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Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers' Favorite
Nick Nethery’s novel, The Peace Child, is an exciting and character-driven fantasy about an old retired soldier and a six-year-old prince, caught up in a struggle for power between two kingdoms, Cordoba and Leone. The retired soldier, Red (Colonel Ranford Redgrave), has carried out countless dangerous secret missions in the service of the king of Cordoba. Now the king assigns him one last mission: to protect and escort the Peace Child, six-year-old Caden, to a safe destination, away from conspiracies and plots to kill him. Caden is a prince of Leone who has lived under the protection of the king of Cordoba, an ancient sacred custom, to keep peace between Cordoba and Leone. Red, Caden, and Namura, the novice nun who is Caden’s governess, leave on their long and arduous journey and almost immediately find themselves in perilous situations, pursued by Cordoban soldiers. Tension and suspense fill the story as soldiers, monks, and bounty hunters pursue the Peace Child.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Nick Nethery’s The Peace Child, for its remarkable characters, and a terrific and well-crafted storyline that weaves together danger, humor, betrayal, loyalty, friends and enemies, and powerful runes, wards, sigils, and glyphs. I particularly enjoyed the character development of Red, who, at the start of the story, is somewhat at a loss about how to deal with Prince Caden, an active, curious, talkative little boy. I loved how, as the story progresses, Red learns to love and care for Caden, to protect him at all costs from men who stand to profit by his death, and who are intent on breaking the peace between Cordoba and Leone. I loved how Caden’s character creates humor, a great sense of adventure, almost a magical journey, and at the same time, poignancy, tragedy, and extreme danger. The story gained great depth from a diversity of secondary characters, particularly Caden’s brave governess and the Wisps, very intriguing master mages. The climax is fantastic, gripping, and suspenseful. I loved the cover graphics and the great drawings of characters and events. I highly recommend The Peace Child to readers of fantasy and magic realism novels about war and peace, loyalty and betrayal, love, loss, and grief.
