Archibald Lox is one of those gems that deserves much more attention than it gets. I love finding these books, ones which fly under the radar but when you give them a chance, you count your lucky stars you did. See my reviews for the Nick Holleran series for example, which has been my favourite series so far this year.
But Darren Shan is no novice when it comes to writing middle-grade / YA speculative fiction. Who could forget Cirque Du Freak, Demonata, or his Zom-B series. But what makes this different is Shan has left the horror themes behind to bring us this fantastic portal fantasy.
The first thing you should know is that The Missing Princess is not just one book, but three. You can obtain them separately or as one volume.
I decided to review the volume as opposed to each one separately. This is mostly due to time restraints (I’m currently trying to finish editing my first YA novel, a new year’s resolution I set myself which I still hope to achieve). But I hope to capture all the great things I like about this book (or books).
World Building:
Shan has brought lots of unique features to his world. The story starts off with Archibald, a young preteen/early teen boy who sees a girl making strange faces on a bridge in London. She then disappears into a borehole, escaping from two dangerous assassins. With a dose curiosity as well as looking for an escape from his depressed life at the loss of his foster brother, Archibald follows the girl.
To follow the girl, Archibald must pick a lock. It’s not an average lock, but a magical one which expands to Archie’s touch and allows him to reach his hands in and manipulate the levers and cogs inside. It appears he’s a locksmith and, in the Merge, the world he travels to, he has a sought-after gift.
The Merge is an interesting place – a series of interconnecting worlds which you can travel between using boreholes, giant vines, or by boat on the blood river. It’s unique in the sense that it’s created by people known as devisers who generate the mountains and cities from the Merge’s mushrooms, the food which the people there eat. These divisors can create anything from these mushrooms, meaning you never know what the next world will be like when Archie passes through each borehole.
Archie also meets Winsten, a fellow locksmith who takes Archie under his wing. He lives at the Empire State building in New York where the real world (the Born world) overlaps with Merge, distorting reality in a way that all the world’s landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and the Pyramids of Egypt can be seen in one skyline. Winston is a gentle mentor who teaches Archie the ways of the locksmith.
Characters:
Archibald is a likable character and is an ideal companion for the reader to take this adventure with. Like us, he’s new to the Merge and we learn about its customs through him. He’s brave, compassionate, and we learn to care for the characters around him the way he does.
The first character we meet in the Merge is Inez Matryoshka. She’s been in the Merge for hundreds of years but is as young as Archie. She’s our resident expert, who explains the world around us. She’s on a mission, one which is kept secret until the final moments of the third book.
You meet further characters along the way. For example, Archie and Inez join up with the thesps, a group of actors who put on plays. There you meet characters like the sassy Baba Jen, though in the body of a small child, is hundreds of years old. We also get to spend time with Cal, the gentle giant who takes to protecting Inez and Archie and reoccurs throughout the stories.
Stories are only as good as their villains and there are plenty to choose from. Firstly, there are the two assassins I mentioned earlier. Orlan Stiletto and Argate Axe. Carrying knives as weapons, Shan does an excellent job introducing these characters from the get-go and they are truly terrifying. There was a moment I thought Shan was going to off the main character from the start. These characters appear throughout the books and are shown to be immensely skilled killers.
I also enjoyed the gambling Empress of Suanpan, Urszula, who is also a deviser. As stated before, she has the power to create things in the Merge but get on her wrong side, she also has the power to destroy everything around her, including our favourite protagonists, Archie and Inez.
Plot:
As this is three books in one overarching story, each part acts as a story in its own right as well as a part of a bigger picture. Though this is unique, this isn’t so different from Shan’s other works as his books are generally short, so if your used to reading Shan, this won’t be so unfamiliar.
The first book does an excellent job setting up the world-building, much of which we discover in scenes with Archie and Inez. The back and forth feels natural, and you never feel like Shan is info dumping. The information is experienced through the characters making it digestible to the reader.
The second book takes place in a zone called Suanpan. I really enjoyed this one, as Inez is recruiting for her mission and that involves teaming up with the thesps and playing with the notorious gambling empress. The plot is clever and engaging, and we learn more about the merge along the way.
In book three, all is revealed as to Inez’s mission. I don’t want to say too much here but it’s another action-packed story in a world which you will want to get lost in. Here we’re introduced the sport of Grop (think rugby if there was a prison rules version) which plays an integral part in volume two.
I highly recommend this book and I think it deserves the same attention as the likes of Percy Jackson. I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into volume two of the series.
This book review is part of a new #Octobooks series. #Octobooks are books associated with authors/guests/members (past and present) of #Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention. Find out more about Octocon on their website and their socials: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, BlueSky, and Mastodon.
MARK KIELTY 