These day , fantasy novels seem to be all about realism . Or at least , semi - realism . Magic is push to the fringe , and only happens in rare cases . The focus is on coarse-grained , relatable fiber in a vaguely noir - ish world . Whether in epic fantasy or urban illusion , there ’s been a bit more simplicity lately in terms of throw around other - temporal element .
So it ’s a pleasance to read an unabashed over - the - top fantasy epos like John R. Fultz ’s Seven Princes , in which totally batshit clobber happens every few pages and the wonderment are n’t ration at all . Fultz spell at a frenetic yard , as if worried he ’ll track down out of pages before he throws in all the cool stuff he ’s thought up . It ’s kind of astonishing . Spoilers ahead …
Seven Princes is unquestionably not a unexampled masterpiece of the fantasy musical style , or a challenger to George R.R. Martin or Joe Abercrombie . What Seven Princes does have to offer , though , is breakneck pacing and round-the-clock insanity . Every few page , foxes are turning into defenseless ma’am or giants are move off to talk to the mermaid fagot , or a long - lost raceway of blue giant is randomly discovered , or evil gloomy strong drink are put down entire kingdom . It ’s epic with a majuscule EPIC .
For all that , the plot is fairly simple – it just has a million subplots . essentially , there ’s an ancient malevolent sorcerer named Ellathym , who evidence up at the kingdom of Yaskatha and demands the pot . The King of Yaskatha has him put to death , but then he comes back again , and once again demands the throne . This locomote on for a bit , until it turns into a zombi rampage that kills the King and almost everybody else . The surviving prince of Yaskatha , D’Zan , flees and vows to regain his throne . Meanwhile , the sexy sorceress Ianthe secret plan to take over most of the residue of the humans , with Ellathym ’s avail .
So it ’s up to D’Zan and six other youthful prince , from various state , to put a stay to Ellathym and Ianthe – - except that one of the seven prince turns out to be evil .
The evil prince turn out to be on the QT the grandson of Ianthe , the evil sorceress , and he learns to share a love life of line of descent - drinking and havoc with her . She ’s constantly turning into a livid panther and laying waste to cities , while her grandson has quasi - incestuous sentiment about her . ( Edited to summate : And the evil prince get hold of his grandma by fume wizardly quip , and then pledge human origin . ) The twisted grandma - grandson relationship is probably the good part of the book .
But it ’s all good fun . Like I said , the pacing is really where this book stand out . You never have to wait for the other shoe to drop . If it ’s suggest that somebody ’s going to turn over evil , they finish turning evil within 10 page . If a vernal princess start learning to be a sorcerer , she ’ll be a reasonably nice magician within 10 page . If someone typeset out for a far - off kingdom , they ’ll be there fairly soon . If someone get down learning to wield a monumental greatsword from scratch , they ’ll be pretty skilful at it in a couple chapters . There ’s a dictated rejection of the heroic fantasy ethos of deferred satisfaction . The whole book contains about 10 books ’ Charles Frederick Worth of story melodic theme and plot twists , in under 500 pages .
And Fultz ’s committal to writing creates some entertaining genial images , like when the untried half - giant prince Vireon goes track the white fox ( that turns into a nude lady ) through the wilderness and into the tundra , on foot :
Vireon followed , snowflakes steaming against his raging skin . He ran through the frosty morning , ignorant of the cold . Shirtless he had come into the timber , and his buckskin leggings and flush were soaked with the night ’s rainfall . His sleek black mane swirled behind his headland as he crowned the Benny Hill and sprinted down its back . The white fox already put on another hill up ahead . A sparse level of snowfall had covered the fall colour of the forest storey . The Uyga still originate here , but there were many other , smaller varieties of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . The underbrush was thicker here , and often he jumped a cluster of white - leaf fern or a knot of marvellous skyweed . He run north , into the stale nation where summer only ever visited briefly before take flight southward .
You sort of like Frazetta was still active , just so he could exemplify some scenes from this book . By the end of the book , when the whitened fox is plough to flame and take on the malign panther lady , you ’re fully on board .
This is the first book of a four - book series , and Fultz packs in a lot of mythos here – he ’s a disciple of the swell Darrell Schweitzer , and you could see echo of The Shattered Goddess in his world - construction and writing . There are piles of prophetical dreams and ghost and weird spiritual experiences , and most of the thaumaturgist in the story turn out to be ancient organism of capital power , or their descendants .
And there ’s lots of stuff , woven in among all the giant and zombies and crazy mayhem , about the importance of storytelling and myth - devising . One of the princes , Lyrilan , is obsessed with being a fibber and writing down the larger-than-life events of this story for succeeding generations because — as he explains painstakingly — that ’s the only way we can achieve existent immortality or mean that go beyond our own lives .
And meanwhile , when the princess Sharadza learns black art from the old Iardu the Shaper , there ’s some nice poppycock about the patterns that shape the world . Sharadza has to instruct , first to forget who she is and later to impose her will and identity on stuff and nonsense . Iardu and Sharadza , in the midst of all the illusion heroics , are the only ones who see war as an elemental force play that , once unleashed , create nothing but wretchedness .
So all in all , you should definitely check out Seven Princes , if :
1 ) You need a break from fantasy that test to keep one foot on the ground
2 ) You want an old - school fantasy epic about the battle between good and evil ,
3 ) You want a degenerate page - turner where fantastical weirdness bursts out of every other pageboy .
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