This is the most charming book I've read in years, and it reads like Guy Gavriel Kay mated with the Phantom Tollbooth. It is a fairy story done properly, full of whimsy and joy and also blood and very sharp teeth. 
 However, though the story is quite good, what really makes this book so spectacular is the language; every sentence was quite simply a joy to read. 
 (view spoiler)[And I am entirely in agreement with the author's apparent opinion of the horror and brutality of certain unexamined elements of the Chronicles of Narnia. (hide spoiler)]