Another book Your Humble Blogger re-read whilst unpacking boxes of books was John Barnes’ One for the Morning Glory (New York: Tor Fantasy 1996). Gentle Readers, if you haven’t read this one, go out and read it now.
Now, don't be fooled. I've never read another John Barnes book I thought was good, and I've read several that were terrible. So if you get to the B shelf and they don't have One for the Morning Glory, just keep right on past any other Barnes to John Barth and pick up The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor. Well, if you've already read some Julian Barnes and like it, then fine, read some more. The point is, don't read anything by John Barnes other than One for the Morning Glory. But don't miss One for the Morning Glory.
You see, it was an old saying in The Kingdom that 'a child who tastes the Wine of the Gods too early is only half a person afterwards.' So when Prince Amatus—sole heir to the throne, the Queen having died at his birth—just four days after his second birthday, contrives to gulp down a full glass of the Wine of the Gods, it quickly becomes clear to everybody that they are in a story. When four mysterious companions arrive, the King and his Prime Minister hope that the Prince will be the hero of the story, and that it will end happily.
And perhaps it will.
Redintegro Iraq,
-Vardibidian.
Gentle Readers, if you haven’t read this one, go out and read it now.
Seconded on all counts!