Prisoner (Kria, #1) in Q&A with Megan Derr

Jun 22, 2011 Emanuela ~plastic duck~ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, rainbow-gay, romance, glbt

Awesome! I really lost myself - in the best possible way - in this book. The world building was fascinating and interesting. There are three nations at war. Krians are warriors and rely on their swordsmanship to keep their enemies at bay. Salharans use drug-induced magic to attack and defend themselves and the drug they use (arcen) is addictive. Illussors are a people who owns a sort of natural magic, but their magic is causing problem to their population.

In this rich world, Dieter von Adolwulf Awesome! I really lost myself - in the best possible way - in this book. The world building was fascinating and interesting. There are three nations at war. Krians are warriors and rely on their swordsmanship to keep their enemies at bay. Salharans use drug-induced magic to attack and defend themselves and the drug they use (arcen) is addictive. Illussors are a people who owns a sort of natural magic, but their magic is causing problem to their population.

In this rich world, Dieter von Adolwulf - the most powerful Krian general - and a nameless Salharan soldier collide. At the beginning they hate and despise each other, but their lives slowly become intertwined and inextricable from each other. Dieter is feared and hated despite his valor and he does nothing to be accepted, if not loved. I think his most sincere relationship is with his nameless prisoner, whom Dieter gives the name Beraht. Beraht, who hates the foreign name he's given from the very first moment, does absolutely nothing to avoid Dieter's anger, on the contrary he lashes out his despondency. He seldom thinks, he reacts or attacks, following his instinct, which makes him do the right thing but also puts him in danger. I think that the relationship between Dieter and Beraht is beautiful because it's basically honest. They don't need to second guess the other man, they read each other as open books.

The book is anticipation at its best. It takes a while for both of them to understand that they care for the enemy and to realize that they work well together, to understand that they're already sharing an intimacy they don't want to acknowledge.

Dieter and Beraht are not the only interesting characters. The Salharan spy Sol DeVry and the blind Illussor prisoner Iah are another lovely couple and they provide a sweet hurt-comfort subplot that satisfy the needs of a romance reader while Dieter and Beraht are bickering. The Illussor prince Matthias, his counselor Kalan and his beloved Esta, the Krian Kaiser and his generals, the scheming Tawn and the Salharan Brothers with their addiction, all help to weave the story during the cold and unforgiving winter. At the beginning the story moved from a character to the other, from city to city, palace to palace, and it seemed confusing, but page after page everything converges. I must admit there were situations that were resolved maybe too quickly - I often complain about angst, but I miss it sometimes.

There's probably much more to say, the world created by the author conquered me and I'd like to spend a lot of time there, so I'm going to read Bound. I highly recommend this book to those who like fantasy, a rich world building and a lot of anticipation. ...more

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Jul 25, 2013 Azure rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, m-m, fantasy, romance, historical-setting, war

One of my first reads in this genre and have to say it an excellent and satisfactory read.

The world building was brilliant, attention to detail was an A+ and the flow of the story was intriguing. The political situation, the traditions of the three nations (specially the obsession of Salharans and their names) were well thought of enabling the reader to fully immerse themselves in the book. Not in-your-face gay but subtle and we can see the dynamics between the characters. Not just Beraht and D ...more

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Jun 30, 2025 Sandy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: slow-burn, to-reread, clueless-mc, political-machinations, enemies-to-lovers, grumpy-grumpy

Stars refuse me for enjoying this book as much as I did 😁

Lovely lovely lovely. Definitely to my taste, Megan definitely writes my type of romance that I live for. I liked Beraht and Dieter’s characters. Their romance was sweet, I’ve never read a grumpy/grumpy romance and I enjoyed this one so much so sad it’s over, I’m not even mad the end felt rushed 😭
And when I say grumpy I do mean grumpy, especially beraht omg lol 😂 short tempered, no tact, conversation with Dieter pisess him off quicker than ...more

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