Throne of Secrets

 Almost everything is fun with dragons....almost

"Throne of Secrets" is Kerri Maniscalco’s second book in her “Prince of Sin” series, and this time our new protagonists are Prince Gluttony, known as Axton, and journalist Adrianna Saint Lucent, who are forced to join forces and put the pain of the past behind them to save not only the kingdom but also their future.

Kerri Maniscalco has the wonderful ability as a writer to create something remarkable from a very small and simplistic idea; even though the book is 500 pages long, the story feels much longer than it actually is—and that is largely due to the book’s structure. The narrative threads generally feel basic, and the artistic reimagining of the Cinderella story ultimately leaves much to be desired; because this isn’t the first time we’ve encountered this kind of reinterpretation, and in this case, Kerri Maniscalco wasn’t able to make the story take off in the best way possible, given that there’s very little room for creative decisions that could have helped this book achieve a better narrative development.

The fantasy world of dragons and magical creatures is entertaining, and returning to this dark world is always fun because there’s always something new to discover with every new prince and kingdom. The problem with Kerri Maniscalco is that she always gets stuck in the realm of half-executed ideas, because this is the first time I’ve felt that everything would have been resolved if only the two protagonists had stayed locked away, talked through their problems, and left them behind. I understand the reasons why they don’t do that, but even within the book’s internal logic, those reasons don’t feel solid enough to let them slide; and that’s where the disconnect lies—everything is interesting, but what happens within the conflict between Axton and Adrianna simply isn’t, and it’s a tragedy because they’re genuinely interesting not only together but also separately.

The ending feels so anticlimactic and rushed that it makes me wonder if the story didn’t have enough substance, or if Kerri Maniscalco simply knew the ending and had a collection of loose ideas that never made sense together, so she decided to piece them together as best she could—and with a deadline to submit the final draft that never quite worked out.

This book isn’t necessarily bad, but it has many loose ideas tied to complex concepts that are explored when the romantic conflict runs out of steam—such as “truth” and “perception,” which lie at the heart of the book and are something Axton and Adrianna are constantly struggling to control.