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Prospero Lost Prospero Daughter L Jagi Lamplighter 9780765319296 Books

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Prospero Lost Prospero Daughter L Jagi Lamplighter 9780765319296 Books

The cover is certainly very snazzy, but it's a bit misleading: it implies a kind of evocative, lush-language'd Dunsany-esque sort of story. The which this isn't: if fantasy had space operas, that's what it'd be. Which doesn't mean there aren't moments of magical beauty--there are--but they're the leaven (and the story rises higher for them), not the meat.

Imagine that Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, was actually one of his histories--a secret history ruthlessly suppressed by the Dan-Brownian Orbis Humanis society. Imagine that Miranda's story didn't end with her marriage to Ferdinand, but began when her magician father bound her in service to the goddess Euronyme to gain immortality for himself and his family; that Prospero didn't destroy his books but transformed them into the tools of power that would grant his children dominion over the powers of the earth.

Now start the story four hundred years later, with a cool and wealthy CEO-magician finding a mysterious message written in secret phoenix-fire letters: "I have woken evil powers! Warn the family! Beware the Shadowed Ones!" This is Miranda Prospero, whose global corporation acts as intermediary between the world of myth, demons, angels, powers and principalities and an unwitting humanity which has for centuries been kept (mostly) safe from them. The corporate jet (for example) is magic-enhanced, which helps (a bit) when the dragon attacks. The adventures begin when the icily virgin Miss Prospero discovers that it's not enough to send one of her airy indentured servants (the Aerie Ones themselves would say "slaves") to investigate her father's possible disappearance--the woken power (or powers) attack her in her home, destroying part of it and stealing a potent weapon. Thus begins her world-spanning quest to find her father, and warn her estranged brothers. Monster island, gates to hell, faery revels--it's all here.

What I enjoyed most about the book was, of course, the secret world--I love how the insane Prospero family's story reveals the magical world underlying our own, and how Lamplighter interweaves both pagan and Christian mythology. In one chapter we have the teind to Hell juxtaposed with Santa Claus--and it works. I love all the supporting cast, especially Miranda's hard-boiled detective Mab, a North wind enfleshed to serve Prospero, Inc, who's lived as bond-servant in the U.S. long enough to have developed some revolutionary ideas about their master-servant relationship. Miranda I like rather less well: but as an immortal young woman, emotionally trapped as the 16-year-old bride abandoned by her fiancé at the altar, sworn to virginity as the price of her powers--and quite possibly bound as terribly as the aerie servants to serve Prospero's whims--she's clearly got a boat-load of maturing to do. Right now I don't think she deserves either of her would-be demon lovers (even if neither one is as he seems)

Fair warning: this is only the first book of a three book series. The good news? Books two and three are already written: they just need to work their way through the editing/publishing process.


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Prospero Lost Prospero Daughter L Jagi Lamplighter 9780765319296 Books Reviews

There must be some mistake. Children’s book? Not to me. To me it’s just a fast paced, entertaining supernatural adventure. Apparently everyone in the Wright family is an accomplished writer.
I discovered Lamplighter via her husband, John C. Wright. His books are, simply put, amazing. And I was not disappointed in the least bit. Lamplighter (her maiden name, I believe) is an excellent writer. The depth and epic proportions of the book are belied by the humble subtly of her writing.

Miranda is the daughter of the great Prospero, whom Shakespear wrote about so long ago. Though a young lady, Miranda herself is several centuries old and has lately found herself running the family business, Prospero, Inc., alone. One day she discovers a cryptic warning from her father, who has mysteriously disappeared, and sets out to warn the rest of her far-flung family. Partnered with an enfleshed wind spirit detective, as she tracks down each of her siblings more and more of the layers of mystery surrounding her father's disappearance are pierced.

As can even be glimpsed in this simple description, the story is built upon a mythology primarily derived from Shakespear, though there are many elements drawn from other major mythologies (Greek, Catholic, etc.). It seems like it would get convoluted and confusing, but Lamplighter manages to deftly move the story along while slowly and effortlessly revealing the mythological depth to the world she has created in her books.

And "books" it is. This is the first of a trilogy, and I would recommend not even opening this volume until you had the other two close at hand. As has happened to several of her husband's works, the publisher took a massive story and neatly chopped it into three parts. The end of this book barely has any level of resolution to it. All the major conflicts are still unresolved, and Lamplighter reveals another level of conflict even in the last few chapters.

With that warning in place, I do highly recommend the book. The reading just flows, the characters are vivid, engaging, and quite intriguing. In fact, for being an adult book, I was rather pleased at how "clean" it was. Though there is a level of romance, it is quite chaste, and the language is not profane at all. I would even go so far as to say it would be fine for any High School age teenager, and probably even any mature Middle School age children.

In the past I read a review which remarked that it seemed that Lamplighter was almost attempting to write "Christian Fiction." A claim which intrigued me. After reading this, the first of the trilogy, I think the jury is still out on the truth of that claim, but I can make a couple of observations. First, this is not a type of Ted Dekker or even C.S. Lewis "Christian" fiction. No, what Lamplighter has written here is set within a meta-narrative which is foreign to that of the Bible. It is rather close in some places. But, in a sense, it made me think of what Tolkien did with the Simarillion. To work in such characters as Elves, wind spirits, salamanders (fire spirits), the Water of Life, a Dante-esq Hell, and even Father Christmas (among many others) requires a different hierarchy of beings and even of creation.

Second, if a person goes into reading this trilogy expecting some sort of inspirational "Christian" fiction, they will be sorely disappointed and probably even offended. What Lamplighter is doing here is excellent, amazing writing and story creation/development. But because she chose to include such characters and to write the story she did, their very inclusion and nature begets a theology which is contrary to what is contained within the Bible. In my mind, this is okay because this is fiction on a grand scale, with not even a pretense of being very close to reality.

And lastly, early on in the book there was a short discussion on the person of Christ, what type of being he was and where he came from. I loved that she touched on this without trying to explain it all. For this book, at least, she left it a mystery. I am completely intrigued, of course, to see where she goes with it in the following books.

In conclusion, if you enjoy fantasy books - get the whole trilogy and block out a weekend to immerse yourself in it. If you just enjoy really creative stories, a good mystery, and don't mind some supernatural insanity - grab yourself a copy and curl up. This is an excellent book and I can't wait until my sons are old enough for me to share it with them!
The cover is certainly very snazzy, but it's a bit misleading it implies a kind of evocative, lush-language'd Dunsany-esque sort of story. The which this isn't if fantasy had space operas, that's what it'd be. Which doesn't mean there aren't moments of magical beauty--there are--but they're the leaven (and the story rises higher for them), not the meat.

Imagine that Shakespeare's play, The Tempest, was actually one of his histories--a secret history ruthlessly suppressed by the Dan-Brownian Orbis Humanis society. Imagine that Miranda's story didn't end with her marriage to Ferdinand, but began when her magician father bound her in service to the goddess Euronyme to gain immortality for himself and his family; that Prospero didn't destroy his books but transformed them into the tools of power that would grant his children dominion over the powers of the earth.

Now start the story four hundred years later, with a cool and wealthy CEO-magician finding a mysterious message written in secret phoenix-fire letters "I have woken evil powers! Warn the family! Beware the Shadowed Ones!" This is Miranda Prospero, whose global corporation acts as intermediary between the world of myth, demons, angels, powers and principalities and an unwitting humanity which has for centuries been kept (mostly) safe from them. The corporate jet (for example) is magic-enhanced, which helps (a bit) when the dragon attacks. The adventures begin when the icily virgin Miss Prospero discovers that it's not enough to send one of her airy indentured servants (the Aerie Ones themselves would say "slaves") to investigate her father's possible disappearance--the woken power (or powers) attack her in her home, destroying part of it and stealing a potent weapon. Thus begins her world-spanning quest to find her father, and warn her estranged brothers. Monster island, gates to hell, faery revels--it's all here.

What I enjoyed most about the book was, of course, the secret world--I love how the insane Prospero family's story reveals the magical world underlying our own, and how Lamplighter interweaves both pagan and Christian mythology. In one chapter we have the teind to Hell juxtaposed with Santa Claus--and it works. I love all the supporting cast, especially Miranda's hard-boiled detective Mab, a North wind enfleshed to serve Prospero, Inc, who's lived as bond-servant in the U.S. long enough to have developed some revolutionary ideas about their master-servant relationship. Miranda I like rather less well but as an immortal young woman, emotionally trapped as the 16-year-old bride abandoned by her fiancé at the altar, sworn to virginity as the price of her powers--and quite possibly bound as terribly as the aerie servants to serve Prospero's whims--she's clearly got a boat-load of maturing to do. Right now I don't think she deserves either of her would-be demon lovers (even if neither one is as he seems)

Fair warning this is only the first book of a three book series. The good news? Books two and three are already written they just need to work their way through the editing/publishing process.