Prince Ombra
by Roderick MacLeish
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Starscape, Tor (New York): November 1982. Trade Paperback: 377 pages. ISBN-10: 0-765-34244-8 ISBN-13: 978-0765342447 Suggested retail price: $5.99 (US) Tags: Adventure; angels; arson; cougars; evil; Fantasy; god; good vs. evil; murder; mythology; psychology; Ra; sailing; shotguns; Youth Tactical strength: [5/10] |
At his birth, Bentley Ellicott learned a secret from the "canal angel": that Bentley would serve as the 1,001st hero of the world and that he would have to defend the world against the evil Prince Ombra. The angel also told Bentley that he must keep his mission a secret from everyone except a person who loves him in silence and a teacher that believes in his mission. Also, Bentley's mother died at his birth and he has a deformed leg that causes him to limp. Other than that, Bentley leads the normal life of an eight-year-old boy.
MacLeish -- at least for the purposes of Prince Ombra -- clearly believes in god, angels, and an evil being from which all human misery originates. In this case, god exists as a composite of every god ever worshiped by any person in any religion. We don't see much involvement from god, but he does send a hero to battle Prince Ombra whenever he gets powerful enough to manifest himself on the Earth. Bentley has a composite memory of all the heros that came before him, such as King Arthur and other heros from just about every culture on the Earth. On some occasions, the hero fails to defeat Ombra, and for a time evil spreads across the Earth. MacLeish implies that Ombra took human form as Hitler, who and defeated the 1,000th hero and reigned over a period of evil. We don't know how Prince Ombra got sent back to the vortex in which he lives, but we do know that Bentley must battle the Prince.
The story line moves along at a pretty good pace, and you find Bentley's reactions quite plausible for a boy his age. Often the young boy forced into heroic deeds sounds more like an adult stuffed into a miniature body. And on occasion, you really do believe that Bentley could die from all the attacks launched by the evil prince. But I found the ending entirely unsatisfactory. Bentley's direct battle with Ombra takes entirely too little time for the build up it receives, and I find it hard to believe that an eight-year-old boy could pose any threat to an evil force that has existed from the beginning of human history. Of course, that's part of the moral -- that bravery matters more than size, stature, or experience. And beyond the result of the final battle, I find Bentley's condition in the epilogue even more unsatisfactory. The earth tilts along on it's merry way without anyone really ever realizing that a hero had arrived to battle the rising influences of evil.
Other than Bentley, MacLeish's other characters seem to have almost no free will as far as resisting the influence of Prince Ombra. The price emphasizes the negative parts of people's personalities, and the people don't seem to have any choice or chance to resist. Only Bentley and his two companions, who know all about Bentley's mission to save the world from evil, seem to have any free will about how they react to the negative ideas forced upon them.
The cover states "ages 10 and up." As a boy, I probably would have really enjoyed Prince Ombra for the adventure, but as an adult, I found the metaphysical ideas underpinning the story a distraction. At ten, I could accept just about any worldview for the duration of a novel, but now I find that my own concept of the human condition conflicts with the tenets necessary for Prince Ombra to work. You have to accept an evil being so powerful that he can take over people's actions (to the point of causing one person to imprison one of Bentley's companions and another to try tracking Bentley with the intent of killing him with a shotgun). And you have to accept that the fate of the world, lies in the hands of a single individual, not just once, but literally a thousand times.
I think kids and even younger teens will enjoy Prince Ombra, but any examination of the story beyond the surface leaves the reader to deal with a set of unsatisfactory philosophical conclusions necessary for the plot to function.
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