A Confusion of Princes, by Garth Nix

Review by :Arghya Roy

   This book takes place milleniums into the future, and there's an empire that controls the whole galaxy. This empire is ruled by an entity, known as the Imperial Mind (it's actually a collection of all the former princes who became emperor) and millions of cybernetic humans, called Princes. After every 20 years, 1000 prices are chosen to battle for supremacy, to be chosen to enter the Imperial Mind. Also, these Princes have 3 main types of bodily advantages over humans. Bitek (advanced biological weaponry and technology), Psitek (advanced mental weaponry and technology, and the 1 inherent skill that all princes have, and if you have more of it then other princes, then you can be an imperial candidate), and Mektek (advanced mechanical weaponry and technology). In addition to this, Princes can be reborn, if their death was a noble one, and they have priests who take care of them, and Princes can telepathically speak to them (via Psitek.) Many princes join a 'House', or a group of princes working together, and the main 3 enemies of the empire are the Sad Eyes (excellent at mental warfare, but not Bitek or Mektek), Naknuk rebels (rebels from the House of Naknuk, who focus on Bitek), and Deaders (who spontaneously combust to avoid capture.) Finally, there are 16 types of Priests who work for the Princes (wow, that was a lot of background info!)

   This particular Prince (who's the book's main character) is named Khemri, and he's just finished his training to become an actual Prince. He's assigned a Master of Assassins (who is named Haddad, and is very good at his job). Immediately he is almost assassinated, and Haddad saves his life, and he then explains to Khemri that it's a common practice amongst princes, to assassinate other Princes who haven't connected themselves to the Imperial Mind (you can only be reborn if you're connected to the Imperial Mind), and that's what just happened to him. Haddad said that 32% of the princes don't make it past their 1st hour, and Khemri was only prince for 35 minutes. He then decides that his top and most urgent priority is to enter the imperial mind, and join the Navy.

   Then, he received 2 weapons, and as they went on a ship headed to the military academy, they devised a very high-tech plan, which involved a Bitek space sting ray. Once they landed on the planet, they made their way to a temple where you can connect yourself to the Imperial Mind. Over there, Khemri was almost assassinated again, but they survived it. Then, Haddad told him to meet the main priest there. Once he went to the center, he saw an Arch-Priest waiting for him, which was unusual, since most princes only get a senior priest. She told him to go into the stream near her, which then connected him to the Imperial Mind.  Then the Arch-Priest gave him a set of instructions. A)He can't tell anyone, except his Master of Assassins, that an Arch-Priest connected him to the Imperial Mind and B)That the Commandant of the Naval Academy will ask him to join the House Jerrazis, and that he has to refuse. Then, the Priest disappears, and Haddad walks in, and gives him his clothing.

   Once he goes into the Academy, he meets the commandant who does ask the House question, and Khemri refuses, and is sent to his barracks, where because he didn't accept the House invitation, he is not popular, and some unpleasantries occur, to which Khemri wins. However, throughout his term, he receives many demerits (which are negative values in his score, that determines his outcome in the academy)  and he pretty much reaches the limit of demerits, so he has almost no free time. One good outcome of that was that he was getting extra education, which was supposed to be punishment. Then, on one of his extra-duty days, there is a Sad-Eye incursion, and since he was the only on-duty prince, he repelled the invasion, with some Mekbi (Imperial Foot-soldiers), but he died, and was then reborn, 12 days later.

   Prince Khemri received 6 more priests, 4 apprentice assassins, and a Hero of the Empire, Second Class award. In addition to that, he gets 3 days of leave, and all his demerits are cleared. Then the commandant comes into his room, and goes psycho, since he hates Khemri, and he also resembles his best cadet Atlain (who is actually his sister),  so he tries to kill him, but Khemri assassinates him. Because of that, the House of Jerrazis now hates him, and will try to permanently kill him in a duel. After these events, he's given 2 choices by the same arch-priest who connected him to the mid. Either go to a supply station, and risk being killed by the Jerrazis, orgo through a year of training simulations, and possibly be accepted by the Imperial Secret Service. He prefers the later, and goes through 4 quadrants, and on the 5th one, he went onto a ship that was almost completely destroyed, where there's a women named Raines, (whom he later falls in love with and marries, but not immediately) and together, they launch a missile at a wormhole, which space pirates plan to enter through. That delays their arrival, and they go to her homeworld.

  Trader Khem (his disguise) has been living with Raine for some time, and then everything goes downhill. Space Pirates come out of the reopened wormhole, and Khemri finds an abandoned Prince vessel, and takes on the pirates in a space battle, and he then dies again, but is revived by the Imperial Mind. He awakens in time for the Imperial Candidacy. Before the actual fight for supremacy, he's dueled by his sister, Prince Atlain, in which she forfeits, as their both favoured candidates. When the test starts, all 1,000 candidates are drugged, and are placed in boats. They have to steer the boats with their mentors eyes, but only 5 manage to do this, including Khemri and Atlain. All 5 boats enter a chamber, where there is a weapons area, and Khemri kills 2 of the candidates, and Atlain kills 1. Then, it's only the 2 of them, and Khemri decides to let Atlain be Emperor, but to do that, he asks her to let her go back to Raines, which she accepts, and that's pretty much the end of the book.

  I rate this book a 8 out of 10, due to the fact that I liked the background, and I liked the characters, my favourite being Haddad, who I thought was awesome. However, I didn't like the fact that Khemri didn't want to be Emperor, and I didn't like him as a character overall. Finally, I liked the idea of a trinity of teks. I would recommend this book to people who liked the Hunger Games, and like sci-fi.