Last week, I flipped to the first page
in Prince of Fools, and read:
“I’m
a liar and a cheat and a coward, but I will never, ever, let a friend
down. Unless of course not letting them down requires honesty, fair
play, or bravery.”
Hurrah!
I instantly fell in love with this novel. At last, I have discovered
another black gem, emitting the grimness and the darkness of those tales
from the age of 'heroes”.
Prince
of Fools, written by Mark Lawrence, a renowned fantasy novelist,
is the first installment in a trilogy called The Red Queen's War.
Who is Mark Lawrence? How can you not know Mark Lawrence? All right,
if you are not a reader of the fantasy literatures then we can forgive
you for not reading Mark Lawrence's works. But if you enjoy reading
books from authors such as Joe Abercrombie, George R.R. Martin, Robin
Hobbs, or Steven Erikson, then you are committing a capital offense
against your reading world by not reading his books. If you belong to
the later category, make haste to a bookstore or a library, and
pick up a trilogy called The Broken Empire (A.K.A, the thorn
guy. Come on, George R.R. Martin have also read the books about this thorn guy).
A few
years ago, with The Broken Empire trilogy, Mark Lawrence made
a debut in the literary world. It was an instant hit. Following the
trilogy's conclusion, Dr. Lawrence set himself on a quest to weave
another trilogy, and Prince of Fools was born.
Synopsis:
Prince
Jalan Kendeth of the Red March stands gloriously on the cobble-stoned
street of Vermillion. His handsome face, beaming with a radiant
smile, lends grace to a powerful frame 6 foot tall, and casting the very picture of an ideal royalty. Aside from his good looks, Jalan has a
reputation for valor too. “The hero of Aral pass”, they said,
when our young prince fended off an invading army all by himself!
All
right, all right. I can sense my fellow readers are about to cry,
“cheesy” and “cliched”. So let me tell you the truth about
Jalan instead. After all, everyone loves the truth behind a twist in
the story, heh?
The
truth - our dashing, romantic prince Jalan is a gambler, a drinker,
and a seducer of women. Jalan has never acquired a proficiency in a
useful skill, but he is very good at being a coward and it lends him
some sort of invincibility.
Jalan's
decadent life ended, on a night when he attended an opera in the
city. By a freakish accident, Jalan became magically entangled with a
fierce Norse warrior. Together, this duo, one a cowardly prince who is not afraid
of being spineless, another a valiant warrior who is afraid of being craven, set out on a misadventure to undo the malicious spell that
binds them. Along their journey, Jalan uncovered a reality; his
heroic peer and his cowardly self are pieces in a game of war,
controlled by his fearsome grandmother, the Red Queen.
My
thoughts on this book:
I
love reading and I read books from many genres, but fantasy
literatures will always be the champion in my reading domain. I cannot
pinpoint the reasons that attract me to the fantasy genre. Perhaps
one day I will sit down, and pen an article to discussing the virtues
of the fantasy literatures. But for now, it suffices to say I adore
fantasy novels because: 1) Fantasy books are (usually) well written,
2) Fantasy books usually have good characterizations, 3) Fantasy
stories are usually set in creatively and wonderfully imagined
worlds, and 4) Fantasy stories somehow reach us in a way that facts
cannot.
Prince
of Fools ticks all 4 items on this brief checklist.
Firstly,
let me quickly discuss its writings. Mark Lawrence wrote fluidically
and powerfully in this book. The author captured the characters and the scenes in fine details without bogging down the story's pace. Every scene
in Prince of Fools, from a buzzing crowd in a big city, a slog
on the country road, to a perilous battle on a frozen tundra, were
depicted picturesquely, aiding its readers to envision and immerse
themselves in the story's world. This book used the first-person
narrative. That is, the story is narrated by the protagonist, and
from his view only. While this narrating method may limit our
explorations into the minds of other characters in the book, but a
first-person narrative worked exceedingly well in Prince of Fools.
Why?
Remember, we are following the journey of Jalan, a cowardly prince and a detestable character whose moral compass points to a
murky gray. Especially when it comes to matters about saving his own
hide. In this case, a first-person narrative takes readers into the
head of Jalan, settling us at the front seat and bore witness to the
inner struggles and the thoughts of a craven man. Let me just say
Jalan's thoughts are hilarious, enough to warrant a laughter-induced
coma, but it also disturbed me because I could relate to him.
Jalan's narratives will reveal why he is the price of fools, but
before you pass down a judgment on Jalan consider this; if a 7 foot
troll, or a flesh eating zombie is chasing you, can you honestly say
you will behave more valiantly than Jalan? And I think this the major
strength for this book; readers will come to a disturbing awareness
that its protagonist, a detestable character according to all our
standards, is also a person who we can easily resonate with.
Other
than Jalan, a second major character also played a centre role in the
story. His name is Snorri, a fierce Norse warrior. Upon the first
glance, Snorri appeared to be a stereotypical barbarian warrior. But
as the story unfolds, readers will discover this fearless Norsemen is
not without fear (I won't spoil the story). Furthermore, while Snorri contrasted Jalan in every way, but his character is also far
more complex than meets the eye. I think it suffices to say, by the
end of the story, I became very fond of both Jalan and Snorri despite
their many flaws.
The
trademark of the fantasy genre is a story setting in a creatively
imagined world. The worldbuilding in Prince of Fools ranks
very high on the scale of creativity. Initially, the story appeared
to be set in a typical fantasy world, of pseudo medieval European
culture, swords and magics. But as the story unraveled, I discovered
the story of Jalan is set in a post-apocalyptic world - Our world.
Jalan's story belongs to a time, hundreds of years after an
apocalyptic event wiped out our civilization, and humanity has once
again reached a level equivalent to the medieval era. But this book
also has magics, so where are the magics stemming from? Without
spoiling the story, let me just say Jalan's world has a VERY
interesting “magic” system. This is where Prince of Fools
traversed from fantasy into the realm of Sci-fi (I will quickly
mention Mark Lawrence is a research scientist in artificial
intelligence, and he deployed some knowledge from his trade in this
book. But saying more will be providing too many spoilers).
I
adore Prince of Fools. I can probably heap even more praises
on this book and discuss its virtues endlessly. However, I believe my
brief review already placed enough information into the hands of my
fellow readers, those who have never heard of, and those considering
to read this novel. My verdict, Prince of Fools is definitely
worth a read, especially if you enjoy fantasy novels telling grim and
dark stories colored in the shade of moral gray. As for me, it is
high time for sailing into the next adventure of Jalan's, a book
titled, The Liar's Key.
Until
the next time, happy reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment