"The treasure of a thousand years" — The Seven Princes and the Thousand Year Labyrinth

[spindizzy]

A young man, Ewan Juno, awakens to find himself imprisoned in an unknown place, surrounded by stone walls and seemingly endless corridors. Ewan learns that he is one of a group of individuals, all sent to this strange place — the Thousand Years Labyrinth. Each of them is a candidate to become the country’s next emperor, however only one can claim the crown. If, as a group, they do not decide, the title will fall to the last man standing, and it appears the labyrinth has methods of its own to achieve that end. A series of puzzles, trials, and deadly traps stands between life and death, and appears to mimic an old legend about an emperor and his seven lords—who were all lost in the very same maze.

Will the chosen candidates find a way out or will the labyrinth claim another seven princes in its search for an emperor?

It turns out that there's something about vaguely gothic fantasy manga full of queerbait, dramatic declarations of loyalty, and murder that means it just skips over the rational critique part of my brain and goes straight for my id. Which isn't necessarily a problem, it's just – not what I was expecting when I picked up The Seven Princes of the Thousand Year Labyrinth. Like, I didn't want to write a review of it while I was reading it? I wanted to grab it and wave it at people while yelling "LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL DISASTER! EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE AND I AM GOING TO SHIP THEM HORRIBLY AND WAIL ABOUT EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT APPEARS TO DIE OR TURN ON THE PARTY WHILE KVETCHING ABOUT ALL THE THINGS THAT I KNOW WOULD NORMALLY PUT ME OFF!”

Ugh.

But yes, I really enjoyed The Seven Princes of the Thousand Year Labyrinth! Our Hero, Ewan Juno, wakes up in the bottom of a dungeon, only to find that he and six other people have been kidnapped and thrown into a legendary prison, where they must choose one of them to become emperor and the rest to be the emperor’s loyal advisers... Except that someone in their group has decided that the most efficient way to become emperor is to make sure that there's no competition, and there are a lot of death traps in this labyrinth.

This is exactly what I’ve been in the mood for, okay, so I ate it up with a spoon.

( Cut for spoilers. )

But for all my complaints, I really enjoyed The Seven Princes of the Thousand Year Labyrinth! I liked most of the characters, I liked the high drama and puzzles, and honestly I just wish that the series had been a bit longer so that there was enough time for it to breathe. Wishing there was more of a series isn’t bad!

[Connection disclaimer: I do know Ysabet McFarlane, who worked on the adaptation, and she is great.]

[Caution warnings: child abuse, murder and death traps, mentions of off-screen torture]