Prince of Fools

Jalan, the protagonist of the Red Queen's War, is a lustful coward who just might be more than that, if pressed. Great stuff; just different enough from the typical fantasy stories to be interesting. Both are mostly first person, and focus on a handful of characters.

4.5 stars. Jal is one of my favorite characters in fantasy because he's just different. It's refreshing having a main character who's a coward, rather than the de facto courageous hero.

3.5

Ik ben er achter, wat er aan de hand was met het boek waarvan ik meteen zag dat ik het gelezen had, maar dat ik er mij niets van kon herinneren, tot ik er aan begon en dan wist ik al meteen een paar dingen waarvan ik wist dat ze belagrijk waren, maar ik kon mij voor de dooie dood het einde niet herinneren.

Ik heb het eerste boek van de trilogie gelezen, toen het uitkwam, maar ik ben nooit aan het tweede of het derde begonnen.

Afijn. Eerste boek ondertussen uit en begonnen aan het tweede. Het was een degelijk boek en ik kijk er naar uit om de reeks helemaal te lezen. En dan over te stappen naar de andere reeks in dezelfde wereld — een wereld, als ik het goed heb, misschien duizend jaar na een wereldomvattende catastrofe, iets dat in-universum the day of the thousand suns heet.

Het verhaal speelt zich in een Europa af waar nog resten van oude beschaving bestaan, heropgebouwd nadat mensen een paar eeuwen geleden uit atomschuilkelders kwamen. Met hier en daar nog overblijfselen van de Builders, maar voor de rest vooral veel klassiek swords & sorcery.

Hoofdpersonage is Jalan, een verwende prins die op geen enkel moment riskeert het koninkrijk te erven van zijn briljante grootmoeder, de Red Queen van de naam van de serie. Hij wordt achtervolgd door schuldenaren en vaders van vrouwen die hij vermoost, en uiteindelijk geraakt hij verstrengeld met Snorri, een viking die als slaaf verkocht werd, dan weer vrijgelaten werd, en nu terug naar het noorden wil om zijn vrouw en kinderen te vinden, die door een Schlechte Schlechterik zijn ontvoerd/vermoord/iets anders.

Goed geschreven, personages waar een mens om geeft, vechten en tovenarij, hints van verloren technologie (any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic is nooit ver van mijn gedachten), en zowaar nog humor ook.

Content dat ik het toch herlezen heb. En dat het mysterie van waarom ik er mij niet genoeg meer van herinnerde opgelost is.

Executive Summary: I liked this book better than his Broken Empire trilogy, but not nearly as much as his Book of the Ancestor trilogy. 3.5 stars.

Audiobook: One of the reasons I wanted to pick this series up is because Tim Gerard Reynolds is the narrator. He does his usual excellent job, although there was one or two times when I was wondering if Hadrian Blackwater had made a crossover appearance.

Full Review
There was a span of time where most of the fantasy books I read and enjoyed were pretty dark and often featured an Anti-Hero. That definitely describes the Broken Empire trilogy, which I liked more as it went on despite Jorg Ancrath being completely unlikable. However I don't have the same kind of tolerance/interest in anti-heroes anymore.

I'm not sure that I'd describe Jalan as an anti-hero. My initial thought was along the lines of “is there such a thing as a non-hero protagonist?”. Maybe he's a less hateable anti-hero. It's hard to say. I did find him obnoxious for much of the book. That was helped by a more typical fantasy hero in Snory.

The biggest thing I liked about Broken Empire trilogy was the world building, and there continues to be a lot of that here. There are also a lot of subtle (or maybe not so subtle?) nods to that trilogy and its characters. I found myself scratching my brain trying to remember some of the events as we witness them again from a different perspective (and much greater distance).

Overall I liked this book better his Broken Empire trilogy books and I'm optimistic I'll like the rest of the series even more.

This book was so much fun!

Hmm! I feel like an outlier here as everyone seems to adore the book. I found it only so so. Maybe Its because I have a hard time not giggling over a hero who is named “Jalan”, which means road in Malay. But maybe because I found the plot very simple and wanted more of a challenge. I didn't really like Jalan. A charming rogue, yes, but insufferably immature and obstinate in his ways. Again, I am spoiled by my usual hardened, bitter and gloomy fantasy heroes. Also, the world seemed vague and the magical system even more so.

And some plot points seemed rushed aside. Like, why was Jalan chosen to bear the magic? Why did he agree to be dragged to the north? Why can he see the silent sister?

Still, Lawrence kept me turning the pages - which surprised me since I had these negatives about the tale. I suppose, in the end, I was a tad charmed by Jalan and the Viking Snorrin. But how I wished the story had more depth...

Mark Lawrence does an excellent job writing compelling protagonists. I enjoyed reading about Jorg, who put a little something special in the “anti” part of antihero. That said, I enjoyed Jalan even more.

In the beautiful and terrifying world of the broken empire, it makes since that you'd have more than a few things to fear. As a self-professed coward, Jalan embraces his fears. He also embraces gambling, drinking, and women. A lot. This alternately had me wanting to reach through the pages and give him a well-deserved punch to his princely face and cheering for him in ways I never could with Jorg.

I'm really glad I read the Broken Empire before starting this series. The references to world events and characters, as well as the parallel paths to Jorg's story in Prince of Thorns really added depth to an already engrossing story. Plus, Prince of Fools manages to keep the same dark world as the original series while injecting a never ending supply of humor. The book had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion, and Tim Gerard Reynolds–who narrates the audiobook–absolutely nails Jalan's comedic moments (really he nails the whole book; seriously, Tim is amazing).

I knew when I began reading to expect nothing of Jorg's traits in Jalan. In fact I found that he was close to being the polar opposite of Jorg. It's amazing to see Jal's acts of cowardice being mistaken for bravery. You can see him starting to change though, in subtle ways, whether it's by his attention to certain details or reactions to scenarios. I thrive on character development and I can't wait to see just how Jal grows. It was nice to see characters from the previous trilogy pop up. We even see Jorg briefly : ) and Snorri's encounter with Rike was priceless.