My Blue Prince
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My Blue Prince is a 65 PC speculative fiction romance novel published by Amore Nascosto, generally considered to be one of the worst pieces of T'vaqi literature ever created. The novel features several blatant historical inaccuracies and stereotypes concerning both Rossan and T'vaqi culture, is littered with grammatical and consistency errors, and is widely considered to have been in poor taste. It is nonetheless one of the country's ten best-selling books of all time.
Synopsis
My Blue Prince contains a total of fifteen chapters which vary widely in length. The longest chapter comprises one third of the novel's material, while the shortest spans only two pages. Due to an oversight during the novel's initial printing process, the final chapter is printed twice in many copies of the book.
The book is set in the future year of 101 PC, where relations between the islands of T'vaqi and La Rossa have grown inseparable. There is a brief mention of an ongoing conflict between every other island in the archipelago, though this is never mentioned again. The protagonist, a young T'vaqi woman described as graceful and elegant, wakes up one day unable to remember her own name. Disheartened by this, she spends half of a week attempting to rediscover her identity at the passport office, where she works; she is unable to do so because she has misplaced her own passport. One day, while working, she meets Giueseppe Carbone, Dux of La Rossa, waiting in line at her booth. They interact briefly, which leads to the protagonist becoming infatuated with Carbone.
Two months later, Carbone makes a televised[1] address to the Nation of T'vaqi, where he discusses the formation of an important trade deal between La Rossa and T'vaqi which will unify the two as "one massive, throbbing behemoth of industrial might". He then declares that he is required by tradition to marry a suitor.[2] The protagonist decides to apply as a potential suitor for Carbone, in the hopes of rediscovering her identity.
The protagonist is informed that she must complete a series of tasks to prove her love for Carbone, which she performs flawlessly. The pool of potential suitors is narrowed down to three women, including her. Carbone asks each of them where they would take him to dinner. The first two women reply with extravagant and expensive meals at high-class locations. When Carbone asks the protagonist, she responds that she would fry some rosi while they stay the night at her apartment. Based on this response, Carbone chooses her as his suitor, and the two immediately plan to get married. The book ends with the protagonist asking Carbone for her name. Carbone then reveals that her name is Vata.[3]
Reception
My Blue Prince was universally panned by critics upon release. The novel was published at the height of the economic tension between T'vaqi and La Rossa that preceded the Tricade War, leading many to assume that the book was created specifically to capitalize on the event. The novel's premise and poor quality made for successful publicity, and the book proved a massive sales success nationwide. On 1QAT's Literature Spotlight radio program, critics described My Blue Prince as "A book so absurdly terrible it becomes a satirical masterpiece," and "an insult to modern literature as a whole."
- ↑ The exact method by which Carbone's speech is broadcast is unclear; the novel uses the terms television, radiovision, teleradio, and radio interchangeably.
- ↑ This is not common tradition in La Rossa.
- ↑ This revelation is intended to reference the novel's repetition of the profane phrase Havata, which the main character frequently repeats in internal dialogue.