I had high hopes for The Cup and The Prince. Firstly, let's be honest the cover art is beautiful and secondly, there's the synopsis which was interesting and I had thought from reading it I would be hooked from the first page. However, those high hopes were gradually dashed as I read page after page and wished I hadn't begun it in the first place.

I'm stubborn when it comes to reading but I was tempted even at around 2 percent of the book, not to finish.

The characters feel one dimensional, and whilst Zora as the main character is good in her role of storyteller. She is determined in her need to be more than what her role in life is as a female but even that at times felt more like a teenage tantrum and a knee jerk reaction to circumstance. I wanted more depth, more history to explain her desire to win the Blood Cup. Perhaps it was only me, but I felt as though Zora leaving her home and those who depended on her because boyfriend cheated simply wasn't enough of a reason.

The side characters are easily forgettable and again, one dimensional and lacked true substance and backgrounds to make them ones you would remember. Scenarios didn't seem at all believable, for example Zora succeeding in successfully surprising a trained soldier and holding him at swordpoint. Even distracted, his training wouldn't permit him to remain held for a second. Yes, work of fiction but come on, it needs to at least make some sense.

Given that Zora has lived in the Dark Valley, where shadows are monsters as well as places were they hide? I thought that they would have been present to aid the reader in fully understanding just why Zora struggles in a place where shadows are naught but shadows.

The Cup and The Prince has so much potential but this book felt like it was the second or third draft and not a completed first novel in a series. Perhaps book two will deliver more, but sadly I won't be reading as this book lacked so much that I love in a gripping and vivid fantasy where the world building has me feeling as though I'm a character in the book myself.