Reiffen's Choice: Book One of the Stoneways Trilogy (The Stoneways Trilogy)

a Stunning Debut In The Tradition Of eragon And artemis Fowl. voya three Ruthless Wizards Kidnap Young Prince Reiffen, Separating Him From His Friends Avender And Ferris. Reiffen's Followers Plan An Unorthodox Rescue With The Aid Of Nolo, The Dwarf, And Redburr, A Shape-shifter. They Outwit The Wizards By Approaching Their Perilous Realm Of Usseis From An Unexpected Direction-the Underground Realm Of Dwarves, Fabled Issinlough. Alternating Chapters Tell Of Reiffen's Despair In Usseis And The Adventures Of His Rescue Party In This First Book In The Stoneways Trilogy. Despite Some Stumbles, Butler Shows Promise As A Fantasy Author. The First Half Of The Book Is Stuffed With Characters And Magical History, And Much Confusion Could Have Been Avoided With A Helpful Prologue. Other First-novel Glitches Include Uneven Sentence Structures, Stock Descriptions, And Tolkien's Influence Hanging Over Much Of The Plot. The Book's Quality, However, Improves Dramatically As The Story Progresses. The Wonders Of Issinlough Are Particularly Well Imagined, And The Characters Mesh Well Together As The Action Builds To A Page-turning Crescendo. With A Little Patience, Readers Who Like Terry Brooks Or Angie Sage Will Be More Than Content To See This Story To Its End And Await Its Companions With Anticipation. Readers Should Look Forward To Following Butler's Development As An Author. Reiffen, only twelve years old, is the true heir to the thrones of both Wayland and Banking. He and his friends Avender and Ferris live in a magical world of talking animals, dwarves, and shape-shifting bears but ... he lives with the shame of knowing that no one will ever let him rule these kingdoms, that their crowns will bring him nothing but betrayal and sorrow ... and that he is powerless. Reiffen will have only a short life of child's innocence, a brief respite from the trial of impossible adult responsibility, the trial of attempting to finish a task he can never complete. And then he is shown the nations of his world from the peak of a fortress drear and tempted with fame and fortune and his rightful place on the throne of great kingdomshis kingdoms The unwanted heir to the thrones of both Wayland and Banking, twelve-year-old Reiffen is offered unlimited power and knowledge if he will surrender his humanity to three wizards who tempt him with great fame and fortune