An Indie Review - The Thirteenth Prince - Joel Glover

Firstly I’d like to thank Joel for sending me a copy of The Thirteenth Prince on the vague promise that I would get to reading it ‘this year at some point’ and for waiting patiently while I took until November to read it. 

The Thirteenth Prince has a lot going on within what feels like a relatively simple plot. In short it’s a bit of a buddy cop novel, but the cops are accountants working in a fantasy setting, and one of the accountants, our protagonist Gene also seems to have some form of Synesthesia that causes him to see patterns in numbers. While working as said fantasy accountant they uncover a nefarious plot and set on their way to stopping it, and all of this is happening in a world where males are seen as the weaker sex, and where an entire collection of cities thinks they’re the next chosen one. Like I say, there’s a whole bunch going on and it feels a bit mental written down in one place but it does work, just trust me. 

The first thing I noticed about this book is Glovers writing style. He writes in the first person with a constant wit, almost a sarcasm to Gene’s internal monologue. It’s something that makes his writing easily identifiable and fun to read. 

Having only read a short Novella of Joel’s before it was nice to read something a bit more fleshed out, it was great to see how he was able to develop gene as a character and provide a more expanded story than the one in The Path of Pain and Ruin (which is also great, go and read it). 

I’ve probably done the plot a disservice calling it simple, there’s enough going on to carry the story without it going flat, and if you’re the type of person who likes to analyse a book thematically and look for deeper meaning you’ll probably get a lot more out of it than I did, unfortunately I am just an idiot so those aspects are probably lost on me. 

My only complaints with this book are the same I had previously which are that some of the dialogue, particularly Kostyas swearier rants felt a little inorganic, and that honestly I just feel like there’s so much more that could have been done with this story and cast of characters. I enjoyed what I read but I struggled to get a feel for the setting. Hopefully Joel has plans to write more in this world because it’s got a lot of promise. 
Overall this was a book I enjoyed, it’s definitely worth picking up for your time, especially given the price point and time it will take to read. Also, you’ll be supporting a promising new author who has a fantastically unique writing style and has more to offer. 

I’d also like to make a special mention for one scene in particular where Gene has been drinking and wakes up someone else’s house. There’s a bit of dialogue in that scene that can only be written by the keen ear of a man who has his his children explain multiple times to him why their siblings are being unfair. It really tickled me. 

Give the book a chance. Give Joel a chance. I don’t think you’ll regret it. 

3.5/5 rounded up to four for the hilarious scene with the kids.