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kenlaan's review against another edition
3.0
A Tale of Two Books
In book one, we follow a prince, Boric, captured as a slave in a foreign and hostile desert land, as he daringly escapes his bonds with the help of an unlikely band of companions. A street urchin named Suli (who reminded me of Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the best way), the archetypical and very funny wise-madman-trickster named Nakor, and the beleaguered, experienced mercenary Ghuda (gouda?) Bule who can't believe he got pulled into all of this. We watch this motley band narrowly avoids several scrapes and escapes from imprisonment and certain death more than once.
In book two, we follow another prince, Erlund, as he stays as a guest in the palace of the neighboring empire of Kesh to celebrate its Empress' 75th birthday. We watch as he gawks at the nudity of the exotic and nubile palace servants, as he and his companions enjoy baths (and more) attended by the same (many times!). We read of the palace intrigue occurring at Kesh for which he has become an unwitting pawn, understanding little and effecting less, apparently distracted by the all the exotic nudity on display.
These two narratives come together, as you might expect, but until they do, what a contrast.
Honestly this book was a bit of a disappointment to me for several reasons, even though I did still end up (mostly) liking it. Feist really stressed the foreign/exotic/"other" nature of the Kesh, and man, was that section weirdly horny. I get it, they're all running around topless wearing only a sarong, after the 5th time you don't need to tell me again, I'll just assume it.
And especially after coming from the preceding Empire trilogy that Feist wrote with Janny Wurts, which featured an extremely interesting non-Western European society, I'm a little disappointed that Feist opted to mostly go with low-hanging exotic titillation stereotypes when featuring an empire that was inspired by Egyptian/Parthian history. Even with my intention to read and enjoy these older fantasy works as products of their time, this one had some issues.
In case it's not clear, I thoroughly enjoyed the sections featuring Boric's adventures. I also enjoyed the ending, and so I'm ending on a positive note, hopeful that I'll enjoy the next one more. The King's Buccaneer has a promising title, if nothing else, and Feist has earned my trust after 7 very solid books.
2.75 stars.
In book one, we follow a prince, Boric, captured as a slave in a foreign and hostile desert land, as he daringly escapes his bonds with the help of an unlikely band of companions. A street urchin named Suli (who reminded me of Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in the best way), the archetypical and very funny wise-madman-trickster named Nakor, and the beleaguered, experienced mercenary Ghuda (gouda?) Bule who can't believe he got pulled into all of this. We watch this motley band narrowly avoids several scrapes and escapes from imprisonment and certain death more than once.
In book two, we follow another prince, Erlund, as he stays as a guest in the palace of the neighboring empire of Kesh to celebrate its Empress' 75th birthday. We watch as he gawks at the nudity of the exotic and nubile palace servants, as he and his companions enjoy baths (and more) attended by the same (many times!). We read of the palace intrigue occurring at Kesh for which he has become an unwitting pawn, understanding little and effecting less, apparently distracted by the all the exotic nudity on display.
These two narratives come together, as you might expect, but until they do, what a contrast.
Honestly this book was a bit of a disappointment to me for several reasons, even though I did still end up (mostly) liking it. Feist really stressed the foreign/exotic/"other" nature of the Kesh, and man, was that section weirdly horny. I get it, they're all running around topless wearing only a sarong, after the 5th time you don't need to tell me again, I'll just assume it.
And especially after coming from the preceding Empire trilogy that Feist wrote with Janny Wurts, which featured an extremely interesting non-Western European society, I'm a little disappointed that Feist opted to mostly go with low-hanging exotic titillation stereotypes when featuring an empire that was inspired by Egyptian/Parthian history. Even with my intention to read and enjoy these older fantasy works as products of their time, this one had some issues.
In case it's not clear, I thoroughly enjoyed the sections featuring Boric's adventures. I also enjoyed the ending, and so I'm ending on a positive note, hopeful that I'll enjoy the next one more. The King's Buccaneer has a promising title, if nothing else, and Feist has earned my trust after 7 very solid books.
2.75 stars.
kevinscorner's review against another edition
4.5
Prince of the Blood is the first book in the third Riftwar/Midkemia subseries and was just a whole lot of fun. Immature twin Princes Borric and Erland, sons of Prince Arutha, are sent to the empire of Kesh as ambassadors from the Kingdom of the Isles for the Empress’ Jubilee celebration to learn responsibility and do a bit of growing up accompanied by familiar faces Locklear (Locky) and James (Jimmy the Hand). But it isn’t smooth sailing as they are separated by betrayal and have parallel coming-of-age journeys to overcome a conspiracy that reaches the highest level of the Empire.
This book may not have the epic world-ending story of the Riftwar Saga nor the brilliant politics and sweeping romance of the Empire Trilogy, but Prince of the Blood offers a fun adventure that is fast-paced, action-packed, and easy to read and follow. There’s something charming about these smaller stories with lower stakes that serve to fill out the world more. I really liked added dimension of a pair of twins going through parallel experiences as one is on a race against the clock to flee capture while the other must navigate a political maze full of intrigue and twisty plots.
*Apparently there’s an author’s preferred edition that the author rewrote I didn’t know about, but I think my copy is still the original version.
This book may not have the epic world-ending story of the Riftwar Saga nor the brilliant politics and sweeping romance of the Empire Trilogy, but Prince of the Blood offers a fun adventure that is fast-paced, action-packed, and easy to read and follow. There’s something charming about these smaller stories with lower stakes that serve to fill out the world more. I really liked added dimension of a pair of twins going through parallel experiences as one is on a race against the clock to flee capture while the other must navigate a political maze full of intrigue and twisty plots.
*Apparently there’s an author’s preferred edition that the author rewrote I didn’t know about, but I think my copy is still the original version.
korvien's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
dalicieux's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
eidolem's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Good pace and plot.
leeman_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
ayla_derammelaere's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
mstrpurple's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
This being the first book after the original Riftwar Trilogy in Midkemia, I had high expectations heading into the first of the Krondor's Sons books. I really liked the balance of utilizing pre-existing characters that were established and older, pre-existing characters that had become established in the interim between books, as well as brand new characters introduced in this book (of which there are MANY- good thing).
The band we follow through this book is truly engaging, and the background characters are charismatic and full (something I've come to expect and appreciate from Feist). Kesh comes alive in this book, which I loved, because previous to this book Kesh is a somewhat scary mystery to us readers.
One of Feist's downsides as an author is especially prevalent in this book- he cannot write women well at all. They are all either Carlines or sex pieces (sometimes both). This is partly because his protagonists are usually coming of age males, and Kesh's culture doesn't exactly help, but those excuses are not enough to hide the fact that the women in Feists books need more writing justice.
The band we follow through this book is truly engaging, and the background characters are charismatic and full (something I've come to expect and appreciate from Feist). Kesh comes alive in this book, which I loved, because previous to this book Kesh is a somewhat scary mystery to us readers.
One of Feist's downsides as an author is especially prevalent in this book- he cannot write women well at all. They are all either Carlines or sex pieces (sometimes both). This is partly because his protagonists are usually coming of age males, and Kesh's culture doesn't exactly help, but those excuses are not enough to hide the fact that the women in Feists books need more writing justice.
literaryescapade's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0