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Neil Port grew up in Sydney, then on a farm in the Central Coast. He lives in Newcastle Australia with his wife and two cats. He has three grown children and two granddaughters. He has worked in General Practice, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy and now teaches Post Graduate Psychiatry. The Elvish Prophecy is his first novel. It is the story of a mercenary, a Gypsy orphan, and an elf princess … combining historical romance, gripping action, and epic fantasy.
Reviewed by Stephanie Dagg for Readers' Favorite
Elvish Prophecy, the first novel in The Paladin Chronicles by Neil Port, is an intriguing story that weaves fantasy with history. Two groups of elves, The Western and the Eastern Elves, once ruled over the humans in the area around Greece and Turkey, but have been almost wiped out by an invading horde of barbarians. They are now struggling to survive in small groups. Hakeem, a would-be monk turned mercenary, is thrown into the mix. He first rescues a gypsy orphan from being murdered and takes responsibility for her, changing his life dramatically. Meanwhile the elvish princess Elana has been sent to fulfil the elvish prophecy by producing a child, to be fathered by a married chieftain, and returning in shame to become Queen. Events bring Elana into contact with Hakeem and Jacinta and they must work together to discover what needs to be done to safeguard the future of the elves. The plot is complex and involves interesting characters, both good and evil, in a variety of settings and situations.
The author’s obvious love of history is as evident as his incredible imagination in this wonderful book. Paladin is an old-fashioned term for a knight and implies a sense of valour and honour, and these are both strong elements in the novel. The plot is ingenious and intelligently created. There is thick and fast action but calmer, slower paced sections that provide the background and allow us to see the characters develop and interact. The humans and elves we meet are rounded, plausible people whose heads we can enter. Port has woven an intricate universe for us with its own lexicon, customs and beliefs. There is a little bit of ‘info dumping’ here and there but this is necessary since this is the first novel in a series and so a certain amount of background has to be covered and explanations given. The author handles it well and keeps us interested. This is what one could term an intellectual, historic fantasy novel that is a delight to read.
