Tuesday, September 17, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Protect the Prince by Jennifer Estep




Protect the Prince is the second in Jennifer Estep's "Crown of Stars" trilogy, after last year's "Kill the Queen."  Kill the Queen was a very fun fantasy story that I enjoyed quite a bit - a great example of a book being very frequently predictable and tropey (with one exception) but working really well due to very solid execution.  There was nothing about Kill the Queen that would stand out upon reflection, but it read really well and again, I enjoyed it plenty, so I was very excited to eventually get my hands on the book's sequel.

Protect the Prince is that sequel, and it's once again enjoyable....but its lost just a bit of its charm in the second go-around.  Again the book is executed fairly well, to make up for some very very predictable plot elements, with solid characters and an enjoyable setting, so I don't want to sound too negative - but there isn't much evolution here in how things develop, so the predictability of certain elements becomes a bit more grating than in book 1.  I'll still be on board for the trilogy's conclusion, but I'm a little disappointed this book didn't take a leap from its predecessor.


-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------
Three months have passed since Everleigh "Evie" Saffira Winter Blair killed her cousin Vasilia and took the throne of Bellona, a throne no one seems to expect her to keep.  As if to point that very fact out, Evie soon finds herself the target of an assassination attempt from a Mortan agent, which she barely survives thanks to her own abilities: her ability to smell emotions and her ability to negate and immunize herself from magic.  Knowing that Bellona will need allies if it is to survive a full on assault by the Mortan King, Evie plans a trip to Andvari, the country who her cousin tried to frame for her crimes.

But the Andvari King has not forgotten the death of his son at the hands of Vasilia and is not eager to ally himself with Evie.  Even worse, it soon becomes apparent that someone in the country, whether a Mortan agent or otherwise, wants Evie dead.  It will take all of Evie's skills and intellect, not to mention help from her friends and allies, for Evie to even stay alive for this trip - to say nothing of obtaining an alliance.  And the process of doing so might wind up tearing apart Evie's relationship with the man she desperately wants to love, the bastard prince Sulli - something that might just break Evie's heart, even if she can survive...
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As with the first book, Protect the Prince is told entirely from the perspective of Evie, and isn't shy about giving away the structure of the book: the first part is titled "The First Assassination Attempt", the second is titled "The Second Assassination Attempt" and you can guess the title for the third part.  Evie remains a very solid character to lead the story, as she's not only physically and magically capable, but very very quick thinking and smart in ways that are really fun to read, as she plots and tries to put things together to her advantage.  One long term plot arc set up here involves a scheme that will obviously pay off in the next book, and it's a really nice plan that surprised me when it first came up but clearly both makes sense and is a nice bit of work by Evie.

And while the book isn't shy about its plot arc being predictable, it again executes those plot arcs and twists with very solid execution, so it never drags or gets boring, and still manages to pull of a surprise here or there.  Again, most of the characters aren't much more than archetypes, but the few new ones are interesting in their backgrounds, and some of the old ones, particularly Sully, get some nice added depth to go along with it all.  And then there's the new country seen here, Andvari, which has some really neat elements (Gargoyles!)

Still, like i hinted above the jump, the book loses a little bit of its charm in its execution this time around.  Not really sure how to describe it, but one example of this I think is that there is clearly something happening with Evie's magic early on in the book that the reader will guess early but Evie seems incredibly blind about for no reason, and it's kind of annoying.  An act of the main character's that portends ill consequences is resolved with little consequence altogether thanks to another character's decision to take themselves out of play rather than try to cause problem and heartbreak.  And oddly, the book's ending seemed to be going into an incredibly apt and satisfying direction, only to swerve last minute and end in really cheesy fashion.  It's....something, I guess?

But I really don't mean to be too negative - overall, I really enjoyed the plot here and the characters, to go along with a solid magic system that is interesting in how its explored here and clearly has more room for exploration in the trilogy's finale.  I'll be back for that book, and I hope the book can really nail an ending that is as good as the first book.  We'll see I guess.
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