Reign of the Nightmare Prince

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He excelled as a student and went on to pursue a career in the sciences. Working as a Safety Engineer in the Insurance Industry, Mike soon became bored with the corporate grind. Writing engaged him like nothing else. After a few novels and numerous short stories, he thought getting published would be a pretty neat idea.

The Queen and a reign of abject failure | Joan Smith | Opinion | The Guardian

And so, here it goes…. All around him, these new Shaitani - supernatural beasts with mythical powers - murder the innocent and burn any evidence a village even existed. Through his gift of True Sight, that These days she is a grandmotherly figure, and it is regarded as churlish to ask questions about how she has conducted herself as head of state. Her personal popularity has fluctuated wildly: Time for the Queen to go? Its inextricable connection to the archaic principle of primogeniture means that the next three heads of state will be stolidly monocultural: More to the point, the royal family has entrenched its position in a way that flies in the face of the dramatic changes other elements of the establishment have had to cope with in recent years.

Senior royals now enjoy total exemption from the Freedom of Information Act. Press releases crowing about how little the monarchy costs leave out the huge cost of security , even though taxpayers fund it. The fact that he privately bombarded ministers with wheedling letters, contrary to his constitutional position, was an open secret but the government fought to keep the details under wraps. This review can also be found at Gathering Leaves and JournalStone. Sep 05, Damien Ryan rated it really liked it.

The myth of the noble savage is responsible for such idiotic beliefs as the power of alternative medicine and the idea that anything that refutes the scientific process is necessarily true. Aug 20, Meg rated it really liked it Shelves: I truly enjoyed Reign of the Nightmare Prince, a thought provoking, clever, new, science fiction novel. There is a mystery for the reader to solve, just as the novel's native inhabitants must determine who these new "Mashaitani" if I am not mistaken, I believe the author has used a middle-eastern word "Shaitan", which means Satan or the Devil and added an "i" to indicate that these invaders are "from the Devil", and then inferring from the use of "Ma" as a prefix before the proper names for oth I truly enjoyed Reign of the Nightmare Prince, a thought provoking, clever, new, science fiction novel.

There is a mystery for the reader to solve, just as the novel's native inhabitants must determine who these new "Mashaitani" if I am not mistaken, I believe the author has used a middle-eastern word "Shaitan", which means Satan or the Devil and added an "i" to indicate that these invaders are "from the Devil", and then inferring from the use of "Ma" as a prefix before the proper names for other various groups of people in the novella, I believe the "Ma" means that they are "people of, or from, Satan, or the Devil" - I hope I have deciphered this terminology correctly are, so they can defeat them, or they will be wiped from their own planet.

The pacing is great; I never lost interest and was compelled to keep reading. It is organized without a primary narrator. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of several main characters and once from someone minor, with the purpose of giving the reader a better understanding of what is happening in this world as a whole. Apparently, several other readers found it too jarring or difficult to understand when the author changed the viewpoint -- primarily back and forth between someone from the native population and then sometimes the following chapter would be devoted to the viewpoint of one of the invaders.

Personally, I was completely able to follow the various story lines and was intrigued as to the mystery of the invaders. I was pleased to have been able to figure out their true purpose on the planet very early. This was possible because the story is well written. Phillips discloses the situation in a slow but steady manner, keeping the mystery going, in an effort I think, to force people to wonder if this is a situation that is happening here in our world called Earth there is so much about this story that makes a reader think about the way Africa was colonized by the Europeans, and is still being raped by the West today rather than the far off planet with two moons although the invaders very well might be from Earth.

Ultimately, all the mysteries are resolved by the end. However, he has left two very small threads only partially resolved; perhaps Phillips did this with the intention that they be used to develop conflicts and drama in a new book or two as sequels. Prior to the final assault, the leader Crenshaw had told Smitty to bring any of the remaining trustworthy survivors -- killing the ones he cannot trust -- and lead them to a prearranged location disclosed by Crenshaw to Smitty.

The survivors were to gather together and follow the instructions to travel to the plains over the mountains, where they were to wait for the imminent arrival of the colonists' ships and to try and hook up with the coming colonists and their space ships.

They would pretend to be marooned scientists from an earlier expedition, with the ultimate hope that Crenshaw, Smitty and the few others would be able to take the next transport home within 5 years. They would have to keep the true nature of their mission from the colonists. It had been Crenshaw's secret mission to wipe the Natives from the planet by not only killing them and then cremating their remains, but also by eliminating any signs that they had ever existed.

This is why they had destroyed the holy places, including any written marks on various stones and trees, as well as their huts and villages. They were being paid a big bonus by "the company" to produce an empty planet, all ready for the coming colonists to inhabit, without a humanoid native population with whom to fight or compete. Had all gone as planned, it had been Crenshaw's secret desire to take, with his men, the capitol city and the neighboring mines and rule all as its governor. The other thread would be Rakam returning to help free Timbo, who is under the evil influence of a Jinn, and his army, lost in the haunted forest with the souls of the Choklotan, who are all at the mercy of the Muklak.

In this book he has promised to return to help free the souls of the Choklotan from the Muklak, as well as Timbo and his people, but only after he defeats the invaders. The book ends with him having accomplished this goal and we assume that once he has recovered from his injuries from that final showdown with the invaders, he will honor his promise and return to the haunted forest to help them all. The Characters are well developed and likeable. All have recognizable voices, differing sufficiently from one another so that at the beginning of each chapter, the reader quickly knows which person is currently the focus and narrator.

They are not stiff or stereotypes. Even the antagonists have some redeeming qualities readers can identify and appreciate; perhaps some readers can even like them.

All of this is to Phillips' credit. It even reminds me of the descriptive style of Frank Herbert my favorite Sci-Fi writer ; he also had each chapter devoted to one perspective from a variety of numerous characters in his books sometimes one of the main characters, sometimes one of the planet's ordinary subjects - a lowly soldier or even a humble servant. Another aspect that reminds me of Frank Herbert is the interconnection of all the living things of this planet with the two moons Phillips even has the rocks and rivers having influential life force energy as well as plants and animals - this was especially notable in Mabetu's spirit journey to save Rakam.

Frank Herbert was almost obsessed with the importance of ecology and the energy of a living planet, even giving sentient consciousness to ecosystems or insect hives. Herbert did all this I believe in an effort to use science fiction to explore the problems of exploiting our planet, with the hopes of enlightening readers to the current problems facing our planet. The very best Sci-Fi uses an alien setting to expose and examine problems in our own real world.

I thoroughly enjoyed Phillips' clever use of the tragedies of the colonization of the African continent by Europeans which is an ongoing situation under the guise of the global economy as well as Americans and other Westernized nationals, including the emerging Chinese.

I have read about and seen news focusing on how villages occupying lands discovered to have oil have been surgically attacked by mercenaries - it is burned to the ground, the people with the village. The mercenaries are supposed to burn away any remnant of the village, so that no one can prove it had ever been there.

Sadly, these things are done with the consent of the government because they have been paid a great deal of money to look the other way by the oil company. Sometimes, the mercenaries are members of that country's own military. Some people have managed to escape with their lives and are speaking out about this horror.

Africa is still a continent rich with natural resources attracting foreigners attempting to take what they want by any means. One has only to look at how the middle class necessary to any republic or democratic country for the continuing growth, economic health and welfare of all its country's citizenry disappears and the people become impoverished, while a few leaders of that country become wealthy and the countryside becomes polluted - where the rivers are no longer fit to drink and the fish have died off, so that there are no fish to feed the people, and the waters are poisonous to the plants in the fields, thus they are barren and the people stave, or they are poisoned by the few plants that do grow because they have sucked up the poisons through their root systems from the highly polluted water whenever oil is discovered in a particular country or area.

In Africa, it is actually not in the best interests of the people as a whole, for the West to discover some natural resource it desires. It always ends with the people, as well as the land, losing out.

The Queen and a reign of abject failure

I wish to mention two other aspects of the novel which pleased me. Rakam's life is saved by an otter, who he names Betu. She brings him fish when he was nearly dying. She not only saved his life, she represents the Almighty gifting him with divine help a reference is made later in the book that otters are messengers from the Almighty. Perhaps the Almighty in Rakam's universe has sent him Betu because Rakam is going to be the instrument to save his people and planet, but also as a reward for having survived the temptation from the Jinn.

Mike Phillips may not be aware of this but in the early Christian mythos in Ireland, otters were believed to bring fish to aesthetic monks isolated on rocky islands. The fish not only represented physical sustenance, but also symbolized spiritual nourishment since the fish was a symbol for Christ this also is a symbol for the eating of the Eucharist. I personally believe that this tradition of otters saving man's body and spirit with gifts of fish predates Christianity.

I am sure it was unintentional on Phillip's part, but the coincidence might be serendipitous. In any case, the relationship between Rakam and Betu is a sweet and gentle one and brings joy and happiness to situations within the story that might otherwise be too sad.

The other aspect that pleased me was the romance that develops between Rakam and the princess. The writing allows the reader to feel the relationship blossom without any coarse sexual descriptions.

Even the killings lack gory descriptions, yet the crime of genocide is still comprehended. It is refreshing to find an author who can convey both horror and romance without explicitness.

See a Problem?

This novel is enjoyable for adults and also can be read safely by youngsters. I do not know Mike Phillips, his agent or anyone from his publisher. There is nothing that could have biased my review.

Jul 05, Maxine rated it liked it. I just finished reading this book and I liked it a lot.

However, I did have a couple of problems with it - one small, one not so small. First, the small problem: It didn't seem to have any relation to the book. There is no prince, nightmare or otherwise. A king, yep, a jinn, uh huh, a witch, a vicious beast, and even a few really nasty bad guys, but no prince. So, unless this title is a metaphor for something in which case, I missed it , I don't understand its significance and, frankly I just finished reading this book and I liked it a lot.

So, unless this title is a metaphor for something in which case, I missed it , I don't understand its significance and, frankly, I just don't get it unless this is the first book in a series and all will be revealed in future volumes. Second, my larger problem: It seemed like there was a lot of things which happened in the book but, then, were just dropped.

For example, what happened to the children who were poisoned by the blue flowers and, for that matter, why did the captain of the invading force recover this poisoning while the natives of the planet didn't? There was a couple of references to colonizers having arrived or going to arrive from another planet so what happened to them?

And what happened to Tombo and his followers? And where was Negera during the fighting? I know, this seems like nit picking and I know that loose ends are not unusual in science fiction and fantasy but a little closure on some of these questions would have been nice. Anyway, putting these problems aside, there's a lot to like in this book. It is well-written and the characters are, for the most part, three-dimensional.

Even some of the invaders have redeeming qualities. This book also raises some interesting issues like prejudice and our tendency to view other, less technologically advanced, cultures as inferior, and does might always make right, all very important questions considering the state of the world we live in today. Jun 30, Barbara Ell rated it really liked it Shelves: When others come and start destroying villages and killing the residents, what are the priests and warriors supposed to do?

When Rakkam goes on his spiritual journey, one gift given to him by the Almighty, the True Sight, was taken from him through a bite from a serpent.

Also on this journey he meets the enemy that no one thought would be back. Will these strangers completely destroy the native population, or can the Kassisi and the Warriors overcome what the people fear about the strangers and pr When others come and start destroying villages and killing the residents, what are the priests and warriors supposed to do? Will these strangers completely destroy the native population, or can the Kassisi and the Warriors overcome what the people fear about the strangers and protect their very lives?

This book has many layers. We have Rakkam wondering about the loss of his most powerful gift, and about the receiving of a new gift. We see the family dynamics and jealousy throughout the cousins in some having more gifts than others, and some riding on the shirt-tails of their father's gifts. We have the grandfather nurturing his family and their gifts, while helping his great-grandson, Rakkam, understand what he is going through. With the strangers, we see them as they try to navigate this new land, and try to clear it for the corporation.

We also see the dynamics within the group as the Colonel and his 3 captains try to motivate their army, and one of the captains is bent on satisfying his own ends. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and it was a great easy read.

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