Prince of
(First Second Books) 208 pages $16.95
Story by Jordan Mechner; Script by A. B. Sina; Art by LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvillan
ISBN: 9-781-5964-3207-9
ICv2 Stars: 3 (Out of 5)
Nearly 20 years ago a computer game called Prince of Persia came out for all of the computer systems that were even slightly popular, and became something of a phenomenon. It spawned sequels of varying quality, the soundtrack music was released as a CD, and it is even being turned into a feature film coming out in 2010. Now Jordan Mechner, the game’s designer, has helped to create a graphic novel vaguely related to the game. Rather than tell the story of a game, he has come up with a completely different story, or two of them, depending on how you count.
The story is complex and interwoven. In attempting to convey the “story within a story” atmosphere of the tales of the Arabian Nights, the story becomes more ornate with each passing page. The artwork and the lettering attempt to convey this transition to another world, but not with complete success. The flashback sequences include artwork that is very stiff and stylized, but with the same color palette as the main story. That helps the reader to follow the stories, but it still weakens the art somewhat. There are some elements of fantasy, but it mostly falls in the action/adventure genre... medieval Persian action/adventure. Not a sweeping epic like an old Sinbad movie, but more personal.
The story is intriguing, and if you enjoyed the game or ever enjoyed a good version of Aladdin, Ali Baba, or even Sinbad, then this book will be of interest. If the film version does well, that will attract readers to the book, but the film is nearly two years away.
Recommended for teens and adults, due to violence and very small amount of nudity and sexuality.
--Nick Smith
Library Technician, Community Services, for the
