Once upon a spring morn in Faery, the gallant knight Roél rides into the Springwood and finds his true heart's desire in Céleste, princess of that domain. But before they can be wed, Roél must rescue his sister Avélaine from the Lord of Changlings who plans to impregnant her and steal her soul. However, the quest Roél and Céleste take proves to be complex. So they are chased by goblins and ogres, Celeste is imprisoned by a troll, they encounter and are often terribly challenged by the Sphynx, the god Thoth, Cerberus the guardian dog of Hades, Hercules, Jason, Aeneas, and a mob of rotting, walking dead. Aided by the Fates, who can only guide them in riddles they must first unravel, the princess and her knight follow these redes and rural map across twilight borders to save Roél's sister before the night of the new moon.

all fantasy and mythology lovers.

the introduction at the beginning of the first chapter. It gave an insight to the "Once Upon a ..." books as a whole as well as describing a bit of history about the setting. It also had a old storyteller's feel to it, as if the author was speaking right too me.

how Roél and Céleste had a "love at first sight" relationship. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet where they meet and within minutes were pledging their love to each other.

read the other three books of the quartet.

suspensful at times. Yet because the book was written fairy-tale style the happily-ever-after ending is predictable.

is Dennis L. McKiernan, and he admits to searching for signs of fairy folk as a child. In addition to the books in the Faery series he has written The Dragonstone and Voyage of the Fox Rider both set in the world of Mithgar.

it's a fairy tale for those of us who thought we'd outgrown happily-ever-after.

The two fables woven together in this story are "Le Bel Inconnu," an Arthurian tale by Renaut de Beaujeu, and "Childe Rowland," author unknown, an English folktale.

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Created Apr 16, 2007 at 4:29pm • Submit your own review...