The Myth Hunters by Christopher Golden

". . . fails to deliver a protagonist worth caring about . . . until the final chapters. . ."

"Christopher Golden delivers a richly textured landscape in two worlds that defies convention and the usual fantasy clich?s."

"Oliver is forced to change his mind about the finely drawn boundaries between fact and fantasy as he plunges into a dangerous world adventure, as shiny and as enticing as fairy gold."

Oliver Bascombe sits by the fire on the eve of his wedding thinking about the choices that led him to this moment. He dreamed a much different life. Now he fulfills his father''s dreams of working in the family law firm and marrying the senior partner''s daughter. It isn''t that he doesn''t love Julianna. He does. At least he thinks he does. But what he thinks isn''t certain any more.

His doubts careen off the well worn path and into fantasy as a howling blizzard delivers a creature out of myth: Jack Frost. Pursued by a fearsome falcon-headed archer, Oliver helps Jack Frost to the edge of the cliff on his father''s estate and leaps with Jack into the void, leaving behind his world and his life. Running from the hunters, Oliver is forced to change his mind about the finely drawn boundaries between fact and fantasy as he plunges into a dangerous world adventure, as shiny and as enticing as fairy gold.

Myth Hunters promises adventure, myth, legend and much more. Christopher Golden delivers a richly textured landscape in two worlds that defies convention and the usual fantasy clichés. Golden''s rendering of the fantastical characters of fairy tales and the myths of nearly every continent is precisely drawn and fully realized. What he fails to deliver is a protagonist worth caring about in Oliver Bascombe.

Oliver, a thirty-something son of a wealthy lawyer who has lived a life of privilege, follows in his father''s well worn footsteps like a lamb led to slaughter. His agonizing over an advantageous marriage and a secure future would be more effective had he been more certain about what he wanted from life and for himself. Like a whining child, Oliver leaps into the unknown, running from a life he isn''t sure he wants but hasn''t the integrity to end. Through the first three-quarters of the story, Oliver is little more than a heavy burden the other characters must carry, rousing himself briefly to pitch in and take charge, thus saving his companions. It isn''t until the final chapters of the book that Oliver becomes a hero worth rooting for.

Reviewer: J. M. Cornwell