This is the twelfth book in Lynn Kurland's Nine Kingdoms series. I've read the other eleven, although this book has been out for awhile and I just haven't gotten to it till now. Her characters are incredibly lovable, but I feel they lack dimension. The female lead character is always beautiful, but unaware of it, and usually stemming from an illustrious background that she knows nothing about. The male protagonist is charming and a little mischievous, but loves with his whole heart. The Nine Kingdoms series up to this point has focused on two characters for three books, switching to a new storyline and characters for another three books, all within the same universe. This is the first time we followed a character that wasn't inherently "good" and was a black mage, up until just before the series starts. Warning, there are some examples of violence but nothing I would say is too serious.
This book follows Acair of Ceangail, a black mage who's father happens to be the most infamous black mage of recent history, if not all time. Acair is generally unliked by most other people in the book, and he really is trying to hold on to his bad image, but he's fallen for a woman who brings out the best in him. Leirsinn of Saraichte just wants to take care of horses and mind her own business, but then her uncle plotted her murder and she's been drawn into a world of magic that is throwing her off balance. They are already 2 books into their story, so there's quite a bit that they've already done together, including Leirsinn making a pretty big sacrifice to save Acair's life.
I am convinced that all Acair of Ceangail ever wanted in his life was for someone to care about him, no strings attached. My heart really broke for little Acair every time he was surprised someone wanted to spend time with him or take care of him. He keeps saying he's a black mage, and I'm going to take him at his word, but from what I've gathered from the book he's really only guilty of annoying everybody around him on purpose. I really liked the characters, but they were redundant. I felt like they weren't that difference from the characters in the previous trilogies. But more than that, the whole story was too wordy and confusing. I still am a little confused about how everything wrapped up and I've read it twice.
I really enjoyed the first trilogy in the Nine Kingdoms series, but I feel like the characters now are derivative of the ones that came before. I'm having a hard time staying engaged with the story because the characters think in such flowery, drawn out language. I did look at Lynn Kurland's website and it looks like she's going to be continuing the series, but it may be in a different format than the three book miniseries she's stuck to thus far. If she publishes another, I will probably give it a shot but I'm not sure I'm going to follow the series much further unless the next book catches me by surprise. I'm giving The Prince of Souls by Lynn Kurland 2.5 stars out of 5.
Check out Lynn Kurland's other works at https://www.lynnkurland.com/
Pairs well with a well loved blanket, a book of fairytales, and some crispy smashed potatoes.
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