THE REDEMPTION OF ALTHALUS

Stand-alone fantasy, already a bestseller in the UK, from the vastly popular husband-and-wife team (The Rivan Codex, 1998, etc.). Lovable rogue Althalus suffers an inexplicable run of bad luck. Just then, he’s approached by the tough-looking Ghend to steal a Book from the House at the End of the World. Althalus doesn’t know what a book is, so Ghend shows him his—a large tome residing in a big black box. After various adventures, Althalus reaches his destination, and grabs the Book—it’s huge and in a white box—but the room suddenly has no door. Althalus finds himself alone with a talking cat, Em, who’s actually the goddess Dweia. Her brother Deiwos, who built the house, creates things and then just wanders off Her other brother, Daeva, wants to devolve things back to the primordial chaos, or something; Ghend is his chief servant. Tutored by Em, Althalus learns how to read the Book, and to use the magic powers conveyed by the words in the Book. The house, he also discovers, is riddled with doorways through space and time. Finally, 2500 years later, Althalus and Em leave to gather a team to help fight Ghend and his black-Book gang. Let battle commence.

Full of the usual jolly banter that passes for wit, creamy smooth and blandly unsurprising.