Look, I'll be honest. When I saw "prince" in the title and "dragon slayers" in the description, I almost scrolled past. My romance-addled brain was expecting some medieval romp with a shirtless cover model. What I got instead was a snarky bartender werewolf hiding from monster-hunting Templars in rural Virginia. And I listened to the whole thing during nap times. High praise.
Here's the thing everyone's arguing about: the narrator talks directly to you. Like, John Charming is telling YOU this story, breaking the fourth wall, explaining supernatural lore as if you're sitting at his bar asking questions. Some people find this weird. I found it perfect for my 47-pause listening style because every time I came back from refereeing a sibling fight or fishing Sophie's shoe out of the toilet, John was basically catching me up. "Oh right, we were talking about why werewolves and vampires don't get along." It felt like picking up a conversation with a friend, not trying to remember where I was in a plot.
Roger Wayne Gets It
Roger Wayne's delivery is the reason this works. He nails John's dry wit without making it sound like he's trying too hard to be funny—you know that guy at the party who thinks he's hilarious and announces every punchline? Not that. Wayne's comedic timing is natural, almost throwaway, which makes the humor land harder. There's apparently a moment where John gets punched in the face and Wayne actually slurs his words like he took the hit himself. That's commitment.
The character voices are distinct enough that I could follow who was talking while simultaneously convincing Lucas that yes, he really does need to wear pants to school. The vampire sounds appropriately menacing, the blonde (Sig, a Valkyrie—yes, really) has this edge to her that Wayne captures without going full cartoon. It's conversational in a way that feels like someone telling you a really good story rather than performing a book at you.
The Info Dump Problem (And Why I Didn't Mind)
Okay, so the complaints about info dumps are valid. There's a LOT of world-building crammed into this first book—Knights Templar history, werewolf pack dynamics, vampire politics, something called the Pax Arcana that keeps regular humans from noticing the supernatural. It's a lot. And if you're the type who wants pure action and romance, this might feel like homework.
But here's my mom-brain take: I actually appreciated the explanations. I don't have the mental bandwidth to piece together a complicated magic system from context clues anymore. Just tell me how it works, John. I'm tired. There There does something similar with its multiple narrators explaining their world—different approach, same appreciation for not making my exhausted brain work overtime. The direct-address style means these dumps feel less like the author showing off and more like John making sure you understand what's happening. Is it elegant? Not really. Did I follow the plot despite listening in 15-minute chunks? Yes.
The romance, though—and I say this as someone who reads romance like it's a food group—is underdeveloped. Sig is interesting, John is interesting, their dynamic has potential. But this book is more concerned with setting up the world than giving me satisfying romantic tension. It's a first-book problem. I'm told it gets better in the series.
Who's Going to Love This (And Who Should Skip)
If you want a male protagonist with actual personality who isn't brooding in a corner being mysterious, John Charming delivers. He's self-aware, funny, and competent without being insufferable about it. That same refreshing energy shows up in Hot Ticket, where the main character actually communicates like a functional human instead of playing coy for 300 pages. If you're into urban fantasy but tired of the same "chosen one discovers powers" setup, this is a nice change—John already knows what he is and what he's running from.
Skip if: you need your romance front and center, you hate being talked to by narrators, or you want something you can truly zone out to. This requires enough attention that I couldn't fold laundry to it. Had to actually sit in my car and listen. Which, honestly, was a gift.
Car Time Approved
I finished this across two weeks of nap times and one very long Target parking lot session where I pretended I was "looking for something in my purse" for 45 minutes. Not groundbreaking literature, but genuinely fun, well-narrated, and—crucially—it made sense every time I came back to it. The ending wraps up enough to feel satisfying while clearly setting up more books. I'll probably grab the next one during a sale.
Made me laugh at school pickup. The other moms definitely thought I was losing it. Worth it though.
