THE EUNUCH’S HEIR

A young prince trying to live up to a legendary father flees his society to find true love in this sequel to The Singer’s Crown (2005).

In the pseudo-medieval Kingdom of Loehalyn, the saintly father of Wolfram duRhys has ascended to the stars, and Wolfram can’t deal with the expectations he left behind. The spoiled prince takes to drink and women as forms of rebellion until an assassination attempt sends him out into the wilderness to find himself. Eventually, his journey leads him southward across the ocean to a land that is running out of natural resources. Here, dark-skinned people with strange societal rules and expectations force Wolfram to grow up faster than he ever expected. In this vaguely Middle Eastern fantasy setting, the prince finds his true love, as well as a plot by foreigners to invade his country by pretending to be religious refugees from the southern continent. Obvious metaphors about immigration are made more troubling by the lack of any dark-skinned characters playing good-guy roles, unless you count a faithful servant or an exotic wife.

Shallow, with creepy undercurrents: strictly for fans of the first volume.