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A review by kenlaan
Prince of the Blood by Raymond E. Feist
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.