The first review of The Princes of the Golden Cage! Psst...check out its brand-new cover.

By Faren Miller at Locus

Another killer stalks royal victims in The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Mallet, a first novel set in a Sultan’s vast palace that resembles something from the Arabian Nights. Tradition and their father’s fiat restrict his host of princely sons to a life nearly as constricted as that of their mothers in his harem, until their own feuds over posted individual “rankings” produce a suitable heir through something like a Darwinian survival of the fittest.

Prince Amir, the first-person narrator, wants none of this, preferring to stay unheeded on the sidelines and go his own way as a scholar/alchemist.

Then princes start dying at each full moon, mysterious deaths that smack of magic to the point where even a young alchemist could become suspect. Amir could use an ally, and he finds one in Erik, a half-brother with a Nordic mother and much broader, more extroverted scholarly interests in things like economy, politics, history, and law. The two make a good investigative team, whenever Erik isn’t busy introducing Amir into the mysteries of courtly life or sparring with him in friendly practice duels (elements closer to a Dumas swashbuckler than tales of old Araby).

In all, this is a fine debut, a vibrant blend of mystery, adventure, and the fantastic.

I'm ecstatic about this review. No kidding! Big thanks to Faren Miller. And have you noticed the new cover? GO AND CLICK ON IT.