Book Review: Sebastian Darke, Prince of Fools

This was a fun read, perfect for young adults/teens who like a good adventure story. The characters were quite believable, even if there were talking animals (but not of the Narnian variety).

A couple of times the story started to take on a predictable literary direction, but would veer away at the last moment. That kept it interesting and leaves the door open for several points to be addressed later in a sequel.

The villains were ruthless and the action exciting, but the dialogue remained clean. Blood and tears were shed, but neither too graphic to make the reader uncomfortable. Even the romantic bits left me cheering for the hero, nothing so gross as to embarrass a young teenage boy.

At 338 pages, the book was enough to fill a couple evenings and an afternoon at the pool, perfect for summer reading. I have not read any other Philip Caveney books, but am certainly interested to see what he has to offer in the adult category.