Prince Khemri was born as one of hundreds of elite men and women destined for greatness. But in order to reach the top, Khemri will have to face more than just danger and death… he’ll have to face his own humanity.
I wanted to love this book. I really did. I love Garth Nix. And I like to pretend that this is a kind of different perspective of Shade’s Children, which I love, and that makes it a little better. But mostly, I just did not like this book. And that makes me really sad.
It wasn’t that the premise was bad. In fact, I freaking love the premise. The idea that there are all these Princes that are battling to be top dog, and there’s the whole golden cage idea, and the chance for some really awesome politics and assassination attempts was really, really cool.
BUT (the dreaded but…) it just wasn’t pulled off well. At least, not as well as I was expecting from a seasoned author like Nix. The pacing was all over the place, and not in a good way. There was a lot of chances for the feeling of danger to take place, but I felt those opportunities were wasted, and everything was a little too convenient for the protagonist. I understood WHY it was all so convenient, but it still made for some feelings of boredom. And sometimes the technology was just a little too convenient. Not quite deus ex machina, but close.
This is what happens when you go into a book with expectations, guys. 
Don’t just take my word for it!
“I really adored this book, and would imagine that it would have broad cross-over appeal–not to middle grade audiences like some of Nix’s books, but rather to adult science fiction fans.” – The Intergalactic Academy
“Even though I found this story very readable and interesting, I’d say that, structurally, I am not sure it is as good as it could have been.” -The Readventurer
I definitely thought this was on the boring side, even though the premise sounded oh-so-good. And Khemri was hard to like. I understand it, but his attitude didn’t do much for a book that was already driving me nuts. But I’ll happily wait for whatever Nix writes next!
I actually started this book weeks ago and couldn’t get past the first fifty pages. I have loved some of Nix’s other books like the Abhorsen trilogy, but for some reason I had such a difficult time trying to get into it. I agree, it is sad to start reading a book with expectations that don’t seem to pan out. Maybe I’ll try again at some point.
It just felt like there was all possibility for awesomeness, but none of that awesomeness was explored…
I have this on my TBR, so that makes me really sad to hear it doesn’t quite hold up to expectations.
You might end up loving it. Reading is totally subjective