My brother and I saw this book at a book exhibit many years ago and begged my other to buy it, which she did. Whether it counts as "fantasy" is doubtful; there is no magic other than a neatly fulfilled prophecy/curse. It is st in a vaguely Germanic small medieval kingdom, in which a young boy named Eric is being raised as a huntsman by a gruff but good=hearted old warrior named Black Otto, who is also the guardian of the great gold crown of the realm, without which the true king cannot be crowned. The crown is stolen and Otto is captured and Eric (and his faithful hound) set off to rescue tem, in the process meeting the three barons of the realm (without whose approval a new king cannot be crowned) as well as having repeated encounters with a thoroughly evil bandit named Mulch and a hypocritical conman who calls himself Honest Harry. He also makes friends, including Helen, the daughter of one of the barons, a disabled minstrel named Ferdy, and another huntsman --a former comrade of Otto's --called the Redbeard. (one of my favorite moments is when he plays chess with the Redbeard who recognizes his style and says "yYou've been playing with Back Otto.") Overall, it is a lot of fun, though with a rather high body count, chiefly bandits and hounds. The cartoon-like illustrations add a lot to the humor. ( )