The Sleeping Prince (TSED #2)

Author: Melinda Salisbury

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Publisher: Scholastic

Publication Date: February 4th 2016

Format: Paperback (367 pages)

Goodreads:       Author         Book

Synopsis:

Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin’s life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep.

When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won’t reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help her, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds shatters everything she believed about her world, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom.

My Rating: ★★★★★

It did not take me long to pick this book up after falling in love with The Sin Eater’s Daughter. I hadn’t read the blurb as I just knew I needed to read the next book so I was taken by surprise to discover that the protagonist was new to us and not Twylla as I had been expecting. This did however turn out to be a wonderful surprise!

The Sleeping Prince felt very different to The Sin Eater’s Daughter and not just because it had a different protagonist. I loved that there was so much focus on folklore and fairytales in this story. I really loved how Salisbury took one of the fairytales she created in The Sin Eater’s Daughter and made it come to life in The Sleeping Prince. I am a sucker for a fairytale and I loved how that was so deeply embedded into this story. The original mythology and folklore that Salisbury has created for her trilogy is completely enchanting and I would love to read more of it.

The Sleeping Prince is very much Errin’s story and it is told mainly from her POV. I knew very little about Errin at the start of this book with the exception that she is Lief’s sister. Little did I know how quickly I would grow to adore her. Errin is such a fantastic protagonist and has quickly become one of my favourite characters in this trilogy. It is easy to like Errin: despite her difficult circumstances she is strong-willed, intelligent and loyal.

Living in poverty with only the company of her mother who has a mysterious illness, Errin is an apothecary and spends her days gathering resources and making potions and poisons to sell and pay the rent. When she discovers that her only friend, Silas, is concealing a big secret she is thrown head first into a world she didn’t know existed. I was SO intrigued by Silas; he is easily the most mysterious character in the book and I loved learning all about his background.

SO much happens in this book, it was much more of a page turner with regards to the amount of action that is in it. I loved seeing how this story eventually linked into The Sin Eater’s Daughter and every time there was a link revealed I couldn’t help but gasp or squeal. This book picked me up, swung me around, tipped me upside down and then put me back down on the floor. Every time I thought I knew what would happen again I was taken in a completely different direction and I loved it all. The epilogue is just WOW!! Melinda Salisbury certainly managed to weave the two books together in a fascinating manner; I certainly cannot wait for the final book in the trilogy!

Have you read The Sleeping Prince? What did you think?

What are your favourite YA fantasies?

Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Bloglovin’ or Goodreads. Comments are always warmly welcome.