The Immortal Prince

Tide Lords #1

by Jennifer Fallon

When a routine hanging goes wrong and a murderer somehow survives the noose, the man announces that he is immortal. And not just any immortal, but Cayal, the Immortal Prince, hero of legend, thought to be only a fictional character, a figure out of the Tide Lord Tarot.

Arkady Desean is Amyrantha's expert on the legends of the Tide Lords. At the request of the king's spymaster, she is sent to interrogate this self-proclaimed immortal, hoping to prove he is a spy, or at the very least a madman.

Though she is set the task of branding Cayal a liar, Arkady finds herself believing him. And as her belief grows, her own personal web of lies begins to unravel...

Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Romance, Adult, Magic

585 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Fallon is the author of 17 full-length bestselling novels and a number of published short stories in genres ranging from horror to science fiction.

In addition to 4 complete fantasy series - The Demon Child trilogy, The Hythrun Chronicles, the Second Sons Trilogy,The Tide Lords Quadrilogy and the Rift Runners series - Fallon has written both a tie-novel and short fiction for the TV series, Stargate SG1, an official Zorro story, a novella for the Legends of Australian Fantasy Anthology and has a superhero - The Violet Valet (CHICKS IN CAPES).

Fallon has a Masters Degree from the Creative Arts faculty of QUT. A computer trainer and application specialist, Fallon currently works in the IT industry and spends at least a month each year working at Scott Base in Antarctica.

Reviews

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 4 out of 5]

➽ And the moral of this reread is: 99.456896% of the human characters in this book are so exasperating/enraging/aggravating/irritating/loathsome/slimy/obnoxious/nasty/take your pick that you wish they'd die a painfully slow and slightly excruciating death ALREADY. And yet, you find yourself having an absolutely scrumptious time reading about their despicable ways and evil shenanigans. That's Jennifer Fallon for you. The woman has a knack for creating thoroughly unlikeable and downright evil characters that you love to hate and can't stop reading about (if only to find out if/when they'll die horribly). And that is quite glorious if you ask me. Now let's dance and stuff.



👋 Until next time.

· Book 2: The Gods of Amyrantha ★★★★★
· Book 3: The Palace of Impossible Dreams ★★★★★
· Book 4: The Chaos Crystal ★★



[April 2018]

🗡Let's See How Much Malevolent Villainy and Evil Scheming Fallon Can Pack Into This One Buddy Read (LSHMMVaESFCPITOBR™) with my fellow BB&B Falloniacs Choko, Elena, Emily and Robin🗡

Actual rating: 4.38598744 stars.

Okay, this better not take long because I just finished The Bloody Shrimping Ninth Rain and need to start The Bloody Shrimping Bitter Twins now the day before yesterday so cut the crap to the max try I shall.

“What’s going on here? You’re supposed to behead me.” “The executioner’s on vacation,” the disinterested voice informed him. He’d killed seven men to get here. Seven worthless humans to get himself beheaded. And the flanking headsman’s on vacation!

This is quite outrageous, I must say! You skewer puny humans to get your lovely little lead a teensy bit chopped off, and the bloody headman is off frolicking our lord shrimp only knows where?! Totally unacceptable! Really, my Little Barnacles, if you thought it sucked big fishing time to be you (aka the most boring arthropods of them all) that's only because you've never walked in a suicidal, immoral, and slightly immortal prince's shoes. Now that is a real pain in the pincers as far as exoskeleton ache-inducing predicaments are concerned, if you ask me. And I think it makes our poor little Cayal—aka MY Suicidal One (MSO™), aka the guy who might quite possibly find himself a little bit locked up in MY High Security Harem pronto and stuff—kinda sorta feel a little like this sometimes:



You can stop hitting yourself now, dear boy. I have a feeling this won't help much in the kill-my-little-self-dead department, either.

So it is with much glee and joyful elation this Sorry No Beheading Today Thingie (SNBTT™) that this somewhat wondrous story begins. And it is somewhat wondrous. I think. I mean, how else would you qualify a most blissfully jovial tale about a bunch of evil, tyrannical, egotistical, cruel, a little batshit crazy, sectarian, backstabbing, full of themselves, bored, gloriously fished–up, scheming homicidal maniac-type immortals? Well, I guess you also could say it is moderately scrumptious. And relatively stupendous. And vaguely magnificent. Yeah, that too. Why use such superlatively superlative adjectives, you ask? Because what Jennifer Fallon of the Slightly Amazing Second Sons Trilogy (JFofSASST™) did here is create the Mostest Originalest Fascinatingest Complexest and Bestest Fleshed Out Immortals (MOFCaBFOI™) of them all. Yes she did. Not only that, the world this delightful charming clique evolves in is slightly luscious, too. Yes it is. Because magic in this world ebbs and flows like the tide: when the Tide is low, the Fairly Unbalanced Immortal Gang (FUIG™) lays, well, um, low and stuff. Biding their nefarious time and stuff. But when the Tide is high they have fun playing vile, malevolent overlords, more or less enslaving the pathetic plebe, generally making puny humans' lives hell and slaughtering them by the millions to pass time and stuff. Pretty much what I do day in day out, in other words. Which might partly explain why I liked this book a little and stuff.



Now, I know what you're thinking. "Poor puny humans, sob sob sob," you say to your little barnacled selves. Well worry you not for the humans in this story might be puny, but in Glorious Fallon Fashion (GFF™), they have nothing to envy the FUIG™ when it comes to scheming and lying and having secrets and ulterior motives, and being egotistical bitches and scumbags and stuff. Which is a little yummy, obviously. And you want to know what's even yummier? The puny humans are so vile they even have their very own slaves! How cool is that?! And the slaves are Animal Human Hybrid Thingies (AHHT™), too! And not your typical, lamely boring were-type creatures, at that! Nope nope nope. They are splendidly sensational spoiler spoiler spoilers! And I can't wait for them to turn on the puny humans and beat the fish out of them! Because ♫revolution♫ = fun times and stuff! Also, I want to kidnap adopt them all! Because they will make the best playmates for my murderous babies! And a great addition to my nefarious armies, too! Crasii for the win and stuff!



Now in case this wasn't marvelous enough, Fallon added: a reasonably smashing heroine who tells it like it is and has potential kick-ass abilities, a gay duke with a secret scumbag lover, a potentially harem-worthy spymaster, an inconspicuous old lady with lovely hair dye jobs, treacherous everything and everyone, lovey dovey crap I miraculously managed to survive, political intrigues galore (Glorious Fallon Fashion™ times again!) and bloody shrimping amphibian-towed ships. Also, barnacles. Whose presence alone justifies my rating, obviously.



Hey now, have some respect, will you?! Barnacles might be stupid, but they hold a special place in my black, withered heart. Sometimes.

➽ And the moral of this Jennifer Fallon Worked Her Evil Witchery Again Which Means that Robin and I Both Enjoyed the Same Book Again Which Means that the End is Near and We are All Doomed Run Puny Humans Run Crappy Non Review (JFWHEWAWMtRaIBEtSBAWMttEiNaWaADRPHRCNR™) is: Elena some squeamish barnacles I shall not name do not understand how one can be inexorably attracted to Slightly Vile Types (SVT™) well good for me and stuff because that means My Suicidal Cayal is Mine Mine Mine and stuff. The end. And stuff.



[Pre-review nonsense]

There were repulsively young characters in Fallon's Second Sons trilogy, but I liked it anyway. Pretty disturbing, huh? Well, let me tell you, my Little Barnacles, that momentary bout of acute delirium is nothing compared to what happened here. Because there is Disgusting Lovey Dovey Crap (DLDC™) in this book. BUT I LIKED IT ANYWAY.



See what the Wickedly Pernicious Author (WPA™) has turned me into?! Bloody shrimping Snow White on crack! This is totally unaceptable!

➽ Jennifer Fallon We Need To Talk Crappy Non Review (JFWNTTCNR™) to come.

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 What Would Cayal Do Stars

Jennifer Fallon is

You know when you read an author and love a series by them so you decide ‘Hey I’ll read something else by them from their earlier works’ and then you are so disappointed because the other series was better or both series seem the same? Well that was not the issue here at all.

I was impressed



This story so far is completely different than The Second Sons trilogy. I love the fresh take on immortals and what would happen when one ready to die but can’t.

There are so many great things going on and it was refreshing to get an immortal that wasn’t all good or bad but mostly in a state of ambivalence about everything. He has done some nice things in the 8000+ years he has been alive, but he has also done some completely atrocious things as well. It was great to listen to his story and remember that he is downplaying all the horrible things even as he tells you how horrible they were.

I like many of the characters. Arkady was probably my favorite. She is playing a part, her entire life a lie. She married a man, a duke no less to save her father. But he is a man with zero attraction to women and Arkady helps him keep his secret from the King and society.



I like them, they are a great couple. Sure they aren’t in love, but there is love between them and a great friendship. In this marriage Arkady gets freedom to study and learn and he gets a cover story so that he can diddle a dude without loosing face in society.

The mythos that is being created in this is fantastic. You have a set of immortals that when magic is in the world are terrible and pretty much make slaves of all human society. When that magic is gone they lay low and become forgotten until the magic tide returns. The Crasii (Animan Human Hybrids) are a very interesting twist to the story. The way they were made, the way they are treated by the humans as slaves and how dangerous they could be if they switched sides and decided to rise up against their masters. This could get good. Warlock and Boots are a great addition to the story and I really love them as a couple.

With great history to the story, multiple immortals in play, a cabal set on destroying them and an army of animal human hybrids this series has a lot of potential. If this is even a hint at how good the rest of the series is I am all in.

Looking forward to the next in the series.

The Gods of Amyrantha - Starting May 11th
The Palace of Impossible Dreams - Starting May 30
The Chaos Crystal - Starting Jun 15

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4.25 ***

First off, let me start by recommending that you guys read the awesome reviews of Sarah and Elena, before we continue with my humble opinion:) Great, right?

"...“Kyle Lakesh, citizen of Caelum. You are charged with and have been found guilty of seven counts of heinous murder…”
As opposed to any other sort of murder, Cayal retorted silently, his anger welling up. The headsman’s on vacation? Are they kidding me?"..."

This is how we are introduced to Cayal, a self-proclaimed Tide Lord, an immortal and very suicidal at the moment. The plan to get his head chopped off, so when it regrows he would be free of his past memories and start with no more guilt and regrets, has been thwarted by the headsman executioner being on family bereavement leave and the prison is left with the hangman and the noose. Sadly, none of his jailers realize that a broken neck and some anaerobic hanging would only inconvenience one of his kind, but the ultimate prize of death would still not be achieved. See, Ms. Fallon is not kidding when she creates her immortals - they are not only not capable of dying, but they regenerate no matter what, and their curse is true immortality .... and getting to live with yourself for all that time... And playing games of destruction and abominations with the other 21 immortals, perpetrating hell on the regular humans for fun and entertainment... Part of those 22 immortals are Tide Lords, those who are able to connect with the tidal magical energies which ab and flow with abundance or none at all... Many such high tides have come and gone in the past 8-9 thousand years, but for the last thousand in has been no tide, the magical energy that gives them their gods-like power missing from the world, and regular humans have had time to not only establish their cultures and power-structures, but have almost forgotten about the lords of the Tide and have relegated them to the mythology of the non-human slave races. Yeah, I mentioned how the bored immortals dabbled into abominations - yep, they created species of half-human, half-any animal they could think of hybrids, of which they mostly stuck with feline, canine, and some amphibian species, with which they had most success in producing thinking and obedient slaves. Those slaves called Crasii, are now working for the humans, but they remember and fear the inevitable return of their creators. ...

"..."The eagerness of dogs to please their masters was the reason the Tide Lords chose to blend dogs and humans into household slaves in the first place, Jaxyn knew."..."

I want to strangle that asshole!!! But I digress...

So, we come to the main characters. The Duke, Stellan Desean, next in line for the throne after the crowned prince, but with a secret that could get him executed in this culture. The Duchess, Arkady Desean, young, beautiful and smart, wants to be taken seriously as a historian, married for a while and no children yet on the horizon... Which leads us to Jaxyn, the handsome and very charming kennel master ( = slave master), who is the Duke's secret - his homosexual lover! *gasp*... Yes, in this culture, this is considered a crime worth a death penalty, so Arkady is Stellan's willing and knowing beard. Only the king and his spy-master, Declan Hawkes, a childhood friend of Arkady's, are starting to wonder if there is a problem in the marriage and are pressing for that much needed ducal heir. Declan comes by the household and asks Arkady, in her capacity as a historian and a mythology enthusiast, to go to the prison and speak with the already recovered from his hanging Cayal, who insists he is a Tide Lord and immortal and needs to be decapitated. The spy-master is concerned that he might be a Caelum spy, trying to generate some mischief with their kingdom as a retaliation to a perceived insult. Since we all know Tide Lords are a myth for the uneducated slaves...

"...“He suggested he might be willing to father an heir for me.”
Arkady didn’t even look up from her papers. “I hope you told him I’d rather have rusty needles stuck in my eyeballs.” ....

.... “Can I come to your room tonight?” “Only if you fancy being castrated.” “I’m serious, Arkady.” “So am I, Jaxyn,” she assured him, stepping away from his hand."..."

Ahhh, the beauty of attempting to create a ducal hair... I do love Arkady!!!

This book is full of court intrigue and machinations, not so much magic as of yet, but the tidal energy started to return as the books was ending. It is a set-up introduction to this world, and I think the author did an amazing job getting us hooked on the story and characters. I understand some of my friends feeling very uncomfortable with an otherwise smart and likable character falling in love or even lust with one of those monsters, especially since she is given the true picture of their depravity and mass murdering history, little-to-no consciousness and complete lack of empathy or care for anything or anyone but themselves. I got the same feeling about their immortal squabbles that I get when I watch the mega-movies about the superheroes, who get in a fight among each-other and destroy cities and continents without even noticing... What about the regular folks who have to pick-up the pieces and try to figure out a way to move on? We know how the world seems to stop when a major tragedy happens somewhere, those "squabbles" are hundreds of times more destructive, and people clap after "the good guy" wins... Ghhhhrrrrrr!!! Well, at least on the surface it looks like one of them is somewhat remorsefull and looking for a way to end it all for himself...

"...“Solitude is an interesting companion. It is both enemy and friend, comforter and tormentor. I spent a lot of time in Dun Cinzci's meat locker trying to decide which. Fortunately, when I tired of solitude, I had guilt to keep me company. Guilt is an even more interesting acquaintance than solitude, let me tell you. Solitude is a harsh but essentially benign attendant. Guilt, on the other hand, is a living, breathing creature, cruel and remorseless. It eats you from the inside out; devours what little hope you have left. It feeds on you, growing stronger with every accursed replayed memory, every useless recrimination." ~ Cayal, The Immortal Prince”..."

I will strongly recommend this book and this author to all those who love classic Fantasy with a bit of a twist. It is a world worth learning about!:)

Now I wish you all Happy Reading and may you always find what you Need in the pages of a Good Book!!!

[Elena]

Joy! This is exactly the kind of fantasy I love most: imaginative, pretty cruel and ambitious in its scope. We've just discoverd it and Fallon's world is already about to get a truly rude awakening: The Tide Lords are ready to make their comeback after long years of hiding, and you can bet they won't be gentle about claiming back what they believe is rightfully theirs (spoiler: everything).

Fallon's take on immortality is quite possibly the best I've read so far: and believe me, as an UF / PNR reader, I've had my fair share of immortals. But Fallon's are exactly what I'd expect some people randomly granted immortality would be like: a bunch of mindlessly cruel pieces of shit. Bored, petty, vain, immoral, lazy, mildly curious to test the limits of their powers but too indifferent and indolent to be serious about it, going through the motion of a life ultimately devoid of real meaning, bent on taking their pleasures wherever and however they can rather than build anything lasting or even slightly meaningful. Awesome! And believe me, Fallon doesn't shy away from anything: if you can imagine something absolutely awful, completely amoral, utterly debased - well, these guys did it over and over again. Then they did it some more, given that they have a lot of time on their hands. Listening to Cayal, the titular Immortal Prince, telling the story of his numerous and varied atrocities in such a dispassionate, matter-of-fact voice is a truly chilling experience.

The magic system is barely sketched so far - but Fallon tells us everything we need to know to fully appreciate the danger these immortal assholes pose to... well, everything, really: time and time again they plummeted civilizations back to the Stone Age, unleashing one catastrophe after another while bickering with each other. Too bad nowadays nobody believes magic to be real and the Tide Lords are all but long forgotten. Their elemental magic - and the source of their immortality - is Tide-based: men have been ruling for thousands of years taking advantage of the Vanishing Tide, when the magic leaves our world and the immortals are forced to lay low. Now the Tide is coming back and humanity is about to discover that maybe the silly old myths hold some truth in them after all.

Characterization is great all around and Fallon does a wonderful job diversifying the various species: humans, immortals and Crasii (an enslaved race resulting from the blend of human and animal whose nature, magical or the simple outcome of evolution, is at the center of the imminent power-shift and the war for supremacy that's looming on the horizon) all have their own specific voices.

I loved it.
So why that meager three stars rating, you ask?

Welll.

Ok, admittedly Fallon had a lot to do in this first book - introducing the worldbuilding, establishing characters' personalities and motives, setting in place future coalitions. I get it, it's just the beginning of a series that promises to have a very large narrative scope, lots of players, and high stakes for everyone involved.

But.

*rant spoilers below*

I could get over Stellan's blind love for Jaxyn. It isn't a particularly well-written piece of storytelling, in my opinion - especially since Fallon has previously established him as a smart, responsible, conscientious and practical man and Jaxyn as a dangerous, reckless, slimy weasel everyone but Stellan despises - but it has its merits: I'm definitely sympathetic of Stellan's situation - a gay duke in a country where homosexual relationships aren't "merely" frowned upon but expressly forbidden; I understand his need to have something of his own, be free to be who he really is and, just like everyone else, find love or simply a good lay; and the whole plot-line gave Fallon the chance to show us Stellan and Arkady's friendship and partnership, which was one of my favorite aspect of the book. Still, it could have been handled better, maybe by simply having Jaxyn be a slightly less obviously opportunistic piece of shit.

I can also get past the whole crazy, unbelievable plan Arkady comes up with for testing Cayan's claim of immortality and/or freeing him before Declan, the king's spymaster, can torture the truth out of him. It's pure OTT stuff and you can see it ending as it inevitably does from miles away, but it has some entertainment value nonetheless.

What seriously got all my hackles up - just ask my poor buddy-readers how much I ranted over it - is the Arkady & Cayal's romance. Not that I minded it, per se - quite the contrary, actually: I'm just baffled by the way it played out. I mean, that the guy you're lusting after is telling you how he spent the last eight thousand years destroying civilizations, murdering and enslaving people, raping countless women, unleashing the elements on the planet when in a bad mood, and giving birth to a race of slaves thanks to some horrifying bio-engineering experiments that required him to rape (again, yes: but we're told he was pretty gentle about it) his slaves, forcibly impregnating them so that, when the time was right, he could stuff a random animal fetus inside them and magically blend it with the human one... wait, where was I? Oh, yes - I'd expect stuff like this to curb a lady's enthusiasm, at least a little. Apparently, I'm a squeamish little chicken: Arkady is made of sterner stuff.

Because, honestly - I want you despite your potbelly.
I want you despite you being a serial rapist? Hmm.

There's a reason pnr authors are pretty evasive when they have to describe the hot vampire Viking's past, unless they're deliberately angling for a dark romance or something: no one wants to read how the romantic lead spent years gleefully raping underage peasant girls whenever the right mood struck him, no matter how realistic that is. It just doesn't put one in the right mood for kissy times. If an author wants to feature this type of backstory for one of her characters, I'd expect the gravity of it to be acknowledged.

Fallon decides instead to offer us a perfectly serviceable reason why Arkady can't take her eyes off Cayal's sculpted abs and smoldering eyes despite the horror(s) of his tale and why she's making her best heart-shaped eyes emoji impression rather than jumping out the closest window to escape him: we thought she was frigid, you see - that's what several characters implied anyway - but *collective sigh of relief because, seriously, a frigid woman? Ewww! Gross! Unnatural!* she'd been abused for years by a family friend. Hear that, people? Not frigid, severely traumatized! But now, faced with the Immortal Hunk, in the midst of a bizarre, potentially dangerous situation - and after reassurances that Cayal's pretty good in the sack - she's finally ready to leave it all behind! Hurrah!!!

Well, sorry but - fu*k this.
I simply can't take Cayal seriously as a love interest - not in the space of a three-day-long narrative, not straight after what he told Arkady about himself, and not simply thanks to the fact that Arkady thinks he's hot and his eyes are full of sadness; and explaining away what - to me, at least - seems like a weak, hardly plausible and forced romantic plotline with Arkady's tragic history of abuse is a cheap, lazy writing trick - one too often used. I'm getting fed up with authors turning to sexual abuse as a writing prop to get out of a pinch: think of something else to make your characters thick, people.

*end rant spoilers*

'kay, now that I got it out of my system, I'm all ready for book #2. What can I say, I'm coherent like that - I really shouldn't judge Arkady after all.

Read for the 2018 MacHalo Reading Challenge (aka MMFBCE™): Elementalist.

[Kitty G Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this book was recommended to me a while back by someone on Twitter (sorry I have forgotten who but I am very grateful) and I picked up the audiobook with the intention of getting to it at some point. I ended up getting to it sooner than expected as I hit a bit of a reading lull and wanted to try someone new and see if I would get into their work, and I ended up completely hooked into this story from the first few chapters and desperate to find out what will happen next.

First up, trigger warnings... There is rape, abuse, genocide, slavery and more in this story so it is not one for the faint-of-heart or anyone who is unable to deal with these sorts of topics, however, I think the author handles most of these topics very well and I enjoyed reading about them.

There is also a gay romance as a part of this story. I won't go so far as to say it's a great portrayal becuase the world is very much anti-gay relationships and the characters involved aren't completely 'nice' but the fact that it's there and it's something that some of the characters openly accept and think nothing of was nice to see.

Now moving on to what this book is really about. We follow a couple of different viewpoints, our main two being Arkady Desean who is a Duchess and Cayal who is the 'Immortal Prince'. We do get other viewpoints from time to time including Arkady's husband who is the Duke, Jackson who is the master of the Crasii in their Duchy, and the King's spy-master. However, I would say Arkady and Cayal are the key characters for most of this book at least.

What I like about Arkady is that she reminded me a little of Lady Trent from Marie Brennan's series of books in that she is a historian and a woman who is rather ahead of her time. She is determined to be looked up to by others, and hopes that her scientific and historic outlook and discoveries will achieve this for her, but in a time where men still dominate society she knows it's an uphill battle. Her marriage to the Duke is one more of convenience than anything else, so she is rather pragmatic and happy to ally herself with those who will give her a platform, but she also is able to stand tall and make her own decisions and calls based on what she thinks is right. This made her both refreshing and innovative as a female in fantasy, and I respected that.

Cayal is another enigma of a character because he claims from the start that he is immortal and when his death at the start of the book doesn't quite happen people begin to question just how he's fooled them and what he is. Cayal claims he is a Tide Lord, someone able to wield Tide magic when the Tide has risen, but currently it's low Tide and he has a hard time proving he is who he says he is. I found Cayal to be a fairly typical fantasy character, he has conflicted morals, he has done many terrible things, and yet he's likeable and fun to read about and you can sympathise with his story.

The world we're following is a fascinating one because although it has evolved much like our own there are all manner of new races which have been created, namely half-animal-half-human cross-overs such as the Canine and Feline Crasii. These races are basically enslaved by humans at this point in history, but it is believed that they were created by the Tide Lords and that they are compelled to serve their masters should they ever return.

We also have the Tide magic to play with, and as we unfold more of the story of Cayal's life we learn a lot about how the Immortals were created and what they have done with their magic as times have gone by. Being immortal tends to get a little tedious after many long years so fighting by moving seas and killing off thousands seems like a standard past-time for some...

There's also a lot of politics to contend with in this world. We have the King, who is related to the Duke and who is looking to marry is son off, we have the Immortals who are constantly warring and we have the Crasii society and their own hidden off-shoots which are working undercover. There are plenty of layers that get revealed as the book goes on, and I loved seeing how people and creatures were linked and how the world has been shaped up to this point.

Overall I was utterly enthralled by this story and I am keen to find out what happens next and amazed that this series is not more popular. I look forward to being able to follow the rest of the adventure in the next few books very soon and I am happy that it's a complete series (I think?) for me to whizz through! 4.5*s

[carol. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a struggle for me, from start to finish. The overall feel is a book that feels like it's paving the way for other, more exciting events in upcoming books. Most human characters were sort of stereotypical with a twist; the "ice duchess" and academic, intelligent, unaware of her perfect beauty and starved for love; the immortal "prince," who's actually the good-looking rogue who hasn't fully seen the error of his ways; the honorable duke, trying to do the best for the people under his care, who is hiding his gay lover. There is very little action besides talking for at least half the book, but a lot of court intrigue.

Magic is virtually non-existent, at least in the present timeline of the book. What is driving the story is the return of the Immortals, some of whom will be capable of magic--in the future. The concept of an immortal race living among a human one is not particularly new; it was done most notably by Roger Zelazny in Lords of Light. The premise is interesting, but for the most part, we meet the Lords through The Immortal Prince sharing memories with Arkady. Fallon's interesting twist is a tide of magic ebbing and flows. The lords, while immortal, they exist more like mortals in terms of magic or abilities while the magic is gone.

The other unique aspect to the story is the story of the slave race, although in actuality, its a number of 'species' for lack of a better term. Surviving in current days are the Crasii; canine, feline and amphibian like beings who are genetically programmed to obey orders of the Tide Lords. The exception is the Scards, who somehow have the ability to resist lords. Our perfect heroine and Duke already supported improved Crasii rights; once we realize they can also fight against lords, it becomes obvious that this will lead to a battle in upcoming books, with the potential for Crasii to gain emancipation.

Overall, while it might be written well, the high melodrama with very little fantastical elements (barring the Crasii, which aren't particularly original when you realize their animal natures are a philosophical prop) just isn't an enjoyable read for me.

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I broke my "e-book only" rule and ordered this because it looked like I would really enjoy it, and I did indeed! It has a great epic fantasy feel to it, but the characters are very well fleshed out and enjoyable. The conceit of these extremely dis-compassionate and capricious immortal figures was very intriguing, and all the "king-capades" (as I like to call this genre) were interesting because the characters aren't totally cookie-cutter. Will read the next two for sure! (FOR SOME REASON 2 and 3 ARE PURCHASABLE IN E-BOOK! GRR!)

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Immortal Prince by Jennifer Fallon
*****4.5*****

What happens when an eight thousand year old immortal is tired of living and wants to die?

That is the main premise of Ms. Fallon's first book in the Tide Lords series. I had read this series years ago but can't believe how much I had forgotten.

I didn't find that there was an excess of world building (at least not in the present) but the characters in the story were so fleshed out and real I loved it.

Cayal, the Immortal Prince, tries to have himself beheaded so that (even though he can't die - he is immortal after all) he would at least not be able to remember anything about his previous eight thousand years of life, and to him that's almost as good as death. The problem is, the headsman is on vacation of all things and so Cayal (posing as murderer Kyle Lakesh) is to be hanged instead. Well that just doesn't work for our Immortal Prince, hanging won't do anything. When he fails to die, an academic is called in by the King's spymaster to verify if Kyle is insane or not (being insane would allow him to escape another attempted killing).

Enter Arkady Desean - historian and strikingly intelligent woman with her own basket of pain and secrets. Arkady does not believe in magic, and certainly not in immortals who can wield it. She is called in to prove that he is not insane, but rather a spy for a neighboring kingdom. But Arkady gets far more than she bargained for when she can't seem to trip Cayal up on any of his story points.

The scope is vast, and I just know there is going to be some epic stuff happening in the next books. The Tide is on it's way back in, which means the Immortals who can wield the Tide (eight of twenty two if memory serves) will find their powers coming back soon and also their desire to rule the world.

With a mix of mounting political intrigue, strange hybrid animal-humans who are compelled to serve the Tide Lords and storytelling about how the Immortals came to be and what they have done over the course of thousands and thousands of years this was a book that I had trouble putting down.

I dock half a star only because some of the subject matter made me a little bit uncomfortable. Mass murders, forced suicides and rape all reared their ugly heads in this book and I never really like that sort of cruelty. It was refreshing however to see an authour who had really thought out her Immortal characters and made them very real. They were humans before and they are still humans now only they can't die. They are fallible and petty and even the best of them can be corrupted and then have eternity to live with the shame and the memories. I found the fact that the Immortals can in fact still be hurt but not killed to be really intriguing.

I highly recommend most of Ms. Fallon's works and look forward to reading the rest of this series with my friends at BB&B.

[joy *the clean-reader extraordinaire* · Rating 1 out of 5]

there is absolutely no reason for anyone to read my thoughts about this book, as this is going to be a RANT, not a review.

why on EARTH does half the the focus of this book have to be a homosexual duke? i mean, really, diversity in fiction is fine -- though a little forewarning would've been appreciated. but the whole situation is utterly ridiculous. he has a wife, who we are repeatedly told is the most beautiful woman ever, but he only wants his lover. the WIFE, on the other hand, is totally loyal to him, as well as being intelligent and understanding. in six years, they have not produced the all-important heir because despite marrying her, the poor poor duke just can't bring himself to do the necessary deed. are you kidding me? and his drop-dead gorgeous wife offers to do it in the dark, from the back, not making a sound... just to not disgust him????? what???? i'm sorry, but that just doesn't work for me. it was a sorry and unpleasant surprise to discover such over-the-top garbage in what looked like a decent book.


what a waste of a great concept and talented writer.

[A.R. Hellbender · Rating 1 out of 5]

I say this as an avid fan of Jennifer Fallon. I hated this book. The only reason I waited until almost the end to call it quits is because her series’ always get better after the first book. But never before have I given any of her books a rating under 3 stars.

The queer rep is terrible, in that literally only the people we’re supposed to dislike are queer, and it’s not portrayed very well at all, on so many levels.
We get one bisexual character who is a douchebag, and not with any real motivations, just to have a villain of some kind in the story. He is definitely the worst queer representation I’ve ever seen.
We also have a gay character whose wife knows he’s gay, is basically his beard, and tries to do what she can to get him to have a child with her for appearance’s sake. But he is so grossed out by women that he can’t even hold hands with one, & literally can’t. Even though she is his friend.
Misogynistic societal grossness aside, this is not how being gay works.

The women are treated horribly. I’m used to reading a lot of adult fantasy and historical fiction, so I’m pretty desensitized to the misogyny so rampant in those genres. But this is the literal worst I’ve ever seen.
The worst part is a young teenage girl who flirts with older men every chance she gets. She doesn’t have a POV, we just get the POV of the men, who slut-shame her nonstop in their internal monologue.
But this is far from the only mistreatment of female characters.

There is a lot of rape that is treated very insensitively. It’s not just the fact that there is rape, it’s the fact that even the heroes of the story seem to think rape is good for the woman like it is for the man.
The one time someone stands up for a woman being raped, it’s treated like a heroic act that no one had thought of before, when really it’s just...being a decent human.

This also has the most insensitive exploration of the theme of slavery I have ever encountered. There is a whole race of animal people who were brought into existence specifically to be slaves, and they’re enslaved for thousands of years. Even if it weren’t equating slaves to literal animals, the way it is portrayed would be insensitive.
Jennifer Fallon writes about slavery in her other books as well, and it’s nowhere near as insensitive as this is.
Also, there is a mention of beastiality. It happens off-scene and is just mentioned, but it’s SO GROSS.

Also, there are a lot of plot holes, POVs that are not needed, and a lot of boring backstory that adds nothing to the plot. The world building and the magic system are horribly arbitrary, and this book just sucked overall.

I’m not even going to read the rest of the series now, because even if the 2nd book is fantastic, it’s not really a good recommendation for my booktube audience unless someone wants to slog through this one and all of its insensitive commentary first.

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a massive fan of Jennifer Fallon since stumbling across The Demon Child trilogy when it got released in the early 2000s. It was a fun series. Her next trilogy, Second Sons, was even better! I've sat on the Tide Lords series for over a decade, as I was sure it would be great, and finally decided to pull the trigger on starting it this summer as I've been on a year long reading slump and needed something I could pretty much guarantee would be good to fill my free time over this summer month. The Immortal Prince did not let me down. It was another fantastic fantasy story set in a unique feeling fantasy world and filled with flawed but incredibly interesting characters!

The premise of the story is a ton of fun. A routine hanging of a dangerous criminal has gone awry in the Duchy of Lebek. The problem being the criminal just did not die and is now claiming it is because he is one of the immortal Tide Lords of myth! The Kings spymaster, Declan Hawks, enlists the help of his childhood friend, Arkady Desean, in the task of investigating the criminals claim. Local laws mean he cannot just be executed again without being deemed of sound mind. Arkady is a historian and the Duchess of Lebek so is sent to meet with the criminal in order to rule on his sanity and try to find out if he is a spy or foreign agent trying to sow dissent with his outrageous claims. Is the self-proclaimed "Immortal Prince" really one of the God-like beings from myth or just a very skilled and dangerous liar and con artist? Arkady aims to prove the latter but while listening to Cayal's claims she finds herself drawn to him and is faced with the fact he may know more about local history and legends then she does!

It was a fantastic tale. Fallon has a simplistic and direct but incredibly readable and compelling writing style so it is always very easy to get sucked into one of her stories and this tale delivered a fantastic unique feeling fantasy world and a host of interesting characters that all had their own individual flaws, motivations, and goals.

The world of Amyrantha was a well crafted one. As well as the humans the world was populated with half-human hybrids of various species of animals. They all had their own individual species related traits and rivalries but where treated as slaves to the humans in Amyrantha. With the myths of both the humans and the Crasi claiming they were created by the Immortals to serve.

The interesting world was backed by equally interesting characters and a compelling story. Arkady was the main character in the story but the tale was told from multiple different POV's. As well as Arkady we got the POV's of the spymaster Declan, Arkady's husband Stellan (a man with his own secrets), and of Warlock (a dog Crasi who was imprisoned in the cell opposite Cayal), and some others including Cayal himself! The multi POV perspective helped flesh out the characters and added a ton of depth to the story.

All in all this was absolutely fantastic and every bit as good as I anticipated it would be. I've no idea why Fallon is not much more popular in the genre!

Rating: 5 stars

Audio Note: John Telfer does an excellent job narrating the audio!

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought The Immortal Prince in Australia during summer 2007. I was looking for something that looked undemanding enough to make for good travel reading and also carried the store's "local author!" tag. I hadn't heard of Jennifer Fallon before, but the first chapter seemed nicely written, so I picked this up.

The Immortal Prince felt like the first book in a series (and it is) -- the plot is just beginning to unfold, there isn't any great emotional crescendo, and the ending is left wide open (though it didn't feel very cliffhanger-y). Nevertheless it was an enjoyable story with some clever worldbuilding and plot elements; I definitely felt the series was going in a good direction.

Unfortunately the book won't be released in the States until 2008, and who knows when the rest of the series will be published. Anyone traveling to Australia soon? :)

[Lina Al-Midfa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked Jennifer Fallon's work, then you'll definitely enjoy The Immortal Prince.

Looking forward to a decapitation execution, Cayal (The Immortal Prince, or so he claims) wants to die. Guilty for the murder of seven men, his fate is sealed. He is to be executed, but unfortunately, the executioner is on vacation, so he has to settle for a normal hanging.

When the hanging goes wrong, for Cayal simply does not die, he is sent to Lebec Prison; Recidivists' Row, reserved for the most dangerous criminals in the continent of Glaeba.

Here is where the story starts to unravel, when the Duchess of Lebec, the Lady Arkady Desean, an expert historian, is sent to interrogate Cayal and find out if he truly is who he claims to be.

If you want to know more, then you better go and buy the book! Trust me you won't regret it if you're a fan of Jennifer Fallon. And for those of you who haven't read her work, then I would suggest starting with her Demon Child Triogy. The first in the trilogy is Medalon.

My favourite character in this novel however, is without a doubt, Cayal. The story goes back and forth in time, Cayal's past is revealed while he is being interrogated by Lady Arkady. And what a past it is, from how he became immortal to the successful breeding of the Crasii slaves. His story touched me, in more ways than one, making me turn the pages faster than I thought I would. He introduces us to some unforgettable characters with some surprises along the way.

The great thing about it is I can't wait to read the second in this quartet, The Gods of Amyrantha.

Read this book, you won't regret it.

[Damali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to give a Fallon book three stars, but there it is. I was hoping this book would get me out of the funky mood I've been in, but it didn't. So, is it me? Am I just not in the mood to accept a new series? I can't even really point out any hufw flaws with this book. I didn't connect with any of the characters. I didn't like the way it was set up, that it kept going back in the past, in a first-person narrative, but I wasn't allowed to experience or be a part of the story. Arkady kept going back to the prison to visit the immortal prince. Sigh. There was a side story with the Crasii that was sort of interesting, but it panned out to nothing. Even when the Immortal Prince was talking about how they created them, I didn't feel connected. When there were certain revelations and some of the characters hooked up, I still felt empty. The story wasn't that interesting.

The Second Sons Trilogy and the Medalon series were both action-packed with interesting characters that I could both love and hate. Everyone was always dashing off everywhere. There were wars, so much political intrigue that I was rubbing my hands together in anticipation. Second Sons, the plot was so perfect that I'm still wondering how she did it.

This book had none of that. Oh, well. I'll have to check out her other series when they become available in ebook form. And I'll finish this series. Just not now.

[Aleshanee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Auf den ersten Seiten war ich noch etwas unschlüssig, weil es ein bisschen sehr "jugendlich" daherkam, aber das änderte sich relativ schnell, denn ich war bald von der Geschichte um den unsterblichen Prinzen gefangen. Sein Name ist Cayal und er lebt schon seit über 8000 Jahren in der Welt von Amyrantha. Außerdem gehört er zu den Gezeitenfürsten, die große magische Macht besitzen - allerdings nur, wenn Flut ist. Seit einigen Jahrhunderten ist allerdings Ebbe im Gezeitenstrom, so lange wie noch nie, und Cayal ist an einem Punkt angelangt, an dem er alles versuchen würde, um endlich sterben zu können.

Dabei trifft er auf Arkady, die Frau des Fürsten von Lebec. Während er sie zu überzeugen versucht wer er in Wahrheit ist erfährt man auch viel über Arkady selbst, wie es sie an den Königshof verschlagen hat und welche Lügenkonstrukte das Leben der Figuren beherrscht. Denn die Wahrheit scheint in diesen Ländern gefährlich zu sein und jeder von ihnen birgt das ein oder andere Geheimnis.

"Einsamkeit ist eine harte, aber grundsätzlich gutwillige Gefährtin. Die Schuld dagegen ist wie ein lebendes, atmendes Wesen, grausam und absolut gnadenlos. Sie zerfrisst dich von innen und vernichtet auch die kleinste Hoffnung, die dir noch geblieben ist." Zitat

Diesen auf die Spur zu kommen und vor allem der Vergangenheit Cayals zu folgen und in seine Erzählungen einzutauchen hat unheimlich viel Spaß gemacht. Man erfährt Stück für Stück mehr zu den Charakteren, aber auch zur Magie, den Umständen und Intrigen und wie letztendlich alles zusammenhängt. Sehr genial aufgebaut, mit einer erfrischenden Schreibweise die angenehm zu lesen ist und in der auch der Humor nicht fehlt.
Dabei ist zum Teil auch eine grausame Welt, wenn man sich die Versklavung der Crasii ansieht - tierische Mischwesen, die ihr Leben im Schatten ihrer Herrscher fristen und auf schmerzliche Weise in ihre Untertänigkeit gezwungen werden.
Einer von ihnen ist Warlock, der noch eine besondere Rolle spielt und den ich sehr ins Herz geschlossen habe.

Die Bezüge zu den Tarotkarten und den Gezeitenfürsten fand ich sehr cool und wurden hier zwar nur angeschnitten, haben das Bild aber insgesamt abgerundet und einiges erklärt, wie das Wissen über die Jahrhunderte überdauern konnte. Denn während der kosmischen Ebbe halten sich die Unsterblichen sehr bedeckt, da sie ihrer Macht beraubt sind und ihre Herrschaft geriet dadurch natürlich in Vergessenheit. Der Glaube an sie fast verloren gegangen - aber eben nur fast, denn schon im Prolog erfährt man, dass es eine Geheime Bruderschaft gibt, die dieses Wissen weitertragen.

Ein anderer Aspekt der Untersterblichkeit der Fürsten ist natürlich: wie lebenswert ist es, wenn man eine Ewigkeit vor sich hat? Wird man nicht irgendwann dem Leben überdrüssig, wenn man schon alles gesehen, alles getan, alles gelernt hat, was es auf der Welt gibt? Ist es nicht doch die Begrenztheit unseres Lebens, die uns den Sinn und die Bedeutung gibt, so dass uns jeder Moment wichtig ist? Wenn man keine Angst mehr vor dem Tod hat - fehlt einem dann der Mut zu Leben?

Insgesamt geht es vom Tempo her eher ruhiger voran, aber man erfährt so viel über diese Welt und vor allem auch die Figuren, die man immer mehr ins Herz schließt, dass es zu keinem Zeitpunkt langweilig war. Ein paar kleine Ungereimtheiten sind mir aufgefallen, was aber auch daran liegen könnte, dass ich noch nicht alles ganz durchschaut habe ... jedenfalls bin ich sehr begeistert von dem Auftakt und freu mich schon auf die drei weiteren Bände!

Die Cover der Ebooks, muss ich anmerken, gefallen mir ja leider gar nicht. Da waren die Taschenbücher um einiges schöner, die aber leider vergriffen sind. Warum es als Jugendbuch deklariert ist weiß ich ehrlich gesagt auch nicht, denn ich würde es eher zu den Erwachsenenbüchern einordnen.

Fazit: 4.5 Sterne

Weltenwanderer

[Lorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was the trouble with hiding for a thousand years. People forgot about you. Or they twisted your story around so much they turned you into a myth; they scorned your very existence until you began to wonder if you were real, or just a figment of your own imagination.

In this fantastical world, Jennifer Fallon blends fantasy, magic, romance and politics together to form a wonderful and fantastical story. With great characterization this story really comes to life. It's the first book in the series and there is not much adventure in itself or even epic fantasy in this book, the exception being Cayal the Immortal Prince's stories. The main focus of this first book is on introducing the reader to this world and to the history of the Tide Lords, which Cayal narrates as the story progresses to Arkady, the Duchess of Lebec who is tasked with proving Cayal as a spy of a rival country.
The reader is introduced to the politics that govern this world, their history and their belief system, the social dynamics that make up this world and of course their legends of the Tide Lords. It does however lead up to an amazing setting for the rest of the books.

Cayal the Immortal Prince is weary of his immortality and seeks a way to die, or at least to lose his memories. He plans to get himself beheaded, but is hanged instead - which he survives.

Only an optimist would think it possible for an immortal to find a way to die.

The twist of an immortal, who wants nothing more than to be mortal, is rather original and an interesting perspective. There is also a great deal of romance between Cayal and Arkady, whose stubborn belief that the immortal Tide Lords are nothing but a legend, gets rather annoying after a while. Another interesting story arc is that of the crasii, a magically blended race of human and animal, which were created by the Tide Lords specifically to be their slaves.


All in all I enjoyed this book, even if it was at times a little slow, and I will definitely be reading the second book that has an amazing premise:

In this world the Tide Lords, with their immortality and god-like powers, have been written off as nothing but a legend, as they have been in hiding during the "low tide" during which they are powerless. This however, is about to change as the tide changes.

“We’re not the ignorant fools our forefathers were, just waiting for the immortals to come along and show us the way. They’ve been gone a very long time. We’re smarter now, more capable of defending ourselves against them.”

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a complete cheesy romance. I don't think I've ever read a "romantic fantasy" before so maybe I'm being a bit too hard on the genre, but really. The whole book was 100% predictable to the point of being laughable. The characters were absolutely one dimensional with little to no depth. Any time the story would start going anywhere, there would be a chapter or two of reminiscing in the midst of it, making me feel like I was taking one step forward and two steps back the whole time I was reading.

As for the story, here you go:

Perfect but downtrodden female finds a perfect but suicidal male who has some outrageous claim. Perfect female is determined to disprove perfect male's claim but ends up falling in love instead.

That's fine and good, if you like that kind of thing, great. Good on you, but this had to be one of the most depthless books I've read in a long, long time. Maybe I just don't see the art in it. I didn't even think the writing was that great.

If you are a romantic fantasy fan, you'll probably like this. As for me, it left me with a sour taste in my mouth and wishing I could get a few hours of my life back.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

For such an interesting premise - immortals, magical powers, werewolf type creatures - this book was so fucking boring I am appalled I finished it. There is rape. Consistently. Everywhere. A race of people bred to be slaves, but they like being slaves, so it's okay. If they disobey commands they get killed. In the end, they're just animals, tbh.

The Immortal Prince himself is aggressively underwhelming in every single aspect. He's so boring. Bored. Eight thousand years old and he's just so bored. Nothing happens! He's done everything! Life is underwhelming! Someone once told him how to travel to different galaxies but he didn't pay any attention, but life is just so boring, he's seen it all, done it all. He spent twenty years having sex with slaves but he has better things to do than rape anyone.

The overall plot line isn't so much as unbelievable as just dull and blandly confusing. The character motivations make next to no sense. Just all of it. Awful. I hate it. Don't do it.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book, and it was really hard to put down

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah damn. I was hoping it would at least be a guilty pleasure after the first 15%, but no. Too many things are cringy and don't sit right. Why make a subplot of the main character being lavender-married to a duke? Why make him unbelievably passive, naive and very stupid, only likeable as a sort of pitiful puppy? Why also make his horrible, blatantlu golddigging, callous live-in boyfriend a POV character? Why make Arkady needing to provide an heir but the duke not being able to BECAUSE OF HIS ORIENTATION a point of drama? The book is so stuffed with different POVs, the author hardly ever gets to the interesting, but still awkwardly executed immortal demigod part. And don't get me started on the chimeric slave race. The rest of the cast need to learn from Arkady to treat them decently, really?

Ugh. 150 pages of sheer, unrelenting letdowns. And to think, the premise is such a lovely one. I'd love to read something like that, but this is not it.

[Solseit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a unique beautiful book.
It has world building (and the type I like, with both gods and magic, although at the early stages of magic); it has races other than humans (and the brutality of their creation is conveyed at its fullest); it has interesting characters (including their secrets that push the narrative).
It was so quirky in the first two thirds of the book. And then it suddenly became a much more serious affair.

I am struggling with the rating though. I really want to give it 5 stars because of the enjoyment and I felt that there is so much value (for a fantasy reader of my taste) in this book. Yet, am I giving it 5 stars out of gut feeling alone? I’ll think of it. If not 5 stars, it is a 4.5 stars for sure!

[Miss Naseweis · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 50%. 300 pages of a little banter and Cayal telling Arkady about how he became a tide lord. Three. Hundred. Pages. I'm all into character and world building, but nothing effing happens. The characters feel likeable but oh so shallow, otherwise I probably would've finished this book even without much happening. But this is just so mind-numbingly boring. And don't get me started on the Crasii (a race bred for slavery and nobody questions this) and the 'chemistry' between asshole Cayal and Arkady, it made me want to puke.

[Mihir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series which I have liked and the first book is very deceptive in its approach. The story begins by introducing the readers to Arkady, Stellan and Cayal. Ordinarily this would be a run-of-the-mill fantasy that I would avoid like the plague, but with this being written by Jennifer Fallon, it takes on a whole another level.

This book is set in a world wherein Immortals ruled the world and threatened its existence many times over. These immortals are called Tide Lords and Cayal says he's one of them. This sets the stage when he's threatened to be executed and the execution doesn't go as well as planned. Arkady is brought in to take his confession and possibly evaluate him mentally. Then Cayal recounts his past and thats when the story truly gets crazy.

An awesome story that has many clues planted within the story and readers should pay close attention as they will come into play in the later part of the series. A terrific opener and one which is deceptive and yet alluring. Read The Immortal Prince (and the rest of the Tide Lords series) to see why Jennifer Fallon is such a terrific storyteller.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little wordy would be my complaint. The beginning dragged, especially with so many different characters introduced at once.
Still, an interesting concept of magic (the whole tide thing sort of makes sense) and the storytelling overall was pretty good. Okay, fine, I kept thinking Time Lord instead, but that's me. For now I'd say this is a bit above average fantasy, but that could change with the next book, depending on how the author handles it.
Also, don't like the anthromorphs. I just don't.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting world and an independant female protagonist are dragged down by a glacial pace. While the stakes present in the threat revealed are high it never really feels that way. I have no real complaints about the writing or the world building here; this is a book I really just failed to connect with on any meaningful level.

[Rhian · Rating 1 out of 5]

*** Some Spoilers Below ***

I tried with this book, I really did.

I just couldn't go any further when the sob story came up of the Illustrious Immortal Prince Cayal, aside from previously being a monumental murderous dick-bag anyway, admitted he raped countless women for the sake of some vile, magical, utterly repulsive experiments - including what I can only think of as bestiality - and then the author seems to give the impression that we're supposed to feel sorry for this jack-wad.

He basically said 'if I didn't rape them, someone else would have' only in different words. And let us not forget the (honest to God) legitimate quote, straight from the page, 'I shook my head, convinced that, however unpalatable the act, killing the six year old girl might be the most sensible thing I'd done in years.' - Prince Cayal our Hero of the Day. True, he didn't kill her in the end, but only because he found out she was his daughter. Probably from someone he raped. Wow. I am astounded by the selflessness. Incredible. Gosh.

I remember reading and greatly disliking her Medalon series, but it was such a long time ago I couldn't decide if it was the books' fault, or more because of personal issues I had with the content that disturbed me. I don't think I can read any more of her books now, though.

I'm also incredibly tired of fantasy books including extreme misogyny and homophobia as a rule. I just don't understand that, when you can make up a completely new universe where anything is possible, you would choose to include such things as The Norm. Yes, I know that it is something we still deal with in our own reality on a daily basis, and it can be interesting or inspiring to see characters overcome these painful social stigmas. But when these situations ultimately result in death or extreme hopelessness, merely for the want of being accepted, I don't see much point in dragging it on.

I thought I'd give this one a go, at least, but all it has left me feeling is greatly disappointed, furious, and now I have a persistent sick feeling in my stomach. Grand.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I though this was a great start to a new series about the Tide Lords, immortals that have been out of power and sight for so long that the human population of the world doesn't remember they exist. It reminded me a lot of Greek and Roman mythology where the gods squabble with each other and wreak havoc on humans in the process.

Much of the plot revolves around Arkady Desean, an academic and wife of the Duke, trying to figure out if a prisoner who didn't die at his hanging is really insane or an immortal as he claims. Add to this Declan Hawkes, the King's spymaster and an old friend of Arkady, her husband Stellan's secrets, a slightly boneheaded prince, a secret society, and the half human/half animal Crasii and you have an interesting mix of characters and plotlines.

This book started out a little slower than what I remember of Fallon's other series. While it was a good introduction to the characters, world, and legends that are necessary for the series, I would have appreciated a little more action as opposed to political maneuvering. However, in the last fourth of the book, the various plot threads come together to set up what should be an really intriguing series.

And after looking here I'm a little irritated that I'm going to have to wait a until July for the next book and then a year for each of the next 2 books when they're already published in Australia!

[Bryan Giger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent start for the Tide Lord’s quartet. Here, Fallon blends as great deal of magic, romance, and adventure plus her signature touch of politics together. The book also has a plot that I have never read before. The Immortal Prince is a book that would keep the reader guessing at its many unexpected twists and turns.
The opening paragraph of the book already captivates the reader with its unique storyline. Cayal the immortal prince of legend was looking for a way to die or close to it so he commits a crime that would land him on the chopping block. At a turn of events, he gets hanged and survives it. As a result, Cayal lands himself in a maximum security prison cell with a crasii (type of slave) named Warlock in front of him. This is when the duchess, Arkady, who is an expert in history goes to talk to him and undo his story. During her visits, Arkady becomes more and more exasperated as she cannot find any faults in Cayal’s story while Warlock confirms its authenticity. Arkady then becomes captivated by Cayal that she eventually releases Cayal from his prison illegally to prove his claims. This is when all hell breaks loose.
As the story unfolds, the many pieces of the puzzle slowly and subtly fall into place, as it dawns understanding on the reader. This feature would keep the reader’s eyes glued to the book from start to end.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, sadly I finished the first book in this series. Mostly because I enjoyed it until the end. I really didn't want it to end. I did guess some of the twists, but some of them I didn't see coming, too much.

Her main character, the Duchess, does quite well in defining herself through the book. Or rather, it's trying to define herself as an academic, and prove herself, in a world filled with men thinking woman are good just for babies. But factor into this the fact that magic is real, and the man she is questioning isn't insane, but in fact a Tide Lord able to manipulate magic like a demigod. Well, it is a mixture of myth turned real. Even if the myth is made-up for a made-up planet/world.

I liked this one as much as her other books. I really like the way her writing pulls you through the story. You can't put this one down if you like Romance Novels. It is a blend of a good romance and a fantasy book. I've already placed the next in the series on order. Hope it comes soon.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book.

From the first scene in chapter one where Cayal is being hung you can't help but want to know why. Fallon is a master story teller who has mastered the skill of telling a story across multiple time frames and points of view.

The gripping political intrigue adds to the mystery surrounding the Immortal Prince and drags the reader in.

The love story is touching and the character responses to situations are fully believable. Even the creation of a semi-human race didn't detract from the plot as it was created in a way which didn't focus on the strange fantasy but rather on the interplay between the characters.

The only subtraction from this novel was the "reveal" about Janyx. It was pretty easy to pick.

I will certainly be looking for book 2.