I think that other folks who gave this one 2-4 star reviews have done a better job of articulating my feelings about this book than I could do on my own. I imagine that if I'd read this when I was in middle/high school I might have found it much more compelling, as it fits in nicely with my collection of favs from that time. I'll probably recommend it to kids who are interested in "high" fantasy, but I probably won't go on to read the rest of the series.