Immortality is often portrayed in literature as ultimately a desirable goal, as depicted by the elves, faeries, angels, and even vampires. Those who have lived forever are often wiser than the mere mortals and are determined to use their gift for the good of the planet and help those less fortunate. Of course, immortals, despite their potential to live forever, are nevertheless vulnerable. Tolkien’s elves can die through war wounds or a broken heart. Meyer’s vampires need to be beheaded and burnt. Pagan gods and goddesses will diminish and fade once humans stop believing in them. However, what does it mean to be truly immortal in every sense of that word? If nothing and nobody can kill you, what do you do then? In her novel, “The Immortal Prince,” Jennifer Fallon explores this question through yet another creative and original tale that forces readers to question all their previous presumptions about life, politics and of course, immortality.
While everybody, both in literature and in reality, want to be immortal and use all the time in the world to pursue their interests and avoid the inevitable fate of death, Cayal desires just the opposite. Being immortal is not how we all imagined it. With no one to judge you and your actions, the immortals on Amyrantha, the Tide Lords as they were called, never have to fear or care about the consequences of their actions. During the peak of the Tides, when their power is at their highest, this pack of immortals can turn an inland-sea into a desert, sink an entire continent into the ocean and even experiment with countless humans to create new species of slaves. It doesn’t concern them that their actions will kill thousands if not millions of humans. After all, when you are destined to live forever, nothing is going to affect you.
After living for over eight thousand years, Cayal has witnessed and participated in more despicable acts than he cared to remember. He need a way to escape from it all. Since he can’t be killed, Cayal seeks the next best thing: the removal of all his memories through a beheading. To do it properly (to minimise pain, of course), he seeks the service of a headsman. How? Find a nation that is not very lenient towards murderers and kill seven innocent humans. However, on the day of his execution, instead of a sharp axe, Cayal got a noose tied around his neck. Apparently, the headsman was on vacation. What are the odds of that? Despite his protestation that a hanging won’t work, nobody listened.
As Cayal cynically predicted, while the hanging did break his neck and crush his larynx, he was still alive. When they loosened the noose, he could immediately feel his body begin to repair itself and within a day, it was as if the whole incident never happened. Despite what they saw, the officials didn’t believe his explanation that he was the Tide Lord and not just any tide lord for that matter, he was Cayal, the Immortal Prince. However, with the Tide low, he couldn’t perform any magic to prove his identity nor did he know where the other immortals were. While the officials, namely Arkady the Duchess of Lebec, investigated his claim, the Tide is coming in and soon, the other Tide Lords will crawl out of their hiding spots to rule the world once more…
Few novels have made me think as hard as I did with this epic tale and nothing is ever predictable. Twists occurred throughout the novel (watch out for the big surprise in the last chapter before the epilogue) and they will keep you guessing right to the end. Cayal is no perfect hero nor is he an ethereal being. Perhaps that’s why readers connect with him despite all his previous despicable acts – because he’s human, like us. All the other characters are just as realistic and full-of-life so you can never tell who is going to play a major role later on.
The world Fallon created is like no other but parallels between Amyrantha and Earth are cleverly hidden within the text, making the serious philosophers among us ponder upon the state of our world today and the not-so-serious readers giggle with delight. This is no typical fantasy novel and with the Tide coming in, readers have no idea what is going to happen once the Tide Lords reach their full potential.
The best thing?
The Tide Lords series is already complete. So eager readers do not need to wait for the next three instalments: “The Gods of Amyrantha”, “The Palace of Impossible Dreams” and “The Chaos Crystal.”