Prince freya vol 5 by Keiko iShihara

In continuing the theme that every powerful person who meets Freya’s falls in love with her, we somehow run into the Sigurdian prince on a ship where Freya is bound for the kingdom of Nacht to secure the first of many alliances against Sigurd. Prince Dimitri decides to entertain himself by trying to get Freya to go to bed with him, but she skillfully avoids his advances. Once they land in Nacht, Freya and her hand-picked band of retainers learn that the Queen, who was a Sigurdian princess, sends her servants to the town to select young, beautiful men to be her evening’s entertainment. Of course, Julius stands out among the rest, and they all get an invitation to the castle. They discover that there’s more to her request than companionship and a dinner guest. The queen has actually been seeking a brave soul to save her kingdom from a vengeful person, and she begs Julius to be that soul.

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This volume takes a bit of a detour from other volumes in the series. There is a lot more sexual content, versus the other volumes where everyone just fawns over Freya and pines for her. There's a strange threesome with Julius, the queen, and Freya that is weirdly conceived, and I don't quite buy that Freya would interject herself into the coupling of Julius and the queen just because she's afraid for Julius. He's a grown man. The characters are fully covered still, so there are no bits showing, but there's some kissing and wordplay that is a little intense. In the bonus chapter, Julius is with a shirtless woman who is straddling him - no naked bits are shown but it’s pretty clear what’s happening. I'm not entirely sure why this volume needed to have so much more of these scenes in it than any other volume, and especially because these scenes didn't add much to the overall plot. It would have made much more sense if Julius and the queen disappeared and then he felt guilty later. I have enjoyed the rest of the series, so we'll have to see if further volumes continue in this path or go back to being more of an adventure story.

Sara's Rating: 6/10
Suitability Level: Grades 11-12

Reviews of previous volumes in the series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4

Publisher: VIZ Media
Publication Date: September 7, 2021
ISBN: 9781974723362 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 6/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Fantasy, War, VIZ Media