Raya Famiira, princess of a small kingdom conquered by the Sultan. In reality, she is a modern doctoral candidate who was writing her thesis on Arabian Nights when she suddenly awakens inside the very tale she was studying.

Being reborn as a princess should have been a stroke of luck. Instead, within three days of her possession, she is taken captive as a prisoner of war, thrust into the role of a doomed heroine fated for tragedy.

The Sultan's Prize has a story by Angnyang and art by 623 based on a work by juicy peach. English localization by Lezhin. Published by Lezhin (April 12, 2026). Rated M.

Erica Friedman
Rating:

100% Old School Harlequin romance fare. The only thing it was missing a sudden recognition that they were long-lost siblings in the middle of a sex scene.

The other world rebirth would have been a really good setup, but it ends up being irrelevant pretty quickly, so we're left with a guy who likes to demean the women he fucks and a woman letting him do that so he won't destroy her country. It is fairly classic romantasy, and explicit dominating sex and not much more. In fact, this reminded me exactly of the kind of romance books sold at the first bookstore I ever worked at.

The art did something I found genuinely offensive. Raya's genitalia is drawn in some detail and not blurred at all, but the Sultan's genitalia is the old “glowing cone.” What a weird form of sexist censorship. I don't know if it's Lezhin's rules or the artist's sensibilities, but as the presumed readership for something like this would mostly likely be women, it struck me as disingenuous…and just plain annoying.

Other than this Raya, when not being reamed by the Sultan, shows herself to a be smart and resourceful heroine. We are reminded periodically, that she is familiar with the story from her previous life, so this is where the “rebirth” comes in. The Sultan's Prize isn't a very long comic, and the point of each chapter is the sex, so there's little room for deep development for any of the characters.

While this was totally not “for me,” I could see this being a fun, relatively quick read for someone who wants just enough plot to lead into some explicit sex between two pretty people in Hollywood-ish Arabian Nights costumes.