Here at the fantasy-hive we don’t like numbers, or stars, or quantifiable ratings – although we do admit we have to give out numerical scores for all of the eventual finalists.

However, rather than put a score on each semifinalist each of our judges is going to rank them as we go through our reviews – inspired by the process used in the SPFBO Champion of Champions contest.

The winning book and chosen finalist will be the one with the best average ranking once all the reviews are done and the judges have ranked all six books. (If there should be a tie on average ranking then the winner will be the one with the most 1st places, if still tied then it will be the one with the most 2nd places and so on.)

This will make for a more dynamic leader table as books can shuffle up or down the list all the way to the sixth and final semi-finalist review.

So on to our second semifinalist review of THE SEA PRINCE where the judges will comment under the headings of worldbuilding, Prose, Character and Plot, before giving their pithy one line conclusions and fitting this week’s semifinalist into our overall ranking table.

Worldbuilding

Theo: I think this is a great strength of the book. I mean I still have reservations about the sea-battle choreography, but the author has a richly imagined steampunk world. I really liked the idea of mancers as a kind of magical engineer that can work through and with machines even to the point of communicating with them like living things. This makes the mancer-Royal almost like Martha Wells’s Murderbot with its drones and remote feeds. The world – or at least the bad guys – also have their mages with more orthodox kinds of magic. Having an engineering degree and feeling that engineers were always underappreciated I enjoyed how they were uprated in this book. I also liked the inworld nautical turns of phrase that were familiar enough to be understood and yet different enough to add texture to a secondary world. Eg “The whale doesn’t get to call the fish wet” or “That’s bilge in the drinking water” or “as stubborn as the sea is deep.”

I did like the notion of battle companions, sort of like the WW2 fighter pilots were paired up with a lead and a ‘wingman’. And the deep attachments and loyalties that these represent put me in mind of the phrase “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb” – often misquoted – which makes the point that bonds formed in battle are actually more enduring than mere family ties.

Cat: The whole universe is what drew me into this during our initial reading. In just 10% of the book, I had a good sense of the world we were playing in, with its war-footing, battle between land and sea, magic system and so forth. Everything was laid out simply but expanded gently as the book goes on so that it’s never hard to understand. I appreciated the original magic system especially, with its connection between traditional ‘supernatural-magic’ and modern engineering. Top world-building across the board.

Vinay: There is just so much to love in the worldbuilding of this book & yet so much that is teased tantalizingly. I was pretty much on board with steampunk submarines housing magical mechanical engineers. There was a Waterworld feel in the raging conflict with primarily sea dwellers and land-based adversaries. You also have a lot of history playing across which was very intriguing. There are always constant hints and teases peppered through the book to get youe excited. The author definitely put in a lot of thought behind the world-building and it shows

Prose

Theo: Aside from all the fun inworld phrases, I found the prose effective without being flashy. My kindle notes commenting on particular lines are more about the humour or the insight into the world situation than the sharpness of the wordplay – the unusual turns of phrase or fresh word choices that raise an eyebrow and draw a smile.  But this line did get a lol

“Nika it’s our wedding night,” Tarjiaan interrupted. “Do you really think anyone thinks we’re not having sex?”

“But on the floor? It is undignified!”

“Sex is always undignified,” Tarjiaan said. “If it’s not, you’re doing something wrong.”

Cat: I enjoyed how easily the text flowed throughout the book, never feeling overworking or dry, even when explaining history or mechanics. I was also a fan of the rather charming dialogue, with its humour and use of emotion between characters, making them seem real and likeable in a way that some authors fail to manage. Also it never tips the line of ‘pirate’ into parody, keeping everything well-grounded:

‘Tarjiaan wiped tears of mirth from his eyes… “I’ve been called the Butcher of Meradon for over ten years now, but no one has ever been willing to explain just what it is that I’m supposed to have done to earn that name.”

Vinay: This was a remarkably easy read. There is a fantastic overall flow to the book and it never felt like a tough read. There is a sneaky sense of humor at play as well and a real charm to the writing. Being a sea-based book, there are enough nautical word-play elements thrown in and you couldnt help but quip. A big achievement of the writing is also making the characters standout and seem unique – especially when most of the characters come across as rather good-natured (more on that later). I do however want to make a point that some of the charm of the writing does undercut certain pieces of loaded dialogs and confrontations. There are certain tense moments that could have been expressed better but the writing does breeze over the awkwardness of the characters reactions

Characters

Theo: I do like the consistency in the naming conventions – the patterns of vowels in the royal family which gives an authentic and premeditated feel to names which too often in fantasy are random arrangements of two vowels and three consonants. At the same time, like the anglosaxon kings of the dark ages (Æthelstan, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, and Æthelred) the similarity of the names can make it a bit confusing. For the first half of the book or so we are following our main character the eponymous Sea Prince, but then – as plot circumstances require – we suddenly have to dart off and see the story through the eyes of the secondary characters who become the agents of action and the ones through whom we can see what’s going on. Possibly we could have been prepared for that by following their point of view earlier in the story and got their take on the sea prince before it became necessary. 

I like the representation in the story with a gay (well spoiler – bisexual) main character who is also disabled and the reality of his disability and his reliance on aids (mechanical and human) is well depicted. Generally – with the exception of the sister – everybody is really rather nice, and I guess that is why Ikaanji the uncle and king as well as the sister Aanaji were interesting character because they had moments of querulousness that introduced a bit of tension and conflict. With everybody so on board (see what I did there) with the Sea Prince and his aims, it is left to the Imps (Imperial soldiers) to provide the antagonism and they do so in rather shallow ‘simply evil’ kind of way. So I felt I needed more shades of grey in the black and white of bad and good.  

Cat: I really liked that the author chose to go with a throuple-relationship rather than the tired love-triangle trope! Everyone discusses their feelings like mature adults, it’s not heavy-handed and the social expectations are understood, but with the contrast of the current King not being able to have the relationship he wanted, Tarjiaan and his partners work together beautifully. I was initially a bit worried about the excess of male characters (would the book pass the Bechdel Test?) but then Nika turned out to be a smart and savvy female lead, putting those worries to rest. The inclusion of non-standard relationships extends to a disabled lead as well, which I definitely appreciated, including his CPTSD as a result of bigoted torture. Magical dementia was a successful emotional beat for me too. 

My only gripe is how moustache-twirlingly EVIL the (unseen) baddies are throughout, which made the contrasting ‘good guys’ all seem exceptionally nice. Everything about the baddies is told, not shown, and even though she gets some redemption, Tarjiaan’s sister is ridiculously rotten for most of the book. This seemed to resonate discordantly against the rest of the main cast, and I found it a bit frustrating. Palpatine has nothing on this Emperor – but why? I hoped for more, given how good the majority of the character backgrounds are.

Vinay: The writing charm carries over to the characters especially with the lead, Tarjiaan. While Tarjiaan does come across as a remarkably talented character, the writing does a lot of the heavy-lifting in making him vulnerable too. A notable point is also making our lead character disabled and bi-sexual and its not just put out there to be forgotten for the rest of the book. The book leans into Tarjiaan’s disability, his reactions to how it changes things for him and how he manages to make it work. It brings about his insecurity as well with respect to his disability. A throuple was not part of my bingo card for SPFBO (to be fair, not too many things surprised me in this edition of SPFBO but throuple from this book and a loose interpretation of fantasy from one of the eliminated books sure as hell surprised me) but the Sea Prince does bring that relationship wrinkle out. Nika is also an interesting lead, as someone who almost instantly clicks with Tarjiaan. She is also a character who has a lot of hidden depth and is a worthy foil to her husband. 

A complication in having super competent leads is the Gary Stu/ Mary Sue effect and yes, that is in play here. Both of them do good in whatever situation they land in and accept even the most difficult complication in rather good spirits. This is specifically applicable for the throuple conversation & you did want more tension and conflict that what actually transpired

The rest of the characterization is also pretty good – there is a sense of shared history among the key players and a lot of hidden secret and mysteries as well. The naming convention is also interesting & some of the interpersonal relationships are so well done. Tarjiaan’s sister comes across as a rather tough cookie and the bad guys are pretty much bad and evil but we dont spend as much time there

Plot

Theo: The structure of the story brings us in immediately into a climactic sea battle and also has a fifteen year long back story drawing from a previous even more climactic sea battle which gets drawn out in teasing pieces through the rest of the book. The set up reminded a bit of The Goblin Emperor because of this line  “I was the sixth prince! I had the luxury of an older brother and four older cousins. And you see how fragile a line that was!” Not so much the heir’s spare, as the final spare’s spare!

However, as I have mentioned, the general niceness of the characters – particularly given the initial focus on the Sea Prince’s point of view, meant that there was a lot of domestic detail and a bit of addressing past trauma that didn’t really push the pace along as fast as I would have liked. There is a nice twist of treachery that caught me by surprise just when I had actually written in my notes “everyone is just so agreeable”. But the potential Charles-Diana-Camilla-type conflict in the Sea Prince’s diplomatically demanded marriage quickly dissolves into a pleasant enough consensual throuple arrangement – and while the representation in a positive way of alternative lifestyles is to be commended, it does mean the ‘Evil’ Empire is the one left delivering conflict.

We end, as we began, with another naval battle and again the childhood Hornblower fan within me yearns for clearer and more logical battle choreography. The ending is a kind of ‘deus ex manes’ resolution, which leaves the Sea Prince himself having too little to do with defeating the enemy while at the same time striving for an emotional heart-string tugging moment that didn’t quite land (or play!) for me. 

Cat: I enjoyed the book greatly to start, but found the increased amount of ‘domestic’ and political plot quickly pulled the main story to a crawl. It was fine to read and I enjoyed the relationship-building, but when we finally get to a big climactic battle, it happens (at a great pace, certainly), then the book just… ends. Jedi-ghosts, emotional farewells and nothing really resolved. Looking back, I find it hard to remember many stand-out events, as so many plot points turned out to be false anyway, and the drama stems from reacting to the Evil Baddies lashing out more than anything else. I liked the relationships very much, but I think more could have been done with the overall war story.

Vinay: The start is fantastic, the middle portion is intriguing and the end feels a bit light. As I mentioned earlier, I was totally hooked by the book’s start. Steampunk submarines totally hit my sweet spot and I was hoping for more combat and action related to that. The change of pace to poltiicking and relationships introduces its own tensions and dynamics and lot of time goes in navigating the relationship dynamics which makes it a different book than what it was at the beginning. There is a major escalation point around 60% of the book that drives towards the ending but a lot of it just happens because it has to happen – there is a sense of achievement at the ending but it doesnt feel really earned. There is a lot of revelations that we get as we proceed deep into the book but a lot of it seems like it has to happen now without a good reason on why it didnt happen earlier. In a way, this is a book that could have used a bit more tension and a bit more darkness to keep things on a high note

Conclusion

Theo: All’s well that ends well in this innovative tale of a submarine steampunk world with a positively diverse cast of characters. 

Cat: The nicest pirates versus the baddiest baddies, with a lot of soap-opera drama in-between!

Vinay: Fantastic characterization, interesting relation dynamics & some strong writing make up this engaging book

And the Current state of play

After two semifinalist reviews our still embryonic table looks like this

Current Ranking of Books	Theo	Vinay	Cat
1st
2nd

And our current leader with an average ranking of 1.33 is still