Faery Lands Forlorn

Inos, the late king's daughter, had been kidnapped through the magic casement even as the Impish legions overrunning her tiny kingdom were storming the castle tower. Now she was a prisoner in a desert land ruled by a dockside whore with a talent for magic and a passion for politics.

She little dreamed that the loyal stableboy Rap had jumped through the casement after her. But no one really knew how the magic worked, and Rap found himself not in a desert, but in the steaming jungles of Faerie -- half a world away from Inos!

Rap was determined to rescue his beloved queen, and nothing could stop him -- not even the monsters and headhunters of Faerie, or the paranoid machinations of an evil sorcerer...

I don't read a lot of fantasy, but I loved this series for its liveliness, its likable and easy-to-believe-in main character, Rap, and its take on magic. The cultures and regions we explore as we go on Rap's adventures are well developed and vivid, and Duncan has a fluid writing style that I really enjoy.

--Ellen Key Harris, Editor, Del Rey Books