The Bloodless Princes Review — Is It Worth Reading?

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Verdict: Orpheus in dragon country, and the book where Maddileh and Saralene finally say it out loud — a fantasy novella with a romance thread that pays off, rather than the romantasy its Library Journal review implies.

Best for: Readers who liked The Fireborne Blade and want the relationship promoted from subtext, and who will take a lonely dragon and an underworld over a love story.

Heat level: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5 — closed door; romance.io has no entry for this book at all)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.7/5 — a 3.82 Goodreads average, with three stars the modal Amazon score and five readers preferring book one)

Tropes: Pining best friends, journey to the underworld, curse-breaking quest, knight and mage pairing, in-world folktales, lonely dragon companion, novella, series conclusion, chaste confession, sapphic slow burn.

The Bloodless Princes by Charlotte Bond is the second Fireborne Blade novella, published by Tordotcom in October 2024 — sapphic fantasy at 160 pages, in which the knight Sir Maddileh walks into the underworld to bargain a curse off the mage Saralene, accompanied by a dragon who is, as the jacket puts it, suspiciously familiar and shaped rather like a winged cat.

It sits at 3.82 across 1,492 Goodreads ratings, with three stars the most common score on Amazon and the second-largest band on Goodreads. The trade press covered it unusually well for a book this commercially marginal — Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Grimdark, the British Fantasy Society — and the trades and the readers flatly disagree about whether it is better or worse than the book before it. That disagreement is the most interesting thing about its reception.

What Is The Bloodless Princes About?

This is a myth retold rather than a quest repeated. Book one was a dragon hunt with a twist; this one takes the bones of Orpheus and Eurydice, genders both parts female, and sends a knight into the underworld to bargain back somebody she loves. The novella’s formal trick is that it keeps interrupting itself with in-world folktales and library fragments, each version of an old story told by a different interested party — which is how the book makes its argument that history belongs to whoever writes it down.

Maddileh is a knight in a world that did not want women to be knights, and she has spent three years not saying anything to Saralene, the mage she serves alongside. Saralene is under a curse. The third member of the party is Mienylyth, a dragon who is small, sardonic, catlike and extremely lonely — and who, on the evidence of the reviews, is the reason most people finished the book. StoryGraph’s crowd rates the pace fast, at 71%, and the moods 97% adventurous against 11% lighthearted.

What Makes This Sapphic Dragon Novella Work

• Mienylyth: the runaway winner, named by seven independent reviewers. “Cat” is the recurring word — readers call her the best thing in the book, funny, and an unashamed piece of fan service that works anyway. Library Journal calls her one very lonely dragon, which is exactly right.
• The folktales: seven separate readers name the in-world legends and the play with format. Rather than dragon-slaying accounts, you get competing versions of the same events, which expands the lore and advances the plot at once.
• History as the theme: whoever controls the record sets the agenda — readers keep articulating this unprompted, which means the book landed its argument.
• The underworld: four or more readers single it out, one saying that section alone is worth rereading. It is the most vivid writing in the book.
• The relationship is finally on the page: after a first novella that only hinted, the two women confess. Every professional reviewer names it.

Book Synopsis

Saralene is cursed, and the price of the thing that saved her in the first place has come due. There is no cure available in the world above, which leaves one route: down, into a country that keeps what it is given and negotiates only on its own terms.

Sir Maddileh goes. She is a knight in an order that spent years insisting a woman could not be one, she has held a private position on Saralene for three years without acting on it, and she is better at walking towards a dragon than at finishing a sentence. She takes a companion — small, winged, scaled and unimpressed — and a plan that is mostly the word “down”.

What waits there is a bargain, and bargains in the underworld are made of stories. The princes who rule it have their own account of what happened and why, and Maddileh has hers, and the fragments of folklore the book keeps handing you turn out to be evidence in a dispute nobody agreed to hold. Somewhere in there is a way to buy a life back, if she can work out which version of the story she is standing inside.

My Review

The best thing here is structural. Bond keeps stopping the quest to hand you a folktale — a version of events told by a monastery, a ballad, a fragment somebody wrote down for a reason — and by the time you reach the underworld you have understood without being told that the whole book is an argument about who gets to record what happened. Seven separate readers name this as the thing they liked, and several articulate the theme unprompted, which is the clearest evidence a book has landed its point. The underworld itself is the most vivid writing Bond has done in this world.

And then there is the dragon. Mienylyth is small, catlike, sardonic and lonely, and she is the single most-praised element in the book by a distance — seven independent reviewers, one calling her the best part outright, another admitting she is pure fan service and enjoying her anyway. If you are choosing this book off our dragon list, be aware that she is what you are actually getting: not a bonded mount, not a shapeshifted love interest, but a small dangerous creature with the best lines.

The dominant complaint is comparative and it is unavoidable — fifteen of the thirty most-read reviews mention book one, and five readers plus Grimdark’s reviewer prefer it. The mechanism they describe is consistent: The Fireborne Blade ran on a tight dragon-slaying quest with a real twist, and this book trades that for lore interludes and an emotional arc. Readers who came for the first thing think the trade was bad. Alongside that sit two related complaints from three more readers: at 160 pages the folktales eat the space the plot needed, so the beats people were most looking forward to arrive rushed and undramatised. Two others say the plot moves in too straight a line. And the quietest but most consistent verdict is in the data rather than the prose — only 49% of StoryGraph’s crowd say the character development is strong and 33% say it is not, which for a book whose case rests on an emotional arc is the number to look at.

Here is where it gets genuinely interesting. Publishers Weekly called this a far more successful follow-up than its predecessor, and Civilian Reader and at least one reader agree. So the trade press and the readership disagree about the direction of the series’ quality curve, in opposite directions, with confidence on both sides. Worth noting too that the marketing pull-quote on Amazon renders PW as “this . . . successful follow-up”, eliding the comparative — which flatters the publisher while hiding that the endorsement was explicitly at book one’s expense.

Two expectations to reset, and both matter for this readership. First, the romance. It is true that the relationship comes forward here, and every professional reviewer says so — but that is a critics’ consensus rather than a readers’ one. Among the thirty most-read Goodreads reviews, exactly one makes the claim explicitly; three others push back, one saying there is very little romance overall, another observing tartly that it is very gay to be in love with your best friend for three years and never once act on it. The confession, when it comes, is late and chaste. The most honest calibration anyone offered is that this is a fantasy novella with a romance thread that pays off, not a romantasy. Second, the tone. The jacket ends by inviting you to stay for the winged cat; one reviewer says plainly that this gives off cosy vibes that do not reflect the story, and StoryGraph’s crowd flags death, murder and blood as graphic with torture and confinement as moderate. A reader recruited by the cat line meets torture.

My honest note: A clever, fast, formally interesting novella with the best dragon on this shelf and a romance that arrives about a hundred pages after you want it. Read it if you read book one. Do not start here, and do not come for the love story.

How Dark and Spicy Is The Bloodless Princes?

Call it a 1/5, and note where that number is not coming from: romance.io has no entry for this book at all — not an entry with zero votes, but no record, which is consistent with Tordotcom marketing it as fantasy rather than as romance. So there is no crowd-sourced steam band to quote. The number comes from the text and from readers, and both agree: the relationship is unconsummated for essentially the whole novella, the confession is late, and there is nothing explicit on the page.

The darkness is the more useful warning. StoryGraph’s crowd rates death, murder and blood as graphic, and confinement and torture as moderate, against 11% lighthearted and 25% dark. One reviewer states outright that the jacket’s closing line about the winged cat gives off cosy vibes that the book does not deliver. If you want a sapphic dragon book with actual heat, Dragon Queens and Of Dreams and Poison both sit at the top band; for the same low-heat register done deliberately, Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is the closest sibling.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you read The Fireborne Blade and want the relationship promoted from subtext, you enjoy books that play with format and nested storytelling, you want a genuinely funny dragon, and 160 fast pages is the commitment you have.

You may want to skip it if: you have not read book one, you want the romance to be the plot rather than a thread through it, you preferred the tight quest structure of the first novella, or you were expecting the cosy tone the jacket copy implies.

In short: a smart short fantasy with a lovely dragon and a love story that finally speaks up in the last stretch.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (August 2026)

The trade press covered this book far better than the market did. Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Grimdark Magazine, the British Fantasy Society, FanFiAddict and several substantial blogs all reviewed it, and it has its own Wikipedia article — against an Amazon rank in the millions and 53 ratings there. Two notable absences on that side: Locus reviewed The Fireborne Blade and did not cover the sequel, and none of The Lesbrary, The Lesbian Review, LezReviewBooks or Lambda Literary reviewed it at all. The reader-side footprint is thinner still. There is no dedicated Reddit thread anywhere — not in r/sapphicbooks, r/RomanceBooks or r/books — and every appearance is inside a roundup. The recurring context is telling: it turns up in r/Fantasy’s “Under 200 pages” thread and in Bingo-challenge to-be-read lists. This book circulates as short SFF that people can actually finish, not as a sapphic recommendation. And there is no TikTok footprint for it whatsoever.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): Mienylyth, first and by a wide margin — seven independent voices, and “cat” is the recurring word. Readers call her the best part of the book, funny, and fan service they were happy to receive. Then the in-world folktales and the play with format, also named by seven, with readers specifically praising how the competing versions of old stories both build the world and move the plot. The theme lands with them: several articulate the history-is-written-by-the-victors argument in their own words without being prompted. Then the underworld, praised by four or more, one saying that section alone rewards a reread. And the professional reviewers converge on something the readers mostly do not — that this is where the relationship finally comes forward.

What readers argue about and complain about: That book one was better. Fifteen of the thirty most-read reviews reference it, and five readers plus Grimdark’s reviewer prefer it — the mechanism being that the first novella’s tight dragon-slaying quest and twist ending are traded here for lore interludes and an emotional arc. Three more say the book is rushed: at 160 pages the folktales consume the space the payoff needed, so the moments readers most anticipated arrive compressed, and two of them say it should simply have been longer. Two others find the plot too neat, moving in a straight line through its combat beats. Underneath all of it sits a quieter data point — StoryGraph’s crowd is split 49% to 33% on whether the character development is strong, much the weakest score of any book in this batch, and a striking 30% say the cast is not diverse, which is unusual for a queer SFF title. But the genuinely interesting disagreement is not among readers at all: Publishers Weekly called this a far more successful follow-up than its predecessor, and Civilian Reader agreed, while the readership says the opposite. Trade and crowd have reached confident and opposing verdicts on the same question, and the Amazon pull-quote quietly edits the comparative out of PW’s sentence.

The series question everyone should ask first: read The Fireborne Blade first. It is not optional — this book runs on the first novella’s events and its central relationship only makes sense with three years of established history behind it. Publishers Weekly says this instalment ties up the loose ends, and reviewers describe the ending as poignant and full of hope, so the pair works as a complete story. Whether more is coming is unclear: Grimdark’s reviewer says he hopes to read more of Maddileh and Saralene in years to come, which is a wish rather than an announcement, and nothing further has been titled or dated. Note also that this book is not in Kindle Unlimited — Tordotcom titles are not — and at 160 pages it carries a hardcover price, which three separate reviewers implicitly complain about when they say it needed to be longer.

The audiobook is narrated by Helen McAlpine and runs 4 hours 45 minutes. One indie bookseller recommends it on Libro.fm as a palate cleanser, which is about right for the length.

Prefer audio? Listen to The Bloodless Princes on Libro.fm — the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to read The Fireborne Blade first?

Yes. This book runs directly on the first novella’s events, and the relationship at its centre only carries weight if you have watched three years of it not being spoken about. Fifteen of the thirty most-read reviews reference book one.

Is the romance actually the point this time?

More than in book one, but less than the trade reviews imply. Every professional reviewer says the relationship comes forward; among readers, exactly one says so explicitly and three push back. The confession arrives late and is chaste. Treat it as a fantasy novella with a romance thread that pays off, not a romantasy.

How spicy is The Bloodless Princes?

A 1/5 — closed door, with nothing explicit on the page. romance.io carries no entry for the book at all, so there is no crowd-sourced heat rating to quote.

Is it cosy?

No, despite a jacket line about a winged cat that suggests otherwise. StoryGraph’s crowd flags death, murder and blood as graphic and torture and confinement as moderate, and one reviewer says outright that the packaging misrepresents the tone.

Is The Bloodless Princes on Kindle Unlimited?

No. It is a Tordotcom title and those are not in Kindle Unlimited. At 160 pages it carries a hardcover price, which several reviewers noted.

Is there an audiobook?

Yes — narrated by Helen McAlpine, running 4 hours 45 minutes.

If You Loved The Bloodless Princes, Read These Next

The closest sibling on our shelf is Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame — another short, formally careful sapphic dragon novella from the same imprint, with the same low heat and the same tendency to report its romance rather than stage it. If the nested folktales are what you enjoyed, In the Vanishers’ Palace plays similar formal games in a very different mythology. And if you want a knight and a dragon with the romance unmistakably at the centre, The Blood-Born Dragon is the corrective.

For more in this register, browse our guide to dragon sapphic romantasy or the full Book Reviews collection.

The Bottom Line

The Bloodless Princes is a smart little book that knows what it is doing. The nested folktales make a real argument about who writes history, the underworld is the best writing in the series, and Mienylyth is the finest dragon on this shelf — small, funny, lonely, and worth the price on her own. It is also fifteen pages of lore for every ten of plot, rushed where it should be climactic, thinner on character than a book resting on an emotional arc can afford, and preferred to its predecessor by the trade press and to its predecessor’s detriment by nobody who actually read both. Read book one, then read this, and take the romance as a bonus rather than as the reason. Check The Bloodless Princes on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, The Bloodless Princes ranks as a formally inventive sapphic fantasy novella — sharp about storytelling and blessed with the best dragon in the category, held back by compression and thin characterisation, and best approached as the second half of a two-book story rather than as a romance.

The Evidence Scorecard

Overall ★★★★☆ 3.7/5

• ✓ 3.82 Goodreads average across 1,492 ratings
• ✓ Strong trade coverage for a marginal seller
• ✓ Formally the most inventive book in this batch
• ✓ Five readers and one critic prefer book one

Romance ★★★☆☆ 3.4/5

• ✓ The confession finally arrives on the page
• ✓ Three years of pining given real weight
• ✓ Every professional reviewer names the shift
• ✓ Late, chaste, and three readers say it barely registers

Characters ★★★☆☆ 3.2/5

• ✓ Mienylyth is the best dragon on this shelf
• ✓ Maddileh’s knighthood carries real history
• ✓ 89% call the cast loveable
• ✓ Only 49% rate the character development strong

Writing ★★★★☆ 4/5

• ✓ Nested folktales are genuinely clever
• ✓ Format play named by seven readers
• ✓ Underworld is the best writing in the series
• ✓ Lore interludes eat the plot’s page count

Emotional Impact ★★★★☆ 3.6/5

• ✓ Ending called poignant and full of hope
• ✓ History-as-power theme lands unprompted
• ✓ The dragon’s loneliness is quietly effective
• ✓ Anticipated beats arrive rushed

Heat Level ★☆☆☆☆ 1/5

• ✓ Closed door throughout
• ✓ Nothing explicit on the page
• ✓ Confession is chaste and late
• ✓ No romance.io entry exists for it at all

Ending ★★★★☆ 3.9/5

• ✓ Publishers Weekly says it ties up the loose ends
• ✓ Works as a conclusion to the pair
• ✓ Underworld bargain pays off
• ✓ Compressed by the page count

Re-read Value ★★★★☆ 3.7/5

• ✓ Underworld section rewards a return
• ✓ 160 pages makes revisiting trivial
• ✓ Folktales read differently once you know
• ✓ Nothing further announced in the world

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