Never After, by Rebecca Lickiss (Ace, 2002)

When a prince, a princess, and a wizard all set out to fulfill their separate goals, their destinies become irrevocably entwined, turning a simple quest into a hilarious, baffling, unpredictable tale of magical curses and royalty that isn’t.

All Athelstan wants is to marry a princess, a true princess. Given that the only one he’s aware of is two years old (there’s a slight deficit of princesses in the area), he follows the tale of an enchanted castle and a sleeping princess. But when he arrives, he finds that the tale is both true and false, and some…irregularities have cropped up. Like the triplet-princes — who must be awoken in order to break the spell….

What his cousin Vevila wants is to get away from it all, and find adventure. NOT to be married off to some boring old suitor. When Athelstan recruits her help in her official role as a princess to help him get what he wants, she sees a way out of her own predicament…and ends up over her head.

Meanwhile, the mighty wizard Mazagian and friends are looking for work and wealth. They see Athelstan’s plan as a way to get ahead in the world, even if it means short-cutting through a folktale or two. But when Mazagian ends up cursed, they realize it’s not as easy as it seems. For a fairy godmother/evil witch (depending on whom you ask), the one behind the enchanted castle and its eternally slumbering inhabitants, will do anything to protect the prince(s) she cares for. And she’ll be putting our heroes through trials and tribulations aplenty before they’re done.

Toss in assorted kings and queens, no less than six young women who may — or may not — be princesses, six dozen or so princes, twenty mattresses, twenty beds, twenty silk sheets, one magic-wielding, gold-spinning dwarf, a Wicked Stepmother, an enchanted frog, one very disgruntled castle guard, a pumpkin, a cat, some mice, some goats, an army, and oh yes… a happily ever after, and you have the trimmings for Rebecca Lickiss’ second novel, Never After. She takes some of the best-known, best-loved fairy tales around, and throws them into the metaphorical blender, producing the sort of fairy tale mishagosh that hasn’t been seen since John Moore’s Slay and Rescue, the TV miniseries Tenth Kingdom, or Steven Sondheim’s musical Into The Woods. The sources are all familiar: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Frog Prince, The Princess and the Pea, but here we see the illogical, entertaining result if all of those stories happened to the same people, at the same time.

Never After is successful on numerous levels. Not only is it clever and entertaining, managing to convey a feeling of chaos and confusion rather like that of a British sitcom, full of sly self-awareness (even the witch acknowledges that folktales have to follow certain rules, but they can be bent out of alignment), but it’s genuinely good-natured. Even the bad guys in this tale act more out of enlightened self-interest than any true malice. More importantly, no one just sits around and waits for rescue; the potential princesses are stubborn and independent enough to effect their own rescues, however many times it’s required of them. The wizards are powerful, but not infallible, the prince is heroic but not the One True Hero of the Story.

Even if you think you know how the story will end, don’t be so sure. Even the most likely of outcomes is in doubt, the more so as things happen with a faster, more frenetic pace. By the end, the whole house of cards collapses in a manner bound to satisfy even the most demanding of fairy tale enthusiasts. This actually succeeds in the unenviable task of finding a new way to tell familiar tales, and making it enjoyable. It’s light and breezy, but at the same time intelligent and witty, appropriate for a wide range of audiences. Rebecca Lickiss truly hits the mark with this book, proving that she’s a talent here to stay, with plenty to contribute. This is a more than satisfactory followup to Eccentric Circles , all the more so for not giving in to the temptation to descend into pure farce, as she so easily could have done with the set-up. Don’t pass this book up if you like fantasy or fairy tales.


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