The Unlikely Ones

I really had high hopes going in to this. I guess I was expecting a bit more wonder, like The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip or The Dreamstone by C.J. Cherryh. Admittedly my memory of them may be incorrect as I read them both a couple of decades ago.

That said, I thought I'd also enjoy the “unlikely rag-tag group of heroes” but found it a bit hard to engage with a fish and a toad and a crow and a cat. The foreshadowing was a bit clumsy, in that the end of the knight's curse was easy to predict from the beginning of the book. The love story didn't feel organic, or respectful of Thing.

And it felt a bit too coincidental in the end as the knight came across old companions.

Perhaps I should give it two stars (I originally gave it three). I am sitting here trying to remember parts that I really did enjoy, and unfortunately I'm just glad I have finished so I can start another book. I hunted this one down for years. On to the TBR.