Title: The Princess and the Hound
Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Year: 2007
Publisher: Eos
Reviewer: Katherine Ray

I liked this story.  It's a romance, and as such, there are no
surprises as to who marries who in the end, but the plot goes to some
interesting places and thus it is quite entertaining.

The main character is a prince trying to figure out how to be a good
king.  He and his wife-to-be both have issues with their parents.
There's a nice bit of revenge thrown in, and loyal retainers, and
magic, of course, or it wouldn't be fantasy.

That said, the story didn't really get started until the two main
characters meet a quarter of the way into the book.  The first part
was all completely relevant, but boring.  It was all focused on one
character and there were minimal character interactions.  The book was
moving slowly enough that I started tripping over the inelegant prose,
always a bad sign.  That problem went away as soon as there was more
than one person involved.

Harrison considers herself a children's author and it shows.  The
prose is simple.  The conflicts, while not fixed with a wave of the
hand, still take a lot less effort to resolve than one would see in
real life.

All in all, I spent a pleasant four hours reading this story.