The Prince's Vow

Starian Cycle #3

By: Iris Foxglove

Narrated by: Kris Antham

Adrien de Guillory may be the heir to the throne of Staria, but no one in court believes that the submissive, meek-minded prince will ever be king. What they don’t know is that Adrien is hardly the meek, shy creature he pretends to be, and that he has his own plans for the future. To see those plans through, Adrien embarks on a journey to Mislia, the land of his mother’s ancestors, to seek an answer to controlling his magic of foresight.

The one thing Adrien’s visions don’t predict is Isiodore de Mortain, his father’s confidante and the subject of Adrien’s long-standing, deeply embarrassing infatuation. Isiodore intercepts Adrien on his way to Mislia, but it’s too late to turn back. The two of them are now stranded on foreign soil, forced to rely on each other in order to get home in one piece. With Isiodore set on keeping Adrien safe, and Adrien determined to become the most troublesome prince in Starian history, a storm is brewing over Mislia...one that will surely sweep both of them out into uncharted waters.

©2021 Iris Foxglove (P)2021 Iris Foxglove

So much growth for Adiran

I think this may be my favorite in the series. Adrian and Izzy are great and I love how Izzy is always trying to keep Adrian from getting deeper into trouble. Adrian has quite the growth through this story as he learns to believe in his own strength. Plus we get to meet the Mislians and Hector who is adorable. Adrian's brattiness is most certainly worth listening to and Isiodore has his hands full with this one.

Kris Anthem is truly a treat to listen to and I know I'll be coming back for more of his performance of Adrian. Just the right amount of sass for when Adrian is being cheeky!

Loved Adrien and Izzy!

By the time I listened to this in audio, this is my second time reading this. And I really liked this book. I enjoyed it even more in audio!

This book is a bit different than the first 2, I think, but I enjoyed the characters and the pairing in this one, as well as how the story opens the door for some really interesting things in future books. The story takes place outside of Staria and we get to see the crown prince and the king’s good friend/advisor travel to Mislia.

Content notes for mentions of a miscarriage, blackmail, torture, enslavement, mentions of the murder of magic users, mentions of suicide, and deaths.

I think the relationship in this book is quite interesting? Especially the age difference. We don’t really know how old the characters are, but we can make a guess that there’s a sizable age gap here. So, we have the king of Staria (Emile) who is childhood friends with his advisor, Isiodore de Mortain, Arthur (Sabre from book 1’s father and who died before the series began), and a fourth friend we learn more about in this book. For those keeping track at home, Isiodore was very much in love with Arthur, looked out for Arthur’s son, Sabre, by taking Sabre’s First Night, and now this book has Isiodore falling for the king’s son. Let’s just say, Isiodore is…close to everyone. There was also a time he had sex with Sabre’s husband Laurent as well way back when. This is a fact that’s not lost on any of the characters on the page, so I think that’s funny.

The king’s son is Adrien de Guillory and who we’ve met before as Sabre’s best friend. Any other book, any other series, I think the relationship would have squeaked me out a bit considering Adrien and Isiodore’s connections (and it actually has in a contemporary series I’ve read where this sort of thing has come up before) but here, it works for me. I can’t explain it, but I am surprisingly okay with this relationship.

Adrien is quite at odds with his father, the king. The king has all but ignored his submissive son since the death of his wife and holds his heart close. Which means that Adrien is kind of left on his own, especially when the word around the crown is that the king <i>should</i> remarry and sire a dominant to take over the throne one day. Adrien is quite resigned to the fact that he will one day be set aside to a home in the countryside and will never be king.

But one thing Adrien has tried to keep hidden for a long time is his penchant for seeing the future in water. Like, he can see glimpses of the future in rain, puddles, tea, etc. He can see everyone’s future except his own. The visions are coming more frequently and bleeding into his dreams now as well. He seeks answers from his mother’s people, the Mislians. However, it is a dangerous journey by boat across the waters and it doesn’t help that the king fears Mislians and wishes to put them all to death. So, it’s safe to say Mislians would not be welcome to a Starian prince on their shores. But Adrien is out of time and needs answers and he decides to make the journey by whatever means necessary. Sneaking off into the night alone gets only slightly foiled however when Isiodore manages to catch up with Adrien and winds up traveling with him to Mislia.

I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest fan of…traveling by ship stories? This book thankfully spares us most of that arduous journey and keeps us right in the action. Although I will say that I’m not sure how great the distance is between Staria and Mislia because the journey seems to take no time at all at the start of the book, and the journey back is said to have taken weeks. I think it is mentioned that the journey to Mislia took weeks as well on the audio but it doesn’t feel that way.

A thing I am confused of is whether Adrien really does learn to deal with the problems he went to Mislia for? The whole thing felt a bit vague to me since a lot of other stuff was going on and maybe I missed it, but maybe that is an answer we’ll get from future books.

There were times too where I wondered if the events in the last book, The Duke’s Demon, happened because it seemed that Adrien was almost unaware of demons and such but he had clearly met Devon, Sebastien, and Sariel? Although by the end, Adrien does bring up meeting them so I will say even though it felt like a bit of a disconnect at the beginning, the whole thing feels a bit more resolved in a way for me by the end.

There’s a lot happening when Adrien and Isiodore arrive in Mislia and there are many great characters like the Archivist Summer and her demon wife Tanis. I love them a lot and it does sound like they’ll get their own book, so I’m super excited about that!! And there was Hektor and his fox demon Flick. THEY ARE THE CUTEST.

Flick isn’t in much of this book compared to book 4, but HE IS MY FAVORITE. Kris Antham exceeded all expectations in how Flick is voiced here and I love every moment Flick showed up. Flick in the text talks in ALL CAPS LIKE THIS and is very vain and lovely, so it was cool to see that translated into another medium.

Out of all the new characters, I think we can all agree the Archmage and his demon are very terrifying.

Adrien and Isiodore (who Adrien very cutely calls Izzy) are so adorable together! Adrien is a submissive and Isiodore is very much a dominant. Their relationship rightly feels like a slow burn since there is an age gap between them and because Isiodore is just starting to develop his feelings for Adrien. They have epic movie moments between them that I LOVE. I feel like Adrien and Isiodore have the most dramatic cinematic-ish moments together of all the books and couples so far, and I find that both endearing and swoony. Yes, they do have sex scenes together to the point where their hosts find a magic way to soundproof their rooms(!!!), but nothing beats that one rain scene! When you read it, I think you will know which rain scene I mean because it does rain a fair bit in Mislia.

***SOME SPOILERS***

I think the ending feels only a bit abrupt because I wanted to see more of a 1-on-1 with Adrien and the king. But I guess what I’m most interested in is how the king gets a bit of a redemption and gets drawn out of his madness, so to speak. We are led to believe he has murdered QUITE A BIT of people after the death of his beloved wife. Considering how the authors managed to change my mind on Devon so completely between books 1 and 2, I trust them to be able to give me a satisfying story with the king as well.

***END OF SPOILERS***

Kris Antham does a fabulous job as the narrator of this series and he does a wonderful job here as well! His performance as Flick is hands down the best. But that comes as no surprise since Flick dominates every scene he appears in. AS HE DESERVES. But I did love the narrator’s voice as the female characters as well. Feels very natural and not forced at all. Also, I would like to note that the voice for a young child here in this book was more understandable here compared to the children in The Duke’s Demon, so that was great.

Overall, I think the ending does end on a good note, but does leave the door open for a lot in the next book. The excerpt for book 4 is super intriguing, and I think it’s super fun that the narrator reads the excerpts as well since that’s not typical at the end of audiobooks even if the text has excerpts of the following book.