The ‘Prince of Blue Flowers’ novel is an Asian fantasy adventure story. The protagonist of the story, a boy named Hatsukoi, goes to a monastery for his pranks, but soon runs away in search of adventure.
Magical Asia, in which the reader finds himself, is similar to medieval China, or rather, to the world of ‘lakes and rivers’ of the famous Chinese epics and ‘wuxia’ adventure novels. Swaggering dukes, greedy governors, arrogant princes, industrious peasants, wise monks, and wandering warriors inhabit this world. Gods are there as well, busy with their own worries and problems.
Rich with colorful epithets and unusual proverbs, the language knits together fairy tales and a trickster novel, leaving an aftertaste of hidden poetry.
The adventures of Sun Wu-Kun, the tricks of Til Ulenspiegel and Khoja Nasreddin, the stories of Brother Rabbit — such associations arise while reading the ‘Prince of Blue Flowers’. In the humour that peeps between the lines, one can find echoes of novels and short stories by Robert Asprin and Terry Pratchett.
Under the guise of a light trickster tale lay a story about the roots of evil. It is a story about why it is easy to fool people who give in to their passions: greed, anger, ignorance.
“It won’t do for greedy people to swindle and get away with it. Here is a noble deed for my skills!” Our hero argues. But when his own bragging overcomes him, he himself gots into trouble. Luckily, as he understands that he became no better than his foes, the help gets on its way.
The moral of this book is simple: if you are greedy, angry, boastful, self-satisfied, and stupid, there will definitely be some trickster who will make you pay for your vices. Even if that trickster is yourself.
