Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson.

A Scottish storyteller Robert Louis Stevenson was multifaceted in his novels, and it usually happens that all his variety could be in one writing, as it is in Prince Otto, his second released book.

This novel is unusual for a knight story because a monarchy crosses with ideas of a democratic republic and its different forms of ruling. Prince Otto occurs in a fictional German state, Grunewald, that under a long-ruling royal dynasty and is under threat of revolution, as this finds out a ruler of this country. These pages of the protagonist’s revelation about his state have wonderful philosophy and show different political sides. Stevenson demonstrates grandiose irony from his characters and makes impressive twists that come through conversations. But that intrigue turns to suspicion and ends as convoluted by contradicting each other pieces and having no point acts in this levity ambience. The prince discovers for himself that trusted administrative function to Baron Gondremark and his wife Seraphina turned to that they want to rid of him and begin a war with a neighboring country for their empire ambition. Otto still has a power over everything and he could finish with conspirators in one move, but he allows them to be free without an explanatory point and absence of shyness in his personality. He could also take money from a treasury without asking his council, who imagined a contrived reason about having no finances. However, puzzlement comes many times with a behavior and inner reaction of personages that contradict each other, as the prince laughing while being fully serious. Or a personal relationship between Otto and Seraphina soured many years ago. The princess openly demonstrates that doesn’t want a presence of his husband and despises his ruling. It leads to a heated pick when the country’s ruler cancels the council’s proclamation of war. However, both speak sweetly after the end of the meeting and their spat that included open saying about princess’ rejection of Otto hours before. Personally, the author was making needless additions in depiction what was opposite to what occurred and sometimes he did writing of obvious.

If talks of characters about the stance of the country are far-fetched nonsense, but all that can be accepted for their opinions despite on contradictions here too in saying and agreeing with each other that people love the prince more than the princess and the baron, but he will be executed first in people’s rising, whereas Otto’s cousin utters to the country’s monarch that he should make an alliance with Gondremark because ridding from the latter will cause a revolution. However, the baron is a foreigner, as is the princess, and citizens don’t like both, whereas they dislike the ruler considering him as a weak personality. Reasonably, taking away Gondremark and Seraphina would save Grunewald. But, as I found out in research because I dropped reading to that time, citizens proclaimed a republic after Gondremark was stabbed by the princess, but he survived. There are many characters who contradict in their acts and personalities, such as Countess von Rosen, who is vice in characteristics, but she helps Otto and Seraphina, whom the latter restored in love to the prince in the end to all flabbergasting. The plot became melodramatic, and that was another digression of the novel.

It was a first time ever when I dropped a written by Robert Louis Stevenson. I read almost all his novels and many short stories. I had less than ninety pages left in Prince Otto, but the Scottish writer didn’t keep his best shape in creating this, which, as its story of making reveals, was difficult in writing, and Stevenson himself considered that as a “hardest effort,” as one of the chapters was rewritten eight times, whereas his wife did own intrusion and committed that one time. I won’t be surprised if his spouse’s influence was a factor of the confusions because her meddling into the writing process of her husband was a plethora of times.