Let me just start this review by saying that I am sure I am probably the least qualified person to be reviewing this book, but I read it a couple of weeks ago and I do review every book I read. I can promise you now that there will not be any new revolutionary insights in this book, there probably won’t even be intelligent old insights, it will just be my opinions on a book that I probably retained only 25% of. 

 

This will definitely be a short review, so let’s jump right in. I found this book to be very repetitive in its messages and concepts; it seemed to make a point in one chapter and then completely repeat the same point in the next chapter, just with a different context. This book could probably have been about half the size it was if you take out the repetition. And before you say anything, I know that this book was revolutionary and scandalous for the time it came out, but I read this book in 2021, so I am judging it accordingly. 

 

Let’s just take a minute to talk about the overall tone of this book. Yes, the point of this book is to stir trouble. Yes, I knew what I was getting into when I picked up. But judging from a completely objective perspective, the tone of the book is essentially ‘Step on whoever you have to so you can achieve your own goals’. I can definitely see why this was a banned book in the first place. 

 

While reading this book, Andrew (the handsome guy on my Instagram) gave me a bit of background on this book that I didn’t know. Apparently, these aren’t Machiavelli’s real thoughts and he wrote this book just to suck up to a prince while he was banished so he could get back in his good graces. This was also touched upon in the preface to this book, and I just thought it was worth noting. 

 

I can’t really say much else about this book- there are no characters, no plot… told you this would be a short review! I don’t really think I can have much of an opinion when I did not understand the majority of this book, but just based on the sheer effort it took me to read this book and how much I just wanted it to be over… 1/5 stars to The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.