This is an early Lawhead book - I think maybe only his second ever. My feeling is that he las learned a great deal since writing this one. These days his descriptions are so much more vivid, his characterisation so much deeper, and he really understands how to put a story together. Another big difference is that these books are fantasy, whereas these days Lawhead writes mostly historical fiction.

The story in this book is not bad. Quentin, an acolyte of the god Ariel, leaves service at his monastry to take a vitally important and urgent message to the queen. This leads him into an adventure to seek out a lost king, and he finds out a good deal more on the way.

Even though the story is not bad, it is not brilliant either. As a story it does not compel you to keep reading, and the characters are just a little too wooden to really care about. Whereas much modern fantasy has its genesis in Middle Earth, this book seems to have had its genesis in Narnia. Not that this fnatasy world is at all like Narnia - but you can see the same story ideas in places.

A book for Stephen Lawhead completists only. ( )

Good if a little formulaic. ( )

I normally like fantasy but did not really enjoy this very much. Plot was really predictable, and pace dragged. I actually had all three books in this series but could not bring myself to read the other two. ( )