The Poison Paradox

A (Mostly) Cozy Fantasy for Ogres and Sunbeams

De: Hadley Field, Felix A. Green

Narrado por: Thomas Busby

What price is too high to pay for those you love?

Prince Alaric breaks the laws of the gods and his kingdom to bring his brother back from death, but the price is higher than he could have imagined. Exiled, slowly corrupted, and with a brother more shadow than man, he seeks the only man able to fully revive his brother...another exile, his father's former mage, Eamon.

Once the most powerful mage in the kingdom, Eamon vanished years ago. Some say he died, some say he disappeared in a plume of smoke...and others in his hometown of Lithglau whisper the mage brought a young girl back to life.

When Alaric finds Eamon, he's nothing like he expected. For one thing, he's an ogre. For another, he flat-out refuses to help a spoiled prince.

Alaric and his brother are running out of time.

Driven to desperation, Alaric forces the former mage's hand before he realizes the price of a cure for his brother will come at the expense of his own life.

A life that, in Eamon's ramshackle village, he's beginning to enjoy for the first time.

Can he cure his brother without cursing himself? Or will crafting this potion bring only a brief reprieve from the loneliness that plagues him and Eamon both?

The longer Alaric spends in the village in the woods, the more he falls for Eamon—and the more determined he is to change both his and his brother’s fate, no matter the price.

The Potion Paradox features repressed longing disguised as disdain, blessings disguised as curses, curses disguised as blessings, and a very nosy woodland nymph who wants to win a baking competition and doesn't care what ogres she needs to annoy to win it.

©2023 Hadley Field (P)2025 Hadley Field

Taking the long way around, and around.

I want this review to come off as positive, because the story definitely has good qualities and the characters are likable even with their individual eccentricities and mannerisms. The yearning to help others more than oneself. Believing in the inherent good inside people. Taking an unfortunate experience and learning from it rather than allow it to ruin you. These feel-good moments are repeated over and over throughout the tale. And maybe that's the rub. The pacing is slow and deliberate, with attention paid to describing the scenery in great detail. But there is an urgency at stake, someone might die. This creates a bit of a perception conflict as we are left wondering how there is time to frolic when the end grows nearer each day. Each chapter has one of the two main characters narrating in first person, and while Thomas Busby does a fine job in general, there isn't a distinct enough difference in voice to hear whose turn it is without looking at the chapter title or reading into the context. While there is romantic intent present, it lurks mostly in the shadows. [Disclosure: I received this title for free and listened at 2.15x.]

Cute slow burn story

The narrator was very good, though I had to speed it up a lot. The story was so slow burn it almost didn't light up at all. No sex scenes. The story was slow. The best part was the end. Maybe I shouldn't bother with anything labeled "cozy", does that mean slow, warm and sweet? That about describes this book. The romance never got further than a slow simmer.