The Immortal Happerstadt
In the adventure-filled novel The Immortal Happerstadt, a prince leaves his ordinary upbringing to fulfill his destiny.
In Kevin Goss’s busy fantasy novel The Immortal Happerstadt, a gay prince raised as a peasant pursues a life of adventure, danger, and romance.
Haimishly’s early life was difficult: Raised by a farmer, he was bullied for being gay. In adulthood, he became a bookstore owner and an amateur scholar. When a visiting wizard, Kahgross, tells him that his father is an exiled king, his future plans change. He also learns that an uprising has begun and that his father’s enemies are after him. What follows are adventures with magic, threats, and suitors, through which Haimishly determines that what he wants most is to be loved and accepted.
While the events of the book are exciting, its central characterizations are static, including Haimishly’s. He lacks confidence throughout and is framed as reactive; his adventures are often set in motion by others. Secondary characters prove more active in his story, including Kahgross, his mentor, who provides comic relief through his frustrations with both Haimishly and his father and through somewhat clumsy attempts to save the day.
The story moves with speed through developments including the introduction of a second villain, Balboshep, an evil deity who wants to bend the world to his will. Haimishly has three relationships in its pages, but they’re underdeveloped. He has a bond with Daxon for fifteen years, and abusive behavior is implied but not fleshed out. Daxon is seized for his crimes and set to be killed, leaving Haimishly sad but not otherwise impacted. And Haimishly and Elnilgad, an elven prince who rescues him, also have a rushed connection, marked by immediate infatuation, flirting, and pet names that strain credulity because of Haimishly’s plain and passive nature. Haimishly’s reciprocation seems to be about being validated, not love.
The action scenes are swift as well. On the first major mission to acquire the magical Kleinen Stone, Haimishly and his friends are attacked by ghouls and then by a tribe known to kidnap and take advantage of travelers. The similarity of the two events and their lack of lasting impact despite the initial peril and trauma dulls their effect.
The prose is spare and inconsistent. Sometimes short on descriptions, it is also sometimes overdone, as with the repetition of “dream of remembrance” to mark flashbacks. Further, the worldbuilding is shallow, with much conveyed about characters’ reactions to the settings and conflicts without clear explanations of why their world is like that. For instance, Haimishly’s family and the elves are not on good terms, but how this happened is not elaborated on beyond a sense of prejudice that humans have against the elves. And characters’ conversations are often quite formal, with people addressing each other as “gentlemen” despite being close, giving a sense of inborn etiquette and culture.
In the romantic fantasy novel The Immortal Happerstadt, a prince who lived an ordinary life is forced toward extraordinary quests with the help of friends and lovers.
Reviewed by
M. W. Merritt
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
