Customer Reviews

The Lost Prince

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We read this book aloud and the kids would beg for one more chapter, and I loved it so much it was hard not to read on into the night. If you've read A Little Princess and loved it, you'll love this, and it's more a boy's novel than that one. Here's a summary, without giving anything away:
Twelve-year-old Marco Loristan has been carefully trained by his loving father--trained to be silent about their secretive travels and country of origin, trained to speak many languages fluently, trained to be strong and gentlemanly--but for what purpose? Marco doesn't know exactly, because "silence is the order", but he knows he is being trained to aid his beleagured native country, Samavia. Samavia has been bloodily fought over since 500 years ago when the one person who could bring peace, Prince Ivor, mysteriously dissappeared. Now it is rumored that a descendant of the lost prince has been found. Is now the time when Samavia's suffering can finally be brought to an end? What will Marco's part be?

I remember my mom reading The Lost Prince aloud to my brother and me, when I was around 13 (and home schooled). I absolutely loved the story. Ten years later I became a teacher, and wanted to share all the best parts of my education with my students. I read many books to them, including The Lost Prince, and they loved it as well. (I taught third through seventh grades, in one room.) I did need to explain/define a fair amount of the text since it was written at a time when children were expected to have better than a sit-com vocabulary. This provided great teaching moments because my students were already engaged in the story and had the desire to understand it.
The Lost Prince is not just the adventures of two boys, it's really about the best things in life-- loyalty to family and country, commitment to friends, being true to oneself, honoring one's heritage...
It could be a bit of a 'culture shock' experience for people who are accustomed to think of 12 year olds as children, as we do in modern day America. It's much more understandable if a little context is given, along the lines that adulthood and marriage used to be entered into in the early teen years, so 12 was the cusp of adulthood.
Thus, the expectations of the story's time period are quite different than the experiences of most modern teens. The absolute, unwavering respect Marco shows for his father was clearly something his father had both earned and cultivated. The devotion of Lazarus is also clearly voluntary, and quite justified when you finally learn exactly who Loristan is and what he has accomplished in his life of secrecy. As for the Rat, it's a great thing to see how Loristan is able to help him into manhood. The Rat's prospects are pretty grim at the beginning, yet by the end you can't help but feel pride in his transformation.
This book is a great stroy for anyone who seeks the best things in life, or for anyone who hopes to inspire children with good character.

I am a 13 year old who loves to read, and so when I saw that this book was by the author of "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess", I was thrilled. However, it would probably have been a lot better for me if I had gone into reading it with different expectations. The main fault of this book (in my opinion), is the authors confusing attempt to go back and forth between two genres: fantasy and mystery. I thought this would be more of a mystery, but trying to see clues and peice together answers is NOT the way to read this book. If you take it as a fantasy, it might be better.

"The Lost prince" begins with a very "real" setting, a grungy street in London. The story is centered around Marco, a boy who is very obedient to his father what he has taught his to do. Too obedient/perfect, in my opinion. Part of what makes a story interesting is characters who change throughout... however Marco was just too good the whole time! And eveything he said, did, or thought, was something his father taught him to say, think, or do. Then there's Loristan, Marco's father who is always talking about Samavia, his war-torn country and the lost prince that could save it. Lazarus is the last in the house, the extremly loyal servant who is obedient to Loristan to the point of being dog-like. the most interesting character in the story is The Rat, a boy Marco meets on the street. Together, they go on a quest to find clues to the lost Prince story.

However, after the first few chapters "The Lost Prince" went from a semi-realistic mysterious story to a fantasy fairytale that spiral into something totally unreal. For example, two 12-year old boys traveling all over Europe alone? Another pont I found very interesting was that even when Marco and The Rat were off traveling, they kept referring to what they were doing as "a game". Even when they were doing all these dangerous things and acting like spies they still called it a game. And when they finally get to Samavia, this place that they have been dreaming about (and talking about nothing else besides it!) they don't go into much discription about it. by that point, I was practically dying of curiosity but once they got there it didn't seem as important.

I did like the description in this book, which is very like Frances Hodgson Burnett. The scenes describing the country side were very well written too.

All in all, I think that this is a good book to read, especially if you like the writing style of this author (which I do, I promise!) Keeping in mind that it is a fantasy book, I think this is a book people of almost any age can enjoy.

I read this book many years ago, as a 10 year old, but still haven't forgotten the excitement and sense of adventure it conveyed. My recollection of it is as a fast-paced and superbly narrated suspense thriller.