August 2, 2013

Review: The Winter Prince

The Winter Prince Book One of The Lion Hunters
Written and illustrated by Elizabeth Wein
Available now from Open Road Media (orig. published in 1993)
Review copy

This is a little bit of a Retro Review for me, although not entirely.  I just about burst with glee when I saw that THE WINTER PRINCE and A COALITION OF LIONS were back in print.  Two reasons for this: 1) I needed a copy of THE WINTER PRINCE for my own and 2) Now I can spread the love more easily!  If the last three books come back into print that will just be the icing on the cake.  (Warning: do not read the fourth book until you have the fifth book handy.)

Hosted by Angie


Nowadays Elizabeth Wein is well known as the author of smash hit CODE NAME VERITY.  But once upon a time she was Elizabeth E. Wein, debut author of an Arthurian retelling called THE WINTER PRINCE.  Artos has three children.  Medraut, the oldest, is a illegitimate and cannot inherit.  Lleu, the prince, is beautiful and fragile and talented and spoiled.  Goewin, his twin, will not inherit either since she is a woman.  The children love each other, but there's also a great deal of resentment and hurt feelings between them.

THE WINTER PRINCE is written like a letter from Medraut to his aunt and mother, Morgause.  She's a cruel woman with a terrible hold on her sons, but at the same time almost understandable as a woman trying to grasp all the power a woman can have.  Medraut perhaps loves and hates her even more than her loves and hates Lleu.

There isn't much of a plot to THE WINTER PRINCE.  It's a book about a relationship, and two people coming to terms with who they are.  It's wonderfully written, Wein's prose lending the book a fittingly seductive and sharp beauty.  It's a little messy, just like it's protagonist, and swiftly covers a great deal of time.  It's one of those books that sticks in your mind long after you read it, and comes back to you immediately once you read the first sentence again.

It's just everything I want out of a book on the Matter of Britain.  And believe me, I'm an Arthurian geek and I want a lot.  It has questions of honor and what makes a good ruler, family and romance, and it's all bound up in insane episodes of cruelty, incest, and violence.  It holds its own with some of the greats of Arthurian legend, like Malory and Marie de France and Rosemary Sutcliff.

Let's all give a big hand to Open Road for reprinting this under appreciated classic.  They've done it quite nicely, with a biography of Wein in the back and illustrations prefacing each chapter.  The illustrations by the author have a nicely simple, old-fashioned look to them. 

14 comments:

  1. I need to read this! I have read the last two books, and enjoyed them, but never yet found the time to go back for the earlier ones...I've been reluctant because, for me, Mary Stewart's Arthur books are the Ones, and so nothing else ever quite works...

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    1. Mary Stewart's books are terrific, although I prefer these. But either way, they're very different looks at Arthur and thus not as inimicable as some versions.

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  2. This sounds interesting and I snorted when I saw don't read book 4 until you have 5 in your hands..that is always a promising sign! Wonderful review and thank you for sharing this rewind!

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    1. It is a promising sign. But partly it's because four ends on a cliffhanger, whereas the first three stand fairly well on their own.

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  3. I'm the illustrator! E Wein herself. Thank you for the lovely review! :D

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    1. That makes sense! Thanks for letting me know.

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    2. Open Road are adding an illustrator credit to the book. Funny that no one thought of it! I didn't even notice.

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    3. I only noticed because I've seen several novels lately where the illustrator credit was really hard to find, which I dislike. I always want artists to get proper credit!

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  4. This sounds wonderful, and knowing how popular Code Name Verity is is quite a recommendation on its own. I like that you read this prior to that release, though, your perspective is particularly interesting :)

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    1. It is a recommendation on its own, isn't it? I love how many older YA novels are being made available again.

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  5. I'm so excited to read this-if the writing is anywhere near the caliber of CODE NAME VERITY, I will be a very happy bookworm indeed!

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  6. I'm glad you decided to review this! EWein's Lion Hunters novels need to get more exposure. I was thrilled when I found out that the first two books are now available as ebooks. I'm just waiting for the last three books to come out in the same format. :) And hopefully, we'll get a new book in the series as well.

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