Review of Prince Undercover

[Nwankwo GC]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Prince Undercover" by Ashraf Habbak.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In Prince Undercover, Ashraf Habbak presents a story that chronicles the rise and fall of various hegemonies. At the center of it all is Mansour. Though he is no king and is not in line for the throne, Mansour's story is the vehicle that drives the story. Mansour is a member of the royal family. It is said that heroes are made, not born, but Mansour is a hero, both made and born. He lives a life of honesty and transparency, and he makes a great effort to be responsible in earnest. Even as a teenager, he is able to swim against the tide of youthful exuberance. He is also very religious, and it is perhaps his devotion to Allah that lifts him and keeps him on higher ground.

At the beginning of the novel, the king is a leader that is sensitive to the plight of his people. He institutes a democracy as the system of government and does his best to provide necessary and important infrastructure for the people of Terra Qurayshia. The crown prince, however, sees this as a wrong move because the people have become lazy, and he believes that a dictatorship would get the country back to a place of glory. When conspiracies like this are plotted, there is sure to be a butterfly effect, and innocent people will get caught up in the whirlwind. Mansour and his father are caught up in this whirlwind. For most of his life, Mansour has been training himself to be a government spy. Read this book to find out how that goes for Mansour and what happens in the aftermath.

I love the stories of espionage interspersed with stories of love, family and life in general. Despite the heavy theme of political conspiracies, corruption and overthrow, there is still a tender spot of love, both family and romantic. The book portrays the human side of heroes, and it shows that without love, man is nothing. Fatima was a wonderful character as she was a woman that loved her husband and son dearly. Even on her deathbed, Fatima was still praying for Faisal and Mansour. I also really liked the character of Nadia. Nadia is smart and resourceful with a great sense of humour. She is also a supportive and loving wife. It seems like Mansour had a lot of wonderful women on his side. The author really did a great job in creating multi-dimensional characters with moral dilemmas and human emotions. The characters were not monolithic, and they had very interesting personalities.

However, I did not quite enjoy the narration over different spaces of time. It made the narration a little mixed up, and it took a while for the story to take shape in my mind's eye. I understand that the writer aimed to be creative with the time sequence, but something more definite would have been appreciated. Instead, the author seemed to travel through three different time sequences all at once. It was not such an easy hurdle to get through.

Besides my grouse with the time sequence of the narration, I found the book to be a sublime work of art as I was hooked on every single line of prose as the pages flipped by. In this book, I encountered a lot of creativity and impressive editorial mastery. It is professionally edited, as I found just a few errors in it. I rate the book 4 out of 4 stars. I will not hold the time sequence issue against the author, as I can tell he was merely trying to be creative with it.

This book is a great fit for lovers of adventure and espionage. For lovers of thrillers and suspense, this will be an interesting read because even I could not predict the end.

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Prince Undercover
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[Amy Luman]

I agree that heroes are made not born. How exciting that Mansour is both. It appears that he got encouragement from his family and was sincerely trying to help the people of Terra Qurayshia.

[Onyinyechi Orji]

I would love to know more about Mansour and his deeds. Thanks for the detailed review. Can't wait to read it.

[Fearnia Laurel]

The king is kind to the people but the crown prince is the opposite. I wonder how they differ so much, and whether the crown prince is just a small part of the undercurrent in the kingdom, planning to overthrow the king. How will Mansour take part in resolving the conspiracies and how will it affect him and his family? I have many questions that can only be answered by reading the book. Thank you for the review.

[Yasmine M]

Thank you for your review, I enjoyed reading it. I like the character of Mansour and I wonder how it will all end. This book seems to have it all for me, mystery, adventure, love and faith. I will definitely add it to my "to read" list.