Nathalie Mallet
Autor(a) de The Princes of the Golden Cage
Séries
Obras de Nathalie Mallet
O Principe da Prisão Dourada 1 exemplar(es)
Etiquetado
Conhecimento Comum
- Sexo
- female
- Nacionalidade
- Canada
- Locais de residência
- Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
- Organizações
- SF Canada
- Pequena biografia
- Passionate about literature—especially science fiction, fantasy, and horror—Nathalie Mallet had dreamed of being a writer since her youth. When to take the plunge into this new career was just a question of timing. So when she left her New Brunswick home near the ocean for the scenic town of Kitimat, British Columbia, where the mountains touch the Pacific (and bears sometime sleep under your patio), Nathalie knew the time was right. She began writing.
Nathalie now lives in Prince George, B.C. with her husband, Andre, and an elderly ball of fluff named Honey.
Membros
Resenhas
Our second outing with the Telfarian Prince Amir brings us to the northern lands of Sorvinka, the homeland of his beloved Princess Eva. If Telfar was much like an Arabian fantasy, then Sorvinka is very much like Russian fantasy.
Many many things go wrong at the beginning of the novel. We're thrown into the the tailend of their months long journey from Telfar to Sorvinka. During their time in Sorvinka their caravan has been set upon by numerous bands of brigands who have dwindled their guards from numerous to barely seven. To top it all off Princess Livia's promise of retribution towards Amir from ruining her plans to place Erik on the throne as the new Sorvinkian King nearly gets Amir killed as a traitor--before even stepping through the gates of the castle!
Apparently, much like Telfar, there is menace afoot with the ruling family of Sorvinka. The youngest princess Aurora has gone missing, presumably kidnapped by their hated enemies, and Eva's father's new edicts are not making him popular with anyone. The book is once more told through Amir's first person POV and we get a better sense of his discomfort because of it. Used to a life of gilded luxury, even if it was within a prison, the harsh traveling conditions and icy reception as well as the brutality of Sorvinka in general have made Amir very unhappy.
I found the fact he mentions his family's legendary 'flawless profile' so very much once again rather humorous. Its annoying, but its a character trait that I think is a small detail that's often overlooked. He's arrogant and arrogant people tend to like to talk about what they consider to be their 'greatest' asset. Amir, for all his other talents, is very proud of his family's flawless profiles.
We learn more about Amir's abilities as well. A new mystery of course presents itself, but more than that we meet Khuan and Lilloth--two emissaries from the Eastern Emperor who understand what exactly is happening to Amir. He is a shal-galt, or Sorcerer Hunter (amongst other titles), and the voices he hears in his head are not him going crazy. Along with being able to see/hear them, Amir also can sense magic. Lucky him right? This is apparently something that has affected his family for years, most notably in his late brother Jafar's case.
Baba Yaga (the Russian witch) makes an appearance as well, plus enchanted animals. The romance between Amir and Eva builds, but hits obstacles as Lars--heir apparent to the throne of Sorvinka--tries to woo her as well. Amir is more trusting in this book, which may or may not be a great thing by the end of it honestly.
The problems of the first book--plot threads that lead nowhere for chapters on end, pacing, repetitiveness--aren't as bad in this second book. The plot still takes a while to truly get under way, and plot threads begin that seem to go no where or serve no real purpose. The matter of the Princess Livia's duplicity is not really addressed either. The ending seems manufactured almost as well, to find a reason to continue the series and more angst for Amir (though he doesn't need any more).
The teaser for the third book, or what will be the third book, titled Death in the Traveling City is promising. The idea of a traveling city is intriguing and I want to learn more about Khuan and Lilloth. The theme seems more Asian-inspired, which falls in line with my interests much moreso then Arabian or Russian. Overall this was still an entertaining and different read. The blend of mystery, fantasy and romance, as well as alternate history, works fairly well for the book on a whole and kept me interested throughout.… (mais)
Many many things go wrong at the beginning of the novel. We're thrown into the the tailend of their months long journey from Telfar to Sorvinka. During their time in Sorvinka their caravan has been set upon by numerous bands of brigands who have dwindled their guards from numerous to barely seven. To top it all off Princess Livia's promise of retribution towards Amir from ruining her plans to place Erik on the throne as the new Sorvinkian King nearly gets Amir killed as a traitor--before even stepping through the gates of the castle!
Apparently, much like Telfar, there is menace afoot with the ruling family of Sorvinka. The youngest princess Aurora has gone missing, presumably kidnapped by their hated enemies, and Eva's father's new edicts are not making him popular with anyone. The book is once more told through Amir's first person POV and we get a better sense of his discomfort because of it. Used to a life of gilded luxury, even if it was within a prison, the harsh traveling conditions and icy reception as well as the brutality of Sorvinka in general have made Amir very unhappy.
I found the fact he mentions his family's legendary 'flawless profile' so very much once again rather humorous. Its annoying, but its a character trait that I think is a small detail that's often overlooked. He's arrogant and arrogant people tend to like to talk about what they consider to be their 'greatest' asset. Amir, for all his other talents, is very proud of his family's flawless profiles.
We learn more about Amir's abilities as well. A new mystery of course presents itself, but more than that we meet Khuan and Lilloth--two emissaries from the Eastern Emperor who understand what exactly is happening to Amir. He is a shal-galt, or Sorcerer Hunter (amongst other titles), and the voices he hears in his head are not him going crazy. Along with being able to see/hear them, Amir also can sense magic. Lucky him right? This is apparently something that has affected his family for years, most notably in his late brother Jafar's case.
Baba Yaga (the Russian witch) makes an appearance as well, plus enchanted animals. The romance between Amir and Eva builds, but hits obstacles as Lars--heir apparent to the throne of Sorvinka--tries to woo her as well. Amir is more trusting in this book, which may or may not be a great thing by the end of it honestly.
The problems of the first book--plot threads that lead nowhere for chapters on end, pacing, repetitiveness--aren't as bad in this second book. The plot still takes a while to truly get under way, and plot threads begin that seem to go no where or serve no real purpose. The matter of the Princess Livia's duplicity is not really addressed either. The ending seems manufactured almost as well, to find a reason to continue the series and more angst for Amir (though he doesn't need any more).
The teaser for the third book, or what will be the third book, titled Death in the Traveling City is promising. The idea of a traveling city is intriguing and I want to learn more about Khuan and Lilloth. The theme seems more Asian-inspired, which falls in line with my interests much moreso then Arabian or Russian. Overall this was still an entertaining and different read. The blend of mystery, fantasy and romance, as well as alternate history, works fairly well for the book on a whole and kept me interested throughout.… (mais)
Good book, and a quick read for me. Entertaining, though the writing could have been better, and a good deal of editing would have been a great help. The author had a tendency to use 'definitively' rather than 'definitely,' and there were a few other, similar problems which didn't ruin the book but were a minor annoyance. Still, the story was decent, and it moved well. There's a sequel, and from the excerpt in the back of this book it looks like I'll read it if I find it somewhere. I'm hoping that after writing this book, the author will have learned a bit more about word usage, or the editor will manage to catch those mistakes.… (mais)
Good book, and a quick read for me. Entertaining, though the writing could have been better, and a good deal of editing would have been a great help. The author had a tendency to use 'definitively' rather than 'definitely,' and there were a few other, similar problems which didn't ruin the book but were a minor annoyance. Still, the story was decent, and it moved well. There's a sequel, and from the excerpt in the back of this book it looks like I'll read it if I find it somewhere. I'm hoping that after writing this book, the author will have learned a bit more about word usage, or the editor will manage to catch those mistakes.… (mais)
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Estatísticas
- Obras
- 6
- Membros
- 163
- Popularidade
- #129,735
- Avaliação
- 3.3
- Resenhas
- 12
- ISBNs
- 8
- Idiomas
- 2
The novel does begin slow and tends to follow threads of storyline for a little while before a new one begins and it follows that one instead. Sometimes it will go back to the previous storyline quickly, but often several chapters run by without significant development on the major plot threads. It wasn't much of a problem for myself, since I read this in one sitting in a four hour period of time, but I could feel the frustration that others might feel if they read a few chapters, put it down and returned to it the next night. Some of the threads became so confusing and convoluted that I ignored them in favor of the more interesting ones. Such as the intrigues between all the Brothers in the Cage or the mystery that surrounded Erik, Amir's half brother.
The book is told from Amir's first person POV and ordinarily I don't like reading from a male's point of view. I can't get into it as well I suppose. Amir however is different--his silent observations and caustic remarks were amusing and kept me from feeling like I was swimming in male territory. Though he is labeled as nineteen in the book, I can't quite believe that much of the time. He acts more like he's in his mid to late 20's. As a character he takes a while to 'like'; he prefers the 'head in the sand' approach to life and keeps to himself mostly. This wouldn't be so bad, except he spends a lot of time acting more like a child who's been left out of a group then a loner who thinks its a better idea to be such.
The friendship he builds with Erik is fun and a little quirky as Erik definitely is more intelligent and personable of the two, but has no common sense and a complete blind spot to failings of those he cares about. The intrigue surrounding their Brothers' suspiciously magical deaths only occasionally pops up--usually just before one such Brother dies--and its resolution is part of the confusing and convoluted plotlines I mentioned. It makes sense, mostly, but to get to that sense you have to wade through a lot of petty half-secrets and explanations.
The only other complaint I have is that sometimes the author would have Amir tell us what has happened rather then have us view it as its happening. The adventure that prompts the second book, The King's Daughters, for instance is merely relayed to us as a momentary aside instead of seeing how the decision came about. Regardless I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the second one (which I also bought for christmas) and hope to see a third one sometime soon!… (mais)