I've read the Dutch translation of this book, so it might be the translator's fault, but the whole book used very old and outdated words and used a writing style befitting of such old words. This made it difficult for me to get used to it and probably a difficult book to read for young/unexperienced readers. It also made whole thing feel fake - in so far as a fictional story can feel more fake than it already is.

As far as the story goes: it's a good book, though it's not the deep fantasy I've been used to lately. It doesn't explain much of its magic, its world or its creatures. It was a nice change for once, though it had as a result that some things seemed to happen solely because the plot demanded it, and such deus ex machina can do some damage on the suspension of disblief.

Though maybe I shouldn't judge an almost fifty-year-old book by today's standards and just say it was an enjoyable story and that I'm curious about the rest of the series.