Book Review: The Immortal Prince - Jennifer Fallon

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.

7 comments

Comment from: nora van der zon [Visitor]  
nora van der zon

I have all jennifer fallon’s books so far, I would like to be
sent a message when the second book of the ” The Tide Lords”
is released please so that I can buy it.Thankyou

06/04/07 @ 19:44
Comment from: [Member]
aj

I’d like that too, but since I have nothing to do with the publisher, I’m not sure I can oblige.

12/04/07 @ 12:15
Comment from: Deborah [Visitor]  
Deborah

At the risk of getting cyber tomatoes thrown in my direction, I didn’t like Jennifer Fallon’s latest offering. I really liked all her other books, especially The Second Sons trilogy, but I really struggled to get through The Immortal Prince. I thought the plot was a little too thin to justify 685 pages of prose, which is mostly dialogue. Noticeably absent is Fallon’s unique and often humorous narrative. Furthermore, the chemistry between the two main characters, Kyle and Arkady was forced. I found the pace of the story was agonisingly slow and I won’t be making the effort to purchase the second book in The Tide Lords series. My wish is that the poor sales of this current offering will inspire Jennifer Fallon to return to the wonderful story telling she became famous for.

22/09/07 @ 11:17
Comment from: ange [Visitor]  
ange

I purchased this book on the back of the foundation of her writting of previous books which I had brought and enjoyed immensely. Sorry to say but this book is large and rather boring… it really was hard to really get into the characters and I had to force myself to read it which isn’t a good sign about any book. I’ve only continued to read it because I purchased it. I won’t be buying anything further on the series and will continue to hope that Ms Fallon ditches this rather poor effort for a storyline and writes something worth reading.

15/10/07 @ 20:13
Comment from: tango [Visitor]  
tango

I read the first two books so far. Can’t wait for the third one. I think the second book is better than the first. I don’t really like Arkady, but all the other characters were fine, especially Declan Hawkes. Of her other books, I’ve only read Medalon, and so far I like Tide Lords better.

30/12/07 @ 02:25
Comment from: Mary [Visitor]  
Mary

I love all of Jennifer Fallon’s books, including the Tide Lord series. Gods of Amyrantha and Palace of Impossible Dreams have left me obsessed, and I will admit to being able to think of little else. I really enjoyed the concept behind the Immortal Prince, although it was quite dialogue heavy. I don’t really like Arkady, especially in the latter books, but Declan and Cayal are to die for. I can’t wait for the Chaos Crystal!

22/03/08 @ 13:17
Comment from: Didi [Visitor]  
Didi

I just finished reading the American ARC of The Immortal Prince and it is only 503 pages. I’m wondering if some of the tedious dialog other posters didn’t like was edited out. I found the world of Amyrantha quite compelling and could not put the book down until it was finished. I liked it so much that I will probably buy the foreign (I use that term knowing it is all a matter of perspective) editions of the sequels so I can read them without having to wait for them to be published in the U.S.

16/04/08 @ 01:41


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