This is a what could have been a quite complex and interesting story. It was hampered by two things. The biggest hindrance was the the writer. Lloyd Alexander has a thing about the reader always knowing what the motivation of every character is for every action. Now, that isn't that bad in itself. An author could really have something like that either way. It's how he shows each character's motivation that weakens the book: by speech. Even in the most unlikely ties, the characters will say exactly why they, or in some cases, another character, is doing something. They can also be quite fond of talking to themselves for the same reason. The writing style itself also has a lot of room for improvement, giving this little gem quite early on: "If I didn't know I was awake, I'd think I was asleep."
The second thing that makes this book bad is the ending. The truly evil baddies are burned in an all-consuming flame. Fronto, a donkey who takes the whole book up in his quest to be human, is also in that flame... but guess what? The author stated earlier on that he could also turn back into a human by being burned. So all is good for the good guys. Can't have one of them harmed. That would just be awful, wouldn't it. There are no less than three mairrages arranged between prospective couples in the book in the last fifteen or so pages. The almost evil guy who was only a victim of circumstance gets off easy, and the only good guy not mairred seems to be the I-can't-believe-it's-not-a-satyr kid, who is too young. Honestly, can anything turn out better at the end? Based on the rest of the book, the ending is completely unrealistic in how happy it is. The second most ludicrous happy ending I've ever read, rivaled only by Eoin Colfer's Airman. This book had a decent story, but it was by no means a good book.
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