PRINCESS OF PROPHECY

This fantasy debut sees an independently minded princess battle against tropes to fulfill an abstruse prophecy.

Princess Maryan’s parents are constantly trying to betroth her to personally unacceptable but politically expedient suitors. The latest is Prince Mikhail, a “warmongering vampire” with a “lyrical and annoying” laugh. Rather than accede to an arranged marriage, Maryan secretly embarks on a quest to vanquish the prophesied Lich King and his undead army. Maryan knows that she’ll need companions to help her. Unfortunately, the prophecy was delivered in limerick form and is hard to interpret. She invites into her band of would-be heroes a knight who has “fallen on hard times” (Sir Humphrey), a captious chronicler of events (Cornelius), a “formerbarbarian” in fake furs (Gunthar), and a wizard with no magical abilities (Yang). Together, they must enter the Badlands and defeat the Lich King, but they must first pass through Bluntworth, a city whose mayor has chosen for political reasons to disbelieve all evidence of impending danger. To make matters worse, Mikhail has allied himself with the Lich King, and there’s a good chance the foul-mouthed ogres will follow suit. Against all odds, can Maryan and her friends win? Thomas employs an omniscient past-tense narrative, smoothly written, though relentlessly facetious. (Readers’ enjoyment will depend on whether they click with the author’s sense of humor.) The characters are high fantasy archetypes, distinguished by a puckish undermining of their traditional functions. The exception is Maryan, who is less a princess and more a modern teen, unblinded by clichés or expectations. While the book targets a general rather than exclusively YA audience, Maryan stands as a telling representative of youth triumphing over a jaded, corrupt system. As if to underline this point, Thomas takes the novel’s fantasy spoof element beyond genre and into a satire of the real world, first by using objects—for example, Humphrey’s electrically powered magic sword—and then by drawing an overt parallel between reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic and those of the people of Bluntworth when besieged by the Lich King. Thomas’ humor is all-pervasive, ranging from droll and throwaway to absurdist and bludgeoning. The story rattles along and will tickle plenty of funny bones—as long as readers are prepared to take nothing seriously.

Determinedly amusing; a playful swipe at the quest genre (and society).