Customer Reviews

The Stone Prince (Branion series, Book 1)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Stone Prince is the story of Prince Demnor and his Companion, Kelahnus. Demnor has been taught by his mother that only flawed vessels show emotion and have feelings for others. And flawed vessels crack under pressure. When he was sixteen, Demnor fell in love with Kelahnus, but they were separated by his mother's command. Demnor eventually wins Kelahnus back, but then he is forced into marriage with the Duke Isolde. Despite Demnor's affection for his male companion, he starts to have feelings for the beautiful Isolde. When Demnor's mother is suddenly murdered, he becomes the Vessel of the Flame. As the Vessel of the Flame, Demnor is the political and religious head of the country (think Louis XIV) and is almost worshipped as a Deity. Just when Demnor begins to gain control of his kingdom, one of their conquered territories rebels (think Scotland v. England) and Demnor is drawn into war. There he has the opportunity to prove himself and to make peace with his mother.

The characters in this novel were intriguing, especially since there really was no gender role separation. Males and females are both referred to as Prince, Duke, etc. It was a refreshing change and interesting to see Patton's concept of gender equality. Demnor is a classic flawed hero in that he has weaknesses and makes mistakes, but he has loyal companions, such as Kelahnus and later Isolde, whom Demnor eventually learns to trust and feel for.

The School of the Companions was also an interesting concept. There the most beautiful and talented youths in the kingdom are trained in politics, court manners, sex and assasinations. Every noble has their own Companion, or several Companions. The nobles never sleep alone. The Companions are not supposed to fall in love and their ultimate loyalty belongs to the School of the Companions. One of the subplots of the book is Kelahnus' inner struggle as he tries to keep himself from falling in love with Demnor and to stay loyal to his teachers and his school.

The reason why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that it is a little slow at times and can be confusing as the author jumps back and forth between past and present and different characters. Also, it was a disappointment that Kelahnus was potrayed as a typical gay male - jumping from bed partner to bed partner, always concerned with his looks, etc. Still, it was a very enjoyable read and recommended.

The Stone Prince is wellwritten - but not outstanding - fantasy, based on the British Isles cirka 1600 (?) The main characters are engaging - the plot centers more on relationships than action. All-in-all, a mainstream fantasy book of the kind you don't read more than once, but enjoy while you're reading it.

The one thing that makes it differ from most fantasy books, is that it manages to present the first believable gender equal society I've read about. Those looking for fantasy with strong women who aren't perfect should try this book. The main character is male, and so is his lover, but his mother, his sisters and his fiancee are all interesting, strong women.

I intend to buy her next book, and I'm keeping this one since I found her society fascinating.

Not a high four stars, but clearly more than three.

The first thing I was struck with..Awe. I thought it was so awesome to have a world in which gender is not what matters. Where woman are out on the hunts with the men, where women rule just like a man and a title doesn't change to become feminine.

I also loved the Companions. That in this world love between those of the same gender is accepted. I found it easy to read, but did get lost in the titles, but then again that is somehting that gave the book more than it's words. The battles were well written, the ceremony's were beutifull, and the love seens left just enouph to the imagination to leave you feeling a little warm hearted.

Fallow Demnor through his journy of self exploration with his love with an Earl(his inteded wife) and his companion(a male). See him fight for the respect of his mother, and see the little boy that hides with in the "stone prince".

Fallow the Heathland rebellion, and.,..hmm thought i'd give something away huh? well just read it! If you like Fantasy books, if you like the time of knights and honor, than read this book. I loved it, and it and Mrs/Ms. Patton is now within the ranks of my favorite authors.

WONDERFULL!

Michael

Well, I've tried three times now to finish it, and you know what? I have better things to do with my life.

The idea of the gender-neutral society is cool, but when you're trying to keep track of charcters who mostly go by their last names anyway, a "Duchess," or "Lady" would be nice. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, in this land (Branion), all the titles are gender-neutral. I.e., when they say "Prince" or "Earl" or "Count," they're not necessarily talking about a guy.)

Also, the pacing in this book is...wonky. I don't know if I can think of a better word for it. For example, one minute our boy is remembering a battle he'd had against his mother, and the next minute, we're "back to the future", and his mother is dead. There's no transitional sequence, nothing to indicate that all of this was a reverie...

All in all, if you enjoy slogging through epic books with character clutter, then you'll enjoy this. I, on the other hand, am just going back to Dune, where things make sense.

The Stone Prince is the first book of a series by newcomer Fiona Patton. She doesn't break new ground, but does explore concepts like gender equality, religious intolerance and homosexuality in a way that isn't preachy.

The world of The Stone Prince resembles Renaissance Europe, and the country of Branion is a thinly-disguised England.

Prince Demnor of Branion isn't the typical too-perfect hero, which makes him a fascinating character. He's quite flawed, and in some ways, behaves like a spoiled brat. Then again, when one is descended from a family gifted with a flame-like power that if not mastered, would either drive one insane or burn them from the inside out.

Demnor's lover, Kelahanus, is a Companion--a rather intriguing blend of lover, spy and assassin. His job, outside of keeping the prince happy, is also to insure that Demnor did his duty as heir, and in doing so, avoid civil war with the second most powerful family in Branion.

The characters were deftly drawn, and it was eye-opening, to say the least, that the female characters could be just as bloodthirsty and ruthless as the men. Melisendra, the Aristok of Branion (and Demnor's mother), could show Xena how to fight and win battles. As a mother, however, she will not win any awards, since she equates love with weakness.

The Stone Prince is an enjoyable read, and a great beginning from a new talent.

It all hinges on whether you accepts this world's dominating bisexuality - or rather, the lack of sexual discrimination in social careers and private preferences alike: lords, commanders, knights of arbitrary sex, men being jealous of other men and women alike, women eager to give birth so they can return to the battlefield. Then it becomes a fascinating experience and testing of ones own prejudices, specially with the many elaborate side characters. The centerpiece is the romantic love between Prince Demnor and his male Courtisane Kelahnus, and if Kelahnus is faithful in his love but not so much in his sexlife, as others have complained here, Demnor does not seem to mind, and I find it not so astonishing for a world in which marriage has just been legal for a hundred years. - Stripping the novel of this nice socio-sexual fantasy leaves a quite straightforward plot with very decent battle scenes. The retrospectives are inserted a little clumsily into the main storyline, but for a first novel that is alright and rather falls back on the publisher. The same holds for the often unnecessarily lengthy, plot-impeding prose and the language which is sometimes shallow. Still, a five-pointer.

Of all the fantasy books that I've read, The Stone Prince lies securely within the top 10. Deviating from almost every fantasy cliché, Fiona Patton has created a unique, incredible world that is a joy to escape to.

Prince Demnor and his Companion/beloved Kelahnus live in a rich world of intertwined, sometimes backstabbing families, where men and women stand as equals. There are no ladies, princesses, duchesses or queens here. Males and females both are referred to with what we consider masculine titles. Both Demnor and his younger sister Quindara are referred to as "Prince," and Demnor's betrothed, a woman named Isolde, is referred to as Lord Isolde, Earl of Essendale. The ruler of Branion, whether male or female, is the Aristok. How refreshing, to see a world where men and women are given the same opportunities and judged by what they accomplish, not their sex!

Characters are rich and elaborate, with both strengths and weaknesses focused on (and even exploited). Some readers have complained that Kelahnus "fails as a Companion," but please remember: he's only human! His key into the School of Companions was his beauty, after all, so it's no surprise that he's a bit vain. As for sleeping around, it's amazing what one can learn between the sheets, even from a simple stable boy. The fact that he can be defeated is not a mark of his worth as a Companion. Companions graduate from different classes, and just because he was at the top of his class does not mean that he's better than those at the top of other classes. Besides, his strong points are spying and the arts of pleasure, to which His Most Regal and Sacred Majesty, Demnor the Fifth, Aristok of Branion, Kormandeaux and Aquilliard, Gaspellier, Poitienne, Roland, Hereditary Earl of the Danelind Islands of Columba, Gracious Sovereign of the Triarchy, Most High Patron of the Knights of the Sword, Vessel of the Living Flame, will gladly testify! (Or, as Kelahnus calls him, Your Most Passionate Highness.)

As for the titles... Well, that's their way. Personally, I don't mind them, and I love how Fiona Patton includes the names of all the different countries and clans, not just a few main regions. If you can't keep up with them, then perhaps you should read something a little simpler that doesn't require as much thought or intelligence.

The sexual nature of Patton's writing is brilliant as well. Homosexuality and bisexuality are neither embraced nor condemned in the Branion series. Rather, they are simply accepted as a way of life, not raised above heterosexuality or considered improper. Most nobles have their own Companion, a person of the same sex who acts as an assassin, a spy, a bodyguard, and attends to their master's physical needs as well. Demnor and Kelahnus, his companion, just happen to be very deeply in love. And, while Demnor likes his wife, Lord Isolde, it's more as a friend and a fellow noble than as a wife and mother. They bear children together and enjoy each other's company, but Demnor's heart belongs to Kelahnus, and it's the Companion who warms the Aristok's bed at night. That's simply they way things are, and no one bats an eyelash or speaks out against it. If only our world could be so accepting! The nature of the Companion gender choice is most likely a simple one. It's impossible to get pregnant with someone of the same sex, so there is no need to worry about starting scandal if a child pops up where it shouldn't.

Patton's writing is rich in detail as well. Rather than glossing over important points, she elaborates upon them, making characters (even minor ones) all the richer and more enjoyable. Some may call Patton's writing dense, but for those with the intelligence to understand language that is quite a bit above the standard fantasy drivel and sap, The Stone Prince is the first key to a beautiful, bloody, and wholly satisfying adventure.

Okay, so I'll keep this review short and to the point.

This book is hopelessly dull and uninspiring. I was willing to give it some time to develop, but when nothing significant had occurred by the time I'd read 200 pages I gave up. The characters were bland, unimaginative and hard to distinguish one from another. There was a surprising number of typos and grammatical errors -- not the sort of thing one would expect in a mass market novel published by DAW. The author's tendency to shift point of view without notifying the reader was tremendously distracting and irritating. Likewise, the author's habit of listing off a paragraph's worth of titles for almost every character was exceptionally tedious. Finally, the homosexual relationship between Prince Demnor and Kelahnus was not nearly as provocative and radical as some other reviewers here have suggested. In fact, Kelahnus (an interesting name for a homosexual male) was every bit as feminine and womanly as any starry-eyed princess found in mainstream hetero-fantasy. The only thing that marked the character as male was his (vaguely) male-sounding name and the author's use of the masculine pronoun. Not really a groundbreaking description of a homosexual relationship. I sense that the author was less interested in exploring human relationships than she was in making some sort of trite and tired political statement about sex roles.

Avoid this one. Pick up something by J. V. Jones, Kate Elliot, or George R. R. Martin instead.

Unwittingly I made the mistake of reading The Painter Knight, second and much more accomplished book of the series, before reading this, the crystal clear quality gap between the two novels influencing now my review.

The setting of The Stone Prince is the same fascinating XIV century Europe-like world of The Painter Knight (actually, the latter would be more like a XIII century Europe-like one): a world vivid enough even though the resemblances are such as they almost constraint Ms Patton imagination and creativity. For further comment about the setting, please refer to the other book's review here at Amazon.

In this first work, the author seems to concentrate nearly exclusively, on the depiction of the nobility, the actions (and deaths) of any other people treated with a superficiality and unconcern typical of the old fashioned fantasies of many years ago. In The Painter Knight she amends this mistake and the world depicted there gains in depth and loses some of its untolerable classism.

The two main characters, Demnor and Kehlanus, are well rounded, most endearing, enjoyable; their (homosexual) love is a charming mixture of realism, jealousy and romance and it is in fact the main asset of the book. The side character are not as polished but they fit in quite nicely.

The problem of the book, one only few reviewer have underlined, is that the pacing of the story is slow, sometimes even awkward if not clumsy, betraying an unexperienced if talented author. In the last third of the book Ms Patton loses focus, apparently unable to deal with the many issues she has gathered: war and its useless bloodsheds, nationalism, religious conflicts, political intrigue, power thirst, the conflict between the intimate wishes of public people and harsh necessity; but also the personal problems of Demnor, torn by love, jealousy, the confusing growth of the new affection for his wife, his tormented relationship with his late mother and queen.

Despite what many other reviewers say, I think Ms Patton handles the time shifts (or flashbacks) in the novel in a neat and proficient way. Her idea of a society where men and women are absolutely equal is disconcerting but refreshing and consistently outlined.

An interesting if imperfect debut, worth reading.

The Stone Prince takes us to a remarkable society where gender does not determine one's role in life, or one's behavior.

We find strong women, and men who see nothing wrong with female strength and freedom. We see a society where sex and romantic love is not restricted by the gender of the participants.

Patton uses the same titles and labels for males and females. As readers we are forced to see the person as an individual and to judge worthiness based on actions -- not pre-conceived notions of gender and limitation.

At the heart of the story is a tale of love between the Crown Prince Demnor, and his male companion Kelhnaus. They struggle to maintain a relationship while living lives filled with duty to outside agencies. Demnor must fulfill his role as Royal Heir and military hero, while battling with, what he sees as a cold, contemptuous mother who seems only too eager to displace him in favor of his sister. Kelhnaus on the other hand must play the political winds like a master harper to protect his blunt and unsubtle lover, all while keeping his own feelings of love secret from the guild who raised and trained him for deceit.

In the end the story is about learning to love, and accept the love of those who are not always able to present it in the way we want it; about letting go of the ideas and expectations that demand perfection, and guarantee defeat.

About the lovers, swirls a medieval society filled with magic, the occasional dragon, war, politics, intrigue, and familial traps. The story features interesting characters, some magic, a minor amount of religion and mysticism, and a good number of battles.

Two complaints kept me from giving it 5 stars: It suffers from Terminal Celtic Disease -- where everything not nailed down is given a quaint Celtic-sounding name. The result is you often feel trapped in an overgrown greenhouse of exotic flowers; Patton also spends too much time with long titles, and just is often too wordy about nothing. The book could probably be cut about a hundred pages without anything going missing.