“The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” by Usman T. Malik

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Story can be read on-line: https://www.tor.com/2015/04/22/the-pauper-prince-and-the-eucalyptus-jinn-usman-malik/

Rating: 4/5 Stars

An interesting fantasy story that takes its time setting the scene before it starts to introduce its fantasy elements. The main story is told from the point of view of the grandson, whose grandfather came from Pakistan. Via the story, we learn of the grandfather’s past and his relationship with a former Princess who ran a small tea stall at a eucalyptus tree, rumoured to be inhabited by a Jinn from the ancient past.

But tragedy would strike (literally) after a boy gets hurt after a fall from the tree. Amid calls to remove the tree as a menace to the community, it get destroyed by lightning, including the stall and the Princess moves away, while the grandfather gradually migrates to the US after adventures in various other places, gradually losing his memory of events apparently due to senility.

All this sounds like a perfectly normal non-Fantasy story until the second half after the grandfather passes away and the grandson gets possession of his grandfather’s hidden diary. In numerous strange entries, he learns the apparent real history of his grandfather and his relationship with the princess. Determined to get to the truth, he journeys back to Pakistan.

And there is where the Fantasy start. For upon finding the original place where the eucalyptus tree used to be, he discovers himself in possession of an ancient artefact that may have come from the dawn of time and space and possessed his grandfather. And now he has to choose what is to become of it.

A well told tale that takes its time building up the story, to immerse the reader in the situation before the fascinating revelation.

Story read from 2020/05/31 to 2020/06/07