Created by: Jordan Mechner
Written by: A.B. Sina
Artwork by: LeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland
Color by: Hilary Sycamore
Publication Date: September 2008
Genre: YA Graphic Novel / Fantasy
Age: 14+
Pages: 208
Series: no
Publisher's website: First Second Books
Book Acquisition: Library
BEYOND THE LEGENDARY GAME – THE LEGEND ITSELF
Long ago in Persia, there lived a Prince -- a man of honor, of valor, and full of strength -- a man for his people, who lived with them and took on their trials and hardships. And he was loved.
His name is no longer remembered. When people speak of him, they call him merely, 'The Prince of Persia,' as if there have been no others, and his descendants are enjoined to live like him, to be like him, to the ends of their days.
Long ago in Persia, there were many princes, one following another, sometimes quick, sometimes slow, sometimes fat, clever, joyous, and all more or less honorable. And in some of those princes there shone the spirit of The Prince of Persia, for in Persia time spins like a wheel, and what is to come has already happened, and then happens again, year in and year out.
This is the story of two of those princes, and of the destiny that threads their lives together.
(publisher's website)
Confession time -- I am a huge geek! I've been this way since my early childhood thanks to my dad -- "Thanks dad!!"
In the early 80s he worked for (at the time) a huge computer production company called Ontel which was later bought out by Visual Technology.
Why am I telling you this? Because! Visual Technology made one of the first 'portable' computers AND my dad had one AND it was on this computer I played my very fist game of Prince of Persia :)
The first Prince of Persia game was created by Jordan Mechner and developed by Broderbund in 1989. I played the MS-DOS version on my dad's Commuter and I loved it! It was my very first computer game and I've been hooked ever since.
So, as you can imagine, I have a soft spot for our good old Prince.
I don't own a lot of graphic novels but fortunately my local library has a pretty good collection. As I'm pretty much a novice in this genre I browsed the shelves until I found something that caught my eye and when I found Price of Persia I couldn't pass up the chance to read it.
The story itself ventures "to the heart of the legend" (from back cover) and I have to say, I very much enjoyed my travels. The Prince of Persia is set in both the 9th and 13th centuries of the fictitious city of Marv. The people of both centuries have troubles and problems a plenty. I was a little confused with the switching between the centuries - a lot of the characters looked the same to me and had similar names. I think it was just my naivety in the genre though because once I relaxed my reading a bit and let myself see what the story was showing me, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I did find it a little graphic (um...duh?). You know - bloody and violent. Not much sex or nudity so I would say it is age appropriate.
The story line itself was interesting - with the past (9th century) and present (13th century) coming together via one boy and a mysterious prophecy.
If you're a fan of Prince of Persia - old or new or a fan of Middle Eastern fantasy I think you would like this book.
4/5 stars
Linkage Love:
Wikipedia entry for Prince of Persia video game
Old-Computers.com where I found information on the old Commuter
Book Trailer
Jordan Mechner's website
A.B. Sina publisher's site
LeUyen Pham's website
Alex Puvilland's website
Sounds cool! Nice post. I love that you always post something different and unique.
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