Four and a half stars. This was incredibly well written and very clever. The story was interesting and the characters well developed.

Two small issues:
1-The ending, while good, was summed up too neatly. While there were both good and bad things that occured in the end, and without giving anything away, the manner in which the author concluded was just too neat for my liking.

2-Oddly enough, as much as I liked the entire story, it wasn't like other novels that I loved and could not put down. I could put it down. I wanted to know what happened, but I didn't have that "I need to finish this now" feeling.

I would say that this would make a FABULOUS movie. Very vivid imagery, interesting people, creatures, and scenery. Lots of magical and fantastic elements.