Summary
Prince Barodane could not hold back the darkness. Not even in himself. He laid an innocent city in its grave and then died a hero. In his absence, war whispers across the land. Power-hungry highborn dispatch spies and assassins to the shadows as they maneuver for the throne, while an even greater threat rises in the South. Monsters and cultists flock to the banners of a mad prophet determined to control reality…and then shatter it. Destiny stalks three to the brink of oblivion. A dead prince that isn’t actually dead. Barodane buried his shameful past in a stupor of drugs, drink, and crime, and now, he’d rather watch the world fall apart than wear a crown again. An orphan with hero’s blood who is forced to make a harrowing choice: betray her country or sacrifice her first love. And a powerful seer who has no choice at all–her grandson must die. If any of them fails to pay the price…
Review
Michael Michel’s The Price of Power is an epic fantasy book casting a wide net of characters dealing with the challenges of governing a loosely held-together land and the rumblings of discontent. The opening prologue sets up a short history of how the lands of Naramora overthrew the previous rulers. Mr. Michel’s prose is full of detail and metaphor, slowly building to a columniation of the book’s plot and theme. The Price of Power is told through multiple third-person POVs, except one done via 1st person. It took about six chapters to grasp what Mr. Michel was doing with his setup, but it worked for his story, so don’t shy away from this concept he presented.
“Sometimes flies must be spared a spider’s hunger. Nature be damned.”
Mad Prince Barodane Ironlight is thought dead to the world, living in a slum of town dealing drugs (godthorn used like heroin or drunk in a distilled brew like beer that gets you stoned). The majority of his POV is spent either in a drug-induced stupor as he runs his small drug dealing business or gets hounded to sell his business to a nobleman.
Ishoa Ironlight is a young princess attempting to gain the throne of Namorra in a decisive battle after the fall of the Mad Prince Barodane.
Ishoa’s character has a satisfying story arc, and she became one of my favorite POVs as I read through the book. She is manipulated by the noble families that back her to join The Trials and become a member of the Namarr Council, which, maybe I am putting this together, is the ruling body of Namarr until either she, the last Ironlight, is crowned princess or another person claims the crown for themselves. Oh, and on top of that, she is training a small tiger or lion for battle, which is pretty fricken sweet.
Thephos, the son of a pig farmer, feels his life is worthless and decides to commit suicide or gain power by ascending via a mysterious ritual in which those who survive to gain magical power. His lower self-esteem provides enough clarity to aid him as he climbs a mountain where a drug called godsthron is grown. This drug is either a portion of how one gains power or assists in those that gain power through hallucinations and its side effects. This POV has some pretty trippy and dark scenes.
Another POV is Locastrii, Mistress of Time, an older grandmother, training Akyris, her grandson, to grow in power and strength to take on a forthcoming enemy called the Arrow of Light. This is the 1st person’s POV of the story told through Locastrii’s eyes as she meets and trains her grandson to become Awakened (a form of a magic user in Mr. Michael’s series). The other POVs are in 3rd person.
My favorite character is Garlenna, the sworn guardswoman to the Mad Prince Barodane. She is not a POV, but I looked forward to any portion of the book with her in it. Having lost an eye in battle, she swings a mean multi-spiked mace like a character in Dynasty Warriors (at least in my mind), and I want to see more of her destroying two-bit thugs and knights cowering in fear of her.
“I must season truth with a pinch of baseless self-assurance.”
The book’s overall theme speaks broadly of what one gains or loses when grasping at power. This is shown through both the main characters; in most cases, that theme is easily found by the end. I discovered that the minor characters like Garlenna mentioned above and another character, Lordis, had a subtle shaping of their characters and I enjoyed their more nuanced arcs. The world-building in the book is done well, and there is plenty of lore found throughout the text. Some of it hits the reader directly in the face, like the prelude, which warranted another read by the time I finished the book, and other pieces are told through short interludes by grizzly veteran side characters, and that is done well enough where most readers would not even realize what the author created. I loved every piece I found.
“You laid the foundation of bones that built this palace. Their misery is theirs, but the fault will forever be yours.”
Mr. Michel’s The Price of Power is an independently published fantasy novel and participant in Mark Lawerance’s SPFBO9 contest, making it to the semi-finalist stage. I read a paperback book of The Price of Power at 481 pages, which includes a prologue and two epilogues setting up the sequel. The pace of the book is dependent on your reading speed, as the chapters are full of detail and complex lore. The book’s overall plot picks up like a lot of heavy epic fantasy novels, where the last portion of the book’s climax makes the reading come together in a great crescendo of violence and understanding of the beforehand subject matter.
The cover is a white background with the swordsman pointing their sword between the title. Through interviews and social media posts, I discovered that the author, Mr. Michel, developed the cover, which stands out. It’s a traditional fantasy cover, and it catches the eye. No world map or glossary of charters was available in my edition, but the author kindly provided me a map upon request.
Books the size of Price of Power (400+ pages of adult epic fantasy) can challenge some readers, and Mr. Michael’s writing is full of depth both in internal monologues and in the action sequences. For the faithful epic fantasy reader, the Price of Power will be a welcoming read into a darker saga with various personalities scraping for control of their destinies causing pain and sorrow to those around them.