Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: Prince of Thorns and Nightmares 

 

Author: Linsey Miller 

 

Book Series: Princes book 2 

 

Rating: 3/5 

 

Recommended For...: young adult readers, retellings, Sleeping Beauty, fantasy, Disney 

 

Publication Date: October 3, 2023 

 

Genre: YA Fantasy Retelling 

 

Age Relevance: 12+ (violence, slight gore, small romance) 

 

Explanation of Above: There is some violence with sword weapons and very slight mentions of blood gore. There is also a small bit of romance, but the majority of it starts off as friends. 

 

Publisher: Disney Press 

 

Pages: 426 

 

Synopsis: Prince Phillip tells his side of Disney's Sleeping Beauty where once upon a dream was just the beginning... Prince Phillip’s known from a young age that his destiny has already been decided for him by his father, King Hubert. His job is to smile and wave for the crowd and ride off into the sunset with his predetermined fiancé, Princess Aurora, after her curse is lifted on her sixteenth birthday. But just days before Aurora’s birthday party, Phillip experiences a strange burst of magic, and three fairies tell him that he is part of a prophecy set to defeat Maleficent, the Mistress of All Evil. Suddenly Phillip feels as if he has a choice—maybe magic can be the freedom he has been looking for. Although, having magic and working with fairies to retrieve powerful ancient artifacts would be much more enjoyable if he didn’t have to deal with her every night, a girl named Briar Rose who appears in his dreams on the other side of a mystical thorn maze. Phillip doesn’t know how he can be so annoyed by a person he can’t even see but having to hear the mysterious maiden’s laughs and jabs at him every time he goes to sleep is worse than any nightmare. But Phillip is starting to realize that Briar Rose isn’t so different from himself, and maybe they can change both of their fates one dream at a time. 

 

Review: This was a pretty good book. I liked the concept of it and I loved seeing more of the Prince’s backstories. If there is one thing that Disney is sorely lacking in, it’s giving suitable backstories to the male main character of a Disney Princess movie. I felt like this was a great addition to the Disney Princess lore and it made me like Phillip more. I also felt like, for it being a YA book, that it was really suitable for younger teens, so like 11/12 and up. This would be a good segue books from middle grade reads to YA. And the voice of the book felt very strong as is the worldbuilding. 

 

However, I did feel like some of the book did slow down plot and speed wise. I felt like maybe it needed to be shortened some to do away with those slower moments or reworked a bit. 

 

Verdict: It was good! This is a series I’ll be investing in.