Queen Ferris: Book Two of the Stoneways Trilogy Mass Market Paperback – Import, 30 December 2008

Queen Ferris by S.C. Butler is the second book of the new young adult fantasy series, The Stoneways Trilogy. Reiffen, Avender, and Ferris have grown to adulthood, and are capable of ruling the land or detroying it. Ferris is wooed by the prince Brizen, whose father (might or might not have) usurped the reign of the kingdoms of Banking and Wayland from Reiffen when he was a babe. Avender patrols the border, guarding the kingdom against the three evil wizards who are about to unleash a war from the north. Reiffen voluntary returned to the Wizards at the end of Reiffen's Choice; he now serves the wizards. Is he ensorceled or turned traitor? Does it matter? If he leads theWizards' armies, only his death will save the lives of the people of the land. Or so the powerful and wise declare. But the years have not weakened the friendship between Avender, Ferris, and Reiffen. What do their hearts tell them about Reiffen? What will they do when he, because of love and friendship, willingly gives himself into their power? I enjoyed Queen Ferris even more than Reiffen's Choice, which is saying a lot. Mr. Butler used the power of description in Reiffen's Choice to anchor the reader in the land. He drives Queen Ferris forward with the power of characterization, for Reiffen, Avender, and Ferris have grown to adulthood. Everybody always wants to be something they're not," said Ferris. "I'm sure I'd love to be a princess." Brizen's foot scuffed closer across the brown needles. With a bit of a shock, Ferris realized what she'd said. "You can be a princess a lot easier than I can not be a prince," he told her. "I don't love you, Brizen," she replied, trying to recover what she hadn't even known she might let slip. "I know." He sighed quietly and looked at his empty hands. In Reiffen's Choice, Mr. Butler hints at a new creation mythos. In Queen Ferris, he develops the creation story more fully. I enjoyed seeing how the story lines arose from and were driven by his creation mythos. Imagining the beginning of a new world that is so different from our own is quite a feat. To logically carry the creation mythos forward so that the story is internally consistent is amazing. With this volume, Reiffen and Ferris's story is nearly complete. I'm looking forward to the third volume to see how Avender's story comes to completion.

In a world that redefines the stereotypical mythology of creatures we thought we had well-pegged in fantasy writings, Butler gives us a fresh view that forces us to recalibrate how those creatures interact and what they are capable of adding to the theme.Queen Ferris expands on the background in a way that separates it from other similar novels. In Butler's world there are no elves which, in itself, is an unusual departure. His dwarves become a hybrid of the inventive gnome and the eternal elf, though dwarves can be "broken" when they lose the breath of their creator.Besides learning how distintive races interact, there is a rather dark overtone in this second installment of the Stoneway's Trilogy which began to take form in Reiffen's Choice. The three main subplots develop around the childhood friends Reiffen (the apprentice magician), Ferris (the love interest) and Avender (a warrior in the making). Through Ferris and Avender, the justification for Reiffen's behavior is held at arm's length to the reader until the very end of the book. They both struggle to reconcile the actions of their childhood ally, as emotionally different though they may be. As readers, we are forced to evaluate why a healthy young boy can become corrupted all for the sake of protecting those around him. One could easily draw an analogy between the forces that Reiffen must contend with and Anakin Skywalker (another well-meaning lad) eventual departure to the Dark Side. In Queen Ferris, though, the motives and consequences are more complex and dynamic.Give credit to Butler for painting such well-defined and amusing peripheral cast members. A talking bardic stone? Yup. And oddly enough, scratching our heads, we wonder why it works so well. But it does.If you enjoying considering new worlds and relationships that would not immediately occur to you, then Queen Ferris will feed your imagination like few other fantasy novels will.

....about not judging a book by its cover. I have to admit, though, that the cover art was what caught my eye first. I'm a great fan of Daniel dos Santos's work - he's also illustrated the covers for Patricia Briggs' "Mercy" series - and I can generally be sure that, when I see one of his cover illustrations, the book will be worth picking up. In this case, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was in fact the second book in the trilogy, and that I'd have the pleasure of exploring even more of a new author's work. And what work it is! This is a mesmerizing new fantasy series, full of characters who have to confront difficult and painful situations and cope with them. This isn't just about dropping a nasty relic into a volcano or pulling a sword from a stone; the characters must face the darkness within themselves as well as their opponents and somehow prevail. Even more wonderfully, I have no idea how or if they'll do it. S. C. Butler has a gift for keeping his readers guessing, and I'll be eager to follow this trilogy and his future work. Bravo, Mr. Butler, and many encores!

Queen Ferris is the second book in friend and fellow author S.C. Butler's "The Stoneways Trilogy". In the first book, Reiffen's Choice, Reiffen is stolen by the Wizards in a plot to teach him magic and make him their puppet, since he is one of the (contested) heirs to the throne. Reiffen's two friends, Avender and Ferris, head off to rescue him . . . and succeed. But they weren't counting on Reiffen's choice.Queen Ferris picks up almost immediately after the end of Reiffen's Choice. It's the story of how Reiffen learns how to use magic, while Avender and Ferris struggle to understand why he chose magic over them. It's also a story about the attempt by the Wizards to use Reiffen to seize control of the lands. If I say anything more than that, I'll end up spoiling some aspect of the plot of the book, so I'll stop there.What I like about S.C. Butler's books is that he takes some of the tropes of the genre, sets you up to believe that the book is going to follow those tropes, and then at the end he turns those tropes on their head and does something completely different. For example (and because I know Sam, I know I'm not spoiling anything he hasn't tried to spoil himself numerous times), most people when reading that summary will think that Reiffen will eventually take back the contested throne and become King. That never happens. (I've read the third book already, and trust me, it never happens.) That's one of the minor tropes you might expect that gets turned on its head by Butler.I thought that Queen Ferris was a strong book. I wanted to know how it was going to end, and couldn't predict where it was going at any stage of the reading. All three characters--Reiffen, Avender, and Ferris--play crucial rolls in the plot, and all of them have issues that they need to deal with, such as Reiffen's betrayal at the end of the first book. They all deal with their problems and responsibilities in different and believable--and sometimes not nice--ways.And in the end, that's why these books work. The three main characters, friends at the beginning, are tested and they react like children and young adults would. These are being marketed as YA novels, and they are, but like the Harry Potter books, I think that the adult market will love them as well. I think the entire series is a nice bridge from the Harry Potter novels to Tolkein, covering the rough and tumble years in between the two age groups. I highly recommend them to all YA and adult fantasy readers.