Prospero Lost - L. Jagi Lamplighter

PROSPERO LOST

Book 1 of 'Prospero's Daughter'

ISBN - 978-0-7653-5883-7
PAGES - 427
GENRE - Fantasy
BINDING - Paperback
PUBLISHER - Tor Fantasy

AUTHOR - L. Jagi Lamplighter

SYNOPSIS - [from the back cover]

Centuries have passed since the events of William Shakespeare's The Tempest introduced the wizard Prospero and his daughter, Miranda. Yet to this day, Miranda still runs Prospero, Inc. quietly aiding humanity in its stumbling efforts to survive. But her life is shattered when she sees her father's note: "Beware the three Shadowed Ones..." The great wizard has been abducted by dark forces that seek revenge on their whole clan.

Miranda and her siblings were once a formidable family,but the others have long since left home. Now, she desperately needs their help to rescue Prospero and prevent the Shadowed Ones from wrecking terrible havoc on the entire world. Miranda pursues her quest to the ends of the earth, haunted by a secret from her shrouded past that could help her win her heart's desire...or doom her to a loveless life.

EXCERPT - The light of my lamp fell on scorched concrete beyond which cowered shadowy shapes. Of the more substantial blood-fed beasts, only one had survived. It slunk back along the boxes now, whimpering plaintively. Farther down the corridor, however, fresh barghests poured from the open crate. My heart grew cold. Oh, if only I were a Sibyl and could call lightning without the help of storms or man-mad cables!

Mab wiped the blood from his eyes and looked towards the crate.

Taking out his earplugs, he said, "We better split, Ma'am! Some of the dogs are gone, but more are coming out of the box. Uh-oh, we have company!"

FL Speak - Wow. Wow for the vivid imagination! This book is brilliant in patches simply because of the wild imagination that the author conjures up. I mean cmon, calling the stars and flying past the Milky Way :O :O :O

Anyone who has read Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' knows Prospero and Miranda. This book has every character from Shakespeare's tale and more. The dread magician Prospero is missing and he has send a cryptic note to his daughter, Miranda. Miranda is faced with the task of contacting her siblings (who are as notorious as they can get) and warn them that the bad guys are after their magic staffs.

Now that's a family I would never want to born into. Her siblings are as ridiculous and as arrogant as they can be. One of them is dead, one brother is blind. One of them is missing for two years, one has given up immortality. One of them might be doing deals for the demons, while one might well be a demon. And there are a couple of them more. And Miranda needs to seek them out. On her journey, she's attacked by shapeshifters, rescued by Santa Claus {yes, apparently Father Christmas does exist}. She's danced with elf lords, who once fell from the heavens and her still beats for a certain immortal who jilted her at the altar.

The book moves at a brisk pace and is currently sent in the modern world, although Miranda's memories takes us back to Elizabeth era and the French Revolution and many many other ages. That's one downside of being immortal, you tend to have a lot of memories.

I liked the power of the various staffs though. The staff of Persuasion, the Staff of Transportation would be collectibles if I was a super rich mega powerful wizard. For the outer world, Miranda runs Prospero, Inc, a multi-national company who makes sure earth is fine. They prevent earthquakes and volcanoes erupting, the make sure there is no flood, I'd rather no go too much into that.

As I said before, the book is filled with a plethora of vivid imaginations and interestingly, it doesn't make you discard it away. I knew the author just simply could not jump into a modern setting simply because she chose to carry on the work of Shakespeare. A lot of research and time gaps have to filled and thus this book makes an overall good first impression. Well not the cover art. I'm sure it could have been better.

Anyway, book 1 is over and we've just met 3 of her siblings. The story is far from over and I'd like to read it till the end.

My Rating - 4 stars

PRICE - INR 260/-