When you release a book, in this age of the internet and instant electronic communication, reviews of your work are fairly easy to come by. You get the bad reviews (my faves being the "rather host a telethon" and "full of gratuitous sex and violence" rants)... and the okay reviews (you know, 3 stars, and I'll probably buy the next one). The good reviews (4 stars and I'll definitely buy the next one). The great reviews (5 stars and I'll sell the soul of my firstborn to get a copy of the next one)...

And, of course, the obligatory Harriet Klausner review (which is another story in itself)...

And then there's the review that stands in a league of its own and kinda defies description. Like this one posted on the HarperCollins Australia Voyager website...

After reading Jennifer Fallon’s The Immortal Prince one thing is clear. This could be the most important Australian fantasy release since Sara Douglass’ Axis Trilogy which began in with Battleaxe in 1995.

Fallon is at her very best. Gritty and dynamic, the book reveals a feast of tragedy and magic, politics and action. The strengths readers have come to expect from her writing have not disappeared. Characterisation. Plot. Dialogue. Intrigue. Betrayal and Detail. All undeniable and none detract in the least from the pace of the story.

The premise of The Immortal Prince seems simple enough: an immortal, Cayal, seeks a way to die. (What is so clever is Fallon’s willingness to enforce the meaning of the word ‘immortal’ literally, someone who is unable to die.) Imprisoned after a failed hanging, the authorities do not take Cayal seriously when he claims to be an immortal Tide Lord. Someone must investigate.

That someone is Arkady, a mortal historian doing her best to prove to the world that Cayal is a liar. Any readers tired of seeing ‘trophy’ female characters will be impressed with Arkady. Real people inhabit Fallon’s world. Arkady is beautiful, assured, powerful – and trapped. She is living a lie and her struggle for recognition and fulfilment is waged across the book in a thread more engaging, possibly, than the earth-shattering story of the Tide Lords.

At the heart of great writing there are usually two things: a brilliant story and a style that reveals that story, without getting in the way. The writing is inconspicuous enough that reading the Immortal Prince is like having a movie transmitted to your mind. But equally impressive, is the realisation that, even as you read, it is possible to appreciate the quality of writing.

And what a world it is. One thing lacking in some fantasy works, despite having a believable world, is the history. Fallon has woven a detailed and complex history into the narrative of this story, making the Immortal Prince something piercingly real, without having to sacrifice the wonder that fantasy readers come to expect. And, being able to balance that sense of wonder (take the Crasii or Cayal’s personal history, which has a classic mythology feel) with the cold, ugly face of politics, is no mean feat.

Remember how the magic in Eddings’ Elenium was offset a little too strongly by the religious, political and bureaucratic detail? Not so with the Immortal Prince. There is a fine balance between the many powerful elements of her work. It is possible to feel overwhelmed by the odds set against the ‘mere’ mortals of the story, but there is a defiant sense of hope. Fantasy does not often deal with quitters, and neither does Fallon in the first book of the Tide Lords.

The Immortal Prince is unrelenting. The lives of Fallon's characters pull you in. You come face to face with enemies and friends, people you hate, people you love and people you want to be! And that is the most devious thing about Jennifer Fallon’s work, (more devious than Dirk, perhaps) you really get to engage with the characters, her control of point of view is masterful.

And don’t worry about the time between release dates for this series. Read The Immortal Prince as soon as you buy it; it is one of those rare books that you will read again and again.

And no, this was not written by a relative of mine (although I am thinking of offering to adopt him...hehehe) or anybody on staff at HarperCollins Australia.