Pearseus, Rise of the Prince by Nicholas C. Rossis – a review

Pearseus by Nicholas C. Rossis This is a hard book to summarise without giving away any spoilers, something I try hard not to do. It is set in the future in a world that has been colonised by humans but lost all contact with the home world. For reason I shan’t give away the society has gone backward technologically speaking but still has some advanced objects left. The world is at war with its self as well as mixed up in a war of super natural beings. The book follows the lives of several key characters as events unfold.

What I didn’t like;

There is not much to hate about this book but do have a few niggles.

The opening is excellent hooked me straight away, but then suddenly you leave the opening character and jump around meeting new ones and it’s quite some time before you return to the original. I found this very disconcerting, eventually you get used to the fast pace of the book but at first it does leave you reeling a bit, struggling to keep up.

There are few lazy jumps in the plot. On particular scene a character had been leading up to an event. It was all very exciting then suddenly we have jumped three months and she is explaining what had happen to her maid. I want to experience the action not hear about it in passing! There were a few times this happened and it did stop it being a five star book for me.

This paragraph please feel free not read it’s just me being a geek. I loved the parallels with ancient Greece (more about that later). There was one part where it went too far. I’m all for history repeating it’s self but not to the extent of Draco, it stretches belief than another Draco should do the exactly the same as his name sake from ancient Athens causing the same word (draconian) to come into existence.

What I liked

Well pretty much everything, the parallels with ancient Greece were inspired from the political tension between the states and social classes, the aristocrats using the masses to gain power, the different political systems to Teo whoring himself from city to city like the last tyrant of Athens Hippias who did a deal with the Persians to try and get his city back. The only thing wrong with it is that I didn’t think of it first.

I loved the characters, even the good guys had a darker side. My favourite was Styx I love a good baddy with complicated motives. Pretty much all the main ones went through a journey, I can’t say too much I don’t want to give any spoilers.

There was the right element of tragedy and double dealing very appropriate for a novel inspired by the ancient Greeks.

I liked the supernatural element particularly exploring balance and perspective.

The ending was great and a little unexpected (which I love.)

In conclusion

It was a great book only spoiled by a few plot jumps. It had interesting characters with enough plot twist to keep you guessing I would recommend it and I shall be reading the next in the series – 4.5 out of 5 stars! – I might round it up for amazon just to be nice!