Review Cage Match
Oct. 2nd, 2007 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
OK, so when I'm not slumming the Internets looking for old Nebraska ITV clips, I also read books. I just finished up a pretty good one tonight.
If I had to describe The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Merchant in some Hollywood pitchman style, I would say: "Think Name of the Rose meets The Arabian Nights.
In the Kingdom of Telfar, the Sultan has a huge harem with lots of wives and concubines. Not surprisingly, he also has a lot of sons, one of whom will someday succeed him as Sultan. Since this has caused civil war in the past, the sons are all locked away in a special section of the Palace called the Cage. They will all live there until the Sultan chooses one of the sons to be the next Sultan. Your odds of being picked as the next Sultan increase dramatically if you happen to be alive and your brothers happen to be not. So there's a great deal of tension and intrigue as the sons jockey for position.
Prince Amir doesn't want to be Sultan. He just wants to keep his head down until a new Sultan is picked and hopes that after the coronation, he can get out of the cage and explore the world his books tell him is out there. He's a wise, intelligent, young man and who brooks no stock in tales of magic and the supernatural.
So, of course, he's the person who gets dragged in to reassure everyone that the mysterious deaths that have recently claimed the lives of two of his brothers are completely non-magical in nature. Things rapidly go downhill from there and anonymous Amir suddenly finds himself thrust front and center.
This was a great little read. The mystery holds out right until the end (there's a plethora of suspects and surprise reveals). The loving descriptions of the lavish palace life are a sensuous joy to read and the romance plot is also really sweet. There are a few moments where, as armchair sleuth, you say "no, you idiot, pay attention to that!", but overall the book is a lot of fun.
It's the start of a series, although this book is quite self-contained and you won't feel robbed of a complete story or anything. It's not quite on par with Red Seas Under Red Skies, but I'd certainly say it's some of the better fantasy I've read this year. Recommended.
later
Tom
OK, so when I'm not slumming the Internets looking for old Nebraska ITV clips, I also read books. I just finished up a pretty good one tonight.
If I had to describe The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Merchant in some Hollywood pitchman style, I would say: "Think Name of the Rose meets The Arabian Nights.
In the Kingdom of Telfar, the Sultan has a huge harem with lots of wives and concubines. Not surprisingly, he also has a lot of sons, one of whom will someday succeed him as Sultan. Since this has caused civil war in the past, the sons are all locked away in a special section of the Palace called the Cage. They will all live there until the Sultan chooses one of the sons to be the next Sultan. Your odds of being picked as the next Sultan increase dramatically if you happen to be alive and your brothers happen to be not. So there's a great deal of tension and intrigue as the sons jockey for position.
Prince Amir doesn't want to be Sultan. He just wants to keep his head down until a new Sultan is picked and hopes that after the coronation, he can get out of the cage and explore the world his books tell him is out there. He's a wise, intelligent, young man and who brooks no stock in tales of magic and the supernatural.
So, of course, he's the person who gets dragged in to reassure everyone that the mysterious deaths that have recently claimed the lives of two of his brothers are completely non-magical in nature. Things rapidly go downhill from there and anonymous Amir suddenly finds himself thrust front and center.
This was a great little read. The mystery holds out right until the end (there's a plethora of suspects and surprise reveals). The loving descriptions of the lavish palace life are a sensuous joy to read and the romance plot is also really sweet. There are a few moments where, as armchair sleuth, you say "no, you idiot, pay attention to that!", but overall the book is a lot of fun.
It's the start of a series, although this book is quite self-contained and you won't feel robbed of a complete story or anything. It's not quite on par with Red Seas Under Red Skies, but I'd certainly say it's some of the better fantasy I've read this year. Recommended.
later
Tom
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Date: 2007-10-03 01:31 pm (UTC)however, should I read The Lies of Locke Lamora before Red Seas Under Red Skies?
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Date: 2007-10-03 02:30 pm (UTC)Yes. Absolutely.
You won't be completely lost if you read Red Seas first (it stands alone really well), but if you're bothering to look them up, reading them in order is a real treat.
later
Tom