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A tale of honor, dragons, and a love that endures beyond death Come for the journey through the underworld. Stay for the suspiciously familiar winged cat. After their dubiously successful quest to slay the White Lady and recover the Fireborne Blade, Sir Maddileh and Saralene set about changing their world for the better. But the cursed and newly-promoted High Mage Saralene must visit the afterlife to ask a favor of the Bloodless Princes who run the underworld. But Saralene and Sir Maddileh show more will soon discover that the old tales only hold so much truth in them, though perhaps there's enough to make a start on their new journey. To escape the underworld alive, Saralene will need a lot more than just her wits. And Maddileh will need more than just her Fireborne Blade. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Maddileh and Saralene may have won at the end of the previous installment but that was never going to be the end of the story - the previous High Mage went down with a curse on his lips and in this world that means something.
3 years had passed and Saralene had convinced most people that her usurpation of the throne was actually a good thing for the realm. Maddileh had been serving as her champion, the dragon had been slain so all should be fine. Except that first Maddileh gets weird dreams and then the old High Mage finally makes his move. At which point our heroines finally decide to ask some questions they should have asked a long time ago and learn that the dragon is not really slain and that the old tales may be more true than one show more had thought before. And this time the story will take everyone to the Underworld - and somewhere in there, there may even be love (I really dislike will-they-won't-they subplots).
Just as with the previous novella, the story alternates chapters of the actual story with writing from historical records and the tales. These extra chapters give the story depth that it otherwise lacks - the world-building mostly happens there (including showing the contradiction between dragon stories and human stories which was hinted at in the previous novella) although Bond manages to then use what we learn there to enrich the present story. It feels a bit forced in places (almost as if she had no other way to introduce the backstory) but it works better than one expects it to.
The story is a bit thin - even for a novella - but it is enjoyable. It continues to play on the knight tales and to get them all turned upside down. The ending is open enough to allow for more stories without requiring them. Although I found The White Lady to be a lot more entertaining character than the titular characters of the tale.
PS: Don't even try to read this one if you had not read the first novella. You need the background and the back history (as little as it was there) to make the characters here sound as more than just stand-ins for stereotypes. show less
3 years had passed and Saralene had convinced most people that her usurpation of the throne was actually a good thing for the realm. Maddileh had been serving as her champion, the dragon had been slain so all should be fine. Except that first Maddileh gets weird dreams and then the old High Mage finally makes his move. At which point our heroines finally decide to ask some questions they should have asked a long time ago and learn that the dragon is not really slain and that the old tales may be more true than one show more had thought before. And this time the story will take everyone to the Underworld - and somewhere in there, there may even be love (I really dislike will-they-won't-they subplots).
Just as with the previous novella, the story alternates chapters of the actual story with writing from historical records and the tales. These extra chapters give the story depth that it otherwise lacks - the world-building mostly happens there (including showing the contradiction between dragon stories and human stories which was hinted at in the previous novella) although Bond manages to then use what we learn there to enrich the present story. It feels a bit forced in places (almost as if she had no other way to introduce the backstory) but it works better than one expects it to.
The story is a bit thin - even for a novella - but it is enjoyable. It continues to play on the knight tales and to get them all turned upside down. The ending is open enough to allow for more stories without requiring them. Although I found The White Lady to be a lot more entertaining character than the titular characters of the tale.
PS: Don't even try to read this one if you had not read the first novella. You need the background and the back history (as little as it was there) to make the characters here sound as more than just stand-ins for stereotypes. show less
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5+ Works 289 Members
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Bloodless Princes
- Original publication date
- 2024-10-29
- Dedication
- To Lee
For giving wings to my words
and words to my dragons - First words
- When the universe was young and dark, light existed inside an egg.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She swore she would not waste even a moment of it.
- Publisher's editor
- Harris, Lee
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- Members
- 85
- Popularity
- 375,820
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.04)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 3
