Friday 13 January 2017

The Old Man and the Princess by Sean-Paul Thomas

Synopsis from Goodreads:

An eccentric old Irish man, who claims to be 'not of this Earth,' kidnaps Sersha, a young, headstrong, Irish girl, from the streets of Galway and tries to convince her that her life's destiny is tied to a mystical cave in the Scottish highlands.

But with half of the Irish criminal underworld violently on their trail, Sersha, struggles back and forth with the old man's real identity and far-fetched intentions to whether he truly is genuine in his wild and fantastical beliefs. Or is he really just a mad, demented, old fool, having some kind of mental breakdown in his twilight years. 

My review:

When I was contacted by the author to review this book and I read the synopsis for this book, I wasn’t really too sure what to expect, but it really turned out to be a little gem of a book, with a story that kept popping along very nicely and good characters you grow to like. The story has also kept its authenticity by using local dialects and not too vast description of the Irish and Scottish scenery.

Derek did worry me at first. Let’s be honest, when the main character of an old man kidnaps a fifteen year old girl and keeps her in the back of a van in the middle of a forest, you don’t necessarily warm to him straight away. But Derek is a surprisingly strong headed, good natured man with a goal in mind, knowing he would do literary anything to keep Sersha safe and to get them both to their final destination.

Sersha on the other hand is a typical angry teenager. Growing up in foster care left her with trust issues, but also wanting more out of life and hope that their might be something better, which I think is why she starts to side with Derek so quickly.

Whether you believe the whole sci-fi story Derek portraits to Sersha is, in my opinion, quite irrelevant. To me, this book was more about the relationship that so beautifully develops between these two. It’s a relationship based on crazy theory of other worlds, palaces and princesses, but one that grows into a lovely friendship.

This is a shorter novel for anyone who likes to dip into something a little bit different. There are a few nice twists in the story and all is not as it seems. Good, witty humour helps the story along too with a few laugh-out-loud moments.

And I must also admit that I absolutely love the cover!

Thank you to the author for giving me access to this book in return for an honest review.

My rating: 4/5


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