Review: "Prince of the Palisades" by Julian Winters

Prince of the Palisades by Julian Winters
Published August 2024 via Viking Books for Young Readers
★★★

At first glance, Jadon has everything he could ever want—he's second in line to the throne of Îles de la Rêverie, he's out and proud, and he wasn't so much born with a silver spoon in his mouth as born with a platinum spoon in his mouth. At second glance, he's stagnating: sent away to live in LA for a year, feeling misunderstood by his family and perhaps and isolated as a Black boy in the US. He doesn't want to make connections in the US; he wants to go home. But there's a pink-haired boy who intrigues him...

I'm a sucker for royalty fiction—something about the wish fulfillment, I think. It's still rare to find that sort of princess-fantasy* book with characters who are not all white and American, or white and British, or white and Generic European, so I was fecking delighted to see that this one features a prince who is Black and from a (fictional) African country. (This literally doubles the number of Fictional African Royalty books I have on my shelves, which—given the sprawl of my shelves—is appalling.) It's also delightful to see a fictional royal who is out and proud without issue; probably helps that Jadon is the spare rather than the heir, but (as important as coming-out books can be) I am well and truly over books where all the conflict boils down to homophobia.

Jadon's a tough nut to crack, though. At one point he describes himself thusly: "I'm kind. I'm angry. I stand up for what I believe. For the people I love. I'm not perfect, but I'm trying." (loc. 3761**) It's a nice moment, and a nice thing to aspire to—but I don't think it's accurate. I think at this point in the book, Jadon has stood up for what he believes once, or one and a half times (the incident with Barnard half counts, because although Jadon refuses to back down, he didn't know he would be on the record when he ranted in the first place). He's figured out some of what he wants to stand for, but it's deep, deep into the book before he even starts to understand that he has not, historically, been a very good friend. And as sweet as Reiss is (he's a great love interest), part of me thinks that if Jadon doesn't know what it is to have a solid two-way friendship, he's probably not in a place to have a solid two-way romantic relationship, either. He's beginning to grow by the end of the book, but this feels very much like the beginning of his journey.

On the off chance that there is a follow-up book with Jadon's sister Annika, I'd love to see it take place in Îles de la Rêverie—would mean the chance for a lot more world-building, hopefully distinct from the rough (say it with me) princess-fantasy worldbuilding of so many fictional European countries.

*This is a gay YA romance, and while there is a princess in the book and I would very happily read a book from her perspective...this isn't actually a princess-fantasy book. But that's my alternative name for my Goodreads "kings and queens" shelf, so...let's go with it.

**Quotes are from an ARC and may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.