Rating:**1/2

Summary: Former Chief of the palace guards, Bromios, doesn't really want to be king, but Calchas and Phobos, the royal soothsayers, need someone disinterested and dumb enough for their fiendish scheme to work. They take Bromios to hear his fortune from the Woman-Who-Talks-To-Snakes. When he receives an ominous prophecy, he starts cracking down on those who worship the Woman-Who-Talks-To-Snakes and the Lady, at the urgings of the soothsayers. Meanwhile, Lucican, a bean counter in the palace, finds out the royal soothsayers are embezzeling money, and has to run for his life. Along the way to safety, he meets a poet who's temporarily a donkey, a girl who's more than she seems, the horse clan and the goatfolk.

    This is another typical Lloyd Alexander book, complete with an akward hero, a heroine who make the hero look like a doofus, a lighthearted traveling companion, and plenty of interesting minor characters. Dispite the repetative formula, it's still a good yarn for children. Arkadia and it's history greatly resembles ancient Greece, and it's mythology. For example, Oudeis is an obvious caraciture of Odysseus, and the island of Tauros strongly reminds me of the whole Minotaur thing. For children who have not had a lot of exposure to that sort of thing, this is a good way to introduce Greecian mythology.

Written by: Lava