THE PRISONER'S THRONE

Damaged people damage each other as they fight for love and power.

Oak, the reluctant heir to Elfhame, shows the world an insouciant, feckless facade, but secretly he’s cunning and ruthless like his sister Jude, the High Queen of Faerie. Readers began to see Oak’s layers, filtered through Wren’s traumatized and not always reliable gaze, in the first half of this duology, 2023’s The Stolen Heir. Here, the near-third-person perspective follows Oak and reveals the truth: He’s a gancanagh (or love-talker) who commands devotion through speaking but who fears that no one sees, much less cares for, his real self. In love with Wren and imprisoned by her in the Court of Teeth, he proposes marriage to avoid his sister attacking Wren’s court. Oak then must negotiate family, enemies, and a very fraught courtship with someone who may be too damaged to love him back (but who may also be the only one who sees through him), all amid the glittering poison that is his own home court. Black’s Faerie world, which is filled with diverse Folk (Oak has hooves; Wren has blue skin and pointed teeth), manages to be both alluring and terrifying, with love and betrayal as constant companions. This volume will appeal to the author’s old fans; new ones should start with the previous entry.

Another bewitching tale: love-talker indeed.