The Prince of Mirrors

Captivating. Enthralling. Utterly engaging. These are the first words to flit across my mind upon finishing this book. It is beautifully written and flows with complete grace from chapter to chapter. Each character seems to leap off the page, not simply a lifeless imitation of a historical figure but a real flesh-and-blood person who you bond with over the course of the novel. It is the first novel in a long time that has captured my imagination so fully- the first day I picked it up, I struggled to let it go again. I resisted the urge to wax lyrical about it all day. I plan on buying a copy for each of my friends upon its release (not a modest promise when one subsists on a student budget).

There is representation of the LGBT+ community and the mentally ill community here, and I admit that at first I flinched away. I have had too many negative experiences. This book, however, did everything right. It felt as though there was no judgement, no criticism. The characters were set loose across the page and allowed to tell their own tales as they would.

This book is truly an incredible achievement for historical fiction.

ohhhhh my heart!! what a lovely, lovely book.

part fact, part fiction, the prince of mirrors follows the story of prince eddy, better known as prince albert victor, and his tutor jem stephen. their story, though heartbreakingly tragic, is also astonishingly beautiful and so full of life that it hardly seems possible that both historical figures have almost been forgotten with the passage of time. i’m no kirkus reviewer, but if i may say so, alan robert clark manages to bring life to this book in a masterful way, his writing style leaps off the pages and into your heart gracefully so. i’m surprised and slightly offended that i’ve never heard of him before.

speaking of alan robert clark’s writing style—jesus, can this man write. it’s rare to read such natural and organic interactions that feel so inherently realistic. it almost hurts, honestly. i wasn’t lying or vaguely exaggerating with the “leaps of the pages and into your heart” part, either. this book feels like picking up a piece, a string, of any of these characters’ lives. if the pensieve from harry potter were real and the british royal family ~through the ages~ had poured their memories into little flasks to be used for later date, this book would be it.

the pacing is slow but understandably so. i personally didn’t find it tedious or boring to read, but maybe that’s just me.

as far as diversity goes, i think the prince of mirrors did a good job. there’s obviously the lgbt aspect, but i’d like to point out that, while jem identifies strongly as gay, eddy is very clearly and very explicitly bisexual. bisexuality in this book is depicted in a very positive light as far as representation goes (obviously during the time this book takes place it wasn’t particularly a ‘good’ thing to be even remotely attracted to the same gender) and what i mean by it being depicted positively is that it shines on a very healthy part of it that we rarely see in other books, the stereotype being “oh this character is bisexual! they’re very promiscuous and immoral and sleep around a lot” which is, you know, wrong. anyway, eddy’s bisexuality is very important to his character and to his development and it really made him pop in my eyes. speaking of a different aspect of diversity, (which is also rarely seen in books these days unless you’re actively searching for it), is the fact that jem is plus size. also depicted in a very healthy way and was also intrinsic to jem’s character and development.

i don’t want to give too much away since it’s gonna be a long time still before this book is published but all in all, this story was engaging and beautifully told. all the issues that alan robert clark wanted to address, he did so perfectly. love, love, love all around.