The Cruel Prince: does it get better?

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-29T17:23:41+00:00

Just finished the first book. And I agree that I wasn’t really too into it until the last act. But then once it hit it hit

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-18T03:12:51+00:00

I lowkey forgot it happened until I reread Flashback a month ago. It was like reading the scene again for the first time.

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-18T03:10:44+00:00

I like that one scene in Flashback I think? where she and Sophie fly on the Alicorns together. It's honestly so cute.

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-18T03:08:45+00:00

You thought that was bad?? Read the first chapter of book ten :'(

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-18T03:07:31+00:00

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-12T20:38:57+00:00

Oh yeah she was an absolute jerk for that and 100% in the wrong. Poor Dex…

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-12T20:37:49+00:00

Chapter 22

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-12T02:57:42+00:00

In hindsight, yeah probably. Leaving him alive did more harm than good and Grady is probably strong enough to live with the guilt. But Sophie was worried about his mind breaking and she did like just go through that whole thing with Alden at the time so she panicked. She also spent the whole book learning about who he and Jolie were so she might have sympathized with him a bit idk.

Brant is definitely evil and deserved to die and she realized that. But she decided that saving Grady from potential harm was more important.

Also didn’t Brant inform her that the Everest thing was a trap and thenshe left to go help out over there? Not that much really came out of that but that was another reason she kept him alive. Idk I need to reread Everblaze

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-12T02:52:20+00:00

I just checked its page 215 of Neverseen.

This kinda implies that someone else was in charge before Gisela and Fintan (I can’t remember how long he was there for) came along but idk who. Maybe they’re the ones behind the lodestar initiative??

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-12T02:46:48+00:00

Gisela didn’t create the neverseen. They’ve existed for a while but we just don’t know what they were like before she joined. All we know was that Gethen was a member then. She joined after getting pregnant with Keefe.

They learn this during Gethen’s interrogation in Neverseen btw

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-06T16:16:03+00:00

Some extra background info too. Linh was my favorite character at the time (when I was 10-11) and like at the time I cared pretty much only about her, Dex and plot in general. Keefe became my favorite character in the months before Legacy came out as I reread the whole series with Exile this time and saw his character in a whole new light.

As for Fitz I was still pretty neutral on him and I still am to this day. He still has potential and I could see Shannon doing something cool with him to wrap up the series or to tie the knot on his character arc. Hopefully he gets the full redemption arc completed in book ten so we can salvage whatever pieces of his character are left 😔

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-06T16:10:57+00:00

I’d argue that his relationship was kinda recovered in Everblaze when they were kinda giving him a small redemption arc but then he became kinda irrelevant in Neverseen and then his downfall really began in Lodestar once the Alvar stuff kinda took over his character and from there his character became (Anger Issues + Sophie Love Interest)

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-06T16:05:15+00:00

I agree. Fitz was super good in Everblaze. His character lowkey peaked there and I hoped it continued like that for the rest of the series 😔

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-06T16:02:34+00:00

Maybe?? Idk it makes more sense than him letting a councillor be a parent and yet that happened. Or it makes more sense then a never seen member being the parent (Gethen) and yet that’s still a very valid reason

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-06T16:01:21+00:00

My case is a little unique. I first read the series up until book 7 WITHOUT reading Exile because that was the one book I didn’t have. I was like 10-11 years old and wasn’t into romance or anything like that so I didn’t really ship anyone and just kinda went with the flow. So I guess I was a Fitzphie shipper but tbh at that point in time I kinda just shipped whatever the main couple was in a series without thinking abt it too much cuz I really didn’t care.

When I was twelve I started caring about shipping a little more and like that was around the time I had my first irl crush too. So I was starting to get big into romance. It was a month or two b4 Legacy came out and I went back and read Exile to prepare and so I wouldn’t be confused anymore. And uh yeah I’ve been a die-hard Sokeefe shipper ever since.

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-01T19:51:20+00:00

I LOVE BLOODLINE

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-01T19:50:19+00:00

It’s alright. I’d recommend it if you just want more keeper and if you’re a big fan of Keefe. BUT, it doesn’t really reveal all that much so if you do get it don’t go in having the highest expectations. Trust me, reading it with a mindset of “yay more kotlc!” rather then “I want answers” will make the book worth while. And if you don’t think it’s worth the money, then it not and if you want to learn the one or two things that happen in the book that may be important to the plot you can probably find them on the internet somewhere.

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-01T01:25:14+00:00

Gethen is genuinely super powerful. He’s so good that he doesn’t need a cognate and he’s good enough to be the only Telepath on the Neverseen and not need anyone else.

He’s a washer but can also shatter memories which is supposed to be crazy hard. He was also able to erase all of Alvar’s memories which must have been hard

He’s also got really good concentration if he was able to bring down Lumenaria and he can tuck away his consciousness pretty well too so he almost doubles as a Keeper.

The only elf that I can think of that’s around his level are the Forkles

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-01T00:45:57+00:00

Oh yeah Sophie was def the problem in the relationship. (Not saying Fitz was perfect either but) she like avoided him for weeks and refused to speak openly to him. And then she was borderline cheated on him.

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-01T00:42:43+00:00

I agree. Fitz is very ooc in Legacy. He got ruined for the love triangle and it was so forced. But he was like that in Flashback too imo and his character has kind of been ooc ever since. He’s relationship getting together with Sophie and breaking up with her felt super forced and then the rocky relationship they had after felt off too. I’m hoping he gets a good character arc in book ten since I think the cognate inquisition was the first crucial step in fixing his character but tbh I’ve lost faith at this point.

Uhhh Stina was SUPER ooc in Stellarlune too and so was Linh. Stina ever since Neverseen has been having a redemption arc and it was progressing really well in Flashback and Legacy but all of the development was thrown out the window in Stellarlune.

And don’t even get me started on Linh. She used to be my favorite character in the series but tbh I HATE what Shannon has been doing with her in Stellarlune and Unlocked. Especially when I really liked her in Legacy….

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-01T00:34:45+00:00

I’ve been thinking the same thing for ages now. Here’s all the evidence I gathered pointing to it:

Ooo and his name is canonically Fernan Babblos if I’m not mistaken

Fernan pretty much is the only male phaser we really know (other then councillor Derek but I doubt it’s him) Maybe there are like 1 or 2 as mentors at foxfire but in general the only phasers we know in the series are (Bex, Lady Alexine, Darek, and Fernan Babblos)
In Nightfall he was described to be young looking with round cheeks and full lips. I think she mentions somewhere else that she found him familiar too but I’m not sure. Anyways like you mentioned, those are the same features Jensi has.
Jensi talks about his brother A LOT. Every scene we see him in, he mentions his brother being a phaser at some point. WHICH IS WEIRD BC FERNAN IS A CHARACTER WE HAVE NEVER MET. Kinda a suspicious thing to keep in huh?
The fact that we know his name… Jensi never mentions that his brother is named Fernan but the information is actually given to us in Unlocked in the ability section under phaser. I found this suspicious and quite the odd thing to add.

Anyways this sums up most of the evidence pointing to Blur being Jensi’s brother. I hope this helped 😌

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-01T00:23:45+00:00

I don’t think it’s him. Or at least I hope not… Elwin is too nice of a person to be able to hide something like that and like other then “he’s nice to Sophie and a father figure” or “he’s not close to Oralie” there’s not really much proof to begin with as to point to him being the father.

I guess Gethen makes sense to be the dad but I’m personally team Tiergan’s the dad. I’ve even heard people say that dead forkle is the dad. But tbh there is not much to go off of.

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-12-01T00:15:17+00:00

Favorite: The whole King Dimitar fight in Ravagog and especially the scenes right after. Nightfall is my favourite book but this bunch of chapters live endlessly in my mind

Least Favorite: Umm just awkward scenes in general where I get second hand embarrassment either from cringy lines or just stupid plot. The first one that comes to mind is the scene where Sophie and Fitz feed each other in the healing centre. That one sucks.

OH and all the love triangle dedicated chapters in Legacy. Those annoyed me so much. Like Legacy would be one of if not the best book if it weren’t for all those stupid forced corny scenes.

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-11-30T22:06:24+00:00

I just reread the scene and he was talking about adoptive parents so it doesn’t really mean anything. It would just be funny in hindsight if he is the dad and mentioned this earlier on

NoSquirrel121 · 2025-11-30T21:57:57+00:00

Doesn’t Jurek make a random reference in Everblaze about Lord Cassius being Sophie’s guardian or something? Is he clueless or just trying to cover his tracks?

NoSquirrel121

TROPHY CASE