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O Príncipe da Prisão Dourada
Há muitos anos, nas terras do Ocidente, o império Otomano era um dos mais poderosos de todo o Mundo. Para além de todos os mistérios que envolviam a sua tradição, também a sua sociedade se regia por leis e costumes diferentes. Era seu costume, em vez de matar todos os príncipes rivais como acontecia na antiguidade, estes serem mantidos
em prisões tão luxuosas que rivalizavam com o melhor dos palácios. Amir é um desses príncipes. Estuda alquimia e tenta sobreviver afastando-se das intrigas e competição entre os seus irmãos. Mas por ser tão misterioso e sábio, torna-se um dos principais suspeitos de assassinar os irmãos que estão a morrer um após o outro. Aparentemente as mortes são inexplicáveis e sobrenaturais. Ajudado pelo seu irmão Erik, que é de estirpe superior, Amir terá que desvendar múltiplos segredos para evitar que seja sacrificado ou até executado por ordem Rea
em prisões tão luxuosas que rivalizavam com o melhor dos palácios. Amir é um desses príncipes. Estuda alquimia e tenta sobreviver afastando-se das intrigas e competição entre os seus irmãos. Mas por ser tão misterioso e sábio, torna-se um dos principais suspeitos de assassinar os irmãos que estão a morrer um após o outro. Aparentemente as mortes são inexplicáveis e sobrenaturais. Ajudado pelo seu irmão Erik, que é de estirpe superior, Amir terá que desvendar múltiplos segredos para evitar que seja sacrificado ou até executado por ordem Rea
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2007
About the author
Nathalie Mallet
5 books9 followersScience Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Author
Passionate about literature—especially science fiction, fantasy, and horror—Nathalie Mallet had dreamed of being a writer since her youth. When to take the plunge into this new career was just a question of timing. So when she left her New Brunswick home near the ocean for the scenic town of Kitimat, British Columbia, where the mountains touch the Pacific (and bears sometime sleep under your patio), Nathalie knew the time was right. She began writing.
Nathalie now lives in Prince George, B.C. with her husband, Andre, and an elderly ball of fluff named Honey.
Passionate about literature—especially science fiction, fantasy, and horror—Nathalie Mallet had dreamed of being a writer since her youth. When to take the plunge into this new career was just a question of timing. So when she left her New Brunswick home near the ocean for the scenic town of Kitimat, British Columbia, where the mountains touch the Pacific (and bears sometime sleep under your patio), Nathalie knew the time was right. She began writing.
Nathalie now lives in Prince George, B.C. with her husband, Andre, and an elderly ball of fluff named Honey.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 30, 2008
Some editor somewhere was smoking something when she acquired this book, and probably when she proofed it, too, and I wish she'd share it with me so that I could enjoy reading it. Everything in this book, from the characterization to the foreshadowing, is so ham-handed that I kept on attempting to discover some secret twist that suddenly make all the inconsistencies part of a vast conspiracy, and explain all the insane choices the characters make. There is no such twist.
The protagonist and narrator constantly tells the reader about himself: that he's cautious, and studious, and careful. Other characters in the book also constantly evaluate the protagonist, telling him that he's, for instance, 'compassionate,' or funny. Clearly, everyone in this book is deeply stupid, because none of the above are true. The protagonist appears to be twitchy, suspicious, neurotic, and impulsive, and, if I had to guess, suffering from hypervigilance due to his abusive upbringing.
Bear means to carry. Bare means to reveal. The author does not seem aware of this, either.
Reading this book was like listening to the piano recital of a deeply untalented child: at first I was baffled by how anything so bad could be inflicted on the public, and then I was angry on the child's behalf, but finally I just wished it would stop. That was when I discovered that a sequel was in the works.
The protagonist and narrator constantly tells the reader about himself: that he's cautious, and studious, and careful. Other characters in the book also constantly evaluate the protagonist, telling him that he's, for instance, 'compassionate,' or funny. Clearly, everyone in this book is deeply stupid, because none of the above are true. The protagonist appears to be twitchy, suspicious, neurotic, and impulsive, and, if I had to guess, suffering from hypervigilance due to his abusive upbringing.
Bear means to carry. Bare means to reveal. The author does not seem aware of this, either.
Reading this book was like listening to the piano recital of a deeply untalented child: at first I was baffled by how anything so bad could be inflicted on the public, and then I was angry on the child's behalf, but finally I just wished it would stop. That was when I discovered that a sequel was in the works.
December 25, 2018
3,25 stars - English hardcover - I did recieved this book years ago from a friend. Somehow it did end up on the allready read shelf. Do I did not read it until two days ago. Review follows after Christmas. Happy holidays. ❄️❄️☃️
December 31, 2014
My main issue with this book is that it was terribly poorly edited. I'm not talking about any continuity errors or pacing, I'm referring to basic spell-check, grammar, "commonly" confused words (at least twice, I encountered "bare" in place of "bear"), and a really strange dearth of commas. The orthographical errors worsened as the pages turned. I am used to a few uncaught errors/typos in any book (especially those hot off the presses), but this one had dozens. I can't lay all the blame at the feet of the editor (though, really, I was glad I didn't waste more than $1.50 on this book), since the many errors often seemed a matter of proofreading. Why did the author not go over her debut novel with a fine-toothed comb?
In terms of the story itself, I liked the premise, and I was interested to find out whodunit. (I am partial to mystery and fantasy stories, so this one seemed right up my alley.) The main character is an initially-unwilling, mistrustful participant, a character trait which was wonderfully upheld throughout the story; Prince Amir was almost unlikable, but his obtuse, narrow worldview (and he's considered one of the cleverer of his 100+ brothers) somehow nets him friends in-story, and won me over.
The pace was slow- something I don't mind- but the denouement seemed rushed, and the final twist felt like it came out of left field. It is possible, however, that I am being overly critical of the ending, since by that point, I was miffed about all the errors.
In terms of the story itself, I liked the premise, and I was interested to find out whodunit. (I am partial to mystery and fantasy stories, so this one seemed right up my alley.) The main character is an initially-unwilling, mistrustful participant, a character trait which was wonderfully upheld throughout the story; Prince Amir was almost unlikable, but his obtuse, narrow worldview (and he's considered one of the cleverer of his 100+ brothers) somehow nets him friends in-story, and won me over.
The pace was slow- something I don't mind- but the denouement seemed rushed, and the final twist felt like it came out of left field. It is possible, however, that I am being overly critical of the ending, since by that point, I was miffed about all the errors.
January 24, 2012
GENRE: Fantasy, Mystery and Suspense, Romance
RECEIVED: Review copy provided by the author.
Read the Review on my Blog.
Who thought being of royal blood made life easy-peachy never met Prince Amir, his father the Sultan or the Golden Cage. To prevent war and bloodshed between his possible successors, the Sultan has built an enormous Golden Cage hosting all his possible heirs, the total number exceeding one hundred. Like it’s not enough to be locked into a cage – a luxurious cage, but a cage nevertheless – the Princes also look for whatever opportunity they can to murder each other. Why? Because their father is gravely ill, his time of death is nearing swiftly and the last man standing will without a doubt become the next Sultan. Although you have the ‘favorites’ like Ibrahim and Darius, sons of two different Sultanas and high in the succession rank who have their own share of followers, there are also Princes who prefer to stay hidden to save their own lives. Prince Amir is one of them. He is a studious recluse who keeps to himself in his own chambers with his private library, and who cares for his two mentally unstable brothers Jafar and Mir, because no one else bothers to. Amir has made it his life’s goal to blend in, to go unnoticed, so that nobody would mind him the time of day to kill him.
But unfortunately, Amir’s plan goes haywire when his brothers turn up dead in suspicious circumstances. Believe it or not, but they’re actually set rules of how one may kill one’s brothers within the Cage’s boundaries. Duels when one’s honor is breached are not uncommon, but cowardly murder attempts with poison are looked down upon and can actually lower one’s rank significantly. Although Amir at first suspects poison killed his brothers, he soon finds out that this might not be the case. When he goes to investigate the corpse of his first brother found dead in these mysterious circumstances, he notices an icy barrier surrounding the body. Amir can break through it eventually, but this ice barrier seems to have made his brother mummify rapidly. Because Amir is a man of science and not of magic, he goes through all his books only to find out that the solution might not be scientific after all.
Like foul and suspicious murders aren’t enough to worry about, Amir’s new friend – his brother Erik, who turns up out of nowhere and wants to investigate the murders as well – draws a lot of unwanted attention. Whereas Amir wants to remain hidden and unnoticed, whatever Erik does makes people notice him. It’s up to these two rather unlikely companions to try and stop whoever or whatever is murdering their brothers before it goes after them as well. But their unknown opponent isn’t the only one they should worry about. Their own brothers are their enemies and in this game where defeat equals death, they can’t trust anyone. Perhaps not even each other.
The Princes of the Golden Cage has an original and interesting premise. What’s interesting is that the built-up of the harem and the Golden Cage itself in this fictional book is largely based upon true harem hierarchy in the Ottoman Empire. For instance, Ottomanian Princes lived in a Golden Cage called kafes until they were either executed not to pose a threat to the Crown Prince, or until they became Sultan themselves. Although this system prevailed any civil war happening over the succession line, especially in a country where the ruler had not one wife but an entire harem to his disposition and supposed bastard-sons were seen as equal as sons he produced with one of his four wives, the four Sultanas (they ranked lower though, but where equally accepted as possible Sultans if higher-ranking ones failed to claim the title), the system definitely wasn’t flawless. These princes spent their entire childhood and teenage years being more terrified than anything, trapped in a Cage with death as the only possible escape. I loved how Nathalie Mallet used the real harem hierarchy in this book, with the Queen Mother as supreme harem overseer, then the four Sultanas and then the other concubines. The fact that a real Golden Cage much like the one described in the book ever existed is intriguing as well. May I, by the way, point out that traditions like harems and the likes existed not only in the Middle Ages, but well into the 20th century? Now that’s something to think about.
Enough with the history lesson, albeit interesting, and time to return back to the book. The Princes of the Golden Cage is told from the point of view of Prince Amir, which has an upside and a downside. The downside is that, as this is mostly a mystery and suspense novel, Amir gets half of the pieces he needs to solve the puzzle from conveniently eavesdropping at the right moment. I’m lenient enough to accept this can happen once, but I’ve actually encountered three of said occurrences in this book, and there might even be more that I missed. I’m pretty sure that in a place where trust is fairly non-existent, people wouldn’t just talk about conspiracies right around the corner. Amir also happens to be everywhere right at the exact time. I could believe this if he controlled an entire network of spies, but otherwise it’s rather unbelievable. Nevertheless, although the clue-dropping is random and not imaginative at all, that’s one of the only flaws I encountered in this book storywise. The characters are well-developed although Amir doesn’t always hit the ball right when he describes himself – but don’t we all? He claims he is studious and a loner, but in reality he’s neurotic, afraid to trust anyone, and perhaps even more paranoid than his mentally unstable brothers Jafar and Mir. He’s intelligent but apparently not intelligent enough to solve the mystery before I did. I think Darius’ way of thinking about Amir fits the way he acts towards others more properly than Amir’s own speculations on the matter. Albeit his flaws, which are mostly excusable by spending many years traumatized by constant dread and fear, he makes an interesting and even enjoyable main character.
In my opinion however, Amir is hardly the star of this book. Prince Erik transforms into the epitome of how one would want a Sultan to be the instant we meet him, and although his calm and confident presence brings out the best in Amir as well, that doesn’t make him the character I liked the best. In fact, Darius is. In my opinion, Darius is more qualified as a possible ruler than Amir or Erik, because he’s not afraid of change and he wants to see the best in everyone. He is convinced Amir thinks he’s better than him and therefore has a difficult time dealing with Amir. Darius transforms from a possible bad guy to one of the good guys halfway through this novel, which makes him the character who went through the greatest changes. As I already mentioned, Erik is sultan-material from the moment we meet him and his qualities neither increase nor decrease as the story progresses, but in Darius’ case we learn that Amir actually totally misjudged him.
Amir’s love interest is not that convincing. When Amir finds a locker holding the picture of a beautiful girl, he falls in love with her instantly. Oh, really? He has an entire harem at his disposal, with the most gorgeous and beautiful women of the entire country, and he falls for a mysterious foreign princess in the blink of an eye, without even knowing her personality? I find that hard to believe and actually pretty lame. One would think that a person who is so eager not to trust anyone at all, who weighs down every decision ten times before he actually makes it, would not fall in love head over heels. It just doesn’t fit Amir’s personality. I didn’t like Princess Eva that much either. She is a make-shift character who adds little or no depth to the story. Her personality is pretty generic. She is described as witty and funny and she loves to tease Amir, but it’s not that convincing. If he hadn’t loved her the moment he laid eyes upon her, I would have probably felt more for their relationship, because it would sound more believable.
Furthermore, there were some minor issues I had with this book. As you know by now, the main character is called Amir. One of his brothers is called Mir, another one Ibrahim. Erik’s servant is a young boy named Rami. A girl named Mira is also involved in the story. See what I’m talking about here? A little more creativity in the naming process of the main characters would be appreciated. Continuously using the name Amir or variations from it could work if characters appeared only once or twice and didn’t play a major part in the story, but if you’re talking about main and semi-main characters, the names should have differed more.
Well, I’m done mentioning the flaws of this book. Time to get ready for the good stuff. Although set in a fantasy world with its roots based on the Ottoman Empire, The Princes of the Golden Cage isn’t your standard fantasy novel, and I applaud it for that. This is not about some farmer boy going on a quest to save the world who ends up learning that he’s either the greatest magician the world has ever known or the Crown Prince who went missing twenty years ago. It’s not about fighting dragons, retrieving magical objects or saving the world. Originality is the key here. Prince Amir actually doesn’t care about being a Sultan or not – all he cares about is saving his own life, which is perfectly understandable of course. He’s more egotistical than we expect in a main character, but this suits him and his conditions perfectly. It’s this real, honest nature of his persona that makes him appealing and interesting as a character as well. He doesn’t care about saving the world – it’s not even necessary, no apocalyptic events for once – and he only cares about saving himself. Well, I say, good for him. The mystery part plays a giant role in this novel, once again making it stand out from the crowd. The mystery in itself is intriguing to say the least and the fact that magic might play a role in it makes it all the more interesting, especially since our main character is skeptic towards the existence of magic.
The feeling of dread, of having to watch over your shoulder and look for people trying to murder you, starts from page one and the tension builds up gradually throughout the book. Because it’s told from Amir’s point of view, the reader instantly relates with the unfortunate Prince and begins to feel the same tension and fear he is submitted to every day in this Cage of Death. Alliances are easily broken, friends are non-existent and death is around every corner. The setting is sublime, perfect for a murder mystery, and reminds me of some of the most classic murder mystery in which a family cannot leave an island/estate until the murderer is found, except that this happens on a much larger scale here.
I enjoyed reading The Princes of the Golden Cage. It’s fantasy with this wonderful layer on top of it, a layer filled with a murder mystery, some romance and the question how much family ties are really worth in a world where nobody is to be trusted. It searches for what drives people to kill their own kin only to save themselves and the effects of such circumstances on the human psyche. Prince Amir is an enjoyable character with a complicated but intriguing personality. The murder mystery is tense and exciting from the beginning and leads up to a most surprising conclusion. The book is well written and fluent, although there are some editing flaws here and there. I easily overlooked them, but if excellent grammar and spelling are your pet peeves, you might cringe occasionally. The story is enthralling and glues you to your chair from page one, making you feel for the characters and their unfortunate living circumstances almost instantly. If you’re a fan of fantasy but you’re in for something new, you definitely shouldn’t miss out on The Princes of the Golden Cage.
RECEIVED: Review copy provided by the author.
Read the Review on my Blog.
Who thought being of royal blood made life easy-peachy never met Prince Amir, his father the Sultan or the Golden Cage. To prevent war and bloodshed between his possible successors, the Sultan has built an enormous Golden Cage hosting all his possible heirs, the total number exceeding one hundred. Like it’s not enough to be locked into a cage – a luxurious cage, but a cage nevertheless – the Princes also look for whatever opportunity they can to murder each other. Why? Because their father is gravely ill, his time of death is nearing swiftly and the last man standing will without a doubt become the next Sultan. Although you have the ‘favorites’ like Ibrahim and Darius, sons of two different Sultanas and high in the succession rank who have their own share of followers, there are also Princes who prefer to stay hidden to save their own lives. Prince Amir is one of them. He is a studious recluse who keeps to himself in his own chambers with his private library, and who cares for his two mentally unstable brothers Jafar and Mir, because no one else bothers to. Amir has made it his life’s goal to blend in, to go unnoticed, so that nobody would mind him the time of day to kill him.
But unfortunately, Amir’s plan goes haywire when his brothers turn up dead in suspicious circumstances. Believe it or not, but they’re actually set rules of how one may kill one’s brothers within the Cage’s boundaries. Duels when one’s honor is breached are not uncommon, but cowardly murder attempts with poison are looked down upon and can actually lower one’s rank significantly. Although Amir at first suspects poison killed his brothers, he soon finds out that this might not be the case. When he goes to investigate the corpse of his first brother found dead in these mysterious circumstances, he notices an icy barrier surrounding the body. Amir can break through it eventually, but this ice barrier seems to have made his brother mummify rapidly. Because Amir is a man of science and not of magic, he goes through all his books only to find out that the solution might not be scientific after all.
Like foul and suspicious murders aren’t enough to worry about, Amir’s new friend – his brother Erik, who turns up out of nowhere and wants to investigate the murders as well – draws a lot of unwanted attention. Whereas Amir wants to remain hidden and unnoticed, whatever Erik does makes people notice him. It’s up to these two rather unlikely companions to try and stop whoever or whatever is murdering their brothers before it goes after them as well. But their unknown opponent isn’t the only one they should worry about. Their own brothers are their enemies and in this game where defeat equals death, they can’t trust anyone. Perhaps not even each other.
The Princes of the Golden Cage has an original and interesting premise. What’s interesting is that the built-up of the harem and the Golden Cage itself in this fictional book is largely based upon true harem hierarchy in the Ottoman Empire. For instance, Ottomanian Princes lived in a Golden Cage called kafes until they were either executed not to pose a threat to the Crown Prince, or until they became Sultan themselves. Although this system prevailed any civil war happening over the succession line, especially in a country where the ruler had not one wife but an entire harem to his disposition and supposed bastard-sons were seen as equal as sons he produced with one of his four wives, the four Sultanas (they ranked lower though, but where equally accepted as possible Sultans if higher-ranking ones failed to claim the title), the system definitely wasn’t flawless. These princes spent their entire childhood and teenage years being more terrified than anything, trapped in a Cage with death as the only possible escape. I loved how Nathalie Mallet used the real harem hierarchy in this book, with the Queen Mother as supreme harem overseer, then the four Sultanas and then the other concubines. The fact that a real Golden Cage much like the one described in the book ever existed is intriguing as well. May I, by the way, point out that traditions like harems and the likes existed not only in the Middle Ages, but well into the 20th century? Now that’s something to think about.
Enough with the history lesson, albeit interesting, and time to return back to the book. The Princes of the Golden Cage is told from the point of view of Prince Amir, which has an upside and a downside. The downside is that, as this is mostly a mystery and suspense novel, Amir gets half of the pieces he needs to solve the puzzle from conveniently eavesdropping at the right moment. I’m lenient enough to accept this can happen once, but I’ve actually encountered three of said occurrences in this book, and there might even be more that I missed. I’m pretty sure that in a place where trust is fairly non-existent, people wouldn’t just talk about conspiracies right around the corner. Amir also happens to be everywhere right at the exact time. I could believe this if he controlled an entire network of spies, but otherwise it’s rather unbelievable. Nevertheless, although the clue-dropping is random and not imaginative at all, that’s one of the only flaws I encountered in this book storywise. The characters are well-developed although Amir doesn’t always hit the ball right when he describes himself – but don’t we all? He claims he is studious and a loner, but in reality he’s neurotic, afraid to trust anyone, and perhaps even more paranoid than his mentally unstable brothers Jafar and Mir. He’s intelligent but apparently not intelligent enough to solve the mystery before I did. I think Darius’ way of thinking about Amir fits the way he acts towards others more properly than Amir’s own speculations on the matter. Albeit his flaws, which are mostly excusable by spending many years traumatized by constant dread and fear, he makes an interesting and even enjoyable main character.
In my opinion however, Amir is hardly the star of this book. Prince Erik transforms into the epitome of how one would want a Sultan to be the instant we meet him, and although his calm and confident presence brings out the best in Amir as well, that doesn’t make him the character I liked the best. In fact, Darius is. In my opinion, Darius is more qualified as a possible ruler than Amir or Erik, because he’s not afraid of change and he wants to see the best in everyone. He is convinced Amir thinks he’s better than him and therefore has a difficult time dealing with Amir. Darius transforms from a possible bad guy to one of the good guys halfway through this novel, which makes him the character who went through the greatest changes. As I already mentioned, Erik is sultan-material from the moment we meet him and his qualities neither increase nor decrease as the story progresses, but in Darius’ case we learn that Amir actually totally misjudged him.
Amir’s love interest is not that convincing. When Amir finds a locker holding the picture of a beautiful girl, he falls in love with her instantly. Oh, really? He has an entire harem at his disposal, with the most gorgeous and beautiful women of the entire country, and he falls for a mysterious foreign princess in the blink of an eye, without even knowing her personality? I find that hard to believe and actually pretty lame. One would think that a person who is so eager not to trust anyone at all, who weighs down every decision ten times before he actually makes it, would not fall in love head over heels. It just doesn’t fit Amir’s personality. I didn’t like Princess Eva that much either. She is a make-shift character who adds little or no depth to the story. Her personality is pretty generic. She is described as witty and funny and she loves to tease Amir, but it’s not that convincing. If he hadn’t loved her the moment he laid eyes upon her, I would have probably felt more for their relationship, because it would sound more believable.
Furthermore, there were some minor issues I had with this book. As you know by now, the main character is called Amir. One of his brothers is called Mir, another one Ibrahim. Erik’s servant is a young boy named Rami. A girl named Mira is also involved in the story. See what I’m talking about here? A little more creativity in the naming process of the main characters would be appreciated. Continuously using the name Amir or variations from it could work if characters appeared only once or twice and didn’t play a major part in the story, but if you’re talking about main and semi-main characters, the names should have differed more.
Well, I’m done mentioning the flaws of this book. Time to get ready for the good stuff. Although set in a fantasy world with its roots based on the Ottoman Empire, The Princes of the Golden Cage isn’t your standard fantasy novel, and I applaud it for that. This is not about some farmer boy going on a quest to save the world who ends up learning that he’s either the greatest magician the world has ever known or the Crown Prince who went missing twenty years ago. It’s not about fighting dragons, retrieving magical objects or saving the world. Originality is the key here. Prince Amir actually doesn’t care about being a Sultan or not – all he cares about is saving his own life, which is perfectly understandable of course. He’s more egotistical than we expect in a main character, but this suits him and his conditions perfectly. It’s this real, honest nature of his persona that makes him appealing and interesting as a character as well. He doesn’t care about saving the world – it’s not even necessary, no apocalyptic events for once – and he only cares about saving himself. Well, I say, good for him. The mystery part plays a giant role in this novel, once again making it stand out from the crowd. The mystery in itself is intriguing to say the least and the fact that magic might play a role in it makes it all the more interesting, especially since our main character is skeptic towards the existence of magic.
The feeling of dread, of having to watch over your shoulder and look for people trying to murder you, starts from page one and the tension builds up gradually throughout the book. Because it’s told from Amir’s point of view, the reader instantly relates with the unfortunate Prince and begins to feel the same tension and fear he is submitted to every day in this Cage of Death. Alliances are easily broken, friends are non-existent and death is around every corner. The setting is sublime, perfect for a murder mystery, and reminds me of some of the most classic murder mystery in which a family cannot leave an island/estate until the murderer is found, except that this happens on a much larger scale here.
I enjoyed reading The Princes of the Golden Cage. It’s fantasy with this wonderful layer on top of it, a layer filled with a murder mystery, some romance and the question how much family ties are really worth in a world where nobody is to be trusted. It searches for what drives people to kill their own kin only to save themselves and the effects of such circumstances on the human psyche. Prince Amir is an enjoyable character with a complicated but intriguing personality. The murder mystery is tense and exciting from the beginning and leads up to a most surprising conclusion. The book is well written and fluent, although there are some editing flaws here and there. I easily overlooked them, but if excellent grammar and spelling are your pet peeves, you might cringe occasionally. The story is enthralling and glues you to your chair from page one, making you feel for the characters and their unfortunate living circumstances almost instantly. If you’re a fan of fantasy but you’re in for something new, you definitely shouldn’t miss out on The Princes of the Golden Cage.
January 11, 2020
An all right mystery-fantasy in a setting likely inspired by old Ottoman Empire harem system: you want lots of sons to ensure the succession, so you have a harem, but you don't want wars of succession, so the hundred-odd of sons tend to bump each other off to increase their chances, knowing that when the heir finally does ascend it often means the slaughter of his competitors. In the claustrophobic setting of the princes' quarters known as the Cage (because the princes can't leave), scholarly prince Amir tries to keep a low profile, uninterested in the crown and hoping to avoid the attention of his more bloody-minded brothers. But when princes start dying in alarming ways, causing rumors of magic, Amir is asked to help investigate because of his extensive book-knowledge...even while the same bookishness causes rumors that he might be causing the deaths by black magic. Which is particularly infuriating to him, because not only does it bring dangerous unwanted attention, he doesn't even believe in that superstitious claptrap!
The setting and mystery were interesting--I suspected one secret but didn't figure out the real perpetrator. Amir is a flawed protagonist; though he's not ambitious like some of his brothers, he's not a starry-eyed Mary Sue, either, having an arrogant streak of his own. In comparison, I was annoyed with how naive and Mary-Sue-ish his brother Erik was--how on earth did he survive the Cage for so long being so damn oblivious? It's supposed to make him seem nice, but it makes him seem dumb. And though these two princes were framed as progressive, they were still a bit creepy about women, talking about them kinda like cute pets. I don't expect them to be woke 21st-century transplants, but it was still a bit disappointing how even after all that character-development time, Amir the intellectual didn't seem to find anything odd in wanting someone he loves to just be okay with a lifetime of the kind of confinement he himself always hated. The writing also suffered a bit from comma splice errors--the author really should learn how to use semicolons--and misuse of homophones (always using 'bare' in the place of 'bear', or 'fowl' instead of 'foul'), especially in the second half. I've seen worse, though.
Not perfect, but it was an all right fantasy-mystery in a refreshingly atypical setting. I'll probably check out the sequel, hoping the little writing-flaws improve.
The setting and mystery were interesting--I suspected one secret but didn't figure out the real perpetrator. Amir is a flawed protagonist; though he's not ambitious like some of his brothers, he's not a starry-eyed Mary Sue, either, having an arrogant streak of his own. In comparison, I was annoyed with how naive and Mary-Sue-ish his brother Erik was--how on earth did he survive the Cage for so long being so damn oblivious? It's supposed to make him seem nice, but it makes him seem dumb. And though these two princes were framed as progressive, they were still a bit creepy about women, talking about them kinda like cute pets. I don't expect them to be woke 21st-century transplants, but it was still a bit disappointing how even after all that character-development time, Amir the intellectual didn't seem to find anything odd in wanting someone he loves to just be okay with a lifetime of the kind of confinement he himself always hated. The writing also suffered a bit from comma splice errors--the author really should learn how to use semicolons--and misuse of homophones (always using 'bare' in the place of 'bear', or 'fowl' instead of 'foul'), especially in the second half. I've seen worse, though.
Not perfect, but it was an all right fantasy-mystery in a refreshingly atypical setting. I'll probably check out the sequel, hoping the little writing-flaws improve.
February 6, 2019
So many turns and false clues it can be a little frustrating. I might have enjoyed the ride a little more if I did not want to punch the protagonist as much. Honestly he's the worst part of the book and spending so much time in his angry little brain was frustrating when there were pieces of the world and other characters that I wanted to explore and that I enjoyed hearing about a lot more than his sulking.
March 1, 2019
DNF'd at 72%
July 29, 2020
Long story and the characters are not well developed.
November 1, 2025
2 I did not enjoy this book and did not manage to finish it either.
May 22, 2009
Over one hundred princes live in a beautiful and lavish cage together. Some are half brothers, others are full brothers, some are the sons of the Sultan’s wives, and others are the sons of the women from the Sultan’s harem. All the brothers share the fear of being killed by one another in the attempt to become the next Sultan. The Princes of the Golden Cage, by Nathalie Mallet, Prince Amir is one of these brothers. His main goal, like some of his other brothers, is not to rise above the rest and become the next Sultan, but to be as unnoticed as possible and simply leave the cage alive. However, things go terribly wrong for Amir and all the effort he put to keep himself disregarded were wasted. One night one of his brothers is murdered by sorcery and Amir is under suspicion because he studied alchemy. As more of his brothers are killed off by the same dark magic, Amir struggles to find whom the real culprit is and clear his name. During Amir’s search, he is faced with danger and finds out many secrets.
The central conflict of the book is man vs. supernatural, because of all the mysterious magic, but mostly man vs. man. There is a constant struggle between Amir and his brothers, all competing to stay alive and hopefully become the next Sultan. Since all the brothers cannot leave until someone becomes the next Sultan, there is very little trust between all of them so there is a constant struggle between all of them. Amir tries to stay out of the way of the more powerful brothers, like Darius, and struggles with keeping himself out of blame. The theme of this novel is things are never what they appear to be. (Some of these examples may give away the ending, so I cannot go into as much detail as I would like.) Since Amir was under suspicion for the unjustified murder of some brothers, he has to come out of hiding. In doing so, he is exposed to so much and he learned so much that he never would have expected. Nothing seemed to be what they really were. He met another brother, Erik, that he never knew existed, who showed him so many things. In the end, Amir learns that one of his brothers is not really crazy, another pretends to be paranoid of everything when he is the most dangerous and almost takes over, and learns that another powerful brother just simply wished that they could have known each other better. They never seemed to be what they really were, not even himself, he discovers who he really is.
Mallet writes in first person view so you see everything in Amir’s point of view. Reading the book in Amir’s point of view helps you see everything that he is thinking and understand the situations in the cage. It also adds to the mystery because you only know as much as he does and it’s like an adventure to try and solve it with him. Her writing style makes the book easy to follow and seem real and grabs you in. Overall this book was a good book. I really enjoyed reading it, it was hard to put it down. There were so many things that popped up that made it more interesting and mysterious and it was fun to try and figure things out in my head, I was pretty good at it too. The end was good too because everything was put together and it all made sense and it was interesting to see how it worked. However, the very very end of the book was a HUGE disappointment. It was mainly what happened overall with all the princes in the cage, I hated it, it didn’t have to end that way and it should not have. In the life of Amir and Erik it was a good ending but in the overall picture it was horrible. But don’t get me wrong, this book was really good, just a part about the ending was displeasing. Anyone who is into mysteries with a very different kind of setting, one with princes and a bit of magic, should read this book. I would recommend it because it was an interesting mystery and I liked to know what was going to happen next and what it was all about. Just a warning that the ending might leave you dissatisfied, like it did for me.
The central conflict of the book is man vs. supernatural, because of all the mysterious magic, but mostly man vs. man. There is a constant struggle between Amir and his brothers, all competing to stay alive and hopefully become the next Sultan. Since all the brothers cannot leave until someone becomes the next Sultan, there is very little trust between all of them so there is a constant struggle between all of them. Amir tries to stay out of the way of the more powerful brothers, like Darius, and struggles with keeping himself out of blame. The theme of this novel is things are never what they appear to be. (Some of these examples may give away the ending, so I cannot go into as much detail as I would like.) Since Amir was under suspicion for the unjustified murder of some brothers, he has to come out of hiding. In doing so, he is exposed to so much and he learned so much that he never would have expected. Nothing seemed to be what they really were. He met another brother, Erik, that he never knew existed, who showed him so many things. In the end, Amir learns that one of his brothers is not really crazy, another pretends to be paranoid of everything when he is the most dangerous and almost takes over, and learns that another powerful brother just simply wished that they could have known each other better. They never seemed to be what they really were, not even himself, he discovers who he really is.
Mallet writes in first person view so you see everything in Amir’s point of view. Reading the book in Amir’s point of view helps you see everything that he is thinking and understand the situations in the cage. It also adds to the mystery because you only know as much as he does and it’s like an adventure to try and solve it with him. Her writing style makes the book easy to follow and seem real and grabs you in. Overall this book was a good book. I really enjoyed reading it, it was hard to put it down. There were so many things that popped up that made it more interesting and mysterious and it was fun to try and figure things out in my head, I was pretty good at it too. The end was good too because everything was put together and it all made sense and it was interesting to see how it worked. However, the very very end of the book was a HUGE disappointment. It was mainly what happened overall with all the princes in the cage, I hated it, it didn’t have to end that way and it should not have. In the life of Amir and Erik it was a good ending but in the overall picture it was horrible. But don’t get me wrong, this book was really good, just a part about the ending was displeasing. Anyone who is into mysteries with a very different kind of setting, one with princes and a bit of magic, should read this book. I would recommend it because it was an interesting mystery and I liked to know what was going to happen next and what it was all about. Just a warning that the ending might leave you dissatisfied, like it did for me.
March 29, 2016
This was an impulse buy with a giftcard from the holidays, but one I'm happy about. The Arabian setting, even an Arabian inspired fantasy, was vastly interesting. Of course we always hear about the intrigues of the harem, its all women and whenever you put together such a large amount of women in a place dedicated to ambition and ruthlessness there is bound to be fun stories to relate, but I think Mallet's take on the all those Princes in line for the throne is equally entertaining. Just like in any socially dominant setting groups are formed, cliques are found and the 'in group' pushes around the 'out group'. Only in this instance it doesn't pay to be in either group quite frankly since anyone could be a rival for the throne. Amir's approach to just hiding, staying low and blending in works perfectly well.
The novel does begin slow and tends to follow threads of storyline for a little while before a new one begins and it follows that one instead. Sometimes it will go back to the previous storyline quickly, but often several chapters run by without significant development on the major plot threads. It wasn't much of a problem for myself, since I read this in one sitting in a four hour period of time, but I could feel the frustration that others might feel if they read a few chapters, put it down and returned to it the next night. Some of the threads became so confusing and convoluted that I ignored them in favor of the more interesting ones. Such as the intrigues between all the Brothers in the Cage or the mystery that surrounded Erik, Amir's half brother.
The book is told from Amir's first person POV and ordinarily I don't like reading from a male's point of view. I can't get into it as well I suppose. Amir however is different--his silent observations and caustic remarks were amusing and kept me from feeling like I was swimming in male territory. Though he is labeled as nineteen in the book, I can't quite believe that much of the time. He acts more like he's in his mid to late 20's. As a character he takes a while to 'like'; he prefers the 'head in the sand' approach to life and keeps to himself mostly. This wouldn't be so bad, except he spends a lot of time acting more like a child who's been left out of a group then a loner who thinks its a better idea to be such.
The friendship he builds with Erik is fun and a little quirky as Erik definitely is more intelligent and personable of the two, but has no common sense and a complete blind spot to failings of those he cares about. The intrigue surrounding their Brothers' suspiciously magical deaths only occasionally pops up--usually just before one such Brother dies--and its resolution is part of the confusing and convoluted plotlines I mentioned. It makes sense, mostly, but to get to that sense you have to wade through a lot of petty half-secrets and explanations.
The only other complaint I have is that sometimes the author would have Amir tell us what has happened rather then have us view it as its happening. The adventure that prompts the second book, The King's Daughters, for instance is merely relayed to us as a momentary aside instead of seeing how the decision came about. Regardless I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the second one (which I also bought for christmas) and hope to see a third one sometime soon!
The novel does begin slow and tends to follow threads of storyline for a little while before a new one begins and it follows that one instead. Sometimes it will go back to the previous storyline quickly, but often several chapters run by without significant development on the major plot threads. It wasn't much of a problem for myself, since I read this in one sitting in a four hour period of time, but I could feel the frustration that others might feel if they read a few chapters, put it down and returned to it the next night. Some of the threads became so confusing and convoluted that I ignored them in favor of the more interesting ones. Such as the intrigues between all the Brothers in the Cage or the mystery that surrounded Erik, Amir's half brother.
The book is told from Amir's first person POV and ordinarily I don't like reading from a male's point of view. I can't get into it as well I suppose. Amir however is different--his silent observations and caustic remarks were amusing and kept me from feeling like I was swimming in male territory. Though he is labeled as nineteen in the book, I can't quite believe that much of the time. He acts more like he's in his mid to late 20's. As a character he takes a while to 'like'; he prefers the 'head in the sand' approach to life and keeps to himself mostly. This wouldn't be so bad, except he spends a lot of time acting more like a child who's been left out of a group then a loner who thinks its a better idea to be such.
The friendship he builds with Erik is fun and a little quirky as Erik definitely is more intelligent and personable of the two, but has no common sense and a complete blind spot to failings of those he cares about. The intrigue surrounding their Brothers' suspiciously magical deaths only occasionally pops up--usually just before one such Brother dies--and its resolution is part of the confusing and convoluted plotlines I mentioned. It makes sense, mostly, but to get to that sense you have to wade through a lot of petty half-secrets and explanations.
The only other complaint I have is that sometimes the author would have Amir tell us what has happened rather then have us view it as its happening. The adventure that prompts the second book, The King's Daughters, for instance is merely relayed to us as a momentary aside instead of seeing how the decision came about. Regardless I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the second one (which I also bought for christmas) and hope to see a third one sometime soon!
August 18, 2010
Laughably bad, and clearly never proofread. It's not a story, it's a random agglomeration of common fantasy/romance/mystery tropes, with nary an aberration to be found.
Also, such dialogue-attribution gems as "'Aaahhh!' I made."
Yeah. I'm just gonna leave that there.
Additionally, nearly all the main characters have the same four letters in their names. And one character CLEVERLY rearranges said letters for a different name, to preserve a not-very-secret identity. This gets annoying, and may also lead one to wonder whether one is reading about two, three, or eight people in a given scene.
Also, such dialogue-attribution gems as "'Aaahhh!' I made."
Yeah. I'm just gonna leave that there.
Additionally, nearly all the main characters have the same four letters in their names. And one character CLEVERLY rearranges said letters for a different name, to preserve a not-very-secret identity. This gets annoying, and may also lead one to wonder whether one is reading about two, three, or eight people in a given scene.
July 14, 2014
Good book, and a quick read for me. Entertaining, though the writing could have been better, and a good deal of editing would have been a great help. The author had a tendency to use 'definitively' rather than 'definitely,' and there were a few other, similar problems which didn't ruin the book but were a minor annoyance. Still, the story was decent, and it moved well. There's a sequel, and from the excerpt in the back of this book it looks like I'll read it if I find it somewhere. I'm hoping that after writing this book, the author will have learned a bit more about word usage, or the editor will manage to catch those mistakes.
July 13, 2009
It's clumsily put together, but I rather liked the setting -- the sultan's sons are forbidden freedom, and scheme against each other to win their father's favor.
Ultimately, though, this is a mystery/adventure rather than a story of intrigue. I wasn't so much interested in this mystery, alas, and reveals were too easy -- I lost track of how many conveniently eavesdropped-upon conversations helped save the thread of discovery.
Ultimately, though, this is a mystery/adventure rather than a story of intrigue. I wasn't so much interested in this mystery, alas, and reveals were too easy -- I lost track of how many conveniently eavesdropped-upon conversations helped save the thread of discovery.
March 18, 2010
Enjoy the mystery and intrigue of this book. Takes place in the time of the Sultans when a sultan would have so many sons, that they would be placed in a cage and would have to stay there until a new sultan was crowned. Interesting tale of the not-so-glamorous palace life where living as a prince was living as a prisoner. Enjoyed the storytelling.
April 3, 2008
I was looking for some fantasy fluff, but with more action or romance elements. This one mostly centered around a lame mystery. That's what I get for only skimming the description.
Not awful, but nothing special. It's her first book, and you can tell.
Not awful, but nothing special. It's her first book, and you can tell.
January 29, 2011
I expected to like a book set in a Ottoman haram analogue a lot more than I did. It was sort of meh. The ending was somewhat twisty but not entirely unexpected. However I don't believe she didn't any great injustice to the history, which I appreciated.
October 19, 2015
Wonderful read. I did not expect the ending at all. The only thing I had a hard time understanding was the progression of Rami's character. Some of it just didn't make a lot of sense. Very enjoyable, finished over the course of two weekends.
July 7, 2008
This book was very good, with many twists and turns to keep you guessing, I'm happy with this book and glad to say I am looking forward to more of Nathalie Mallets work.
May 15, 2012
Great mystery. Can't wait to read the others.
April 8, 2017
I recently reread this one after needing something light and a bit on the frothy side. Set in a vaguely mid-eastern world, this fantasy tells of a prince kept with his numerous brothers in a a very gilded prison, waiting for their father to die and one of them to become sultan. The problem for Amir is just staying alive, for it's a game of survivor take all -- he prefers to be left alone and very much unknown, thank you. But everything is about to change when he meets Erik, a fellow prince, and Amir finds himself in the middle of both treachery and magic...
For the longer review, please go here:
http://www.mylot.com/post/3051403/rev...
For the longer review, please go here:
http://www.mylot.com/post/3051403/rev...
April 25, 2017
Really liked it as a kid, wish I could do 2.5.
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