random item

Troperville

Tools

Find recent edits by troper:

back to: Main / AConfusionOfPrinces

edit article | go to discussion page

21st Mar '13 6:01:26 PM Xtifr

Send Xtifr a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 1,52 (click to see context) from:

->"I have died three times, and three times been reborn, though I am not yet twenty in the old Earth years by which it is still the fashion to measure time.
->[[PosthumousNarration This is the story of my three deaths]], and my life in between."
--> -- [[TheProtagonist Prince Khemri]]

A ScienceFiction novel by Creator/GarthNix, published in 2012. The Galaxy is ruled by an [[TheEmpire Emperor]], who is due to abdicate in two years. The Emperor's successor could be any one of millions of princes, so naturally they want each other dead. The Empire is at war with groups such as the [[PuppeteerParasite Sad-Eyes]], Deaders and the [[LaResistance Naknuk rebels]]. Its technology is founded on the three '[[XtremeKoolLetterz Teks]]': [[PsychicPowers Psitek]], [[OrganicTechnology Bitek]], and Mektek. Prince Khemri is released into this world after his extensive training and augmentation, and assumes he'll be respected as a prince and given a position of authority. But as it turns out, he has to join the navy to prove himself before he can do anything important. When he finishes a year of basic training (and [[spoiler:dies for the first time]]), he is sent on a boring assignment that turns out to be a front for something much more momentous...
----
!This novel provides examples of:
* AerithAndBob: The Princes and priests have fantastic names, but among commoners, we see some normal-sounding names like Alice.
* AmbiguousGender: The Emperor's sex is never revealed.
* [[spoiler:BabiesEverAfter: Khemri and Raine are revealed to have had a daughter in the epilogue.]]
* BaldOfAwesome: Haddad.
* BaldWomen: All female priests, and Prince Kothrez.
* BattleButler: Every Prince is assigned a Master of Assassins, a priest who serves this function.
* BecomingTheMask: Khemri, after spending time with the Kharalchans.
* BrainUploading:
** This can be done to a Prince just before he or she dies, in order to put their mind into a cloned replacement body.
** [[spoiler:After an Emperor's term is finished, they are uploaded into the Imperial Mind to become part of a gestalt entity.]]
* BroughtDownToNormal: Happens to Khemri when he [[spoiler:gets transferred into an unaugmented body for an Adjuster test]]. Naturally, he complains about losing his augmentations a lot in the narration.
* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler:Khemri and Raine's daughter, Attie Anza Gryphon. Her first name is derived from Atalin, who is not exactly dead. Played straight with her middle name, which is the name of Raine's dead sister.]]
* DeathIsCheap: Princes can be resurrected into an identical body if they die while connected to the Imperial Mind. However, the Priests of the Aspect of the Discerning Hand may choose to not resurrect them if they are considered unworthy.
* {{Depower}}: [[spoiler:At the end, Khemri is permanently made into a normal human.]]
* TheDulcineaEffect: Khemri, towards Raine.
* EscapePod: Prince Khemri is set adrift in one [[spoiler:as part of his Adjuster training]]. He ends up using it to escape a spaceship explosion too.
* EveryoneIsBi: It seems to be the norm for Princes to have both male and female courtesans.
* FirstPersonPerspective
* ForegoneConclusion: The first line of the book states that Khemri will die and be reborn three times.
* FutureImperfect: Khemri thinks that the gryphon, dragon, basilisk, and sphinx were all real Earth animals and that the dolphin was mythical.
* GenderIsNoObject
* GoodNightSweetPrince: Raine uses this quote before she and Khemri put themselves into comas. Khemri is momentarily freaked out when he thinks she knows he is a Prince.
* HiveMind: The Imperial Mind is connected to most princes and priests, and they can all communicate via it. [[spoiler:It also contains the minds of previous emperors.]]
* HumanityIsInfectious
* HypercompetentSidekick: Haddad to Khemri at the beginning of the book.
* JackOfAllStats: It's noted that the Empire is not the best at Psitek or Bitek, but it manages to prevail by being pretty good with all three teks.
* LivingShip: Some spaceships are based on Bitek, most notably the ''Heffalurp''. It has [[{{Squick}} sphincters for doors]], a nervous system to control the ship's functions, a heart, and colonies of ship-lice that manage repairs and connections.
* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler:Khemri and Atalin are siblings.]]
** [[spoiler:SeparatedAtBirth]]
* MilitaryScienceFiction: For about a third of the book, until [[spoiler:Prince Khemri gets killed fighting a Sad-Eye incursion]].
* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: Khemri encounters a lock that requires him to beat a computer in a chess-like game as a part of his TrainingFromHell.
* PlugNPlayTechnology: Since certain technology may be used centuries after it was built, the Empire designs its tek to be compatible across different generations.
* PortalNetwork: Wormholes between different star systems. They can only be passed through one way, so scout ships exploring wormholes also have to find a return wormhole or it could take a long time to get back at normal spaceship speed (which seems to be at sub-light speeds). Many systems have multiple wormhole entrances and exits, which can be closed temporarily by a big enough burst of energy.
* PowerLossMakesYouStrong
* PuppeteerParasite: Sad-Eyes burrow into people's heads and take control of their bodies, controlling dozens of other people via Psitek.
* PsychicPowers: Psitek. Princes and their retinue generally use it for telepathic communication and connecting to the Imperial Mind, but Sad-Eyes use it to control other creatures.
* SheIsTheKing: "Prince", "priest", and "emperor" are all gender-neutral titles.
* ShowWithinAShow: ''The Achievements of Prince Garikm'', a supposedly biographical Psitek simulation that Khemri enjoyed during his candidacy.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: Prince Elzweko, who facilitates Khemri's TrainingFromHell.
* TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler:In the finale, Khemri has to choose whether to become the Emperor or die fighting the other candidates. Instead, he kills himself at the same time as Atalin (the other remaining candidate) dies, and persuades her as Emperor to resurrect him in an unaugmented body so that he can live a normal life with Raine.]]
* {{Telepathy}}: Psitek again. Princes use priests to relay to the Imperial Mind and communicate with others telepathically. Some unaugmented humans have innate telepathy, but Princes have a much stronger Psitek connection.
* TheydCutYouUp: Khemri briefly worries that this might happen to him if the Kharalchans learn that he is a Prince.
* ThinkInText: Colons are used to denote mindspeech.
* TheUnpronounceable: The name of Khemri's Bitek suit. He calls it "Ekkie" for short.
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Khemri, due to his upbringing, has no concept of love at first.

to:

17th Mar '13 1:55:10 PM Gamecubist

Send Gamecubist a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 10 (click to see context) :

Added line(s) 42 (click to see context) :

24th Feb '13 9:20:48 PM Arha

Send Arha a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Dead Little Sister was renamed. Check to see if the example actually fits before readding.

Deleted line(s) 19 (click to see context) :

23rd Feb '13 4:11:06 PM Gamecubist

Send Gamecubist a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 34 (click to see context) :