Sebastian Darke - Prince of Fools is a fantasy novel by Philip Caveney

Philip Caveney

Philip Caveney is a British children's author, best known for the Sebastian Darke and Alec Devlin novels. He previously wrote a number of thrillers for adults.-Sebastian Darke:The Sebastian Darke books are a fantasy series for children...

. It is the first book in the Sebastian Darke

Sebastian Darke

Sebastian Darke is the eponymous hero of a series of children's novels written by British author Philip Caveney, the name deriving from a real person living in London.-The novels:...

 trilogy. The book was released on 4 January 2007.

Plot Summary

Seventeen year old jester Sebastian Darke, travels to the opulent city of Keladon in an attempt to fill his late father, Alexander's, shoes and become a proper jester, and therefore save himself and his mother from poverty. Upon his journey, Sebastian meets the halfling

Halfling

Halfling is another name for J. R. R. Tolkien's Hobbit which can be a fictional race sometimes found in fantasy novels and games. In many settings, they are similar to humans except about half the size. Dungeons & Dragons began using the name halfling as an alternative to hobbit for legal reasons...

 warrior Cornelius Drummel, and by chance rescued the beautiful - and feisty - Princess Kerin, Keladon's future queen from a group of Brigands. However, when Sebastian, Cornelius and Sebastian's ill-tempered buffalope, Max, arrive in Keladon, they become entangled in the dastardly King Septimus's plot to do away with his niece, Princess Kerin, and ensure he remains king forever.

Characters

• Sebastian Darke...The eponymous hero of the story. He is a "breed", the offspring of a human father and an elvish mother. Sebastian's ambition is to become a master jester like his late father and save his family from becoming penniless. Trouble is, Sebastian can't tell a joke to save himself.
• Max...Sebastian's grumpy, flatulent buffalope who pulls his cart. Max is grouchy, bossy, sarcastic and often negative. However, his heart is always in the right place.
• Cornelius Drummel...A midget
  Midget
  A midget is a short person with relatively average bodily proportions in comparison with other human beings. The term is often improperly used to describe a person with the medical condition dwarfism. The two terms are often used synonymously because both terms originate as words defining small...
  
   warrior from the city of Golmira. He is an expert soldier and saves Sebastian's life more than once. He is on his way to Keladon to try and join the "Crimson Cloak", the king's royal bodyguard.
• Princess Kerin...The temperamental, beautiful heiress to the throne of Keladon. Slightly gullible, she believes her uncle, King Septimus, to be a loving and caring guardian, when really he wants her dead so he can secure the throne for himself. She falls in love with Sebastian, but is unable to marry him as she is already set to marry another of her rank.
• King Septimus...The antagonist
  Antagonist
  An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
  
   of the story. Similar to Shakespeare's Hamlet
  Hamlet
  The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
  
  , he murdered his brother to take over the throne, and is plotting to do the same to his niece, Princess Kerin, to ensure he remains king of Keladon forever.
• Magda...King Septimus's ancient, evil assistant.