Jean Rabe, Fenzig's Fortune

Fenzig's Fortune

Jean Rabe

Five Star, March 2007, $25.95, 279 pp.

ISBN 1594145679

At 3 feet 2 inches, Fenzig is considered a giant amongst his gnome peers, while his relative lack of size allows him to break into the heavily fortified castle of King Erlgrane of Burlengren. Although he has never before been sterling, the jewel thief trips a magical alarm, and the wizard who set it up locks the gnome up until the morning. The king meets with Fenzig and tells him he will spare his life if he will steal the three sapphires possessed by Duke Rehmir of K'Nosha.

He agrees to perform this errand, and the wizard puts a spell on him, so if he isn't back by a certain time he will die. After running away for the haunted woods to escape from those whose clothes and food he stole, he has a run in with a pack of deadly cravens, which are very poisonous animals. He joins forces with the peddler Carmen who turns out to be the duke's daughter. She steals the jewels, and when he goes after her, he learns that the jewels are the Duke's three oldest daughters, enchanted by Erlgrane's wizard. Enmeshed in the families' troubles, Fenzig goes with Carmen to Erlgrane's castle to capture the wizard so he can turn the jewels into daughters. More trouble follows when the king comes to K'nosha and is captured and held helpless in the dungeon, a situation that places two kingdoms and all the inhabitants in deadly peril.

This is an entertaining, jolly and exciting gem of a fantasy, that will have readers laughing at some of the situations that Fenzig finds himself in. The gnome faces death so many times, he begins to wonder if he should give up thieving. There are plenty of surprise twists in this magical tale, that is filled with protagonists easy to like, especially Carmen the princess con artist and Fenzig the honorable gnome thief.