Author: Nathalie Mallet
Cover Artist: Paul Youll
Publisher: Night Shade Books
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: August 2007

Of late I have kind of been, or more properly stated, returned to a mystery kick and recent excursions into my unread book piles have taken particular notice to book that claim to be hybrid mystery or sleuth novels. From superb novels like The Spiral Labyrinth by Mathews Hughes to exploring the world of Chen and Liz Williams, and too countless debuts of late in what seems on the surface to be a new fad as two pools of writers see crossover opportunities in each other’s depths or something no doubt much more innocent in simply being a combination of a writer’s love for both mediums, consciously or not.

Among the more recent of these books is a one Nathalie Mallet entitled The Princes of the Golden Cage. It’s a pseudo-Ottoman backdrop taking place entirely in the city, the seat of power of Telfar Empire ruled by the Ban dynasty. The central element and the novel’s most interesting facet is the implementation of the Kafes system (unfortunately spelled out on the first page for the reader), a system that places and confines all sons of the reigning Sultan into one portion of the palace until one of them ascends to the throne. The choice of the next ruler is not at all reliant on order of birth, or necessarily the station of one’s mother, but is tabulation based on a formula overseen by the Vizier of the “cage” and the Sultan himself that make up an updated registry that the Prince’s can follow their current rank. Aside from whatever personal or politically motivated preferences of the Vizier and Sultan, these ranks fluctuates on the action of the Princes themselves. The Cage is a Darwin daycare where fratricide is the norm as princes vie to improve their standing even if it’s just to position themselves in the esteem of brothers who are the favorites. It’s like a horse race but the horses are betting and are the bookies Others, like Mallet’s protagonist, Amir, chooses a different route. One of the more studios of his sibling (so he thinks), he strives to achieve a state of that of the undistinguished. He walks the line of exuding the presence of a threat yet not being so weak to be viewed as easy prey. He does this so much - and until the occurrences of this novel - so well, it actually assimilates into his worldview of himself which proves most dangerous in his environment. The crux of the story is that he is a woken up one night and asked to help investigate particularly peculiar death that turns into a series of such that seem supernatural in nature. This sets him on a path that will take him off of his average path of safety and in a certain sense makes him start living a life. It is more than interesting that he essentially has the same day-to-day life style of his two immediate neighbors, brothers that are more or less hermits and are both - to some degree - mildly delusional.

“I didn’t like having him live so close to Ibrahim and his brothers”

Amir’s journey to freedom is at time interesting as the evolution occurs sentence by sentence. In the beginning all the 117 inhabitants of the cage are his brothers but as the novel progresses he clearly starts separating them, and thus himself in his mind. The entourage of the Sultan’s current favorite to ascend, Ibrahim, no longer are his (Amir’s) brothers, they are Ibrahim’s. I think the reoccurring tendency to think the Amir is an idiot isn’t as much a product of questionable writing but is probably and hopefully and intentional effect to keep the reader mumbling to the pages as we would chastise our dumb young kid cousin or brother. We are supposed to envision ourselves as another brother, Darius, a more typical fantasy protagonist (and thus thankfully not so in this book) and while I think perhaps our attachment to Amir is a bit too overtly intended and threatens to be more than an annoyance but I think for the most part it remains bearable.

I find that in most whodunits authors can’t help but to smile at us at some point nearly in the novel and The princes of The Princes Golden Cage is no different in this work. There is a single line in this book that should allow you figure out who or what the antagonist is. I certainly didn’t know the details or motivations exactly but I knew where the path would lead eventually and admittedly perhaps the fun is to be proven right as much as it is to be surprised.

I fear when a book in this type of backdrop is written and is described it is inevitable that it will be tagged with The Arabian Nights wrap which is a bit like saying Open Water II reminds you of Moby Dick because there is like water…and boats and stuff. For the same reason every bloke or shelia who writes a street level story is Dickensian and god forbid you have Hell in your story because you’re obviously channeling Dante. At not time in my reading did The Princes of the Golden Cage invoke the Arabian Nights, though it may spur thoughts of what some think - IE haven’t read - the Arabian Nights represents. What Mallet does have on her hands is what I’d call a quick, in-and out read. As I said prior, the story doesn’t leave the city and follows essentially one character performing a single task and along the way we are introduced to what may be an underdeveloped cast, but is naturally and correctly limited due to the POV choice which I think is reasonably kept to. At times it is hard to convince the reader that Amir can be so petulant at times as we are no really immersed into the world as much as we are just along for the ride as it occurs. We are indeed told the why, but I’m not sure if the reader feel the stakes as much as we are simply told what the stakes are. - I’m not walking in his shoes, I‘m told what brand he wears and where Amir is walking. It’s a brisk enough read that I kept on reading partly due to interest, and partly due to the economy of the experience. It’s a read that you become aware of early on that won’t astound you upon conclusion but neither did I feel inclined to give up on it either. In some sense it’s much like Amir - good enough to not get tossed after every chapter, but not at all threatening the upper-hierarchy of my bookshelf either.

There are some rather annoying elements in the novel and to some could represent deathblows to the reading experience. First, just about everybody we are introduced to via Amir is somebody else, or the long lost relative of, so much so I wanted to ask all of them if any of them knew Ratchett was indeed Cassetti! The problem is that it somehow occurs without the characters ever achieving a state of being multifaceted. Secondly, the ending is so telegraphed and the invitation of it by the antagonist seemed so stressed and bolded in my mind that it invites you to think if the read suddenly shifted to a YA novel. I’d be remiss to say it isn’t an absolutely cringe worthy sequence of events and due to being the climax of the novels ends up perhaps unfortunately marring the work as a whole. All in all The Princes of The Golden Cage was a solid one night read and at times has a charming, mischievous quality, and possibly even hits its mark, I just don’t think I’m that target.

In a slight confession, what prompted me to take a look at the book is that I found that I had multiple copies that were sporting different covers The book I received first was the galley and pimped a cover marked for solicitation purposes only and I remember that it caught my eye the day I received it. In the past I have stated that I’d never buy a book because of the cover but I would also not even give a second look to a book because of a cover. The finished version of the book sports a real stock 70’s and 80’s Deryniesque look that would be a strong model representative of what I wouldn’t buy. The first cover is vivid, atmospheric, inviting adventure in a city of opulence, and an intoxicating, basking in forbidden romance representing freedom. I preferred the latter but perhaps the one ultimately used is more honest.

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Topics: Nathalie Mallet, Night Shade Books, The Princes of the Golden Cage