Fiona Patton

3.5 Stars

I discovered this book, published in 1997, on a quest for more epic fantasy with LGBTQA characters. I was immediately taken with its worldbuilding of a gender-neutral society, where well-developed female characters are featured alongside a central male same-sex romance. The setting itself tastes somewhat of anachronism stew—the plot, name conventions, and the date of the admittedly fictional calendar all suggest the Dark Ages, but Renaissance trappings appear in characters’ show more costumes, architecture, and downright Shakespearian traveling player troupes. To top it off, characters sit sipping hot chocolate, so either the Americas have been discovered early in this world or its botany is somewhat askew. It is fantasy, to be sure, a genre where authors can and should get away with a lot, but I felt a distinct lack of consistency. Not just in the worldbuilding.

I could never quite come to terms with the way the storytelling so heavily relied on flashbacks. The plot would move forward a few pages, and then suddenly be hurtled back decades into the characters’ personal histories. At times there was some genuinely interesting parallel narrative as Demnor, the crown prince of Branion, struggles with his mother in the present day while reflecting on how he defied her by his childhood romance with his lover, courtesan/strategist Kellhanus. Yet after a while the frequency of flashbacks began to cut into the story’s momentum and even became disorienting. When Demnor “reflected” back to a conversation made earlier in the morning, it just got annoying. I think stories should be told chronologically more often than not, at least for events taking place within the same year!

The plot is a tangle of the personal and political. Demnor struggles with his tyrannical mother, the Aristok of Branion, as well as the barbarian Heaths to the north. There’s a religious schism that’s of some interest, although I can’t pinpoint its real life analogue (Protestant Reformation? Greek Orthodox?) if it even has one. Demnor’s marriage to Duke Isolde, and its impact—or lack thereof—on his romance with Kellhanus, and the friendship of all three members of this “love triangle” was refreshing to see, but in other cases character development got lost among a cast of characters that covers multiple feudal courts, two religions, at least one courtesan’s guild, and plenty of petty nobility. Why so many people? Where they all needed to tell this story? There were times when the point of the story seemed to be “Look at all these fictional people.”

That subverted love triangle aside, which may make the book worth reading on its own, The Stone Prince never really felt like it got going. Stepping back, I can trace how Demnor in his struggle for control of Branion, Kellhanus and some internal politics at the Companion’s Guild, and Isolde in her marriage to the crown prince all had some parallel building plotlines. Although, if my interpretation is correct, I’m not wild about how, in such an ostentatiously gender-neutral setting (Isolde is an Earl), the narrative climax of the primary female character is childbirth.

(For another “love triangle” that isn’t, including two romantically involved men and a woman, where the woman’s motivations and arc play out a little differently, I recently read Tanya Huff’s The Fire’s Stone and cannot recommend it highly enough).

The Stone Prince is worth looking into if you’d like to see more completely gender-neutral societies in fantasy settings, and perhaps if you’re into alternate history (for all the ‘history’ aspects sometimes don’t withstand aggressive scrutiny, it can be very fun to have a story with enough depth to really aggressively scrutinize in any case). The story continues in several sequels, but frankly I wish it hadn’t been so bogged down with minor characters and magical pyrotechnics (which never really seemed to come together) in this first book. show less

This book was intense. There was political intrigue, war, romance. Everything. My mind is still swimming. I was expecting an interesting read but I wasn't expecting a new book for my favourites list.

The writing is good. The story flows very well and the language isn't too much or lacking. The characters are all pretty fresh and interesting. I fell in INSTANT love with Kelahnus. He was literally everything in this book for me. My enjoyment of the book was literally hinging on how his story show more progressed. I cried a few times because of him. Everyone else was pretty awesome too. Even the evil guys. I love how Patton shows so many POVs. Normally, I hate that with a passion but she does a really great job. Sometimes it goes into omniscient narrator but that never takes away from the book; only adds.

I described this book as "recklessly cute" as I was reading it. (Cute is my umbrella term for everything awesome, cool and badass.) Like, people do some really irresponsible stuff in this book but it all flies. Patton is magical in her character portrayal that way. I was even feeling for the bad guys. I mean, they kinda make sense a bit, you know?

I definitely recommend this book. Though, I would say steel yourself for the ride, if you're prone to emotional overwhelming like I am. show less

Honestly, despite all the lukewarm and negative reviews, I loved this book. I completely ignored the similarity of Branion to Britain and the other thinly veiled references and enjoyed it at face value. Demnor, to me, was an interesting character - the portrayal of his inner struggles, especially with his mother, are very interesting to me, and they're written well. Kelahnus, too, is an interesting character, though I sort of wish we'd gotten to know a teeny bit more about the Guild. The show more Guild concept as a whole is interesting, though I'm a little confused as to why every single aristocrat is automatically bisexual (Consort and same-sex Companion). I can't imagine -everyone- is bisexual, but then I suppose if it's more of a cultural thing... I don't know. The other thing I liked/didn't like was the same titles for everyone, regardless of gender - Prince for both male/female heirs, for example. Liked it because of the loss of gender/power lines, didn't like it because it was darn confusing. Took me a while to get used to it.

It did take me a while to get into the book, especially because Patton has a love for titles, place names, and geography, it seems. The book is initially sort of off-putting with it's info-dump of "Demnor, Prince of this, Duke of that, blah blah blah" because it's honestly like "Really, is it -this- political?" It isn't, in the end - it's very character-driven, with a dash of politics thrown in, but it's nowhere near as scary as the beginning makes it feel. After the first couple chapters, it settled into a steady pace, where I always wanted to know what happened next - there are a few twists thrown in there too that keep you on your toes. I did sort of spoil the book by accidentally reading the last page before the rest of the book, so there wasn't quite as much tension in the ending as there could have been, but it was still very well written.

And also, I love the Demnor-Isolde and Demnor-Kelahnus relationships. Maybe I just really like Demnor. Either way, I loved this book, and would highly recommend it. show less

When I purchased this book, I did not notice the date it was published. I thought it was maybe 5-10 years old based on the amount books in the series (not sure how I thought that considering the cover design, but I did). Once I started reading it, I quickly realized it was older than I thought. That is not meant to be derogatory in any way. The theme, scope and world building of this novel simply has an older feel to it. It's definitely a sword and sorcery novel, draws heavily on British show more history in the world building, particularly the tensions between the scots and the brits and the protestants and the catholics. I'm not going to expose my lack of British history by attempting to point to any particular years, battles or monarchs that are used as a jumping off point. There is, unsurprisingly, glorification of battle and several characters clearly think violence is foreplay (think "honorable" violence like a duel or watching a fight not abuse). There is a high emphasis on honor, loyalty, and fealty.

The writing, plot and characterizations are quite solid and generally fall in line with what you might expect from a fantasy book of it's era with two notable exceptions that allows this book to stand out even today. Gender equality. This is a world where for the most part, gender discrimination does not seem to exist. People are treated the same regardless of gender. The same titles are used (expect in one case where a cleric is referred to as Sister), a Prince is a prince whether male or female, a priest is a priest. There is also a form of free love. One of the ways the society prevents unwanted pregnancies (if you are going to have gender equality in women going to war, this is key), the nobility have contracts with same gender courtesans (called companions). Some are in love with their companions, some simply use them for sex, and some companions are also contracted and nurses and nannies. There is in general quite a positive attitude to sex and love. This is not however, a steamy, sexy read. Any and all sex is fade to black (which personally I am ok with)

What keeps this from being five stars is that it definitely is pre Sanderson's law and there is some religious/sorcerous shannigans happening during some of the battle scenes that felt unsatisfactory to me due to being heavy on the symbolism and mysticism and light on the mythology and logic behind it. It's definitely the style of the time it was published, if this book was a recent novel, there might be more of an explanation on the mechanics of the sorcery or more focus on characters with sorcerous powers.

All in all, this was a solid 4 stars. Definitely recommend for readers looking for some fantasy with gay sub plot and not a gay romance set in a fantasy world (the second seems much easier to find). Also, for fans of sword and sorcery fantasy and for readers tired of patriarchal fantasy and interested in a different perspective on gender norms. show less