Customer Reviews

The Prince in Waiting

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Disaster had destroyed so much of the world. Volcanoes and earthquakes brought civilization crashing down into ruins and permanently changed the planet. The survivors blamed this on the machines. Now people live in separate medieval communities, worship Spirits and despise technology. Anyone caught with a machine of any kind is killed.

In Winchester, young Luke Perry is named Prince in Waiting by the Seers. Luke tells a tale of treachury, murder, and intrigue. The Seers have chosen Luke for a special mission...

This is a good story about friendship, loyalty, suspicion, pride and belief. John Christopher writes about a superstitious society of the future in a style that makes readers want to turn the page.

John Christopher made me love the end of the world. When I was a child, someone (I've forgotten exactly who) gave me a copy of Christopher's Tripods Triology, a YA romp through an earth dominated by towering, three-legged, metallic creatures. The mélange of post-apocalyptic survivalism and science fiction completely captivated me, but as the years rolled on I lost track of Christopher. Seems I wasn't the only one. Despite steadily writing under a variety of pseudonyms since the early 1950s, Christopher (whose real name is Samuel Youd) has garnered little notice. The trilogy that first attracted me remains in print, and The Death of Grass got a new edition from Penguin this year, but the majority of his oeuvre remains forgotten. That's a shame, because his novels display an enviable economy of style and tight-as-a-drum plotting. Both are certainly on display in 1970's The Prince in Waiting.

Summers slide by and winters linger in Winchester. Luke Perry knows this wasn't always so, knows that the ancients enjoyed fairer skies before they offended the Spirits with their abominable machines and brought down destruction on the entire globe. Now men dwell in isolated city states, avoiding the great ruins and warring with one another for grain and gold. Laws are few but absolute. No matter how battles go, cities themselves are inviolate. The deformed, dubbed polymufs, must be destroyed if they are animals or condemned to perpetual servitude if human. And any attempt to construct a machine requires the death penalty. So say the Seers, cloaked mystics who commune with the invisible Spirits and teach men their commands. The Seers have frightened Luke at times, but now they have good news for him: His father is destined to become Winchester's prince -- and Luke himself a prince of princes.

The Prince is remarkably seamless. Christopher rolls the action from adolescent worries to near-future exposition to royal intrigues to bone-jarring battles with nary a hitch. Indeed, even his action scenes, which often feel tacked on to many children's reads, are organically integrated. Sharp words and clenched fists fit with Luke's angry impulsiveness. Also, the powers that steer Winchester may not be entirely invisible, and while the ending doesn't come as a complete surprise, it has enough of a twist to make it enjoyable. Prince is worth excavating from the ruins of history.

Very good read, but not on a par with Christopher's TRIPODS series. Perhaps the sense of urgency is lost because so much time elapses in this book, instead of the plot pursuing its course remorselessly day after day. But John Christopher fans will want to complete this futuristic series set in a medieval England.

Thirteen-year-old Luke Perry, the son of a commoner (promoted to Captain) hears a prophecy of the Seers (priests of the Spirits) that he will become the next Prince-in-Waiting for the city of Winchester. But treachery from enemies, friends and even his own family stalk him as he impatiently waits to come into his own. Besides, Luke is confused about the very existence of the Spirits; he wants to scoff and deny this national religion, but their prophecy suits his ambition perfectly. Does a young teenager possess the intelligence, wisdom and skill to defeat adult rivals for the throne?

The first book in the Sword of the Spirits trilogy, which is IMO stronger than the more famous Tripods series--better concept, better (particularly female) characters, better plot twists--but, paradoxically, no single book in this trilogy is as strong as the individual books in that series. It really feels like the author had an excellent idea, got it two-thirds of the way figured out, and went with the incomplete result. Go ahead and read the series, but be prepared for the high point coming from book two, not the ending.

Of course, one can't help but compare this trilogy to the author's more famous Tripods trilogy and yes, the trilogy this book belongs to (The Swords of the Spirits) does fall short. But having said that, I enjoyed reading about this much darker, less hopeful world, where politics and personal gain rule the lives of the protagonists. Our main character, though young, must combat enemies and keep his wits about him. A future where men live to fight and women are clearly in a secondary role (well at least the author included a few women here, in Tripods, there were hardly any mentioned and barely worth remembering) seems pretty backward to me but then again it is a apocalyptic future. I'm looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.

The first book in the sword of the spirits trilogy, this novel portrays a young man, and his journey, which unexpectedly leads him to become a prince. This stunning novel introduces you to the second iron age, after an apocolypse. In the tradition of other writings by John Christopher, this story can be appreciated on many levels

For 1972 it isn't bad, but the downsided ending offerring only the hope of commercial conquest and a rather trite "I shall have no son" (because I am a twit) for the conclusion, brings it to a sorry close.

The series either needs a fourth book or a rewrite of the ending with a better editor.