But the bard is more than he seems. As the adults of Valing lie deep in Feast-heavy slumber, the bard and his cronies abduct Reiffen and Avender. But they only want the prince. They throw the bound Avender in the lake to drown. Then Reiffen is magically transported to faraway Ussene, the dread fortress of the Three Wizards. The Three control all the magic in the world, and they are the inimical enemies of humankind.

With the help of the lake-dwelling nokken, Avender survives the attempted drowning, and the Valing-folk devise a desperate plan to rescue Reiffen. While decoys seek aid from Wayland and Banking, the Dwarf Nolo will take Avender, Ferris and the shapechanger Redburr underground. Deep in the bowels of the earth, the four will travel the Stoneways, the Dwarves' underground highways and byways, which cross much of the world. The Stoneways may allow the four to slip into the Wizards' fortress from below. But no matter how swiftly the four travel, or what aid they find on their journey, they may not arrive in time to save Reiffen—or their world. For the Wizards have presented Reiffen with a horrific choice. He can choose to serve them willingly and lose everyone and everything he holds dear—or refuse their offer and become their mind-enslaved puppet king, helplessly committing the same abominable deeds.

A world in need of women

In his smoothly written debut novel, Reiffen's Choice, S.C. Butler launches a high fantasy trilogy that will appeal to readers from 10 to 110. While he's clearly writing a Tolkien-esque hidden-monarch epic, Butler has created an imaginative, well-wrought world that is very much his own, from its unusual origins and its egalitarian town of Valing to the submerged home of the seal-like nokken and the strange underworld of the Dwarves. Readers will marvel upon arriving at the bottom of the world, where water falls off the edges in beautiful Veils, and the Dwarves' underground city of Issinlough hangs, upside down, over the black Abyss. (Just don't fall in: The Abyss is bottomless!)

The characters are not as imaginative as their world, for, with one exception, they never really transcend their types. Avender remains the loyal friend, Ferris the plucky girl, Nolo the rock-solid Dwarf, Redburr the hotspur, the wizards villains, and grown women motherly. But, while two-dimensional, the main characters are detailed pen-and-ink drawings from a skilled and careful hand. And the lost prince, Reiffen, breaks type dramatically.

Reiffen's Choice has some problems. The third-person viewpoint sometimes shifts unpredictably within scenes, disorienting readers. The action is sometimes summarized when it should be dramatized. Also, the title implies that the novel centers on Reiffen, but the narrative focuses mostly on Avender and Ferris. And many readers will be flabbergasted that the book's large cast includes almost no females (males are plentiful enough to include all deities, Wizards, and Dwarves, but females of any significance number four). Parents might ask themselves whether they want their children reading about a world that basically excludes half the human race. Too, adult readers may be shocked that the grown-up characters send preteens on such a dangerous quest. Younger readers, however, will be as thrilled with that last aspect of the novel as they will be with its myriad strengths. Reiffen's Choice will likely be a popular fantasy for years, or generations, to come.