Unfortunate Events is the first book in the Dragon Prince series, and it’s a pretty good start. We follow Kahtan Faber as he’s ripped from his family to serve in a war he knows nothing about.

I loved how the authors really made the inciting incident such a jarring moment for the readers. The sibling dynamics were great, though short, and to have Kahtan leave his family was heart-wrenching. Not only did he want to protect his family, but he also was trying to grow and overcome the challenge of being a soldier stuck in the middle of a war. I could really feel like this was a series of unfortunate events for Kahtan!

Ratings for Unfortunate Events

Story: 4
Worldview: 4

Story is 4. I liked how the authors really captured sibling relationships (as a quadruplet I get it lol). Some characters were mean one day and encouraging the next, so the depth of those characters mostly came across as superficial to serve the story’s purpose. I also figured out the twist like one third into the book, but it was still great to see the other characters figure it out!

Worldview is 4 because I like the mention of God (as the Creator) but it feels shallow. Especially coming from characters that were awful two chapters ago. It comes across as more religion than really having a relationship with God. I think the other books will dig deeper since I know The Guild of Thieves didn’t shy from Jesus and salvation.

Overall Thoughts

Overall score: 4. In any case, I’ll be reading the next one very soon!

Note: violence, blood

Update: If you’re interested in checking out my review for book 2, Prince of Vengeance, check it out here.