Prince of Persia

by
A.B. Sina

artwork by
LeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland

created by
Jordan Mechner

:01 First Second, September 2008, 208 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-59643-602-2

Genre: Graphic Novel

Subgenre: Fantasy / Video Game
Reviewed: 5/31/2010

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Graphic Novel Page

Synopsis

In the 9th Century A.D., in the city of Marv, a young prince, Guiv, is being tortured by his brother, Layth, the leader of the city. Their sister, who is pregnant with Layth's child, convinces Layth to let Guiv live. Upon leaving the city, Guiv is followed by a peacock. The peacock transforms into a wise bird-creature named Turul. Guiv is heading toward a citadel high on a rocky outcrop. He feels compelled to reach the citadel because when he was close to death he saw himself, but not himself, at the citadel. He feels compelled to solve this mystery.

Meanwhile, in 13th Century A.D., in the city of Marv, a young woman, Shirin, lives under the oppressive thumb of her father. Cutting off her ponytail, and disguising herself as a boy, she flees the city. She is to meet her dance teacher, Arsalan, who is part of a secret society, at a tree near the old well. When Arsalan doesn't arrive, she accidentally falls in the well and is rescued by a man calling himself Layth. He takes her to the some ruins and calls her Guilan, even though she claims that is not her name. Later, Layth says his real name is Ferdos, and he is guardian of the waters.

Prince of Perisa was created by Jordan Mechnes, written by A.B Sina, illustrated by LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland, and colored by Hilary Sycamore. This book is based on the video game by the same name.

Review

Way back in the early 1990's, I worked at SEGA in the video game testing department and was lead tester on a game for the SEGA CD called Prince of Persia. I knew the game inside and out, wrote test plans, assigned tester to testing different aspects of the game, and brought it through the test cycle until it was published and released to the public. So, I feel pretty well-versed on the original concept of Prince of Persia. See the animation to right for an example of the game.

I was excited to read a new graphic novel about the Prince of Persia that I knew so well. The back of the book has a great 11-page afterward by the game creator, Jordan Mechner, who did not write this book. This book was written by A.B. Sina and was inspired by the video game. I was expecting a book where a prince was on the run and fighting for his life. I was disappointed by the fact there there were two stories that were tied together through a period of four centuries. The stories constantly switches back and forth from one tale to the other. I never built a bond with the main characters from either story, so I found I really didn't care about what was happening whether it was in 9th or 13th century. One great story would have been better than two mediocre stories.

The artwork is nicely done, portraying the look and feel of the game. I did find the coloring to be rather drab and uninspiring. A lot of earth-tones are used with hardly a thought for shading. The book ended up looking rather drab and boring because of it.

Overall, Prince of Persia is a book that will not remain in my memory fondly. I have already forgotten most of it even as I write this review. Too bad. With an awesome-looking movie soon to be released, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, I just wish this book would have had a more interesting storyline and characters that I wanted to learn more about. Without those two things, I found I didn't really care what happening to them or in the stories. I even put the book down when I was halfway though it, read a novel, and then picked it up again, begrudgingly, to finish it. That kind of says it all.

I rated this book a 5 out of 10.