Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Boy meets boy. Boy hates boy. Each swears never to have anything to do with the other, forever after.

Unfortunately for Prince Hamlin and Prince Edouard, history has a bad habit of repeating itself, and worse, each time the two boys run across each other, things get a touch muddier as well. Destiny and free will go head-to-head, the princes’ dilemma echoing the more baffling curse that’s been placed on Edouard’s young cousin, Princess Roderika. Doomed to prick her finger on a spindle on her fifteenth birthday and fall asleep for a hundred years as a result, Roderika’s rapidly dwindling time becomes an inescapable tapestry into which Hamlin and Edouard’s own fates are woven.

With the help of a magician princess and a crotchety talking raven, Hamlin and Edouard not only have to outgrow prejudices, but also find the courage and the will to define their destinies, even if it were to take them a hundred years.

Book Review

Forbidden love, a talking raven, and a princess cursed to prick her finger on a spindle and sleep for a hundred years…the author weaves all the elements of a classic fairy tale into this story, whilst at the same time creating something that is completely original. It explores the concepts of destiny and free will, and whether it can ever be right to choose personal happiness over duty. Though the narrative does have an air of enchantment about it, a “happily ever after” feels a million miles away.

On the surface, the heroes in this novel are polar opposites: Prince Edouard, earnest, scholarly, and the son of a respected royal family, and Prince Hamlin, impulsive and warm-hearted, with a commoner for a mother. It’s hardly surprising, therefore, that the two have never got along. From their first meeting, when Edouard was seven and Hamlin just four, and right through their adolescent years, the princes are incapable of occupying the same room without quarrelling. Yet, for all their antagonism, their destinies are inescapably entwined, whether they like it or not.

When, on the verge of adulthood, they do eventually realize their feelings for one another, it happens with unexpected simplicity, with a kiss at a party. For a brief spell they lose themselves in discovery and wonder, all the while keeping their relationship secret from the outside world…or so they believe. Edouard’s mother, it transpires, has suspected their involvement from the outset. Moreover, she will go to any lengths to prevent her precious son from consorting with such a lowlife as Hamlin, and it seems that their love could be in jeopardy before it has even had a chance to blossom.

The thing that appealed to me most about this story was the developing relationship between Hamlin and Edouard. We see them grow from spoilt children into thoughtful adults, gradually overcoming their differences to form an unbreakable bond. If anything, I perhaps would have liked a greater focus on the romance and for there to be more interaction between the heroes, who in fact spend much of the novel apart, each grappling with their own troubles. However, the encounters when they do come together are fraught with tension and fascinating to watch.

If you have a soft spot for fairy tales, enjoy the friction that results from two such contrasting personalities sparking off one another, and are looking for something a little quirky, this book may well be for you.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by JMS Books for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 75211 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	11-November-2012
Price	$6.99 ebook
Buy Link	http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=46&products_id=642&zenid=d4l0bvt7pp6