REVIEW: The Prince Without Sorrow by Maithree Wijesekara
The Prince Without Sorrow is the debut novel by author Maithree Wijesekara. Its publisher, Harper Voyager, describes it as ”the debut fantasy sensation of 2025” and says it is perfect for Hannah Kaner and Samantha Shannon fans. That was enough information to pick it up and dive into this new world. That and the giant leopards and flying serpents also piqued my interest.
Set in the Ran Empire and inspired by Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Dynasty of Ancient India, The Prince Without Sorrow has two points of view that we follow. The first is the witch Shakti, a mayakari trained to commune with nature and do no harm. But the emperor has persecuted Shakti’s people for decades, burning mayakari alive (or worse) if he finds them. Choosing violence might be the only way Shakti can keep her people safe. The other perspective is that of Prince Ashoka, the youngest child of the brutal emperor. Ashoka has been raised to be cruel and cunning; his family sees his pacifist choice as weak and childish. Ashoka would do anything to tear apart his father’s legacy. But there is always violence in destruction, no matter how hard you strive for a peaceful resolution.
I enjoyed much of The Prince Without Sorrow. The comparisons between Hannah Kaner and Samantha Shannon feel apt, so if you enjoy their style, you will enjoy Wijesekara’s, too. The fantasy world in The Prince Without Sorrow is very promising, and I hope the reader will learn more about it as the series continues. As the first novel in a series, Wijesekara has built an excellent foundation for the characters and the world. The Prince Without Sorrow isn’t a chunky Priory of the Orange Tree size novel, and I look forward to more details as we progress with later books.
Wijesekara doesn’t entirely shy away from the darker elements in The Prince Without Sorrow; the descriptions of the torture of mayakari and his father’s treatment of Prince Ashoka were uncomfortable to read. But I wouldn’t put it on my grimdark shelf. The Prince Without Sorrow is a good fantasy novel with some darker parts and moral ambiguity. Wijesekara poses many ethical questions to the reader and leaves it up to them to decide whether they are acceptable. Is it permissible to harm one if that saves many? Is revenge right? Is it nonviolent if inaction causes further harm? The characters in The Prince Without Sorrow must face all these questions, as does the reader, and we are both still trying to decide the answer by the end of it.
Some parts of The Prince Without Sorrow left me wanting more, and I hope they will be elaborated on later in the series. For example, it’s never really explained why Emperor Adil is persecuting the mayakari or why he is particularly cruel to Ashoka and not his other children. Wijesekara does hint in the direction of these issues, though, and if I weren’t left wanting more at the end of the first novel in a series, then I’d have no reason to pick up the next. As a main character, I’m also not entirely invested in Shakti or Ashoka. They make good foils for one another, but I want a little more than ‘I’ve been raised to be a pacifist, but I don’t agree’ versus ‘I’ve been raised to be violent but want to be a pacifist’ to make me go in to bat for the characters. However, both characters are relatively young, and this is the opening book in a series, so again, I am hopeful this is a deliberate choice to set up the characters ‘ later development.
The Prince Without Sorrow is an auspicious debut and a fun exploration of a new fantasy world. I look forward to reading Wijesekara’s next instalment of her Obsidian Throne series. I want to thank both Harper Voyager and Maithree Wijesekara for sending the Grimdark Magazine team an ARC to provide this review.
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