Pride of Princes - Introduction and Prologue

[kalinara]

Hey, it's been a spell since I've done a Cheysuli book, right? Well, we're half way through this goddamn series. So far we've had a pattern, a terrible odd-numbered book followed by a mostly decent even-numbered book. This will be book five...should we dread it?

Actually, to be honest, I don't remember this book being terrible. It's got the novel approach of splitting the narrative between three characters. One of whom I remember as being my favorite protagonist in the series. I remember the other two being more irritating, but even that is considerably better than the horrific rapists that make up the protagonists of the first three books of the series.

Unless you ask the person who reviewed the series for Tor a few years before I started this blog. This person is someone I will likely reference too often in these reviews, because this reviewer HATES one of the protagonists of this book. Seemingly more than any other character. Including fucking DONAL. And it just so happens that this character happens to be the dude I remember as my favorite. I am a very petty person and that reviewer can bite me. Hah.

But you'll get a chance to judge for yourself soon enough.



So our prologue begins in a cavern full of dense smoke. There's a woman, dramatically walking through with a patented bizarre Roberson analogy:

The cavern was dense with smoke. The woman stepped through and dutifully it followed, purling in her wake. It gathered along the hem of her skirts like puppies on a bitch, suckling at her feet.

I might have missed Roberson a little. It's not quite beeswax and power, but it's definitely something.

Also, hey, vague incestuous vibes here:

Beyond the flame, she saw her brother. Standing as he stood so often, for hours on end, and days, at the rim of the netherworld. Godfire bathed his face in its lurid lavender glare, limning the magnificent planes of his bones. A beautiful man, her brother; she might have been jealous, once, but she knew she claimed more power.

So anyway, there's more about the glossy black cavern. The woman seems to be color coordinated. Because, of course, the Ihlini are nothing if not stylish.

It's Lillith of course. And Strahan. Lillith actually seems almost concerned, asking when he ate. A few days ago. Strahan has apparently been busy doing priestly shit. They are, in fact, standing in front of the Gate to Asar-Suti, the Seker, or the Ihlini God of the Underworld. It's not open yet, but from the sound of it, that might not be true for long.

We get a more substantial description of Strahan here:

His hair, like hers, was black. And it flowed back from a brow as smooth and unlined as a girl's, though there was nothing girlish about him. It cloaked his shoulders and reached beyond, bound back by a silver fillet wrought with Ihlini runes. In the glare of the godfire his gray suede leathers were dyed an eerie lilac, glowing purple in the creases. The doublet hung open from throat and chest, and in the gap she saw the white edge of a linen tunic. Soft gray boots stretched to his thighs. His wide belt was clasped with a two-headed silver serpent.

It's interesting that, for the first time, we're actually getting a look at the Ihlini family dynamics. Like this:

Lillith sighed as he did not answer. She was his sister, not mother or father. But both parents were long dead, and so this fell to her. "Will you come up?"

"I am hungry," he admitted, "but for something more than food. And I am thirsty, also, but the wine I want is blood. The blood of Niall’s sons."

His eyes were alight with something more than reflected glare. One brown, one blue; even she had difficulty looking past the mismatched pairing to the emotions in their depths. But she looked, and she saw, and knew his patience was nearly ended.

"A little longer," she said. "Surely you can wait."

"No. I have waited. I am done with waiting." He smiled his beautiful, beguiling smile. "Lillith—I am hungry."

Lillith points out that they have all the time in the world. But, Strahan points out, Niall's sons don't. They'll only live seventy or eighty years, and the Ihlini will still be but children then. It's been twenty years since Niall thwarted him.

Here's where we start to see Strahan's villain decay, I'm afraid. It'll be more complete in Daughter of the Lion. But the obsession is overtaking good sense. He'll never be quite as formidable as "Sef" again.

Lillith admits that she's tired too, but notes that the pieces are in place. And adds this note: "now they are of an age to make a difference."

And I am suddenly reminded of Lillith's plans with Ian. Have they come to fruition? Hm.

So what does Strahan want with the boys?

"Of an age to serve me well." In the light, his mismatched eyes were eerie. "I want them. I want them here, within the walls of Valgaard, so I may make them mine. Mine to rule, as I will have them rule." He laughed suddenly, and their eyes locked in perfect accordance across the Gate of Asar-Suti. "When they are mine, Niall's sons, I will set them on their thrones, all three of them ... I will take their lir and take their minds, all three of them, making them faithful Ihlini minions—" He broke off a moment, considering his words; continued in quiet, abiding contentment, "—and then I shall rule through their empty bodies in the name of Asar-Suti."

Yep. That doesn't sound creepy.

Anyway, Lillith, stuck in the supportive female role despite being singularly more successful in her schemes than any of the men of her family have been so far, asks when Strahan will come up. He says he will, but there's something he must do. The chapter ends with him kneeling in deep obeisance to his God.

It's hard to judge the quality from a cryptic villain prologue, of course. But griping aside, I'm interested. Let's see where it goes. Next time.

Comments

[pan2000]

Well, that's a cool villain intro, Lilith and Strahan are far more successful than Tynstar.