Prince of Persia by Jordan Mechner

This graphic novel is part of the storyline followed by the Prince of Persia video games. However it doesn't actually tell the story from the video games; it's more of a backstory. The book tells the story of twins, a boy, Guiv, and a girl Guilan who will rule Persia and a boy, Layth that grows up with them who is the prince of an enemy their father defeated. Eventually the Layth marries the Guilan, but other's interfere in the ruling of the kingdom and all end up dead or in hiding. The stor...mThis graphic novel is part of the storyline followed by the Prince of Persia video games. However it doesn't actually tell the story from the video games; it's more of a backstory. The book tells the story of twins, a boy, Guiv, and a girl Guilan who will rule Persia and a boy, Layth that grows up with them who is the prince of an enemy their father defeated. Eventually the Layth marries the Guilan, but other's interfere in the ruling of the kingdom and all end up dead or in hiding. The story then moves forward a hundred years or so to the love story of Ferdos and Shirin. Shirin finds Ferdos in a well, he is hiding in an abandoned city. At times the stories are told parallel to each other on the page so that the reader can see all of the connections between the two tales and their characters.

The story was interesting and the artistic style definitely fits the story, with vibrant colors and style that reminds the reader of the stories Arabic roots albeit in a superficial way. However Ferdos' confusion about who he is makes the story difficult to follow at times, and also makes it difficult to figure out when the two plot lines are happening in relation to each other. This is where the parallel story telling becomes especially helpful.