Prince of Time

by Glenna McReynolds

The Books in the Series:

The Chalice Story:

THE CHALICE AND THE BLADE (Book 1 of 3)

Twin children Ceridwen and Mychael escape the destruction of Carn Merioneth as children when their priestess mother Rhiannon is killed and the castle falls to the warlord Caradoc. Fifteen years later, Ceridwen—now an orphan unaware of her immense inherited power tied to sacred rites and the legacy of the Mother Goddess—flees a forced betrothal to Caradoc and ends up in the tower of Dain Lavrans, a Crusader-haunted alchemist with no innate magic but deep knowledge of arcane secrets. Pursued by enemies seeking to exploit her power, Ceridwen and Dain navigate betrayal, passion, and underground chases through time-warped caverns beneath Carn Merioneth, where mystical creatures and the Quicken-Tree dwell. Their enemies-to-lovers bond forms the foundation for protecting the ancient balance.

DREAM STONE (Book 2 of 3)

Mychael ab Arawn—Ceridwen’s twin brother, orphaned and raised by monks—reclaims Carn Merioneth in battle but is haunted by visions of dragons (pryf) and endless caverns. Drawn back into the underground labyrinths to confront and master these visions, he quests to tame the unleashed dragon spawn and seal threats from the time portals. Joined by Llynya, a fierce Quicken-Tree warrior with a lavender scent and swift blade, he faces manipulation by those who would weaponize his power, ancient enemies, and escalating darkness in the caves. Their reluctant alliance deepens into sensual passion amid sorcery and sacrifice, directly building on the events of book 1 by exploring the same cavern system and legacy that Ceridwen and Dain first encountered.

PRINCE OF TIME (Book 3 of 3)

In a desolate far-future Earth ravaged by apocalypse and the encroaching Dharkkum darkness—caused by the long-ago death of a key 12th-century mage—priestess and princess Avallyn Le Severn awaits her prophesied partner: a mage, warrior, and saint. Instead, she finds Morgan ab Kynan, a cynical 12th-century thief accidentally flung forward through a wyrmhole/time portal (from events tied to Carn Merioneth in book 1). To avert total destruction, they must travel back to the past to save that pivotal mage and restore the timeline. Pursued by villains across eras, their mismatched partnership ignites into fierce romance and mutual redemption. The book unites threads from the entire trilogy—Ceridwen and Dain’s era, Mychael’s cavern quests, the underground portals, and the ancient prophecies—culminating in a high-stakes convergence to heal the fractured world and legacy.

The Series:

In 12th-century Wales, twin siblings Ceridwen and Mychael, heirs to an ancient druidic legacy, are torn from their destroyed home and drawn into quests involving sacred prophecies, underground caverns teeming with mystical creatures and time-warped portals, and fierce romantic bonds forged amid danger and passion. As Ceridwen unites with the tormented alchemist Dain to protect her power, and Mychael allies with the swift warrior Llynya to master visions of dragons and seal ancient threats, their intertwined fates ripple forward to a desolate far-future Earth ravaged by apocalypse. There, priestess Avallyn must partner with a cynical time-displaced thief to journey back and avert catastrophe, uniting the trilogy’s threads of Celtic mysticism, epic romance, and redemption in a desperate battle to restore balance across eras and heal a fractured world.

boookwyrm Review:

Prince of Time by Glenna McReynolds (Chalice Trilogy Book 3 of 3)

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (the finale that ties it all together and still gives us chills on rereads)

boookwyrm, and the Cybernet Book gnomes, have reread this series many many many times. boookwyrm does remember the jolt of opening this book the first time, though. The sudden lurch from the mossy, torch-lit caverns of 12th-century Wales into a desolate, wind-scoured future where the sky is wrong and the earth itself seems to mourn. For a heartbeat we wondered if this was the wrong book to the wrong series: where were the druids, the pryf, the familiar stone walls of Carn Merioneth? The shift felt disorienting at first. Like stepping through one of those wyrmhole portals myself and landing somewhere alien. But then the whisper of threads began—ancient prophecies echoing across millennia, the lingering shadow of a mage’s death that had doomed this future, glimpses of the Quicken-Tree legacy and the dream stones’ faint glow. Recognition bloomed, confusion gave way to anticipation. I couldn’t stop until every loose end was gathered, and tied in a bow at the end.

Lady Avallyn Le Severn, priestess-princess of a shattered world, has been raised on sacred writings that foretell her prince: mage, warrior, saint. Instead, fate delivers Morgan ab Kynan—a roguish Welsh thief from the medieval past, flung forward ten thousand years through a time rift, now surviving on wit, vice, and off-world wine with no patience for destiny. Their collision is electric. She is duty incarnate. He is sarcasm in human form, and the prophecy insists he’s the one to pull the timeline back from the brink. Together they race through eras—pursued across wastelands and ancient portals—to save the pivotal mage whose survival can mend the fracture and restore balance. Everything converges here: Ceridwen and Dain’s hard-won love, Mychael and Llynya’s cavern-forged bond, the Quicken-Tree’s eternal watch, the pryf guardians, the dream stones. The trilogy’s heart beats strongest in this loop, where past and future collide in high-stakes quests and timeline-altering passion.

If the first book burned with enemies-to-lovers friction and the second deepened into soul-bound trust, this one blazes with redemption: two mismatched souls who reshape each other, earning their forever through fire, sacrifice, and love that spans epochs. The genre leap—medieval fantasy into post-apocalyptic time travel—feels audacious, but McReynolds makes it work. The romance stays sensual and earned, the stakes mythic, and the ending lands with quiet, shattering grace.

Underrated series closer. If you’ve walked the caverns of the first two books, this is the one that makes the journey whole. The Chalice Trilogy is comfort reading with real stakes—all of time itself. Start at book 1, but trust that the payoff here is worth every disorienting step into the unknown. Go finish the saga.