Three Princes

by Ramona Wheeler

[inlibrisveritas]

3.5 Stars

Three Princes is a quick venture into the question of ‘what if ancient Egypt continued to thrive and grow?’ and Ramona Wheeler paints a very beautiful and decadent picture of that world. If I had to choose three words to describe this book it would be detailed, deliberate, and meandering.

I personally adore ancient Egypt, with it’s incredibly rich history and amazing features of architecture. So I had no doubt in my mind that I would enjoy this one, and I truly did…though with a few issues along the way. The world building is extensive and imaginative, taking up much of the story. I had no trouble picturing the world Wheeler had built and I truly enjoyed most of the description, but there were moments when it felt like sensory overload. I wish the detail had been toned down a notch or two, so I could enjoy the actual plot that seemed to be lost among all the flowery descriptions. The plot itself it’s fairly interesting but it felt thin once it was all laid out and I wish there had been more danger and encounters over the course of the story. However I did really enjoy learning about the interesting inventions and the way everyone views other ‘nations’. The fact that they created a sort of air balloon system to fly and the rather ideal explanation of ‘all beliefs are true’ was really different and it offered a really picturesque scene.

Our main characters Oken and Mik are interesting enough. Oken is a rather happy and precocious memory-man in the service of the Queen of Egypt. He serves as a spy and a valued information keeper. Mik is a professor at the university in Memphis and has been pulled out of retirement to serve his Queen again. Both of these men are extremely likable, but once they get together it’s hard to tell them a part…unless there is a woman in the room, in which case Oken goes out of his way to worship the ground she walks on. Both men are extremely polite and everyone likes them, which was sort of a problem because the only people who didn’t like them were the ‘bad guys’. The other problem I had was the fact that almost every highlighted character in this was a person of privilege which leads to a sort of one-sided view of the world. It was luxury all the time and I would have loved to see more ‘normal’ people in ‘normal’ environments.

With that being said I still think that Three Princes is a incredibly interesting idea and the world was fascinating, if on the slow side.