Book Review / "A Lion's Pride" by P.L. Stuart

A Lion's Pride by P.L. Stuart

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“A Lion’s Pride” by P.L. Stuart is the fourth instalment of the epic fantasy Drowned Kingdom saga. And what a riveting instalment it is! From the first pages, the story pulled me in and held me in its grip until the end.

“… being a king is a cruel honour.” Othrun, the King of Eastrealm, has already learned this truth – multiple times. He had lost his royal privileges, rights to the throne, the hope to not only ever rule over any kingdom but to live long enough to try to fight for the throne – over and over again. He had to suppress his very nature – and he is a royal persona to the core – and to mingle with the commoners. He had to endure unspeakable hardships, holding his head bowed at times and his nose shut (my favourite episode in “The Last of the Atalanteans). And he had done all this without lamenting his fate. Quite the opposite, he had embraced his fate as it had turned out to be, and he acted upon achieving the goal, which always was front and centre of his existence. He is the King.

And still, “Happiness is secondary when you’re a king,” Othrun says to his son, who is yet to accept this truth.

After reading “A Lion’s Pride”, I persist in my opinion that Othrun is one of the most remarkable characters in modern literature. I commend the author for his bravery in creating a character so true to life in a fantasy setting. It becomes especially apparent in this book of the saga that if Othrun were different, it wouldn’t have come to the fourth instalment. He would have died in book one, or there simply wouldn’t have been a story for the author to tell us readers. To be a king, one should think like one. Which means, to think above and beyond everything that is personal, sentimental, and transitory. Othrun learns and accepts that even grief is passing when you have to deal with fundamental issues, on which the lives of the whole nation depend.

In the fourth book, we get to see all the facets of Othrun’s controversial personality. He is a warlord, a womanizer – over the three books, he has acquired quite an impressive romantic portfolio, to which he promptly added at the beginning of book four – he is also a king and a father. Some might find his attitude to his son’s dilemmas appalling, while I, yet again, applaud the author for having the courage to portray someone of Othrun’s standing in such a realistic light. He doesn’t do any illogical and silly things like banishing his progeny for not complying with his royal expectations. He loves his son and wants what’s best for him. It is only human that his and his son’s vision of happiness differ. He also doesn’t accept docilely the things incompatible with the future king’s path. These aren’t even prejudices or cruelty. This is… well, life. The reality of royals as it is.

Despite finding out from the mages the ugly truth that might destroy everything he holds dear – power, throne, privilege – Othrun chooses to move on. After all, as per his own words, “…a king does not acknowledge his imperfections publicly.” He proves to his overlords that he is indeed a great warlord. The battles he leads are epic and bloody, but Othrun seems to feel on the battlefield as comfortably as in his sumptuous royal quarters.

Othrun stays true to himself also outside the battlefield and the bedroom. What makes him a perfect king is his sixth sense in politics. He feels where he can gamble and where it’s better to stay behind the scenes and submit to those with more power. It’s true, though, that when it comes to Othrun, he only submits when he has a plan to unexpectedly rise and try to move even higher. “It takes true courage to betray someone who rules by right but has no right to be ruling,” he says to his faithful friend Centi, who, unlike Othrun, succumbs to the situation unfavourble to him.

For me, as a loyal admirer of P.L. Stuart’s incredible work in creating the world of the Drowned Kingdom Saga, reading this book was an immensely rewarding experience. With some long-held secrets revealed, shocking twists, and a colourful mix of enticing and formidable characters, “A Lion’s Pride” has both satisfied my curiosity and fuelled my interest to continue reading this series.

Book four of the Drowned Kingdom saga is rich with the author’s trademark descriptions, which transform a fantasy setting into a real one. There are political intrigues, battle scenes, and personal drama aplenty to satisfy even the most demanding and sophisticated fantasy genre lovers.




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A Lion's Pride