Tuesday 21 June 2011

The Rebel Prince (Moorehawke Trilogy - Book 3)

The Rebel Prince (The Moorehawke Trilogy)Title: The Rebel Prince
Author: Celiene Kiernan

Series: Moorehawke Trilogy (Book Three)
Preceeded By: The Crowded Shadows

Ratings

Score: 7/10

Review

I enjoyed reading this final entry in the Moorehawke trilogy much more than I did the first two. The pace was a lot faster, the objectives of the characters more clear, and we finally get to find out a lot of the answers that the first two books made us ask.

However there are a couple of things I didn't really like. For example there are a considerable amount of storylines that are concluded "Off-Page". They results of these storylines are all pretty much mentioned in the epilogue, but not with the prominence that they needed concluding. One of them was quite major to this book, and the other is one that has been increasingly important throughout the trilogy, until in this book it becomes Christopher's 0nly real story...


----SPOILER ALERT---

That is, of course, his relationship with the Loup-Garous. I think I spelt that right. In the previous books it was interesting, but in this one it becoems overwhelming. It's almost all that drives him, and it's almost a cmplete change of character. Which I found quite sad, as I liked Christopher in the previous books. While we're under the spoiler alert, and this is a  fairly big one, I though that Razi's amnesia was a cliché idea, and to be frank - pointless. For me, it only subtracted from the story and I really don't see what it was for.

---END OF SPOILER ---

What I DID like is the Merron. I always like the Merron. and although they don't feature as strongly in this book, I enjoyed those scenes where they did. Unfortunately I felt that their story could have used a little more tying up. Which is really the main issue with this book. It has too many loose ends, and the epilogue is a bit too complicated to be a nice ending. You have to try and think. The Ending of the final chapter would have been really good for the first or second in a trilogy, but I didn't like it for the last.

There are good points to the book - A Character named Mary and Alberon's Cat. Particularly the cat actually, I love the way cats are portrayed in this series. it's quite Novel. I was hoping it would be more important to the trilogy, as it was introduced early on, but it's a nice touch. And the writing style and flow in this novel is particularly good. I never really found myself rereading anything to make sure I'd got it right, or because it didn't make sense. It just worked.

If this was the first in the Trilogy, then I would recommend it whole-heartedly. But it isn't. I did really enjoyed this book, and if you started the trilogy, then it gets better as you move along. But I don't think that I would recommend reading the trilogy as a whole. It's just not finished.

More Information

Main Protagonist(s): 1 Female, + male secondary characters
Main Antagonist(s): Male
Main Relationships: Heterosexual
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Brief Synopsis:

Wynter Moorehawke has braved bandits and Loup-Garous to find her way to Alberon-the exiled, rebel prince. But now that she's there, she will learn firsthand that politics is a deadly mistress. With the king and his heir on the edge of war and alliances made with deadly enemies, the Kingdom is torn not just by civil war - but strife between the various factions as well. Wynter knows that no one has the answer to the problems that plague the Kingdom - and she knows that their differences will not just tear apart her friends - but the Kingdom as well.  
-Amazon

ISBN: 978-0316077071
Website: The Rebel Prince
Amazon Link: UK | US
Pages: 432
Published: 2010 (O'Brien Press)
Publisher: Orbit (October 18 2010)

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