The Mirror Prince

Max is a professor, living his life and getting to a point where he is ok with who he is. His life seems fairly normal, until the moment he sees a beautiful woman across a crowded room and is drawn to her. Soon after, we find that his life is far from ordinary, as we learn that the beautiful woman is a martial arts expert calling herself Cassandra, and she is one of his wardens. As a warden, her task is to guard him during his time of banishment from The Lands of faerie, since he is without the power that we call "magic" while he is here in the "Shadowlands." He doesn't remember the woman, the love they have shared, or the many lifetimes he has lived as a human. When she tells him that he is a prince whose time of banishment is coming to an end, he doesn't really believe her. As he comes to accept the possibility that his past might have been more than he realizes, he struggles with what that means for him. Max doesn't want to lose his memories of who he is. It is all he knows and giving it up would be like voluntarily dying to walk into the unknown. Facing that fear is made worse when he learns that another prince has designs on all that is faerie, and the decision Max faces has consequences far beyond his own life or even that of his new-found friends. Although the premise would lend itself to some very formulaic plot twists, the author manages to lead you along, only to veer to the side at the last minute. The characters are intriguing and well-developed. I recommend this book highly for those who enjoy high fantasy. Needless to say, I will be looking for more books by this author. The ending of the novel does leave an opening for a possible sequel, and I join my vote to those who are wanting to read more of these characters and their world!

The premise of the book will be familiar to more experienced fantasy readers. History professor Max Ravenhill discovers he's not who he thinks he is. He's not even human. He's an exile from the lands of the Fae, guardian of the Talismans that can select the next High Prince and end the cycle of death and corruption. Now, as Max's exile comes to an end, the Basilisk Prince is determined to capture him and use the Talismans to make himself High Prince. It took me a few chapters to get into the book. Malan jumps right into the action with a fairly brutal (off-screen) massacre, and it also took me a while to grasp the fantasy side of her worldbuilding. It wasn't until a few chapters into the book, when Max and his protector Cassandra left our world and returned home, that I started to wrap my brain around everything. With that said, I enjoyed the book a great deal by the end. Max and Cassandra were fun, and it was interesting to see the relationship between the guardian (who knows what's going on) and Max (whose memories have been altered, so he doesn't even know Cassandra at first). Malan even gives us glimpses of "humanity" from the Basilisk Prince, and I always like conflicted characters. While some elements of the story felt familiar, others were intriguingly original. I enjoyed Malan's take on enchanted weapons and armor, and the creative ways they can be used. Her revelation about the Hounds (hunting beasts, from the original Hunt) was fascinating enough I wanted her to spend more time on it. Actually, that was my biggest frustration. Some of Malan's most fascinating ideas seemed to get skimmed over. I wanted to learn more about the Naturals and the Solitaries, the other "races" of Max's realm. I wanted to understand guidebeasts better. And if the biggest complaint about a book is, "I wanted more," then I think that's a pretty positive thing.

The plotline of this book is what caught my interest. The action begins in our world-the Shadowlands. The protagonist is a Faerie Prince whose memory has been taken and has been banished to our world. He is long-lived and his memory fades every 15-20 years. His time of Banishment is ending and his old enemy has sent the Great Hunt to track him down. He is rescued by a Warden sent to watch over him. Unfortunately, she is given the unhappy task of convincing him of his identity and bringing him back to the Faerie Lands. The beginning of the book lacks much of the atmosphere and character building that makes the best novels work. The plotline is extremely fast-paced and without the initial framework in place, it is difficult to really empathize with the main character. The writing improves towards the end. Overall, it seems like this was a great novel that was hurried a bit too much.

This is a fast paced novel. For such a stand alone book it has has unsually well-developed fantasy world. Such development usually takes a longer book or a multiple volume series. Unlike the profssional review, I like time Malan spent develping the faerie culture and history. It has a good mistusre of humor and seriousness, plus a few unexpected surprises.

He has lived for almost a thousand years, having his identity changed when the memories start to break apart; in his present incarnation he is Toronto history professor Max Ravenhill hoping to obtain tenure soon. However, he will soon learn that he is not even human but instead a Rider (faerie folk) who as the Prince Guardian lost in a civil war and exiled to live endless lives amidst mankind. While in exile, his memories and his dra'aj (magic) were stripped from him by the victor the Dreamer of Time now known as the Basilisk Prince who intends to become the High Prince once he possess the Talismans that his enemy hid from him. That is why the time to bring Max to the Land is now so the Basillik Prince can use cunning and to make him reveal his hiding place. Max is no longer an easy target and Cassandra who has been at his side through each reincarnation will not allow anyone to harm him while she envisions a second civil war between the royal faeries which is what will happen if Max looses to the man he once considered a friend THE MIRROR PRINCE is a spellbinding stand alone fantasy that enchants and resonates with readers who feel and fear for the bewildered beguiling hero. Fans will root for him to defeat his adversary in the anticipated confrontational rematch (this is a fantasy so no surprise there). The spell cast by Violette Malan enables her audience to believe that faerie exist in a realm where evil and good skirmish endlessly with collateral damage on our plane. Harriet Klausner