The Squire and His Prince 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars Goodreads | Amazon | Genres: Fantasy, mm fantasy romance books, historical romance

Introduction

The Squire and His Prince by Briar Niran, a prequel novella to the upcoming The Sun King and his Knight quartet, sets up an intriguing world and an interesting take on the historical fantasy romance genre. While the world-building was sufficient for the prequel, I am excited for the next installments to fill in some much-needed complexity to the situation. 

Blurb

For eighteen-year-old squire Kaelen, the crown prince is everything—ruthlessly clever, disciplined, devoted to his siblings, and a man Kaelen has hopelessly loved since childhood.

Richard, however, barely notices his existence.

When the king invites the Estaran royal family for marriage talks, the court rejoices. Richard’s refusal to share his bed with any man or woman has, to them, long been a strange defect—one that a political marriage would solve. But Kaelen is left heartbroken.

Worse, when the Estaran prince—Richard’s intended consort—boasts his crude intentions, Kaelen retaliates with his fist.

The single punch explodes into a diplomatic crisis. Caught in the middle, Kaelen soon realises that worse than losing his life—

he may lose his prince.

138 pages, Paperback
Published December 30, 2025

Plot

Worldbuilding is this prequel’s main task. The reader is introduced to the kingdom, major players, and dynamics, and the main conflict of the series is hinted at by the end of the prequel. 

In this book, the major conflict surrounds a foreign envoy from a neighboring kingdom and the problems they bring. Ostensibly there for marriage arrangements, Kaelen’s heart and Richard’s honor are on the line. When the rival prince wrongs various people and talks poorly about Richard, Kaelen jumps in to defend Richard’s honor, ultimately putting himself and the kingdom’s international relations in peril.

Readers are introduced to all important characters in the Prince’s immediate family: the brother who is close in age to Kaelen, the younger siblings, Kaelen’s parents, who are close friends with the King and Queen, and, of course, the King and the Queen themselves. 

Themes

In this first installment, major themes examined are devotion, longing, and fulfilling one’s duty.

Kaelen is not so secretly smitten with the crown prince, but is mostly ignored by him. He longs for him from afar, as he is better friends with the prince’s siblings than Richard himself. 

Compelled to find a partner, Richard agrees to meet with the other kingdoms’ royal children to see if he could be a match for either of them. But as we learn, this will be a duty Richard fulfills out of obligation, not for any real desire to form a partnership. 

Characters

Kaelen 

Kaelen is eighteen years old. He trains as a squire under Sir Joffrey, a demanding master to the young squires. Side question: Is it still too soon to include this name in any fantasy setting?. Kaelen famously asked for Richard’s hand in marriage at the small age of five, and has been in love with the crown prince ever since. 

Honor

Kaelen’s tasks at the castle are menial when he is not training for battle with other young squires. He takes linens to various places and does chores. So he’s often around when other things are happening. He witnesses a foreign prince being horrible to a servant and speaking poorly of Richard and acts brashly, putting himself and the whole kingdom’s international relations at risk. In so many words, he acts his age. 

Age Gap

The age gap between the two love interests is 10 years, which seems larger given that Kaelen is only 18. The difference between an 18-year-old and a 28-year-old is vast. Were they 28 and 38, for example, I don’t think this would be as striking a difference. As it is in this book, Kaelen acts as immaturely as one would expect an 18-year-old to act, and I can’t imagine the crown prince romantically thinking about Kaelen. Which, speaking of, it might not just be because of the age gap.

Prince Richard

The crown prince is described as serious, clever, and protective of his unruly siblings. His seriousness serves the kingdom well, as he will be ruler one day, and sooner than later if his mother’s visions are true. His siblings are important to him, but they run amok more than toe the royal line. 

Asexuality 

The most important aspect the reader is introduced to in this prequel novel is that Richard is likely asexual or aromantic. The court revels in rumors and speculation around Richard’s lack of romantic partners or dalliances. 

So while the two characters’ age gap alone causes me to ponder the veracity of a romance between the two leads, the more complex characterizations being set up in this first prequel will cause the two MCs to have an even more difficult path towards eventually finding love with one another. 

Maybe Richard is demisexual and needs to get to know Kaelen better. One might presume that the quartet of books will take place over several years, and their relationship can develop over time. 

Glows

Writing Style

I enjoyed the writing style and immersive world-building in this prequel. While this was a brief novella, look forward to the world being fleshed out in the next installments of the MM fantasy romance books. I appreciated that the author did not bog the story down with massive amounts of world-building. The stage was set with just enough detail for the reader grasp the goings on. I am sure more will be divulged as the series progresses. 

No Homophobia

I love reading about worlds where the concept of homophobia just doesn’t seem to exist. I find great escapism in these sorts of stories. This world is one such world, and I loved seeing how the discussion about the prince needing a partner did not revolve around one gender or another. Ultimately, though, what matters is that the prince ends up with someone, so he doesn’t rule alone. It makes me wonder how the concept of the asexuality spectrum will be handled in a world where homophobia doesn’t seem to exist.

Grows

Age Gap

I’ll circle back to the age gap between the characters. While this book contains very little spice, and it’s only in the form of a fantasy or dream, the age gap is hard to believe at 18/28. I think the quartet of mm fantasy romance books will take us from their young age until they are much older, though, so the age gap becomes increasingly irrelevant as they age. 

Recommendation

I think this will be a fun mm fantasy romance quartet, and it’s my pleasure to recommend this to fans of MM romance, especially the fantasy genre.

Review

I received a free copy of this book via BookSirens and am voluntarily leaving a review. I write reviews on my blog, Goodreads, Bookbub, Amazon, and more. If you want me to read and review your upcoming novel read my review policy and submit a contact form.