Title: THE IMMORTAL PRINCE
Publisher: Voyager
Author: Jennifer Fallon
Edition released: Feb 2007
ISBN: 0 7322 8335 3
658 pages
Reviewed by: Adam Donnison
Kyle Lakesh has brutally murdered seven people, and seems happy to be executed until he realises that he will be hanged instead of decapitated. When the execution fails and Kyle recovers, he claims to be Cayal, the Immortal Prince, a Tide Lord who cannot be killed. Yet Kyle insists on being decapitated.
Declan Hawkes, the King's Spymaster, is intrigued by the prisoner's claims, given that Tide Lords are supposedly creatures of legend, to be found only in the characters that make up the Tide Lord Tarot deck. Declan persuades his childhood friend and historian Arkady Desean to interview Kyle and find out if he is lying or insane. Arkady uses her expertise in the legends of the Crasii, a half-human, half-animal race that believe the Tide Lords to be real in order to test Kyle's story.
Arkady is not a stranger to lies. Even her marriage as a commoner to the Duke of Lebec is not as perfect as it seems. As the interrogation continues Arkady's lies may themselves be exposed. None of the participants may be ready for the truth.
The Immortal Prince is the first book in The Tide Lord series and sets the scene for a world that is entirely believable and endlessly compelling. The characters are well drawn and the interplay between Arkady and Kyle is replete with colour and depth. That this is the first of a series is obvious, but that doesn't detract from the story, which is complete and entertaining.
There is something about Jennifer Fallon's writing that grabs the reader and simply won't let go.