Lost Prince is a reissue edition of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's 1983 novel, The Godforsaken. The story is set in Spain during the mid-1500s, when the Spanish Inquisition was at the height of its power. Bishops, ambassadors, nobility and even the royal family itself could be arrested on charges of heresy and subjected to interrogation, torture, and execution. The auto-da-fé, in which dozens or scores of convicted heretics were burned alive in one great spectacle, was a regular event. Dress, social customs, manners, and the most trivial daily routines were rigidly confined within rules set by the Church, and the least divergence from those rules was enough to provoke suspicion. The Inquisition placed spies everywhere; it was a most uncongenial environment to be a werewolf.
As werewolf stories go, Lost Prince might be classified "retro." The current literary vogue treats lycanthropy as empowering, not as a liability. The werewolf has evolved to challenge the vampire for the romantic role of the sexy, edgy, dangerous lover. But twenty-five years ago when Lost Prince was written, werewolves were not usually depicted as a different, even superior, species within their own subculture, hierarchy and history. Don Rolon is the victim of a curse, one which he did nothing to deserve. As his awareness of his condition slowly grows, he shrivels with horror and shame at his own deeds and his beast-like transformed self. Like the classic "wolf man" Larry Talbot, Don Rolon can see no possible way to reconcile his curse with his normal life. If he can't escape the curse, death is his only alternative.
As in her Saint-Germain vampire series, Yarbro's treatment of her protagonist's supernatural condition is understated. Don Rolon's physical appearance as a werewolf, and his transformation, are never clearly described. We only get hints through the emotions and reactions of those around him, and eventually Don Rolon himself. The mayhem that the werewolf commits is mentioned, but in far less detail than the torture inflicted by the Inquisition on its victims. Although the werewolf slaughters women, children, and Don Rolon's friends and kin, Yarbro implies that its actions are mild compared to the horrors inflicted by self-justified human beings. This is a consistent theme in Yarbro's work. In a 2005 interview with Linda Suzane, Yarbro said, "The Saint-Germain novels are called historical horror novels for a reason: history is horrifying. Compared to what people do to people, even a really hungry vampire is pretty small potatoes."
Lost Prince is a bleak story in which the innocent suffer while the evil-doers apparently thrive. In the Prologue, Rey Alonzo II of Spain is cursed by a woman being led to the stake at an auto-da-fé. "As I am innocent and suffer, so your innocents will suffer," she proclaims. Subsequently, Alonzo's frail wife dies giving birth to Don Rolon, and Alonzo's second wife produces two mentally challenged girls who are pronounced unfit to marry. The story jumps ahead nineteen years to find Don Rolon, Alonzo's only legal heir, beginning to suspect that something dreadfully wrong is happening to him every month at the full moon.
As the story unfolds along this theme, it raises questions about the inherent injustice of life itself. In the Spain of Lost Prince, power determines destiny. Those who are principled, honest, and well-intentioned are handicapped by their own virtues when they're confronted by evil. Don Rolon, who is so "innocent" that his virility is constantly questioned, to his annoyance, turns the tables on his enemies when the wolf empowers him. But he detests his curse and goes so far as to seek magical assistance to end it. As the book progresses, we can see the grim fates looming ahead for nearly all the characters, and Yarbro is merciless in letting these play out. If the book contains any moral message at all, it might be found in Alonzo's spineless acquiescence to the Inquisition and its chief executive, Padre Juan Murador. If I had been in Alonzo's position, I'd have had Padre Murador assassinated before he got that far.
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