The story, as fresh and exciting today as it must have been when it was first published back in 1894, follows Rudolf Rassendyll, an Englishman who travels to the kingdom of Ruritania. There, he finds that he bears a striking resemblance to the king of that land. Though the king is a nice enough fellow, his half-brother “Black Michael” the Duke of Strelsau covets both his power and his beautiful bride-to-be, Princess Flavia. Further, the king has not yet been crowned. Since Black Michael is in many circles more popular than the new king, he concocts a diabolical scheme: he sends the hard-drinking king a bottle of drugged wine. If the populace believed that the king was too drunk to attend his own coronation, they would reject him and turn to Michael. The scheming duke would then be able to claim both the throne and Princess Flavia.
Fortunately, our hero Rudolph is there to save the kingdom: since he resembles the king, he can stand in for him during the coronation, and continue the masquerade until the true king can be re-installed. (Of course!) In the sort of scheme that is normally reserved for gamers after nine or ten hours of straight play, the true king is left to drool on himself in a cellar while Rudolph is rushed off to the coronation. Once installed, he just has to survive his stay without inviting disaster, which means fending off Black Michael and his lackeys, keeping Ruritania (from the highest minister to the lowest peasant) clueless, and courting Princess Flavia without things becoming, well, treasonous.
Of course, things are never so easy for our hero, and Black Michael has more tricks than just a bit of drugged wine. He cannot simply expose Rudolph--“That man can’t be the king, because I poisoned the real one!”--but Rudolph is in the same situation, unable to stop Michael’s schemes without risking exposure and the ruin of the true king.
Of course, between the plots and counter-plots, there are plenty of sword fights, gun fights, table fights, and all-out melees. The battles are sometimes short on description, but they have a frenetic energy to them, and each battle seems unique without being contrived. Black Michael’s major henchman, the dashing Rupert Hentzau, is the quintessential romantic swashbuckling villain, who is more interested in seducing the beautiful and mysterious Antoinette de Mauban than engaging in proper hero-thwarting activities. The interaction between Rupert, Black Michael, and “King” Rudolph is excellent, and makes for some great story-telling, especially when their independent schemes crash into one-another to the surprise of all parties involved. The clever plans, swashbuckling action, and colliding schemes work together beautifully, and any students of adventure stories should sit up and take note: this is some brilliantly-crafted stuff.
And there’s more good news: The Prisoner of Zenda is not like what you’d expect from a novel written at the end of the 19th century. It does not spend the first third of the book in exposition: the story trims such irrelevancies down to a single chapter. The style, rather than being dense and baroque, is breezy and approachable, and the plot moves faster than many modern fantasy novels. A quick reader can finish the story in an afternoon. The only place where it shows its age is in its simplicity: this is an “adventure story”, not a “comedic zombie pirate adventure story with evil monkeys” or a “time-traveling assassin robot adventure story with hot cyborgs” or a “transgender Titanian mercenary adventure story with super-intelligent Welsh Corgis” or whatever the kids are demanding of their entertainment these days. There’s no attempt at cinematic one-upmanship, genre-mixing, or unclever irony here, just lots of well-written excitement, with elements of swashbuckling and intrigue. More jaded readers may find The Prisoner of Zenda a bit staid, though after enough blockbuster movies and high-concept novels, one can come to appreciate its thematic simplicity.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, The Prisoner of Zenda is a gold mine for gamers who want to play in a swashbuckling campaign. Players of 7th Sea, Castle Falkenstein, Star Wars, and even good old D&D can gain great insight into the origins and conceits of the adventure story by reading The Prisoner of Zenda. Classic ideas can be plucked from it and dropped into a game, or the entire story can be lifted wholesale and converted into the appropriate genre–any game that can balance adventure, intrigue, romance, and a touch of situational absurdity can get plenty of mileage from this tale. But even if you don’t use it for game ideas, give it a read: it’s quick, it’s fun, and it helped define what we think of as the “adventure story”.
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