The Sleeping Prince by Melinda Salisbury

Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin's life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep.

When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won't reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help her, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds shatters everything she believed about her world, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom.

So, first thing I should mention is that I couldn't remember much from The Sin Eater's Daughter, but luckily I didn't need to. This companion novel is set in the same world but follows another lot of characters as the Sleeping Prince awakens and slowly takes over the land.

Errin lives in a different part of the country, a neighbouring county that values science and logic over magic and lucky talismans. Until the legend that is the Sleeping Prince isn't so legendary anymore and then it's mad panic. I really liked seeing this different part of life; the land and the stories were similar but the people had different values, different priorities and it was really cool to see how they all mixed when the time came.

Errin's partner in crime was Silas, a young man shrouded in mystery who bought Errin's potions. Silas was damn cool - protective, really smart, and an alchemist to boot! This bought a whole lot of really interesting magical explanations for this world and its beliefs. As much as I enjoyed this, it did have a bit of slow start. Nothing major happened in the first half apart from Errin going on the run. The final third or so was the best bit; Errin and Twylla's stories finally met and things blended together and made more sense in the bigger scheme of things. Best of all, it wasn't too rushed but I would have liked to get there sooner. All in all, a great sequel that didn't feel like one and it definitely left me hungry for more from this world.

Published 4th February 2016 by Scholastic.