Castle Spellbound

Fantastic!!A highly enjoyable and a-typical Castle book. The second to last of an eight book series had me laughing out loud on several occasions. Such an emmersive and wonderful book that best tipifies what DeChancie fans love most.

The castle books are good, but this is my favorite. It is completely wild and out of control but filled with so much excitement that a person cannot put it down. DeChancie shows his best with his wit and humor. Also the adventure is so real that a person finds themselves in the castle watching it all. This book is worth picking up and if your like me it will be picked up again and again!

The seventh installment in the Castle Perilous series continues the traditions of the past episodes of the series. As the Mike Resnick quote on the back of this (and nearly every other DeChancie work) states, "DeChancie delivers!" He does so here once again. For those unfamiliar with the Castle series, a synopsis: A magical castle, stranded between space and time, with windows to 144,000 worlds, is home to travelers, adventurers, and a multitude of strange beings. Humans are among them, including Gene Ferraro, who wandered into the castle through an entrance in the City of Pittsburgh's subway system. His best friend, Snowclaw, resembles a yeti, speaks perfect english (thanks to the workings of the castle,) and wields a substantial axe. The proprietor of the castle, Lord Incarnadine -- Inky to his friends -- serves as a sort of Captain Steubing to the residents of his love boat. He's frequently on vacation from the castle, and even he doesn't understand all of the secrets of its' construction. In this volume of the series, a party being thrown by Inky. Which calls for many special visitors. Which, of course, calls for flaws in the castle defenses. Which leads to many uninvited guests. Which leads to the real action of the story. The story rings of an "interdimensional frat party" with all the uninvited guests and problems therein. The only difference is that here, rather than having the excise police arrive to break things up, the partygoers break out swords and magic spells to do away with the party crashers. The magic of DeChancie's work in the Castle series is that it uses humor, both in direct portions and in-jokes, in a way infrequently read in the era in which it was written. Today, adventure and humor walk hand-in-hand in television series such as Hercules and Xena. DeChancie's smart, smooth writing style, present here as well as earlier (Starrigger Trilogy) and later (Dr. Dimension, Living with Aliens) works keeps the reader engrossed and enthralled. -- Kevin Stamber