The story is very political, which is fine and normal in fantasy literature. It was the characters who disappointed me. Rohan's first few chapters introduced him as smart, capable and calculated. He wanted more for his kingdom than constant war, and seemed set to be a great literary hero. Unfortunately, his love for Sioned was not so beautiful. Like most of her male characters, Rohan's carnal urges overwhelmed his reason throughout the entire novel. His lust, or "Fire," for Sioned (and hers for him) seemed to be the driving factor in their relationship. Only a few times in the book did the characters think fond thoughts of each other that had nothing to do with their sexual relationship. That's fine and good for a married couple, but their relationship should have been based on more than sex. At the end of the book, I still don't really feel I know the characters and more worrisome, I don't like what I do know.Rohan is eventually kidnapped by Ianthe, Roelstra's oldest daughter. Roelstra, despite his mistresses, has not been able to get a son, and Ianthe wants to conceive one with Rohan. Before he marries Sioned, she sneaks into his tent and he realizes while groping her that she's not Sioned and kicks her out. This time, Ianthe drugs him and convinces him that Sioned has come to rescue him, and succeeds in doing the deed with him, hoping that he has gotten her pregnant. Then Rohan wakes up, is furious and starts beating her, and then rapes Ianthe. Meanwhile, Sioned has gone to rescue him, been put in the dungeon by Ianthe, and been raped by her men. Rohan and Sioned are allowed to leave because hey, Ianthe got what she wanted, and they hide in a cave when their horses get away. Sioned spurns Rohan's advances so he gets mad at her, and then all of a sudden, a few chapters later they're fine and lusting after each other like always. Ianthe gives birth to Rohan's son and Sioned steals him, killing Ianthe, intending to raise the boy as their own. Nevermind everyone in the kingdom could see she wasn't pregnant and is probably wondering where the kid came from.Dragon Prince is nearly 600 pages long, and during the last 100 pages, Rawn kept interrupting the action with long chapters full of strategy and soliloquy by secondary characters. That was fine during the first half, but not during the height of the action. I actually skipped around until I found the parts where the action continued and ignored the political ramblings in between. I still understand what happened at the end of the book, so it obviously wasn't that important. All in all, this book was okay. The action, basic structure of the plot, and the world-building were great, but the characterization sucked big time. There are more books in the series, and I won't be reading them. Too bad I bought this at Barnes & Noble instead of getting it from the library.
Romantasy or Fantamance?Dragon Prince, Melanie Rawn’s first novel, was ahead of the fantasy/romance genre curve in 1988. Rawn decorates an epic fantasy core story with romantic trappings, and it works, most of the time. The early medieval fantasy world of Dragon Prince comes to life in vibrant Sunrunner magical colors. The environments, especially the desert, are depicted in fine detail, capturing the reader with sensuous descriptions. The book has a few minor issues: recurring emotional imagery and a lack of depth to many of the secondary characters.The main characters are vividly drawn, but the spotlight on them is a bit tight. Everyone seems a little dim compared to Rohan and Sioned, and I suppose that is the novel’s romance side coming to the fore. The reader may get too much inside the head of the characters at some points. A lot of the narrative is filled with the internal monologue and deeply felt emotions of the characters. This tends to give the plot a stuttery feel as conflicts arise, characters ponder, then swoon or glower at each other, then ponder some more, then something else happens.The story is interesting, but not very complex. There is mostly one main thread of plot throughout, though there are many brief branches and callbacks. I think the story could have used a bit of pruning, especially since the general focus is so strong on the main characters. Any time a secondary character comes to the fore, it’s not very rewarding, as they tend to be more sketchy and predictable. The frequent callbacks and rehashing of characters’ feelings can be distracting, too. Although worded differently and often approached from different angles, some themes are visited repeatedly.Despite these issues, the plotting of the princes and the romance of the main characters is engaging enough to keep the pages turning. Dragon Prince is not for everyone, as it has far more romance and politics than action and adventure. Though few, the action sequences are lively and stimulating. I’m looking forward to checking out some of Melanie Rawn’s other books set in the Dragon Prince world, as I have a feeling that the later novels may be even better.
What do You think about Dragon Prince (2005)?
I feel rather betrayed by one of my favourite authors (Grace Draven) giving this 5 stars. I can understand why she likes it so much, it is well written and manages to weave several character threads in to an involved story without giving too much focus to any one in particular. Yet I found myself disliking most of the characters by the end of the novel and for me personally that always leads to a bad rating. Add that to the problems I had with the events near the end of the book and, well, it was not going to end well...For me this book was going quite well up until somewhere around the 70% mark, then it fell over a cliff and never managed to redeem itself in my eyes. Up until that point I'd been enjoying the (not so subtle) intrigues and how the characters felt like they truly influenced events around them, but I'm sorry, the entire concept of one of the protagonists I'm supposed to be sympathetic to hate-raping the daughter of his enemy is a massive big read X for me. Nope, just no, I am done. (view spoiler)[This goes double when the hate-rape involves the character also cheating on a wife they're supposed to be deeply in love with and utterly devoted to all so they can father an "heir of the body". Especially when the same character not long previously rejected taking a mistress solely to have an heir because they said it wasn't a big deal and was utterly repulsed at the thought of having sex with anyone but said wife, and has up to this point been an honourable and idealistic individual.The fact that the wife was so remarkably calm about her husbands actions and even planned the murder of the (admittedly pretty horrible) mother and to raise his bastard son as her own was another WTF-I-am-done moment. I forgot to mention this is after her husband tried to rape her in an "I have no idea what's going on anymore" scene.All this hypocrisy and descent in to barbarism seems to be because they assume the wife is barren, yet they're both under 30 (in a world where people are still sprightly enough to kill dragons at 60), have only been married 6 years, and I would say 3 miscarriages (with one of those being from surviving a lethal plague) and her not being pregnant under severely stressful circumstances (in a harsh and unforgiving desert environment) is not really concrete proof of anything. (hide spoiler)]
—Wyrdness
This was a re-read for me - I stumbled across the books in the used bookstore and vaguely remembered liking them. This book, and I assume the ones that follow, are for more adult readers based on the more complex plot, the murders and rape, and other adult themes.The plot pulls from Dune, certainly (desert power, desert prince in ascension, magical beasts that hold a secret), but stands on its own as its own world. The main characters are compelling and are more layered than the average fantasy novel. I admit to losing the thread of who is who with the lesser characters, but the main characters, and their main sub-characters, are well constructed and true.It's a very human book, for all that it's set in a fantasy world. People do what is in their natures to do, and carry that to the logical places these decisions go. But it's also a compelling book as it looks at power and how power can and will change who is wielding it.
—diane
The Dragon Prince is the story about a young prince who is unexpectedly thrown into the seat of power at a very young age. Throughout the story, Rohan struggles with balancing his ideals for peacefully ruling his desert kingdom and the unavoidable need to wage war against those who would threaten that peace. As much as it is about Rohan, it is equally about his wife, Sioned. She is a magic user, called a SunRunner, who's considerable powers are forbidden to be used to kill. However, as a princess, she must struggle with her own inner demons and the demands to use her powers against her oaths in order to aide and protect her husband.I found this to be an interesting novel written in a style that I'm not entirely used to reading. There is a healthy dose of action and war that I expect in a fantasy novel along with some political intrigue involving the new prince coming to power and working to institute his own ideals. Along with this, there is a lot of emphasis placed upon the developing relationship between Rohan and Sioned. This adds a nice depth to the novel, although at times it gets dangerously close to treading into romance novel territory!! WinkI think that this is one of the rare fantasy novels that will appeal to male and female readers almost equally.
—Stefan Yates
