making the book’s title very literal. It’s a clever way to tie the character’s name to the story, but this isn’t explained in the book. I only discovered it after googling his name, wondering if it was from a Star Wars character (it’s not, but close).

Some word choices made me pause—nothing too distracting, just enough to make me think.

The dynamic between the pacifist prince, standing up to his violent family, and the righteous witch who defies her creed to do no harm, is interesting. However, the themes behind their choices weren’t explored enough. While we get a solid backstory for the FMC’s departure from the witches’ pacifist beliefs, we don’t learn much about how the MMC came to his views. This would have added depth to his character.

The side characters felt flat and one-dimensional, and many conflicts were resolved too easily by happenstance. The lack of personal growth or challenges made their journeys less believable.

The worldbuilding had great potential, but it was limited by a magical forest sprite popping in to explain things to the FMC. That didn’t do enough to immerse me.

There’s some repetition, especially in the internal monologues—like the author expects you to catch on just from restating things rather than showing them through the plot.

The premise was intriguing, but the execution fell short for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

First off, how cute is the baby winged serpent on the cover? I need one immediately. On a serious note, this was a wonderful debut fantasy. This got categorized as a romantasy, but don't expect really any romance in this novel. I did really like that I wasn't rooting for our two main characters to end up together, but rather I love Ashoka and Rahil and hope we can see a development of their relationship in the next book.

I also enjoyed that neither Shakti nor Ashoka are perfect characters. They both have obvious flaws that are affecting the story line, but not in an annoying way. I've loved seeing how they have both changed through out the book and I am hoping to see much more as the series continues.

I can't wait to get my hands on a final copy so I can see the maps! I just ordered the Waterstones exclusive version with the UK cover and sprayed edges and I'm excited to receive it!

This book is a good one to ease you into fantasy. It's based off of Ancient India and has a lot of the principles of Buddhism in it. It's definitely nice to get out of the fantasy worlds based off of medieval Europe!

Review goes live February 24

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! All opinions in this review are my own.

2 stars. DNF’d at 30%

I could not get into this book, other than the prologue (which felt way better written than the rest), there was very little there to grip me into the story. I understand alternating POVs with characters set in different places will have a bit of a slow start but it still felt like there was no real direction for either of them really but more so with Ashoka. He was just there at the palace with his older siblings who hate him. ALL the characters also felt very one dimensional and as if they were young teens and not the early to mid 20’s they were all supposed to be. The main characters were obvious foils for one another and while I did like that, they lacked anything else about them. It also was written in a flat YA like tone but is marketed to be Adult. I honestly didn’t read anything in this novel that hasn’t already been written before in other YA books.

I also found the plot was not settled in anything concrete. I was very interested in seeing the curse Shakti put on the Emperor after he razed her village slowly unfold but then he just keeled over dead within 20% of the story which made the whole thing feel like it ended early. The only consequence she seemed to get from that was having The Collective now in her mind with no chance of rebirth but it really didn’t seem like she truly cared that much about the rebirth aspect, just about having the now dead Emperor in her head and even that didn’t have any serious ramifications or drive for her to rid herself of it other than she hates (justifiably!) the Emperor. But through some very vague explanations by someone else in The Collective, shes told to go find Prince Ashoka as he will have the information. While this seems like a direction, with Ashoka’s previous chapters there is nothing that indicates he has ever known what his father has been up to with this forbidden magic or how Ashoka would have this information anyways. He only knows of the Emperor committing genocide and making Ashoka feel worthless for being a pacifist compared to the Prince’s older siblings. Which kind of brings me to my next point, Ashoka is the youngest and isn’t even heir to the throne, he has no power, no control. In fact, he could just be exiled away at any moment and stripped of everything and with his comments during the funeral, I wouldn’t be surprised. It's a very shaky foundation and didn’t lead me to confidence over the rest of the novel unfolding satisfactorily.

Overall I was expecting more from a story with characters clearly on two opposite ends of a moral conflict and the questions raised about violence and pacifism and the dance around their goals. The concept of this all was intriguing and I was excited for this, but the execution wasn’t enjoyable sad to say.

While this book had interesting premises, it ultimately didn’t follow through. There were numerous plot holes (mainly in the characterizations and setting up clear foils/dichotomies for no reason other than creating polar opposites), but then there was never a stance taken on these dichotomies. It left me wondering why everything was so one-dimensional if not to take a philosophical stance?

After the first 80 pages, there wasn’t any stakes in the plot and the characters felt flat and unlikeable.

I was so excited for this book, but to be honest, it fell flat. The two characters existing on opposite sides of an ethnic cleansing (Shakti - a Mayakari witch who's people are being killed and Ashoka - the prince whose father is hellbent on killing every Mayakari). I felt like the characters didn't develop as much as I wanted/expected. The awful king died so fast that it felt like the story ended, like we lost our antagonist. Sadly, this book is just not for me.

Okay, so I really wanted to love this book - it sounded right up my alley with its mix of Indian-inspired fantasy, palace intrigue, and witch magic. The basic story follows Prince Ashoka, who's trying to be different from his witch-hunting tyrant father, and Shakti, a witch who sneaks into the palace for revenge. Cool premise, right? But honestly, I had such a hard time getting into it. The writing kept going over the same points, and I never felt like I really got to know the characters or their world well enough to care about what happened to them.

Maybe I had my expectations set too high since it was compared to books like The Jasmine Throne and The Hurricane Wars, but everything felt rushed and underdeveloped. I kept waiting to feel invested in the story or connect with the characters, but it just didn't happen. The magic system with nature spirits sounded interesting, but like everything else, it wasn't fleshed out enough. I hate to be harsh on a debut novel, but this one just didn't work for me. I probably won't continue with the trilogy unless I hear the next books are dramatically different.

The Prince Without Sorrow has a unique premise that intertwines the power struggle of the session, morality, and justice. One of the novel's greatest strengths is its world-building. The Empire's detailed descriptions and fantasy elements of witches and magic create a rich and immersive setting. The oppressive rule of Emperor Adil Maurya is now teetering on new fears as his oldest son is set to take over. He wants to continue conquering new lands like his father and persecuting mayakari. The younger brother, Ashoka, is exiled and wants to break from his family's tyrannical rule. Shakti is a mayakari whose family has been wiped out by Emperor Adil Maurya. She is now on a mission to dismantle the monarchy and create strife between the royal family.

While the story is compelling, the pacing is uneven. The novel leans towards a medium to slow pace, which allows for rich world-building but sometimes drags in key moments, particularly in Ashoka's political maneuvering. However, the book stumbles in the area of character development. Ashoka's internal struggle is present but lacks the dynamic depth that could have made it more engaging. On the other hand, Shakti's character is captivating, and her powerful motive is a driving force. Her desire for revenge and infiltration of the palace create fantastic scenes for the book, especially as she gets closer to her enemies.

Overall, The Prince Without Sorrow was a thought-provoking experience that delved into intriguing themes of legacy and vengeance. The power struggles are compelling, while the pacing may test your patience. As the author's first novel, it was a commendable effort. The minor issues, particularly pacing and character development, will be refined in the author's future works.

Thank you, Netgalley, Avon, and HarperVoyager, for the opportunity to honestly review this book.

’ve gone back and forth on how I feel about this book so much. I think it had amazing potential with it being sort of a different take on witch trials however the execution was off. The writing in the first half of the story was really tough, making it difficult to connect with the plot and the world building is almost all politics based so it just generally felt tedious.

However, the last 40% I really enjoyed. I loved Ashoka’s character arc. I disliked him so much at the beginning but I really came to look forward to his chapters. The tediousness paid off in the end and I am, surprisingly, excited for the next book as I hope all the set up will be worth it. I don’t think this is going to be everyone’s cup of tea and I hope the final publication has gone through another round of editing but in the end I’m glad to have read it!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins publishers for providing me an ARC for this book! The views expressed are my own.

The book follows two characters on completely different sides of an ongoing ethnic cleansing. Shakti, a mayakari witch who’s own kind is being ethnically cleansed for stuff they did hundreds of years ago, and Ashoka, a prince of a king who’s sole motive is to kill any mayakari on sight.

And unfortunately, that is pretty much the story in a nutshell. King doesn’t like mayakari, king kill mayakari, king dies by mayakari and the rest of the book fails to have a coherent plot. One of my biggest gripes about this book is that I WISH the king didn’t die so early? I felt like I completed the book by page 80?

The 2nd half of the book involves Shakti trying to rid herself of a curse that the king put on her when she killed him and Ashoka trying to persuade his brother and sister to not kill mayakari. That goes on for about 400 pages and it was so truthfully hard and boring to read :(

I truly think that this book could be so much better in so many ways, but it unfortunately left such a bad taste in my mouth that I doubt I’ll ever pick up the 2nd book in this series

The narrative is divided into alternating chapters of Shakti and of Prince Ashoka. Shakti is a mayakari (witch) in hiding seeking vengeance for the burning of her village. Prince Ashoka Maurya is a pacifist and a mayakari sympathizer, the son of the man responsible for the ruthless persecution and execution of the mayakari throughout the empire, Emperor Adil Maurya.

There is little to no romance, and the plot is centered around the main conflict of the murders of the mayakari, and the events leading to Shakti and Ashoka's discovery of power and its price.

I'm intrigued that this was inspired by Ancient India's Mauryan dynasty. I always am appreciative of fiction, including fantasy, in a historical setting (similar to [book:The Familiar|133286777]), it's often a fun way to learn a little bit about history which leads me to dig a little deeper into the subject. Not so coincidentally, the male MC shares the name of Ashoka the Great, who is widely considered as one of the greatest rulers in Ancient Indian history. <spoiler>This especially makes sense at the end when Ashoka comes to the conclusion that he can only accomplish his goal of saving the mayakari through the power of the throne as emperor.</spoiler>

The title can be a bit confusing taken out of context, but somewhere in the text it was noted that "Ashoka" which is the male MC's name (who is a prince) literally means "without sorrow."

I'd really like to see where this goes, so I'm quite sure I will be continuing with the series!

TW: fire/burning, violence, murder, blood, graphic

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review!

The Prince Without Sorrow, inspired by the Mauryan Empire, with a focus on magic and political intrigue, had potential, but ultimately fell short due to clunky writing style, and a story that failed to live up to expectations. The side characters had more depth than the two protagonists, and I would have loved to get their POVs instead of Ashoka and Shakti.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

Immediately I was intrigued by the consequences of power in The Prince Without Sorrow. We have characters who grew up with power, who feel like their hands are tied, and those who are afraid of their power. They know the consequences their power has on their future. It's a culture of fear, of being accused of being a witch. And The Prince Without Sorrow is about the pace of change. We can want change to happen overnight, we know the system is rotten. But how can we go about actually making that happen? The Prince Without Sorrow is a promising series starter. In some ways, it felt very much like a series starter. There's this sort of large exposition feeling as well as a, at times, plodding pace.

Thank you Netgalley! I was SO excited for this book, but unfortunately it’s just…a total mess. I feel genuinely bad for the author because there is *something* really great here—the worldbuilding is very interesting, I love the mayakari conceptually, and the thought behind what she’s trying to do is really compelling. Unfortunately, the execution wasn’t there. This reads like a draft and if it was just a draft it would be a good one, which just makes me all the more sad this is the state it’s being released to the public.

The characters are like interesting on the surface, but they are incredibly one-dimensional and confusing. Oftentimes, characters will make choices to advance the plot with zero logic behind why the character is acting that way. While I think Ashoka and Shakti are definitely the biggest victim in this, I constantly found myself a little confused with Aarya. I think Aarya is a very compelling character, but the respect she demands and the way she views others seem to pivot depending on what scene she’s in (ie she demands respect and values her status as a princess, but interacts with commoner Shakti in a very casual way.) I think humanizing a villain character is a cool idea and she reminds me a lot of Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender it’s just…flopping in execution. Conversely, if Arush wasn’t the emperor I would forget he existed. He is an important character, but he has the personality of a rock there’s just nothing there that makes him memorable or distinctive.

Beyond their inconsistency, instead of actually developing characters, they establish things about themselves by repeating them over and over. Not like the traits are being reinforced, like Ashoka has to repeat the same internal monologue about peace and not wanting to be like his father over and over again just in case we missed it the first time.

What really kills it for me is the plot. There is zero coherence to what’s going on in this book. Plot points are picked up and put down faster than I can figure out what’s going on and consequently every plot point ends up breezed over. I have finished the book and I confidently cannot tell you what the main plot line is. I can guess, but I don’t think it’s a good thing that you reader has to guess which plot line is the one actually going somewhere. Going back to I cannot believe the book is being released like this because I genuinely cannot. Genuinely it reads to me like the author was making up the plot as she wrote and then nobody ever went back to edit.

There is so much that could be good about this book, but not only is none of it allowed to shine, it all just gets overshadowed by the bad stuff.

Overall, I had a really good time with this book. I adored Ashoka and Rahil, and the friendship between the two and Sau. The setting, the mayakari and their magic, the sibling rivalry and the theme around violence/pacifism were other strong points. The choice of the dual POV of Ashoka and Shakti also worked really well and I enjoy both perspectives. It was also refreshing to have a dual POV where the two were not love interests.

However, there were several instances where things were just way too conveniently solved, and the characters read younger than their stated ages. Based on this, and some of the writing, I think the book could have benefited from being marketed as YA instead of adult, as it would have set other expectations going into the story.

I will continue this series, mainly for the likely romance and to see how far the main characters are willing to go.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the eARC.

I really liked the premise and the cover! The yearning was something I always appreciate, and the queer rep was good. Overall, I struggled with this one unfortunately.

The writing suffered from an overuse of metaphors, dialogue that just never flowed well, and not being clear enough at times.

None of the characters in this book seemed to ever think more than one day ahead, they never had plans or thought their actions through. They also all spoke far too candidly, especially Shakti, a witch hiding in plain sight at constant risk of being burned alive. It was frustrating to read. Everyone who had "strong" morals or a code ended up breaking it by the end, and I also ended up disliking them all by the end. Most of the characters lacked depth. A lot of unanswered questions that hopefully will be addressed in the next book.

I finished it, and it was a quick read. I do plan to give book 2 a chance, so I am giving it 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for this advanced copy! You can pick up The Prince Without Sorrow on March 18, 2025.

Maithree Wijesekara built a stunning world and fascinating magic system in this debut fantasy novel. I enjoyed the lore around the mayakari and sympathized with Shakti, one of our main characters, in her struggle to fight against the injustices against her kind. She and Ashoka, our second lead, were definitely two sides of the same coin, pursuing justice through VERY different paths while believing their actions to be righteous. Throughout the book, you're really forced to confront the different uses of violence vs pacifism and how both can lead to great and/or destructive change.

All in all, a good start to a new fantasy series!

“Hatred was not born, it was made.”

The mayakari, witches bound to a pacifist code, know no peace within the Ran Empire. Once great scholars, the mayakari studied within the Golden City itself, and worked with the nature spirits to maintain the wild lands. Now, under the rule of Emperor Adil Maurya, the mayakari face persecution and the nature spirits displacement, as the great forests are ravaged and the land dies. That is until Shakti, a young mayakari seeking revenge, does what no other before her was willingly to do. Curse the Emperor. But of course, curses have consequences. With the death of the Emperor, the Maurya children are thrust into power. Prince Ashoka, the Emperor’s youngest son and known mayakari sympathizer, must learn how to wield his limited power wisely.

The Prince Without Sorrow follows Shakti as she seeks to dismantle the Ran Empire from within, and Prince Ashoka as he seeks to deliver it from tyrannical rule. Both must play their parts, but there are no guarantees either will succeed.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 4/5

I would rate The Prince Without Sorrow 4 out of 5 stars. The story draws inspiration from the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India and Buddhist beliefs, which makes for a unique magic system and beautiful storytelling! As of lover of history with a specific interest in religion, I was immediately hooked. I found the world building interesting, especially the powers of the mayakari, their matriarchal structure, and their dedication to doing no harm. While there is some insight into their history, I’d love to see more information on why they’re so dedicated to pacifism and why the Emperor turned against them. I’m hoping for more on this in book two.

I enjoyed the dual perspective of the story. It gives insight into the motivations of the main characters, and highlights potential for future conflict between the two. For now it seems like they have the same end goals, but I anticipate that may change. I found Shakti’s perspective to be more interesting, but that’s probably because she’s a witch hell-bent on revenge after decades of persecution. Overall, this was a great read that left me wanting more. I’m excited to see where this story goes!

(Thank you to Net Galley, Harper Voyager, & Maithree Wijesekara for this opportunity!)

I really enjoyed this book. All the characters act on pure impulse, which makes the plot move forward constantly and turns this into a quite addictive read, even if it can lack some depth at times. I loved both POVs from Ashoka and Shakti, how different yet similar they are, how the former is reluctant to violence and the latter almost craves it while they’re both extremely determined in achieving what they believe is right. The world building was okay, not overly complicated or original, easy to catch up with as the story goes along. What I appreciated the most, besides the concept of the witches and their magic, was the conflict between the siblings and the struggle for power, as well as the contrast between their father’s legacy and their own power (or lack of) over the empire. I’ll definitely be reading the 2nd book as soon as it comes out.